Review: 75248 Resistance A-Wing Starfighter

[Rufus]

In a decade of reviewing Star Wars sets this is first time I've reviewed one before the film was released.  Still, it's a familiar ship!  It remains to be seen whether the A-wing will play an important role in Episode IX: one assumes it will, for it to have been made into a set, but if the V-Wing is anything to go by, a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo is equally possible.   The named pilot is a good sign.  Note that this Sequel Trilogy A-Wing is a slightly different variety to the Original Trilogy version; we saw it briefly in action alongside the bombers in the opening battle of The Last Jedi.

Set Information

Set Number: 75248

Name:  Resistance A-Wing Starfighter

Parts:  269   Figures:  2     Release:  2019

Price:  GB £24.99  |  EUR 29.99  |  US $29.99  |  DKK 250  |  AU $44.99

 

The Box

I love the box artwork in this wave.  Behind everything is a pattern of greebling in black, all made apparently from LEGO parts.  It's really smart, and combines nicely with the yellow lines and minimalist STAR WARS logo.  By the looks of the top-right overlooking figure, Kylo Ren gets his helmet back on for this film.    The set fils the space nicely; in the background is a planet ...

 

... SPOILER ALERT!  It's a foresty planet, if the box back is anything to go by.  If you're a Star Wars fan reading this, it's likely you'll already have heard enough about the coming film to have learned - or to be able guess - the name of the planet, but I'll try not to spoil it for those who haven't.  I look forward to finding out if the A-Wing actually goes there, and with both of these characters.  In a one-person ship.

 

Like its recent predecessors, this incarnation of the A-wing comes with spring-shooters, as the inset shows.    It's a thumb-tab box, I'm afraid to say.

 

Instructions

The single booklet is clear and nicely-paced, with call-outs and sub-builds picked out against a plain light grey background.  I didn't encounter any colour issues; I made a mistake at one point but that was likely due to not paying enough attention.  

The usual set inventory is to be found at the rear, as are advertisements for the other sets of the range and a plug for the Tt games Skywalker Saga game due to be released next year, which I'm looking forward to (and not just because it'll keep the kids occupied  ).

 

Sticker Sheet

There are several decals, as expected, though I think fewer than on the last 'red' A-Wing, which as I recall had stickers on all the fins.  

Curiously, the stickers are applied asymmetrically, with two fewer decals on the port side of the ship.  As is usual for A-Wings, you are required to mount two stickers over the curved surface of the cockpit canopy, which can be a pain to get straight.  It is interesting that the Republic's Open Circle logo appears here.

 

Parts

The three modules contain a fairly typical array of parts:

   

The only unique part I have found is the 4x4 tile with 4 studs appearing for the first time in Dark Green.  I always seem to be short of white 2x4 wedge plates (particularly right-handed ones, for some reason) and 2x3 white tiles, but I can't see myself parting this set out anytime soon.

 

Figures

I think this is the first A-Wing to feature a named pilot.  This fella has the delightfully American name Snap Wexley^TM (I'm sure there'll be a Chip Jetson along sooner or later).  You may or may not know the name, but it's likely you'll remember him from The Force Awakens - most likely in the context of 'Hey, it's that guy!' (that guy being Matt Parkman from Heroes).   I'm delighted to see Lt. Connix appearing as a figure - appearing as she did prominently in The Last Jedi as the bridge officer who aided Poe Dameron's misguided mutiny - and being played of course by Carrie Fisher's daughter.  

Snap is identical to his earlier incarnation in the 75125 X-Wing Microfighter except for a different head which now has lines under the eyes.  His jumpsuit was also sported by Poe Dameron in the 2015 orange and black 75102 X-Wing set. 

Lt. Connix's torso is unique.  Her hair is - fittingly - Leia's, from 2009's superb 8038 Battle of Endor, but appearing for the first time in medium dark flesh; it has a hole for attaching a headpiece:

 

Her head featured previously in Harry Potter and - I was surprised to find - in Sally Ride in the Women of NASA set.   It is double-sided, shown here with the highly underrated Resistance Bomber set's crew.

