Week 10: X-Wing Fighter

The X-Wing Fighter along with the TIE Fighter and cheaper Landspeeder was one of the most popular of all vehicles for kids growing up in the late 70's. I know for a fact that I had at least two of these as a kid as result of a miscommunication between Santa and my grandmother....lucky me!! Of course, with the help of my siblings neither vehicle or the later addition of the "battle damaged" X-Wing survived my childhood.

The ship features attack position wings that are activated by pushing in the button shaped like R2's dome. The wings were released with another switch just behind the dome. Behind the release switch is the blue button to activate the electronics. This is also the location of the battery compartment. The battery compartment held two AA batteries or one loose Jawa without his cloak. For some reason, I use to like to stick a Jawa in there when I was a kid. 

The battery compartment door is also prone to breakage. The black wing guns which are removable are often times missing on loose examples as well as the canopy. An odd thing about the wing guns is that the tips are sideways...they should be vertical not horizontal. The ship also has fold out front landing gear in the nose. In 1995, the X-Wing was re-released with the POTF2 line complete with all new stickers and sound effects and cannot be mistaken for it's vintage predecessor. 

The X-Wing was first released in 1978. The box featured the LP (or Long Play) logo on the front with the original Luke in the cockpit of the ship. Also in 1978, it was re-released featuring a Special Offer sticker with free figures inside (Luke and Han Solo). In 1979, the ship was released yet again minus the LP logo and featuring the new Luke X-Wing Pilot figure on the side panel pictures, but the front of the box remained the same with the original Luke in the cockpit. In 1980 the ship was released in ESB packaging with Luke X-Wing pilot figure in the cockpit and then released again in 1981 featuring all new photos of the ship in a Dabobah diorama.

In 1982, the ship took on an all new look featuring a new grey paintjob, tinted canopy and "battle damage" stickers. The ship was released in ESB packaging featuring the above mentioned Dagobah scene and the box remained the same for the ROTJ release which is the box that I have from my battle damaged X-Wing. (Star Wars boxed image from www.toysrgus.com the other is mine)

The Kenner version of this ship that most of us are familiar with contained electronics that made the all too cool whining sound with the little red light in the nose of the vehicle. Pretty cheesy for this day and age, but when I was a kid, it was damn cool. My Battle Damaged example works while my original does not (light works...no sound). 

European X-Wings (Palitoy, Tri-Logo, Meccano, etc) for the most part did not have these electronics such as my Battle Damaged Palitoy X-Wing from the U.K.

This ship is interesting in the fact that not only does it not have any electronics but the R2 head is chrome much like the action figure and not grey like the Kenner released X-Wings. Also you can see in the picture that the back of the Palitoy X-Wing is different in that it is a flat piece of plastic with a sticker nothing like the Kenner release. The battle damaged version of this ship is white and not grey like it's Kenner counterpart.

Another interesting foreign variation of this ship is the Glasslite Power of the Force X-Wing from Brazil. As you can see from the pics, the packaging is pretty different (as all Glasslite packaging tends to be), and also the ship itself is quite odd. The ship has some really weird stickers and is missing some as well...notice the sticker sheet. It appears that the only stickers are the two on the sides of the hull without the one on top, and two on top of the wings (none underneath??). Also this ship is made in a light grey/purple-ish color unlike any of the Kenner releases. This vehicle also has electronics. Please note: I do not own this ship and I have no idea where I got these pics from. I got these pics months ago when searching for something else.

Prices (EBay completed item search results):

loose Kenner X-Wing (original and battle damaged): $10-$50 depending on completeness, working electronics, box included, etc.

MISB Kenner X-Wing: Only one example and that is a ROTJ boxed BD X-wing. Ending price was $149.50 and in near perfect shape.

loose Palitoy X-Wing: From experience, this one is a little harder to get. My completed auction search resulted in one match and someone got a bargain for $12.50!!! (no box). Mine cost more like $65 and I had lost auctions on a couple of others that sold for closer to $100....all of these included the box.

Glasslite X-Wing: I don't have a clue. I haven't seen one for sale in a long time and I don't remember what that one closed for nor have I seen any others for sale.

Next week, we move on with the vintage figures. Next up: Han Solo 

 Thanks for reading!