So I just bought this set (Imperial V-Wing Starfighter) a few days ago. It's from the newest Star Wars line-up in 2011, and better yet, not a clone wars ship!

Anyway, I liked it so much I decided to make a review. So here we go.

The Box:

The front of the box for the new V-wing is pretty striking. The set flies through space behind a planet looking much like Mustafar, firing green blasters. Always found it odd that enemy ships had green lasers and rebel/clone ships had red ones... oh well. It shows the two new minifgures in the bottom right, R2-Q2 and a new Imperial Pilot, and all the other info on the left side. Set number 7915, 139 pieces, etc.

The back of the box advertises three other sets new this year: The clone battle pack, the mandalorian battle pack, and a droid troop ship. It also advertises the V-Wing's functions, like the landing mode, opening cockpit glass, and the Astromech unit popping in. Though I wouldn't call the latter a function, as it entails pulling the droid's head off and sticking it on the ship. =P

New and/or Interesting Bits:

New bits first. The only really new pieces I can find in this set is the spaceshield and the little clips that hold it on. There's little black clips too, for the wings, but I'm not sure if they're new or not. I've never seen them before, but that doesn't mean much.

Some interesting pieces though. We've got a technic L-shaped liftarm, two yellow axle-connectors, two black Toa Mata gears (one of the shoulder variety, and one from their backs) and a transparent clear 2-by2 round brick. While these pieces really aren't all that interesting on their own, I was curious to see what they'd be used for in this vehicle.

The Build:

So the build's actually very interesting for such a small set. I actually wondered what I was building at a few points. And with the Hero Factory sets being so simple to build, I look to Star Wars stuff for building experience. This little bugger delivers.

First up's the minifigs, which are definitely one of the highlights of this set. We've got the Imperial Pilot, which is pretty standard. He's all black, but with a re-coloured helmet from the ARC-170 set. He's got a bunch of buttons on his torso piece, and comes with a little gun which is always nice. Also his face is pretty freaky. My favourite part of this set, and the main reason I bought it (silly, I know), is the little R2-Q2 guy. He's all silver, the new Hero Factory dark pearl silver or whatever. His head's got a new design on it, different from the other R2 units. Dunno' about the body though. In short, this little dude is epic.

Right, on to the actual ship. Most people's main reason for buying the set.

It starts off looking very simple, kind of like a little black boat.

It starts to take shape now, becoming elongated and gaining a sitting area. And here's where it starts to get interesting. I was alittle afraid of the yellow bits, but luckily they all get covered over nicely.

Now the gears and axle connectors come into play, and yeah. Cool stuff working with gears again.

Basic shape's filling in... there's the V look. And the gear box is covered over.

Streamlined with stud-less plates, cockpit seat looking cool, and six of the little light grey clip things I mentioned earlier. Sadly that's a sticker on the front, and anywhere else you see a picture on a piece. No pre-printed parts here.

Now we've got the engines attached, along with the spaceshield. Also, we get to see what the clear brick is for. Kinda' silly though, in my opinion... However, it does get better.

So now we add the back fin things, and the L-shaped piece. I've got an idea of what it's for now. Note: I put the stickers on the back fins on backwards, as it made the pattern or the black and gre flow better with the black and grey pieces. Just me being awesome.

So now we're finished, with the addition of the wings. Also notice how the ship no longer falls forward? Yeah, I thought it was resting on the wings too. However, it isn't. The ship is perfectly balanced on that little clear brick, giving the impression that it's floating, like in the movies. A first for lego, I believe. Good job.

Thoughts:

Well, the thing's all done. What do you do with it now? Well, you place the pilot in the cockpit, rip off poor little R2's head, flip the wings into flying mode, and go "zooooom" around the room. Making various "pew pew" noises aswell, of course.

This V-Wing is amazingly better than the previous incarnation. It's longer, the wings spin like in the movie, instead of just folding, and it's much more crafty in it's design. Plus, although only the head of the R2 unit fits on the ship, as with the old V-Wing, they provide the entire Astromech droid. To me that meant the world. And that L-shaped liftarm stops the wings from rotating 360 degrees, so there's no need to line up the wings to make sure they're straight. The stop only vertically and horizontally, as they should. Genius.

Pros:

- Entirety of epic little R2 dude

- Imperial Pilot's a cool addition to any collection

- The cockpit glass is the best one ever made.

- The flippy-uppy wings are a vast improvement from the old V-Wing

- It's bigger than the old V-Wing

- Gears

- Entertaining build

Cons:

- No computer in the cockpit

- Stickers

- Maybe could've been a bit bigger

- Wing hinges don't lock... the wings can bend out of shape

So, as you can see, the pros FAR outweigh the cons. And for $25 CAD ($19 USD), it's a very good ship. Doesn't have much in the way of useful parts if you're into system MOCing, but I'm not, so I don't care. =P So I highly recommend this ship to any Star Wars fan. It's wonderful.