Build

I have chosen not to document the entire build process, though you can some in-build pictures on my flickr album if it takes your fancy.  Instead I've shown the part-disassembled set alongside its immediate predecessor, 75175, showing that the underlying construction is very similar.  Essentially the ship is built around this cockpit piece with the wings attached to the sides, a blocked pinned onto the rear, and the engines stuck at and able to the block - though the attachment is a pin in the new set compared to clips in the earlier red version.

As you can see, the spring-shooter mechanism is identical.  Looking at the inverted slopes behind the shooter mechanisms you should also be able to see that the ship is a stud longer than its ancestor.

Overall, the build is fun without being challenging.  There's a little unavoidable repetition in the wings and engines, but each section is short enough for this not to be too tedious.  

 

The Complete Set

 

Owners of earlier A-Wings will likely notice that this latest iteration has a sleeker outline than many of her ancestors, reflecting the change in design of the Sequel Trilogy A-Wings.  In part this is achieved by the colour scheme and decals: the coloured section is six studs wide where it has previously always been four; also, I've already mentioned that the ship is a stud longer than the earlier version whilst being the same width.  The wing shape is also a factor:  the use of 2x4 wedges instead of 3x6 marks a sharper outline.

I love the dark green.  It is not new to the A-Wing fleet, having appeared in LEGO back in 2009's 7754 Home One, and I believe the original A-Wing concept art featured green ships which were changed to red due the problems with greenscreen filming techniques.  It looks great here, especially with the smart black detailing.

The black looks great on the wedge pulleys of the engines too.  I've never been mad-keen on the 2x2 trans-yellow round bricks here, but at least there is internal consistency.  I would be tempted to swap out the grey 9L axles for 8L black ones.

Excepting 7754's green A-Wing with its marvellous removable engine, and the first-generation blocky one which I never owned, I think this is the first version not to use a triple-curved slope behind the cockpit.  Instead there's a short device of curves and a slope.  I don't know why this was chosen, but it does make the canopy slightly easier to open as you can get a fingernail under the rim:

Notice how the decals on the green 1x4 tiles beside the cockpit perfectly continue the line of the 2x4 wedges in front .

At the rear, the usual double-curved arrangement persists, though in this case centred with a round tile with one stud rather than the usual four round tiles . In this case, it is mounted via a 2x2 plate onto opposing 1x2-2x2 SNOT brackets, in what I think is a needlessly overcomplicated technique.  There is room in the bricks underneath this to place a SNOT bracket lower down, and therefore mount the rear contraption flush to the body rather than proud as it does here.  The 75175 version demonstrates this perfectly.

You can also see here how the engines are mounted via Technic pins rather than the clips on 75175.  This version is sturdier if a little fiddly to put together.

The underside is quite smart.  The landing gear folds away nicely.   You can see again the rear curved thing and its slightly awkward attachment, a side effect of which is the inverted SNOT bracket sitting proud.

The instructions indicate mounting the little crank pins onto the landing gear with the 'toes' facing towards the centre of the ship, somewhat counter-intuitively.

The nose gear is also mounted higher, giving the ship a nose-down attitude when landed, at least with the gear fully extended, as instructed.  I prefer to extend the legs to a slant, as in the lower picture, which goes to alleviate the nose-down slant a little:

Note also the absence of stickers on the port side, except on the tails.  Maybe the designer only had access to one view of the ship and didn't want to get it wrong?

 

You can see the effect the lander position has on the sitting position in this comparison:

 

One thing I'm not so sure about is the effect of the two 1x2 dark green curve slopes in front of the cockpit; they stick up a little too far, which is very apparent in this view.  In case you were wondering, the black 2x4 wedge plates on the sides are intended to represent openings, I think for proton torpedoes or suchlike.

