Review: 9493 X-Wing Starfighter

[Skarkdahn]

LEGO seem to absolutely love the X-Wing: I believe that this is now the fourth minifigure-sized incarnation.

Does this version live up to the expectations and reputation left by its predecessors, or does it flop miserably?

Set Title: X-Wing Starfighter

Set #: 9493

Theme: Star Wars

Minifigures: 4: Luke Skywalker, Jek Porkins, R2-D2, R5-D8

Pieces: 560

Year of Release: 2012

1. The Box

Here, we have the box, with the X-Wing taking center stage, flying down the Death Star trench, and being followed by silhouettes of three TIE Fighters, all of whom have crud aim. On the side of the box, the minifigure line-up is presented: Jek Porkins and R5-D8 both have the orange "NEW!" sign placed directly next to them. R2 and Luke are obviously not new to the line-up.

I love the Darth Maul design, especially the lightsaber blade, which not only has a flowing edge to it, but also has sparks emerging from the emitter, suggesting that the blade 'sputtered' into existence.

This is the back of the box. Here, you can see all the functions of the set being highlighted in order to get you hyped about your newly-purchased set, along with a couple of scenes of the minifgures: one showing them racing to get to their only X-Wing before the other, the other showing them inspecting a technical hologram of the TIE Fighter, the flying rat of the Star Wars Universe. The functions presented include the opening cockpit, the detachable torpedoes, the Droid socket, and the folding-down landing gear. Strangely, the opening wings are not highlighted in a similar manner. Perhaps LEGO are counting on people owning at least one of the previous two models?

Oh, and you see that text on the top-right image? It says "9492 not included in box". Darn.

2. Opening the Box

This is what comes out of the box: Five bags, one DSS, and the instruction manual. The insanely raging kid is still present on instruction manuals after all this time...

Ah, the sticker sheet. Many will be disappointed to see that the Red 5 stripes are now stickers. I, for one, am disappointed to see the wing vents as stickers. However, for the former, there is a method to avoid sticker-putting-on-phobia.

3. Minifigures:

Okay, let's take time to review these figs. Obviously, the main focus on these guys are the two new chaps, Porkins and that R5 Unit. Porkins only has one side to his head, which sadly limits his potential. If you want to use that head in another scene, you need to have that helmet, else it would look slightly peculiar. He's also certainly a lot thinner than I remember, but I'm sure that if they had included a 'fat' torso, Luke wouldn't forgive you if you 'accidentally' used the wrong one.

I'm a huge fan of the new helmets. Luke's looks much better than the original, and Porkins' just looks supberb. I wish they'd do more sets with Biggs and Wedge to complete the family.

The backs of the minifigures. Only Porkins and Luke have back printing, whereas the droids have got printing going around their heads. As you can see from this picture and the one above, the two Rebels' white vests have faded into the orange jumpsuit, due to being printed on a darker colour, which is probably and sadly unavoidable.

I can't go much further without passing over this guy. The R5 droid is great, especially as it now means we can get more variation in the Astromechs!

I can think of one set that now badly needs a revamp. You game, Jawas?

4. Building the set

Bag 1:

This is the parts spread for the first bag. There are a lot of tan pieces in this bag, and I must admit that I feared that they would have been yellow, given the lighting on the image on the box itself.

This is the first bag halfway-through completion. Here, you can see that there is no transparent gear-box as in 4502 and 6212. Instead, they are constructed using separate parts, and this takes up a lot less room in the rear, with marvelous results.

And here we are! One bag down! Here, you can see the technic beams which will provide support to the nose of the fighter. At the back, we have something I personally have never seen in a LEGO set - upside-down building techniques! These will later form the shape of the craft, as you'll see further on in the review.

Bag 2:

This is the parts spread for the second bag. In this bag, you will be able to build the nose, the cockpit and part of the back of the craft.

This is the second bag halfway through construction. This section will attach onto the technic beam visible two pictures up, and the bricks will connect with the main body of the craft.

Here we have the result of Bag 2, married with the result of Bag 1. The fighter is starting to shape up now. Just behind the cockpit, you can see an example of upside-down building - those upside-down white slopes which form a part of the droid socket area.

Bag 3:

Bag 3 builds the upper-left and lower-right set of wings. This step requires some repetitive building, so I'd construct both together, if I were you.

Here's one of the completed wings. The stickers have come into play. If you mess up on the red 5 sticker, you can hide the bad one on the lower wings, and keep the better one for the upper wings. Of course, no such remedy exists for the wing vents...

Bag 3 completed, and added to the other section. The fighter is now looking somewhat lopsided, and it almost begs you to build the other wings and cure it of its lopsidedness.

Bag 4:

Bag 4 is a mirror version of Bag 3, and build the lower-left and upper-right set of wings. Once more, there will be some repetition.

This is the completed underside of the wings. Those tan dishes will be used to help open the wings. The dark grey bricks which help layer the wings will allow them to sit mostly-flushed with the counterparts above and below. Not completely flushed, however.

Bag 4 completed! Now all we need are the engines, the guns, the rear details and the rubber bands.

Bag 5:

This is the parts spread for Bag 5. Once you remove the parts needed for the fighter's body itself, there are a lot of identical pieces left over, as they all form the four engines and the four guns.

