Lego Star Wars Resistance X-Wing Microfighter - Review

A slight change of pace today. As anyone who knows the real Darth Crux will know I'm an inner Lego geek and my addiction primarily focuses on the Star Wars themed sets.

Around the turn of the year Lego released some new The Force Awakens sets including both Resistance and First Order battle packs and two of the Microfighter range, an Resistance X-Wing and a snowspeeder. I noticed these kits while I was out shopping and decided to snap up the X-Wing.

The first question has to be are these sets worth the money. In the UK they retail at £8.99 which to me feels a few credits too much. After all these are only very small kits with one figure and 87 pieces. However I'm a sucker for a cool minifigure and the pilot you get with this set won me over. So I threw it in the basket with the weekly shop.

On opening the box you have two bags of pieces and the instructions.

As with all sets I first turned my attention to the minifigure. As I previously mentioned I have a large collection of Star Wars minifigures and this is one of the coolest.

The helmet is beautifully detailed and has a transparent yellow visor built in rather than being painted on to the face of the pilot, as with the Dak minifigure from the 2014 Snowspeeder (75049.)

I've done a couple of comparison shots here of the Resistance X-Wing pilot and Dak Ralter (essentially an Rebel style pilot) so you can see the further developments in just 18 months.

As you can see the older figure does look a bit old fashioned next to the more toned down colours of the Resistance pilot. The detail is certainly far better on the newer figure but the helmet is the real winner here. The detailing is fantastic and is one of the best lego helmets I've seen yet.

As you'd expect from such a small kit, the build is very basic and quite straight forward. The average adult shouldn't take more than 15-20 minutes to complete the X-Wing.

Once built the X-Wing is a really nice little kit which I can see really appealing to younger children. For us older children though, these microfighters miss the mark. I really enjoy building the bigger kits, not just for the actual enjoyment of construction but also for the finished model of a favourite Star Wars vehicle. However we do need to remember these are toys and as I said, young relatives of mine will love this as a collection to their Lego box.

Summary - A cool little set with an awesome minifigure creates an awesome toy but will leave the bigger kids wanting.

Who would wear a helmet like this?

It's a good question and one that immediately sprung to mind on looking at the Wired.com gallery of props from The Force Awakens. As you'd expect there are loads of First Order Stormtrooper helmets, updated blaster rifles and pistols that look like they've been made from scraps in a junk yard. There were also buckets of the new X-Wing pilot helmets (pun intended.)

In a number of different colour ways the new helmets looks just what you'd expect from an evolution of the classic rebel pilot's helmet we're so familiar with. My personal favourite is the white, blue and yellow with the classic Biggs chequer board design.

For many people though the inclusion of an original style rebel X-Wing helmet will have largely gone unnoticed. But it raises questions, why is it here? Whose is it? If the Resistance has new equipment including helmets who's the old stick in the mud who is still wearing an old helmet like this?

Could it be someone who hasn't had much contact with anyone for a couple of decades? Where ever Luke is hidden away, could he have taken an X-Wing to park up in the garage and polish? How great would it be to see Luke charge back in to the fray at the helm of his old skool X-Wing.  The colours on the helmet may be different to what we're used to but I'm pretty sure there aren't too many Resistance pilots in their new fancy X-Wings with the old bucket on their head.

Perhaps the inclusion of this helmet gives a subtle nod to the fact Luke has been out of touch for a few years. Whatever the reasoning and the ultimate story line what we can be assured of is the new Star Wars universe will look the part.

One of the key factors that cemented the original Star Wars films in our hearts was how beat-up everything looked. The Falcon looked like it had a few parking lot dings and the X-Wings definitely gave the feeling they had had a tough innings. Thankfully it looks like we're back in this second hand world. Gone is the polished, shiny finish of the prequel trilogy and back is the worn out, dusted up galaxy we all love.

Head over to www.wired.com to see the full gallery including Captain Phasma's helmet and blaster and Kylo Ren's awesome cross guard lightsaber.