 

The gold bullion apparently stashed behind the protruding green curved slopes is part of the design, as we shall see shortly.  As we look inside the cockpit, admire again the continuation of the line of the 2x4 wedges onto the decal behind.  In the inset you can see how it doesn't quite match up to the canopy, which has a 1 in 3 slope rather than 1 in 4, but it leaves only a tiny gap.

Meanwhile, of course, poor old Snap has to pilot his ship with ... NOTHING!  Not even a lever??  Look carefully behind the cockpit at the green and white rear panel: you can see how it sits on two white 2x2 cutaway corner plates, which marry up with the same parts on the body behind.  It looks like this should be removable for a play feature, or storage, but alone of all the A-wings this set does NOT have a feature behind the cockpit.  There is plenty of room however to store the blasters in the cockpit itself, safe in the knowledge that they can rattle around without interfering with the flight controls. 

 

Below is the only reference image I could find (a metal model from here): 

 

Assuming this representation is movie-accurate, I think the LEGO version has done a pretty good job.  The set has captured the narrower outline of the sequel-trilogy RZ-2 variant, and the outward flare of the wings from the sleeker nose to the outboard weapons.  Speaking of these, having seen this I do wonder whether the 2016 Rebels version's chunkier blasters are a better match than the slender offerings in the new set.  No official LEGO A-Wing has attempted to make the nose a flat slope, rather than curved; simplicity of build quite reasonably wins over accuracy here.

It is interesting that in this model the engine fins slant outwards rather than inwards at the top.  The blue RZ-2 A-wing from TLJ had fins slanting inwards.  They are supposed to be adjustable, I guess.  The shape of the LEGO fins is not correct, being double-stepped as they are.  This part has been in seven sets, four of which are A-wings, and it is likely the part was designed for the A-wing: strange therefore that the shape is awry.

 

Comparison

Here is the new set compared without stickers to 2017's OT version, 75175:

The new set's narrower nose is obvious, and works better as the gradient of the double-curved wedge slopes matches the wedge plates underneath.  I've already pointed out that 75248 is a stud longer than her elder sister; note also here that the cockpit canopy is also mounted a stud further to the rear.  I think I prefer the trans-clear canopy, too.   See here for a side-on comparison, or here from the rear.

Here's all the greenies together: 2016's 75150, 75248, and 2009's 7754.

It may look otherwise from the picture, but bar the outboard weapons all three of these sets are the same width: 14 studs across the beam.

And finally, here's all my A-wings together.  Of all of them, 2013's 75003 (top right) is the only one to attempt the notch at the front of the ship in bricks (it's too wide); and it's the only one to get the shape of the fins right.

The stickers help, but even so I think the new set looks great and fares well to the comparison.

 

Conclusion

I'd delighted with this latest A-Wing.  It's a lovely-looking ship, and the first brick representation of the newer RZ-2 variant from the Sequel movies.   It feels like part of the family alongside the two most recent 'slanty fin' sets, and I think the three together would make a nice shelf display (If I can find the stickers sheets for the other two).

Appearance 9  Sleek and attractive, and a good likeness of the model (as far as we know!).  Like all LEGO A-Wings, it suffers for the curved nose; the wing shape isn't quite right, thought perhaps better than most of the earlier sets.

Playability 7  Swooshable, and with retractable landing gear and an opening cockpit (and obligatory spring shooters), but there aren't the ancillary vehicles which come with some other A-Wings, and no behind-cockpit storage here.  

Figures 9  The inclusion of two named characters for a low-priced set is welcome; though they may not be front-line characters, this will most likely make them rarer and all the more cherished.  I'm delighted that Lt. Connix has a minifigure at last.  

Parts 7 Not a particularly remarkable collection of parts, though dark green is always welcome.

Build 7  Very much average difficulty, and without any particularly new or interesting techniques, but the process is enjoyable.   It's a very similar build to 75175.