And once you've made and added those, that's Bag 5 completed! In fact, that's the set complete!

5. Inspecting the Finished Set

Here, we can see the completed set in all its glory. I've applied the decals to make the X-Wing Red 6, just to show off the new configuration.

Many people have expressed their disappointment over the new Droid socket orientation. Personally, I like it, as it removes the issues of chunkiness that all other incarnations have suffered from. Also, the guns are now a lot more detailed, and are far more proportionate than the guns which were used from 7140 through to 6212.

For a set of its type and size, I'm honestly surprised that the X-Wing has no flick-fire missiles. Sure, it has two detachable torpedoes, but that's as far as it goes. This is no problem - it means that the torpedoes can't get lost as easily, but if they do get lost, they'd be a lot harder to find replacements for.

This is the back of the craft. Now you can see how the upside-down techniques have allowed the hexagonal rear to be shown for the first time in the official LEGO X-Wing's history. Finally, no more weird hatches!

There are no visible gaps from the back in this version - it's all solid. There are gaps from the top, but these allow the wings to be opened, and so are completely necessary. The rubber bands certainly apply some force on the wings: indeed, they're tougher to open, and then literally snap shut. I have fears that with too much use, this could slowly start to damage the fighter, rubber bands, and wings.

This is the underside, and here, you can see the effect of using the wings upside-down like the original studio model. Can you tell the difference?

Sadly from this view, it's not too solid. There's an awful lot of blue which is visible, particularly behind the landing gear. If only they'd used grey pegs instead of blue. It would have been less obtrusive.

6. Spare pieces

The spare pieces are good if you are a technic-piece-hoarder. A few pegs and a couple of gears. There are also some studs left over from the build of the body.

7. Verdict

Minifigures: 8.5/10. Jek Porkins and R5-D8 are great - indeed they are some of the best 'figs of 2012 in my opinion. Sadly Luke and R2 drag the rating down, as they've been included in so many sets and people will be getting tired of adding to their Luke collection.

Pieces: 8.5/10. 560 pieces isn't a bad amount given its price (in the UK, at least). We get recoloured pieces such as the white Barraki eye and the grey telescope, but most of everything else has appeared in a set in he same colours as they do here. The minifigure parts are great, especially of the R5 droid. One major problem with this set? Stickers.

Design: 9/10. The orientation of the Droid socket, whilst a disappointment to many, has allowed for a more streamlined build, which is a vast improvement from 4502 and 6212 in particular. I'm a huge fan of the wings being built so that they are now the same from top and bottom viewpoints.

Functions/Play factor: 9/10. The fighter is great to 'swoosh' around, and if you have 9492, you can have an imaginary space battle. The lack of flick-fire missile has no real effect, given that now it is possible to have Red 5 actually 'firing' a proton torpedo.

Price: 9.5/10. This one is a difficult rating to pinpoint. Obviously, it would be different depending on where I bought the set from, but as I bought it from the UK, it's a very good price with a good value for piece-per-pence ratio. If it had been in dollars, I'd have given this rating as 8/10. The minifigures are worth it, trust me.

Overall: 8.9/10. A highly recommended buy for any LEGO Star Wars fan.

To return to my original question: does it withhold the reputation and expectations left by 7140 through to 6212? My honest answer would be: yes, yes it does. Sadly, none of my other X-Wings (yup, own all of 'em) are currently constructed, so I can't compare them to 9493. I have a feeling that 9493 would be bigger than 6212, though.

And now, to close the review, Porkins tries out his new pride and joy!

Thanks for reading!

~ Skarkdahn

Edited January 13, 2012 by KielDaMan
Indexed

[Fallenangel]

It's rather disappointing that the cargo bay is still misplaced forward. Hopefully it won't prove too difficult to fix.

If I haven't already mentioned it before, the idea of SNOTing the slope bricks in back is probably taken from Bruce Lowell's X-wing (though his was slightly more involved).

[Skarkdahn]

A poll has been attached to the topic.

[mortesv]

Well I only have two 7140 from the good old days. I can see the design has evolved somewhat and the old 1999 models look dated and simplistic. It seem that this 9493 is the best model so far - not counting the 7191 UCS set - which of course also is a bit dated and has a couple of issues as well

[smokebelch]

Great review

Have to say I was really on the fence about this set after owning the last X-Wing, was thinking of just picking up the 2 new minifigs from Bricklink. However caved in the other day and have just built mine and it really is so much better than the last. All the little details really do make a differance, would highly recommened it if you are undecided having owned the previous one.

The stickers are a pain, though I've got my printed tiles for the wing markings I can sub over from the last one, and they are pretty cheap to get from Bricklink to finish off the bottom wings. I would echo the setiment about the 'snapping' shut of the wings being a bit forceful, after a few open and shuts on mine the bricks loosen on the wing joints- however the upside is the mechanism not taking up as much room as in the old one.

Also I know that here in the UK we are lucky to have this set availible already, but had to laugh when I was in ToysRUs yesterday and they STILL have the old X-Wing on 'sale' for £49.99! the same price I had just paid for the brand new one in Argos! Ah good old ToysRUs and there inflated prices

[Werlu Ulcur]

Very possibly this is going to be my next buy, once I receive everything that is on it's way to my house .