This seems to be the official "sneak preview" vehicle. Not only is there a Jedi Starfighter videogame, but Lego has already released their own version. Toys R Us has stated that they will only put 6000 of these on their shelves and hold the rest for April 23, the official release day for all Episode II merchandise. I'm not sure what other stores' policy is regarding the Jedi Starfighter.

	Sculpt--4/5 Looking at the Jedi Starfighter, you get the idea that it was designed by the same people who designed the Star Destroyers (i'm talking fictionally, not about Lucas' design team). The wedge-shape is very reminiscent of those ships and I wouldn't be surprised if some of their angles were exactly the same. The Jedi Starfighter is also a very thin ship and may remind you more of an arrowhead than a starfighter. Anyway, I like the detailing on the ship, especially the rear portion where the engines are. That dark gray area has a nice complex look to it. The cockpit is a bit on the plain side, but perhaps it's like that in the movie. There is an adjustable headrest, but it's molded in a light-blue colored plastic which makes it look more like a toy than it should. The astromech head to the left of the cockpit, is just poor design in my opinion (now I'm talking about Lucas' design team). Supposedly, the R2 unit is built into the ship, as there isn't enough space for a droid socket. So if you're gonna have the R2 unit built-in, why keep the head? Sure, it might house important sensors, but those could have been integrated into the ship. I digress...I just think it's odd to have an R2 head sticking out when it can't be removed. Features--4/5 Unlike older POTF2 rehashed vehicles, this thing actually has some play value to it besides looking cool. The big feature of the Jedi Starship is its mode-change ability. With the press of a button, body panels pop off and the stabilizers flip up automatically. I'm interested to see how this is portrayed on-screen as it's quite dramatic and seems like it would be a last ditch effort since you're basically blowing-off a third of your ship just to gain some added manueverability. On a humerous note, the ship looks like a sword or dagger in "fight" mode. Other features include two firing missile launchers, a retractable front landing gear, opening canopy, and an adjustable headrest. Also, Sir Steve's has mentioned that the Obi-Wan Kenobi Pilot figure will probably come with a communications device that will plug into a small hole slightly behind the R2 unit's head. It shall remain to be seen whether or not that is true. Accessories--NA/5 Paint--4/5 The paint job is well done and the Jedi Starfighter is nicely weathered. There's quite a bit of paint apps here and they are all excellent. There are white accents and outlines, silver spots where the paint has worn off, and subtle shades of gray in various spots. Oh yeah, and you also get a sheet of stickers you must apply yourself (I haven't done that since the FX X-Wing). Packaging--3.5/5 This is the first product (that's supposed to be officially released to the public) to have the blue "Saga" packaging design and I'm not quite used to it yet. There's something very plain about it, and I'm not sure if it's working for me. Perhaps I'm just so used to the Darth Vader helmet in the corner, or better yet, that jumpin' Obi-Wan that characterized POTJ packaging (I hated that). Part of it may be because I was expecting the words, "EPISODE II" to be emblazoned across the top of the package front, but no, there is only the Star Wars logo in the upper-left corner. Since the "Saga" packaging will be used for figures from all the movies I guess it all makes sense, and the design has a retro flare to it with its metallic border around the photo of the product. The box itself is much more like the older POTF2 vehicle boxes, in that there are no windows to see the actual product, and thus, no neat diorama-like backgrounds like those we've seen in recent POTJ packaging. Overall--4/5 Overall, this is nice toy. I can see how a child could have fun playing with it, shooting down enemies and deploying the stabilizers. It'll be even more fun once we have a pilot for this thing! And I have to add that I wasn't planning on buying this, but now I'm glad I did.

The Jedi Starfighter is now available at ToysRUs.com for $24.99!
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