Value 10  At £25 it seems very good value for money (I got on sale for £20).  For a little over half the RRP of 75175, you get a similar-sized ship, losing out only on a service vehicle and a generic figure.  

 

My verdict 9/10  Excellent value and a good looking set: a must-buy.   Let's hope the ship features prominently in the film!

Hope you enjoyed the review.

Rufus

[Per_SW]

Nice and thorough review, I really enjoyed the comparison with the previous models, especially with 75175.
I just built the model yesterday and I agree with most of the points you make (such as the landing gear slant), and I really like the overall shape of the new A-Wing, narrower but not that flat, thus being able to pass for a RZ-1 and join my rebel base. The only things I'd change are the absence of a control panel/yoke and the lack of a storage/engine compartment behind the cockpit, to be more in line with the RZ-2 (which also looks like a two-seater in the image you posted of the metal model), but both these issues should be easily moddable with some thought.

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Beautiful review!

[mcphatty]

Great review, thanks for this! Lovely photos too and thanks for lining up all of your A-Wings for the comparison, that’s always an interesting shot to do with these redesigned ships.

Personally I can’t leave a Lego set alone, there’s always a few design shortcomings I can’t help but try to fix and I was a bit disappointed with the length and shaping around the ‘wings’ on this one. I think the set needed to be a stud wider on either side and two studs longer to really capture the ship properly, but at least it’s an easily modified set. The engine areas and shaping around the cockpit look great though, the tail parts for the ‘fins’ seem to suit the Resistance A-Wing even better than the old RoTJ one.

The price is really good, it’s nice to have a significant ship and main character for such a low cost, and talking of the pilot it’s exciting to see that Snap remains a side character worthy of his own sets! I’m also a big Alias and JJ Abrams fan so I’m always happy to see his old crew.

 

Edited October 29, 2019 by mcphatty

[lowlead]

Fantastic review - thanks for your efforts!

This ship has never been a favorite of mine and the amount of stickers turns me off, but it looks like a great set for the A-wing fans!

[ShaydDeGrai]

Thanks for the wonderful review.  I especially liked the comparisons to/contrasts with prior variations on the theme.  When it comes to ships that have been done and redone so many times, it's really helpful to have some side by side comparisons to decide if yet another outing is really worth it.

Personally, I'm not too keen on the sticker sheet, but I like the form language (and the green) compared to some of the prior models that (with or without stickers) weren't really that distinctive.  My prior favorite variation was the 75003 from 2013, but this one seems just different enough to be worth picking up.

[icm]

Thank you for the detailed review, and especially for the comparison pictures with the other A-wings and the Metal Earth model.  I plan on picking up this set in a month or two, but it's just not exciting enough for me to have bought it on day one.  For one thing, it looks too much like an RZ-1; the set designer's changes to let it pass as an RZ-2 are far too subtle.  For another thing, I want a blue and white model with Tallie Lintra, not a white and green one with Snap Wexley.  Finally, my collectors' instinct holds me back...if I buy this one A-wing I'll end up buying a few older models to complete the collection, and that larger sum of money isn't something I should spend right now.

[SteamSewnEmpire]

75175 is my favorite.

For some reason the poll is showing neither my vote nor the results, though :(

Edited October 30, 2019 by SteamSewnEmpire

[Cylo]

Thanks for the review!

That's a nice A wing collection you've got there!

4 hours ago, SteamSewnEmpire said:

75175 is my favorite.

For some reason the poll is showing neither my vote nor the results, though :(

The poll's broken in the Star Wars forum, I dunno why

[WhiteFang]

Outstanding review, Rufus. I am actually on the fence whether to get this set for the sake of getting LT Connix. I had previous A-Wings as well and I am still undecided until I seen your fleet of A-Wings variants.  

Lovely. Now you got me persuaded to get it which I might actually get the Y-Wing. I had only recently picked up the new AT-ST though. Though I had to admit, it is more for the minifigures. Good to see you around, buddy.  

