Sculpt--4.5/5
Ah...the Electronic FX X-wing. 'Twas a fine ship it was. As you may well know, this X-wing is a retooled version of that landmark vehicle except it has no electronics and a few other little tweaks. But for the most part, it's the same ship and that's definitely a good thing as it's the most accurate X-wing for this scale.

Now let's get to what's new! The most notable thing has to be the droid socket. You're probably wondering if any ol' astromech will fit into the socket...well, almost every astromech droid will fit in there! All the newer astromech will fit as well as older POTF2 R2 units. Astromechs that won't fit? R5-D4, and Flashback R2-D2. I'm not sure about the POTJ Naboo Escape R2 since I don't have that figure, but even the Saga and Episode I R2's fit in the socket with no trouble. So if you've got an astromech, chances are it will fit in the socket.

The cockpit has also gotten a much needed overhaul. Hasbro has taken out the built-in Luke, the targeting computer, and has basically totally redone the whole cockpit. The seat is nicely sculpted, as are the control panels on the armrests. There is now a lot of room in the cockpit and will accommodate most of the X-wing pilot figures Hasbro has made so far. Jek Porkins is the only one that I could not fit in for obvious reasons. Removable helmet Wedge fits in--just barely. POTJ Luke fits in nicely, and his short stature helps him fit in there comfortably. All the non-removable helmet pilots fit in well. The seat-back also folds forward to reveal a small storage compartment. There's enough room to fit all the included accessories and then some. Strangely, this storage compartment is not mentioned on the box nor on the instruction sheet.

Lastly, there are several cosmetic changes to cover up the absence of gutted features. The bottom of the ship has no hole for the proton torpedo, and the area where the handle and trigger was on the FX version has been nicely cleaned up. Topside, the area where the two sliding switches were on the FX version has been smoothed over. And finally, the nose of the X-wing has been rounded for safety I guess. My only gripe is that my wings and laser cannons are a bit warped. I'm not sure if it's a production problem or if it's just the way they're packed in the box, but it's pretty noticeable.

Features--4/5
The Saga X-wing features opening wings, the droid socket, fold-up landing gear, an opening cockpit, and the secret storage compartment. While the main features of the FX X-wing was it's many electronic features, the Saga X-wing focuses purely on functionality. It has most of the features collectors have been asking for and it's these features which make this X-wing a worthy purchase, even if you have the FX X-wing. We've got the droid socket and the new cockpit so we can mix and match pilots to astromechs. We've got the storage compartment which, while not film accurate, is a nice bonus. And then we've got what you'd expect from an X-wing toy--opening S-foils and extending landing gear. To "lock S-foils in attack position", you press down on a lever at the rear of the fuselage and then push it to the right to lock the wings in place. It's a good design since it allows a smooth opening motion. The landing gear pulls out from the two lower engines and the front of the nose. They snap into place and raise the X-wing to an almost movie-accurate height.

Accessories--4.5/5
You get a swamp-splattered R2-D2, a survival light/power lamp, cargo compartment, and rations kit. The R2-D2 is made from the same mold as R2-B1. That means no articulated ankles and no retractable third leg. The survival gear is one of my favorite things about this set. These are very cool accessories and really help complete the Dagobah theme. The cargo compartment opens and you can store a blaster or other small accessory in it. You cannot, however, store the power lamp or the rations kit in it. A nice little touch is that the cargo container is stackable in that it has interlocking grooves on top of the lid and underneath its bottom...it's too bad you only get one container. The rations kit is very nice and has painted food inside. I'm glad they went the extra mile and painted the food; it would have been lousy if they didn't. The lamp is a nice inclusion and is detailed adequately. All in all, this is a great set of accessories.

Paint--2.5/5
Okay, this is the only area I have some problems with. The engines and nose have heavy black paint ops and they overdid it. Most of the engines are black, and I mean black. Not a light spray, not even a heavy spray--it's just black. Some parts are wiped away, revealing the grey plastic underneath, but not enough to make it look as good as it could have. The rear of the engines seem to have been painted silver first and then painted black over it, and then wiped to show the silver and plastic underneath. I don't know if that's what they actually did, but that's what it looks like to me. Besides the engines and the nose, the paint ops look good and appropriately dirty.

Packaging--4.5/5
The packaging is really slick. It's in the now familiar diorama style with the X-wing fuselage "sunken" in a Dagobah swamp as R2-D2 is off in the corner on land. It's just great to look at in the packaging and the nice background of Dagobah can be used in your own dioramas or action figure set-ups.

Overall--4/5
I totally recommend this vehicle if you never got the Electronic Power FX X-wing, or if you've been waiting for an accurate X-wing to put all those other pilots and astromechs into. It's too bad Hasbro didn't give us extra stickers to turn this X-wing into the other X-wings (Red 1, Red 2, etc...) but if you're creative enough you could probably do it yourself. Just the fact that it has a droid socket was reason enough for me to buy it. It may not be worth it to you if you don't play with your Star Wars toys, but if you do, get it now!