U.S.A.!  U.S.A.!  U.S.A!

So the US beat Canada for the hockey gold medal, their first since The Miracle on Ice in 1980.  I’ve seen too many people compare yesterday’s game to the one against the Soviets, and that, quite simply, is insane.  As awesome as this was, there’s probably no possible scenario these days in which anything could ever again even hope to provide a setup that would allow for something to get within sniffing distance of what happened in Lake Placid.  Also, it was a frackin’ NJ Devil that scored the winning goal.  That is…unpleasant.

So between Crotchgate and the hockey gold, it doesn’t get much better than this.  What a time to be alive!

You know when else was a great time to be alive?  During the golden years of collecting from about 2007-2012.  The Hasbro Star Wars team of that era probably had a swimming pool filled with gold coins that they would dive into every day.  Sure there were a lot of repaints and sculpting tweaks, but it was filled with more product - and desirable product! - than any other time.  Then it all came crashing down, and here we are. 

In 2001, Hasbro released the first modern B-Wing Fighter in the POTJ line.  It was basically the Kenner vintage mold, but without the electronics and sound effects.  Seven years later, Hasbro retooled and repainted it again, giving us the EU “Dagger Squadron” B-Wing Fighter in the TLC [Blue] line.  This version came with a sticker sheet that allowed you to decorate your B-Wing in any of the 4 color schemes that could be found in Dagger Squadron.  Both releases came with pilots, and both were store exclusives.

In 2011, Hasbro went back to ROTJ as the source material and repainted the Dagger Squadron vehicle, and made some additional tweaks.  The B-Wing is a collector favorite vehicle.  Like the Y-Wing, it has its supporters for remade version in modern TVC.  But is it worth the tooling cost? Let’s take a quick look.

First and foremost, a little housekeeping.  This TVC vehicle previously existed as a gallery in our TVC menu, but it was done so long ago that it didn’t meet today’s stringent standards set by Inspector 12 at Banthaskull.  Luckily, I happen to have a boxed sample in my closet, so here’s your update.

The overall vehicle is a nice sculpt, and brings the on-screen vehicle to life in your collection.  It’s fairly large, and has several play features.  Working cockpit hatch, “gyroscope” cockpit, deployable landing gear, wings switchable between flight and travel mode, swappable cannons, and launching projectiles.  The paint version is interesting because it’s a bit more subdued than the POTJ version, and lacks the “grime” in the nooks and crannies.  You might judge it to be more palatable, or you might find it to be a bit of a step back.  I’m in the latter camp.  When I grabbed them off the shelf for this gallery and review, I made the assumption that the TVC vehicle was the one with the grimier paint, and was surprised this was not the case.

The TVC version takes the swappable wing cannon feature from the Dagger Squadron vehicle.  It’s probably something you wouldn’t care about, because it more toy-like, and less screen accurate.  These guns can easily be ignored if you wanted to do so.  Hasbro also retooled the cockpit a bit, to give it a little more depth and detail.  It’s not bad, but nothing to write home about.

Holding the vehicle in hand definitely gives toy vibes compared to today’s offerings.  Obviously, as mentioned, this one has only minor changes (aside from the electronics) from the original Kenner mold.  It’s not all that sturdy, either.  Like it feels kind of slapped together.  Like many X-Wings and TIE Fighters from the day, the wings and landing gear don’t lock into place with any kind of satisfaction.  The wings sag, and the central landing pad has too much give. 

Perhaps most annoying, there’s no way to display this in flight mode.  You can try to balance it like in some of the shots above, where the wings are open, and the vehicle is stored on the table at an angle.  Again, the less-than-sturdy nature of the wings makes this a little bit iffy.  It’s also not balanced that well, and mine tended to roll/tip forward onto the cockpit’s nose.  This B-Wing really needs a fight stand, like the one that Hasbro included with the newer Slave I releases.  Perhaps this is trending, as we’ve gotten these stands with the Haslab vehicles, the speeder bikes, and for the upcoming AT-RT. 

As for an update, you probably know my take on that.  I’d rather go for something new.  But the B-Wing dates back to the old Kenner line, and it’s definitely seen better days.  While I would’t do cartwheels if Hasbro announced a new one, I wouldn’t complain too much either.  I just hope it wouldn’t be $250.

I’ll give this one a 6.  It’s far from terrible, but definitely isn’t aging well.