[Retro]

Fantastic review. Beautiful photographs and a writing style that is clear and entertaining. I hope these written reviews never go out of fashion...

[Borex]

Thanks for the great review. Especially the pictures with all of the A-wings in them are fun to see.

[Rufus]

Thank you everyone for taking the trouble to reply - it is greatly appreciated. 

On 10/28/2019 at 8:22 PM, Per_SW said:

Nice and thorough review, I really enjoyed the comparison with the previous models, especially with 75175.
I just built the model yesterday and I agree with most of the points you make (such as the landing gear slant), and I really like the overall shape of the new A-Wing, narrower but not that flat, thus being able to pass for a RZ-1 and join my rebel base. The only things I'd change are the absence of a control panel/yoke and the lack of a storage/engine compartment behind the cockpit, to be more in line with the RZ-2 (which also looks like a two-seater in the image you posted of the metal model), but both these issues should be easily moddable with some thought.

Thank you!  Interesting point about the ship being a two-seater; I hadn't thought of that.  It's quite a roomy cockpit so should be moddable - but the rear-end of the big cockpit piece would get in the way and that part would need to be switched.  Shouldn't be too difficult.

On 10/28/2019 at 9:58 PM, LEGO Train 12 Volts said:

Beautiful review!

Thank you!

On 10/29/2019 at 10:09 AM, mcphatty said:

Great review, thanks for this! Lovely photos too and thanks for lining up all of your A-Wings for the comparison, that’s always an interesting shot to do with these redesigned ships.

Personally I can’t leave a Lego set alone, there’s always a few design shortcomings I can’t help but try to fix and I was a bit disappointed with the length and shaping around the ‘wings’ on this one. I think the set needed to be a stud wider on either side and two studs longer to really capture the ship properly, but at least it’s an easily modified set. The engine areas and shaping around the cockpit look great though, the tail parts for the ‘fins’ seem to suit the Resistance A-Wing even better than the old RoTJ one.

The price is really good, it’s nice to have a significant ship and main character for such a low cost, and talking of the pilot it’s exciting to see that Snap remains a side character worthy of his own sets! I’m also a big Alias and JJ Abrams fan so I’m always happy to see his old crew.

Thanks!  Greg Grunberg who plays Snap is listed on IMDB, so we can only assume he gets a reasonably prominent role.  Interestingly, Billie Lourd (Konnix) gets top billing on that list.

On 10/29/2019 at 6:26 PM, lowlead said:

Fantastic review - thanks for your efforts!

This ship has never been a favorite of mine and the amount of stickers turns me off, but it looks like a great set for the A-wing fans!

Thank you!  The stickers aren't so bad, though the ones on the cockpit are a bit of a pain.  I've really mellowed on stickers in my old age.

23 hours ago, ShaydDeGrai said:

Thanks for the wonderful review.  I especially liked the comparisons to/contrasts with prior variations on the theme.  When it comes to ships that have been done and redone so many times, it's really helpful to have some side by side comparisons to decide if yet another outing is really worth it.

Personally, I'm not too keen on the sticker sheet, but I like the form language (and the green) compared to some of the prior models that (with or without stickers) weren't really that distinctive.  My prior favorite variation was the 75003 from 2013, but this one seems just different enough to be worth picking up.

Thanks for the feedback!  It was an excuse to get five sets out of storage .  Get this one!  It is such good value for a SW set.

17 hours ago, icm said:

Thank you for the detailed review, and especially for the comparison pictures with the other A-wings and the Metal Earth model.  I plan on picking up this set in a month or two, but it's just not exciting enough for me to have bought it on day one.  For one thing, it looks too much like an RZ-1; the set designer's changes to let it pass as an RZ-2 are far too subtle.  For another thing, I want a blue and white model with Tallie Lintra, not a white and green one with Snap Wexley.  Finally, my collectors' instinct holds me back...if I buy this one A-wing I'll end up buying a few older models to complete the collection, and that larger sum of money isn't something I should spend right now.

