Folks, I have officially stopped collecting Star Wars figures. Between the dismal state of the franchise and the emphasis on releasing figures from the new content rather than The Original Trilogy I just have zero interest in any of it anymore. I only reviewed two Black Series figures since the beginning of LAST year, and that pretty much reflects how little I’ve been buying. I still hope to review some of the Hot Toys I picked up last year, but right now the only Star Wars I’m still actively collecting is Jazware’s wonderful Galaxy Squadron line. And even there I’m being pretty selective. I haven’t been picking up any of the Prequel stuff, and passing on a lot of the ground vehicles. Of course, anything from my beloved Rogue One is still on the table, and today I’m checking out the U-Wing Starfighter! Although, frankly I don’t know why they call this thing a starfighter as it’s more of a gunship and troop transport, but whatever!

The ship comes in the same style window-box as the larger ships we’ve seen in the past. As always I dig the use of the snappy foil on the packaging. The included figures come in a tiny little self-contained tray and the toy itself is displayed against an illustrated backdrop. There’s a bit of assembly required here as you have to clip the wings onto the ship. The packaging is collector friendly and the wings are probably removable again, but I didn’t want to try it for fear of stressing the clips. Let’s start with a quick look at the figures!

The ship comes with three figures, which seems to be the standard for this price point. Included are Cassian Andor, Jyn Erso, and K-2SO, so no surprises there. Let’s face it, the figures aren’t the main attraction here, but with that having been said, I’ve been really impressed with the sculpt and paint on the tiny fellas in this line and this trio is no exception. The facial features are solid, and you get some great detail on the costumes like their gun belts and pockets. K2 looks a bit thicker than he should, but that’s fine. There was no way they could have done his spindly limbs in this tiny scale without adding a little bulk. As usual, these figures have four points of articulation, found in the hips and shoulders. I also love the subtle differences in size with Jyn a little shorter than Cassian and K2 towering over both of them.

And here’s the U-Wing with the wings retracted, and let me start by saying that I really love this ship design. It reminds me a bit of the Buck Rogers Thunderfighter only a lot bigger, while the cockpit and rear grill is evocative of the Snowspeeder, and the quad engine mounts recall the X-Wing. And yet, it avoids the trap of looking too kit-bashy as some of these designs can turn out when borrowing from other ships. As always, Jazwares has invested a lot of detail in the sculpt with some deep cut panel lines and tiny grills and access compartments. The bottom of the ship has a transparent panel under the cockpit, reminiscent of those found on Huey Gunships to allow the pilot to see the terrain and landing zone below. You also get two blaster cannons jutting out on the front.

The paintwork includes some blue and yellow trim, which I presume are squadron markings. The rear engines are scorched and blackened from heavy use and there’s dark silver around the engine rings and also behind the cockpit. I think Jazwares is really good at the weathering aspect on these ships too, giving the hull a little bit of that “used future” look that made Star Wars aesthetics so distinctive. It’s definitely not overdone on this ship. If anything maybe it could have used a bit more on the undercarriage, which looks a little too clean.

Each wing folds back manually giving this ship a really impressive presence with a massive wingspan. I’ll confess I don’t fully understand the purpose of the wing articulation on this ship. It makes sense that they would be held in tight when going to hyperspace, so why extend them? I’ve poked around a bit in the lore and the key takeaways were that it uses them extended for atmospheric flight, while having them extended provides better shield coverage. That makes sense, but when the gunship was taking off from Jedha and later deploying troops on Scarif, it still had the wings tucked in, so I don’t know. I’ll just settle for it looks cool with them extended and leave it at that.

The ship opens up in four ways. First, the canopy hinges forward to give access to the cockpit, second the back panel lifts off to expose the passenger cabin, and finally the two side doors slide back to allow troops to deploy as well as allow the mounted laser cannon to be manned and fired. I like how removing the top panel also reveals some inner workings on the top rear of the ship (possibly the reactor?) and that it’s even been painted. Unfortunately, it wasn’t easy for me to get shots of the figures in the interior, because everything is so tiny, but there’s room for two figures in the cockpit, one figure clipped behind the laser cannon, and six more seated in the benches. The cockpit is a little crowded, especially with K2 in there, but it’s mostly an issue with elbow room, as the canopy can still close with plenty of room. The attention to detail inside the ship is very impressive, with textures on the seats, tiny control yokes in the cockpit, and even details on the bulk plates and deck plates.

Finally, you do get four flip-down landing gear to, well… support the ship on landing. One set folds down from under the cockpit area and there’s one located below each of the engine clusters.

I was exceedingly pleased to see this ship get released in this line, because the Hasbro 3 3/4-inch scaled release was a pretty piss-poor effort. Yes, even taking into account it had to be scaled down into what was essentially a one-person fighter, the detail and paintwork on it were just too lazy for me to justify buying it. Here we get to see the ship fleshed out pretty well, thanks to the tiny figures and some great work by Jazwares. The U-Wing was released at the same $29.99 price point as the Imperial Shuttle, and the two do indeed seem quite comparable in value and complexity. It’s a great addition to my fleet, and I’m happy to finally have this ship represented in my collection!