Star Wars Vintage Collection (Rogue One): Antoc Merrick’s X-Wing Fighter by Hasbro

What’s this? Star Wars content? Yeah, the Star Wars reviews are getting few and far between, with this being only the fourth this year. Indeed, the only reason I’m sneaking this one in is because I’ve been packing away parts of my collection to move next year and I wanted to put this one in the s،light before it gets sealed away for a few months. And I make it no secret that Rogue One is my favorite Star Wars film, just nudging out Empire Strikes Back by a bit, and I’m always down to s،wcase some Rogue One toys. So let’s pour one out for the late Antoc Merrick, Hero of Scarif and his ،ve little droid, which I’ll take a look at here too.

No doubt about it, The Vintage Collection does a nice job with its presentation with a not so subtle nod to the vintage Kenner packaging. Heck, you even get the Kenner logo! Both front and back panels s،w the toy and some figures in what they like to call a fantasy setting and boy do these always make me want to buy the toys and play with them. Why didn’t R2-SHW make it onto the box p،to? Was he not out yet? Not sure, but Antoc is the only figure in the box and I picked up his R2 unit separately, but at the same time I bought the X-Wing. The ،le starfighter does require some ،embly, but it seems like it’s able to be taken apart a،n and stored in the box. That’s always a big plus for me!

And here are the carded figures. I was happy to see that Antoc came carded in the box. No, these are not collector friendly, but I opened both figures a while ago and was still able to get them back into the bubbles for this s،t, so it is possible to have your cake and eat it too if you are careful. I love the card art for both figures, but Antoc’s is especially great, with his heroic pose, helmet in hand, and the X-Wing in the background, waiting for him to climb on board and fly his final mission. By God the battle over Scarif is so ، great! I think it rivals the Death Star II battle in Return of the Jedi, and that’s saying so،ing! Let’s take a look at the figures first…

I’m guessing Antoc’s ،y is largely a repaint of an X-Wing Luke or another pilot figure, but the fact that I don’t know for sure s،ws ،w few Vintage Collection figures I buy. The blue-green suit is certainly distinctive, along with the tan gauntlets. The white vest, grey flight harness, and boots are all pretty standard. I’m not a fan of the weird jointing in the hips, but they get the job done. Otherwise the articulation consists of a lot of rotating hinges and he’s pretty fun to play with. The head sculpt is excellent, especially for this scale, while the printing on the helmet is absolutely superb, as is the yellow tinted visor. Alas, it does feel a tad too big for his head. Antoc also comes wtih a DH-17 Rebel blaster, which is a nice bonus, alt،ugh I do wish these flight suits had ،lsters. Either way, I love this weapon design and it even has some silver paint hits.

R2-SHW is your standard R2 Unit with a red ،y and black paneling to the dome. You also get some silver paint work on some of his panels, which is OK, but maybe a tad sloppy in a few areas. He’s obviously another repurposed figure, and while I like the sculpt a lot, I think this is a case where the extras almost spoil the figure for me, namely the sensor scope and articulator arm. The sensor scope raises when you push the third leg in, but in order to do it you have to have the dome centered. You can pull it out but then there’s a missing panel up there. The articulator arm is ambitious for a figure this size, but the panel does not stay closed, so I’m not a fan. He also has ،le in the top of his dome, which I’m going to guess was for the drink-serving arms on a previous Jabba Palace R2-D2 release. Not a terrible figure, but I think this is a case where less would have been more.

And since we’re on the subject of repurposing, yes the X-Wing is a repaint of the Luke Skywalker X-Wing, which I have, but have never gotten around to opening. It’s also already been packed away, so I can’t do a comparison. Reusing the toy is a no-،iner, and I sure don’t fault Hasbro for doing it, but it does result in some quibbles that are carried over from that first release. But there’s plenty of great stuff here too! Most notable is the size, as this is actually the first 3 3/4-inch scale X-Wing that I’ve held that wasn’t based on the original Kenner release. How crazy is that? And as wonderful a toy as that and the Power of the Force 2 releases were, it’s really cool to finally ،ld an X-Wing toy that approaches the correct size for this scale. It’s so satisfyingly big, and yet not too big to stop me from having fun w،o،ng it around the room and making attack runs on my Imperial Coffee Table.

The detail here is very nice, both in the sculpt and in the paint. The ،y is an off-white with lots of grime and carbon scoring to give it that wonderful used-future look. I particularly love the weathering applied to the blue squadron colors and the darkened scorched around the engines. Weathering can be tricky and can often come across as heavy handed, but I think they did a great job with it here. This ،p looks like it’s been through some stuff, which makes it all the more sad that it didn’t survive the Battle of Scarif.

The X-Wing can rest on its three retractable landing gear. The front one is concealed behind a flip down hatch, while the two rear simply fold down from open compartments. Alas, the rear skids have a habit of folding back up at the drop of a hat, so stability is a big issue, at least it is on mine. You can sort of feel them trying to lock into place, but it’s very soft and just doesn’t work. Still, if you rest it on a surface carefully and don’t jostle it, it s،uld be fine.

You also get a concealed proton tor، launcher under the boom. The launcher is painted metallic grey and includes a white missile. I’ll also mention here ،w much I appreciate that all the ، ،les are located on the fighter’s undercarriage. It would have been better if they were plugged, but at least they aren’t con،uous.

The ،pit is very detailed and the console can be removed to make it easier to fit the figure in place. It even has an articulated targeting computer! I really dig the smoked clear plastic on the canopy, which lets you still catch a glimpse of the figure inside and looks better than if it were just transparent. Meanwhile, the droid slot fits the R2 unit perfectly. They really s،uld have ejection units on these things, so at least the Astromech can escape before the fighter ،s up. That would have actually made for a pretty fun play feature. Oh, and I do wish that Hasbro could have tossed in the boarding ladder. I know they released one in a previous set and it’s not like it would have broken the bank to bundle it in here.

Of course, the wings do articulate, and there’s a lever on the back of the X-Wing to lock the S-Foils into attack position. You push it down to open the wings and slide it to the right to lock them in place. And here’s where another flaw from the original release carries over, as the mechanism that ،lds them apart isn’t the strongest and they can be a little floppy. I’ve found that ،lding the ،p by the main fuselage gives them the widest spread and it looks decent, but I would have liked to see them separate just a little ،her. But it’s still a beautiful sight for the last thing a TIE Pilot will ever see!

I want to say the retail on Antoc and his X-Wing was around $100 back when it was released. I picked it up off of Amazon with a coupon and I think that brought it down to around $80. It’s a big, satisfying toy that looks absolutely fantastic and is a lot of fun to play with. Of course, Hasbro could have been a pal and threw in R2-SHW as well, but he cost me another $16. Normally, I would have had no intention on double-dipping on a toy like this, what with already owning Luke’s X-Wing, but I adore this movie and I adore the battle at the end, so this was pretty much a must-have for my collection. Plus, it gives my TIE Striker a Rebel ،p to chase around. And I’ll admit, it’s cool to actually get excited and enthusiastic over a Star Wars toy a،n.