Thank you.  To be fair, the differences between the RZ-1 and RZ-2 are  subltle - or at least I thought so.  It wasn't until digging around for comparison pictures that I realised there was a difference .  I'd like to see a blue one too.

17 hours ago, SteamSewnEmpire said:

75175 is my favorite.

For some reason the poll is showing neither my vote nor the results, though :(

 

13 hours ago, Reaper said:

Thanks for the review!

That's a nice A wing collection you've got there!

The poll's broken in the Star Wars forum, I dunno why

Sorry, forgot about the broken poll.  

9 hours ago, WhiteFang said:

Outstanding review, Rufus. I am actually on the fence whether to get this set for the sake of getting LT Connix. I had previous A-Wings as well and I am still undecided until I seen your fleet of A-Wings variants.  

Lovely. Now you got me persuaded to get it which I might actually get the Y-Wing. I had only recently picked up the new AT-ST though. Though I had to admit, it is more for the minifigures. Good to see you around, buddy.  

Hey Fangy!  Get this one!  You must.  And get the Y-wing too! 

9 hours ago, Retro said:

Fantastic review. Beautiful photographs and a writing style that is clear and entertaining. I hope these written reviews never go out of fashion...

Thank you!  It is nice of you to say that.  It is feedback like yours that makes it worth still doing these reviews. 

14 minutes ago, Borex said:

Thanks for the great review. Especially the pictures with all of the A-wings in them are fun to see.

Thank you!  Glad you enjoyed them.  

[Hold0511]

Excellent thanks for the review, sharing your thoughts and taking the time to do good pics and the comparisons.  I'm of that age that I prefer written reviews than videos on sets so thanks again great job.  I love A-wings and have all the issued kits and a lot of MOCs, so this is definitely coming my way come Crimbo. 

[Sucram]

Great review Rufus, I'm partial to the A Wing that came with the TIE Advanced from 2016. Being able to bull back the whole middle section to shoot out the spring loaded shooters was awesome, if a little unnecesary.

[Jim]

Great review! The comparison is very cool.

I don't particularly like the A-wing, but I do like this rendition.

[LegendaryArticuno]

Imo looks like a downgrade from the most recent original trilogy version.

[paulinho-knbl]

What a great review! Love the comparison picture.

[macaron35]

just got the 75248 a-wing and I am ogling at the 75175

I was wondering if instead of getting the 75175 I should buy a second 75248 and replace all the green parts by dark red instead ? or get the red one, a bit shorter and larger but has different minifigs ?

[NerdYoda]

3 hours ago, macaron35 said:

just got the 75248 a-wing and I am ogling at the 75175

I was wondering if instead of getting the 75175 I should buy a second 75248 and replace all the green parts by dark red instead ? or get the red one, a bit shorter and larger but has different minifigs ?

The red 75175 is an RZ1 A-Wing, as used by the rebellion. This Version has been shorter und a bit wider than the newer green 75248 RZ2, used by the Resistance. Lego realized this very difference quite nicely as far as I think.

Edited November 16, 2020 by NerdYoda

[Per_SW]

7 hours ago, macaron35 said:

just got the 75248 a-wing and I am ogling at the 75175

I was wondering if instead of getting the 75175 I should buy a second 75248 and replace all the green parts by dark red instead ? or get the red one, a bit shorter and larger but has different minifigs ?

I don't really care for the sequels,but I still bought the 75248 A-Wing because of its colour -you can never have enough dark green- and modded it a bit to make it resemble the rebel RZ-1 instead of the resistance RZ2. Here's the topic I made about the mod, which most importantly includes a picture of the two A-Wings side by side. Seeing as the only thing modded on the green one is the part behind the cockpit it could help give you an idea about the differences between the two.

[macaron35]

Thanks for your feedbacks

 

i will mod just the back of the Green one, indeed it is weird just behind the cockpit