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Geonosian Starfighter with Pilot

Coheteboy brings us another Star Wars review, with some excellent photos.  Take it away, CB!

The Clone Wars line has already begun arriving in stores months ago but it's only now that we are seeing the full menu of offerings at retail. The GEONOSIAN STARFIGHTER could have been packaged under the SAGA label is one of the few medium vehicles released for The Clone Wars. The starfighter comes with a removable pilot figure and since there were only two of these vehicles seen in ATTACK OF THE CLONES, it won't take much for diorama hobbyists to complete this scene.







Packaging - ***1/2
Wow! I really really dig the Clone Wars packaging. It's a nice tangent from the cool blues of the SAGA line with a grimy white and orange. There's details in the box here not seen in previous Star Wars toys: bullet holes! This gives a terrific "weathered" look and it works for me. The graphics on the front is also terrific with its "fantasy situation". I always thought showing the actual toy without anything else was bland since the plain old toy is also shown on the back. This is a terrific direction and I really dig it.

Sculpting - PILOT: *** 1/2, STARFIGHTER: *** 1/2
The sculpting job on both figure and vehicle here are top notch. This is the quality that collectors hope to see from Hasbro 100% of the time but
usually don't get it. The ship appears to be an accurate scale from my viewpoint, but I can't say for sure. All the details appear to be done closely as possible with the original specifications and it looks great.  The exclusive pilot figure is also most welcome. Parts were used from other Geonosian Warriors, but a lot of it is completely new where it counts.  Great job here.

One complaint I do have is in regards to the plastic used. I understand why soft plastic was used for the pilot, since he needs to squeeze himself into the cockpit, but the front of the ship is also made with softer plastic and it actually hangs down from the weight. It's just too bad since the harder plastic would have made this a far better looking toy.

Paint - ***
There aren't a lot of colors to be seen with this product but what is there is done well. There's a metallic tint on the entire ship similar to that of the Naboo Royal Starship giving a nicer effect. The paint on the pilot is limited but there's enough there to look good. The paint application here is above average.

Vehicle - ***1/2
Since the GEONOSIAN STARFIGHTER is basically the giant accessory here, I'll use this area to talk about the ship itself. No decals included with this piece. Just snap three pieces together and it's ready to go. The fighter sports a clear orange cockpit dome that opens and closes easily. There are also three included missiles that can be fired. One missile is for the main cannon located on the center of the ship. The other two are from side
compartments hidden from normal view. All three missiles fire quite well from what I've tested. There are three pegs on the bottom of the ship that serve as landing gear so the ship will always be in displayable position, but the pegs are small enough not to be noticed. Overall, this is a terrific vehicle and all collectors who like the vehicles especially shouldn't hesitate to pick this up.

Articulation - **1/2
The pilot has the regular joints as the most basic of Star Wars figures so we'll just keep moving on. The ship however has a few moving parts as well. The cockpit dome opens and closes and there are two separate compartments on the side of the ship that open up for firing missiles.

Value - ***1/2
A new medium sized ship with exclusive pilot for $19.99 is what I consider to be a very good value (similar in size to the A-Wing). Chances are you might see this on clearance eventually, but my suggestion is to pick it up if you see it. It's a good price for a good toy. 

Overall - ***1/2
I wasn't sure quite what to expect from this release since I felt that there wasn't anything to the ship. It seemed to be nothing special and of course, it's just another Geonosian figure. I was actually surprised to like this ship so much. It's put together with no problems at all, no decals to bother with, and everything works! Sure, I have a complaint about the weak plastic on the front of the ship, but it's only a minor complaint for me. This is where Hasbro could have taken the lazy route and made the figure a permanent fixture in the cockpit (since they are hardwired to the ship supposedly), I was more than happy to get an extra figure to leave in the ship or remove however I choose.

Where to Buy:
These can be found at TARGET stores everywhere for $19.99 and should be hitting Toys'R'Us stores as well.

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Figures from the collection of Coheteboy.

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