The Star Wars The Vintage Collection Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Antoc Merrick’s X-Wing Fighter Vehicle with Action Figure (THAT is a mouthful!) was announced back in April 2021 and began showing up in stores in October 2021. It was exclusive to Target in the US and ToysRUs in Canada. It’s a repaint of the “modern” version of the X-wing fighter that has been around since 2013 and like its’predecessors it looks great. Most recently we saw this fighter released as Luke Skywalker’s X-Wing alongside the release of Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker. It is different from the other X-wing Hasbro released for TROS, Poe Dameron’s orange-coloured version. You can see our photo gallery of that vehicle HERE. We’ll compare Poe Dameron’s X-wing fighter with Antoc Merrick X-wing fighter later in our review.
ANTOC MERRICK EXCLUSIVE ACTION FIGURE
Blue Leader, Antoc Merrick is (during the time of this review) exclusive to this vehicle and we hope to see either an individual release or as other pilots from Blue Squadron. The figure is a repaint of The Vintage Collection VC158 Luke Skywalker X-wing Pilot with a new head sculpt. The likeness to General Merrick is excellent; although to determine this we had to check out a buddy’s purchase as our figure has a definite shift in the facial paint app. In closeup it’s very noticeable but not a deal breaker. We contacted Hasbro about a replacement but they were unable to (although they did offer either a refund or a “lower priced Star Wars item.” As we said, it’s not a deal breaker, especially when the figure is wearing the including helmet. The helmet design is a great reproduction of the one seen in Rogue One but it’s a repaint of the one included with the VC158 Luke figure so it’s much too big for the figure’s head. Merrick’s haircut is more military than Luke’s shaggy locks so the hair sculpt is smaller. Also, the helmet has a molded-in spot for Rey’s ponytail when she wears the helmet in The Rise of Skywalker. The helmet can literally be spun 360 degrees while on Merrick’s head and in order to keep it in place something like putty or maybe tissue will have to be packed into the helmet to keep it in place. Otherwise it’s a great looking figure and the very first to represent Blue Squadron. Possibly interesting to note is that the figure is listed on the back of the card alongside other figures. As we said, additional pilots from the squad would be awesome, or at the very least have the figure available on its’ own to allow for custom pilots.
UNBOXING
The packed-in figure sits on top of the cardboard inner box face down which kept the bubble from being damaged. As the inner box is slid out from the outer box the figure is stable enough to slide out safely as well. Hasbro used no plastic in packaging the vehicle with cardboard used to protect larger parts from getting bumped or crushed and heavy paper envelops were used to pack the remainder of parts. A paper leaflet with instructions are included as well. The vehicle requires some assembly but nothing difficult. The fighter’s nose, wings, laser cannons and proton torpedo projectile all must be attached.
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ON DISPLAY
Hasbro has done a great job with Merrick’s Xwing. The blue striping looks great and there are dirty yellow paint apps all over the vehicle which give it an excellent “used universe” feel. These highlights remind us oddly enough, of yellowed masking tape on a hockey stick. They look like they should have sticky residue, it’s that good. The dark dirt wash used to show an X-wing that has seen some action is used all over the vehicle and really sells the used universe feel. This sculpt has been around for years but there’s a good reason: it just looks great sitting on display.
As much as we love this vehicle it still has the same few issues that it’s predecessors have. The lever on the back that is used to “lock s-foils in attack position” and separate the wings into it’s distinctive “X” appearance still doesn’t work adequately and the wings don’t separate as much as they should. The Rise of Skywalker Poe Dameron X-wing has a different means of doing this, with two buttons for opening and closing the wings and we wish Hasbro would bring this feature to the Original Trilogy version of the X-wing. A couple of toothpicks wedged between the wings can help achieve a more movie accurate look. We’ve wrapped elastics around the engines of our model to show how much more the wings can expand. If you plan on displaying the X-wing by hanging it from a ceiling we recommend looping fishing line around the engines to help expand the wings. The lever also needs a better paint job as it matches the white-ish colour of the vehicle instead of where it sticks out from the back. The back of the vehicle is a dark grey so the lever doesn’t blend in at all and is distracting. We’ll be adding some paint to our X-wing for sure.
HIDDEN FEATURES
The underside of the X-wing includes a proton torpedo cannon, a storage compartment and retractable landing gear. The proton torpedo cannon sits on a rotating door and includes a missile that can be fired with a spring-loaded trigger. It’s a little too big for our liking but the fact that it can be hidden makes it a fun feature. The storage compartment has a pull-down door that allows access to it although no accessories come with the vehicle it could be used for storing weapons or helmets or other gear. Interesting to note the different ways Hasbro has approached this feature with varying paint apps for Merrick’s, Poe’s and the 2011 version.
There are three separate landing struts that retract into the underside of the X-wing. The front strut is sturdy and when not in use can be swiveled back under the ship and hidden with a hinged panel.It works really well; although a split 2-door setup would be more screen accurate. The rear landing struts are another matter. Although they are sturdy, hard plastic with alot of detailing they occasionally flip back up into the body of the ship much too easily when on display. Some type of locking clip or lock should be added to keep them in place.
To make the toy look more like the on screen vehicle we would also like to see removable panels that would cover the struts when retracted but removable when the struts are down since these two images show no panel of any kind:
COCKPIT
Every version of this X-wing has had very detailed cockpits and the Merrick X-wing continues this. Both inner walls have stickers with control button graphics a moveable flight stick a detailed front instrument panel detailed in black, blue, grey and a very neon green for the viewscreen. It looks great. Other nice details are hoses that run down either side of the pilot seat, the instrument panel pops out so a figure can be easily placed inside the cockpit and there’s an articulated targeting computer. While this feature could use some paint, it’s one solid, light blue colour, it works really well and is easy to use. We’ve added a few comparison photos of other X-wing cockpits to compare.
DROID SOCKET
The astromech droid socket replaced the old school, vintage approach to X-wings which featured a non-removable R2-D2 dome that acted as a push button to expand the vehicle’s wings. The modern versions now have an actual spot to insert an astromech droid behind the cockpit with a separate lever for working the wings. It’s a fun feature that allows for virtually any 3.75 scaled astromech droid to ride along. But keep in mind that barrel-shaped astromechs like R2-D2 are what we’re referring to here. BB units will technically fit but will get stuck if pushed down into the socket. So far only the Poe Dameron X-wing from The Rise of Skywalker will allow BB-units (using a locking ring to fit the round body of the BB droid). We needed a pair of pliers to pluck BB-8 out. Stick with R-Series droids or the new Vintage Collection Power Droid if you don’t mind it sitting sideways.
As we’ve seen with the cockpit and storage compartment, the droid socket has been painted differently from model to model.
If you’re wondering what astromech flew with General Merrick during the Battle of Scarif you can head over to From4LOMtoZuckuss.com for the answer! Here’s hoping Hasbro re-releases the droid figure at some point; in fact for the increased price of the vehicle it really should have been included
DETAILING, WEATHERING & WRAP UP
The Antoc Merrick’s X-wing Fighter from The Vintage Collection, like it’s predecessors, is a fun, authentic looking vehicle as seen in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and although it has it’s issues that we hope Hasbro addresses someday, we’re very happy to add it our Rebel base diorama. Here’s a final gallery of close-up photos, showcasing the amount of detailing and weathering that went into the vehicle:
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Mike Tarkin.com 