As much as I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Kenner Classic fan, I have to admit that the POTF2 vehicles do look great. I am not a fan at all of the POTF2 figures but they really did a nice job (for the most part) updating/detailing the classic Kenner vehicle molds. The charm of the toy may be lost but the screen-accuracy is very appealing.
Broken Vader: “Don't get too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of a simple Zip Tie”.
Late 80s kid here. POTF2 was my introduction to Star Wars. I know alot of people tend to not like that era of production, but it helped make for a happy childhood. Never had any of the vehicles though. My mom did buy this for me a couple of years ago at a local second hand store. I need cannons for it, but other than that it's in great shape.
I modified a vintage Kenner X-Wing by putting in the soundboard from the '95 version, so the vintage now has sound effects, as well as the light. It took some work, but it came out perfectly. :-)
The reason I was happy to see the PotF 2 collection is because my parents didn’t buy me a lot of the original line. I snatched up all sorts of figures and vehicles being an adult by that time. Many of the vehicles were the same molds of the original.
That particular toy came with a bitter lesson for me. When it came to giving toys to needy children our department had the policy of collecting used, old and worn toys to give away. When I first started there I asked why be so insulting? The answer was if the toys are new and modern the parent or guardians might sell them. I had long since given away my ESB toys for a fund raiser and in 98 our department was putting together a jumbo Christmas stocking to raffle off. I went to a Walmart, saw a huge box with Star Wars on it and put it in the cart. It was that X-Wing. I didn't even look at it too closely, I didn't want to. I went to the girls area and grabbed the latest Barbie what-ever toy for a girl. When I handed them to the dispatcher everyone said, WOW, Star Wars?? You really went all out. I said, we're trying to raise money here, we need something eye catching. The event didn't go over without a hitch or controversy. Conservative patents that saw the stocking and said that was far too many toys for just one kid. A department employee ended up taking it away from the winning family. It seems the parents were selling off the toys and the kids didn't get any of them. The X-Wing and Barbie I donated fetched a high price for them. Poeple felt bad for me and all I said was, they're poor. There's a reason they're called the needy, they need the money. It only served to validate the dept's original policy, ratty old toys only for the poor kids. After I left the department they began working with the U.S.M.C's Toys for Tots program and became better coordinated for the holiday give aways. Since the franchise has phased out the original chracters and Disney and Hasbro are treating fans so shabbily I've begun rebuilding my old tiny collection for nostolgia's sake. They do remind me of not better days, just more innocent ones.
Whenever you do a resto vid of a flying vehicle, I always take a shot when you say "fuselage". It's not that you say it too often, I just really like the word "fuselage"....and whiskey.
I bought nine of those when they were new in the '90s to create Red Squadron to hang in my office. I never had a problem with the battery not contacting on any of them, and I took them all apart to take the droids out and repaint the R2 units to match astromech for each fighter. I used Sculpy to modify three of the droid heads to make an R4 and R5s and painted those too. I cut up the stickers to make the various markings from Red Leader to Red 12, and used some custom ones to make a Blue Leader too. I used custom POTF2/POTJ pilots for most of them, painting the helmets to match the characters. I later found out that each X-Wing had a unique paint job beyond just the stripes, but never got around to custom painting all of them. I moved and they all ended up in the storage unit for now.
@@matthewpahnke2613 Interesting, when I organize my collection in storage this winter, I'll have to check to see if any of mine develop the same issue?
Thank you Michael for showcasing this POTF2 Xwing. This is why I am both a vintage Kenner Star Wars collector AND a POTF2 collector. AND technically, both lines are officially antiques, being they are both 20th century. The vintage line gives me the nostalgia for my childhood toys, and POTF2 is a nice update, and the xwing (which I own) is a great example. Other vehicles I like (and own) are the POTF2 Slave I, AT-AT, Tie Fighter, Land Speeder, and speeder bikes. I love the fact that you can still get POTF2 vehicles relatively cheap, though collectors are turning to POTF2 as good alternatives as Vintage Kenner vehicle supplies dry up, or have priced themselves out of reach for many collectors.
12:55 I know it's a very late reply, but I can highly recommend guitar picks for this job and any other situation where you have plastic tabs holding two parts together. They are soft enough and small, so you can hold them nicely with your fingertips and act very delicately on the material
I still have this vehicle as well as the reissue of this reissue that came out in 2004, though that one doesn't have sound effects. They're very similar, and had always considered upgrading to The Vintage Collection-style X-Wings, but kind of glad I never followed through. For what it's worth I feel the 90s vehicles for the most part are great. Good to know about the inside of this in case I ever need to disassemble it.
Love the video....I have my 195 X-Wing but the wings won't stay up they close right back. Are you doing to get rid of that X-Wing? I would love a second one. I love it.
That type of x wing was the first star wars vehicle i restored it was 5 dollars with a few other toys at a yard sale no canopy or cannons so i went to ebay and i think i bought a parts xwing for the missing parts Got new decals from zac paris It came out great I think it Cost 40 dollars to restore Awesome video Michael
This was the X-Wing I got from my late grandfather when I was a child. This was around the time The Lost World Jurassic Park toys were on shelves, because I went ahead and attempted to fit Ian Malcolm into it. He was too big, turns out Kenner made Star Wars and Jurassic Park toys at different scales, which was weird. It was the first Star Wars toy I ever got, and was the first step in my family's process of turning me into a fan of the franchise.
I like the potf 2 falcon, I use one in my vintage empire strikes back display. I don't think I would have noticed the cable ties because of my enthusiasm.
Heh. I've already taken my PotF2 one apart to take out the corroded electronics and put in a spare I obtained out of an incomplete X-Wing I got cheap. I followed yours and/or Toys Polloi's video on the vintage X-WIng to take this apart. I had to figure out all these quirks on my own. Glad you shared it for guys my age that grew up with the PotF2 line. Those are to me as vintage is to you.
Hey Michael, Wanted to say thanks for all the Star Wars restoration videos. Over the past year I've gotten into finding a number of vintage vehicles (often in thrift or collectors shops), often in not so great a shape. While I usually do try to figure out issues they may have, I've found your videos quite helpful when I get stuck, or am unsure of what parts I'm missing. I've taken apart both the vintage X-Wing (white 1978) and the POTF2 one (which I've had for the past 19 years when I bought it at a Kay Bee Toys store), so this was fun to watch... although I did cringe at the attempt to pry the fuselage open. But, you did prove I'm not completely crazy. When I took my X-Wings apart, I for the life of me couldn't find the screw that goes in the landing gear well of the vintage one... I thought I'd lost it. But apparently there wasn't one to begin with. Thanks!
I didn't see the zip ties at first either, but I did think to myself, "maybe those wings are zip tied together", right when you said that R-2 wasn't working. I have no idea why that thought came to mind, because I never had an X-Wing. When you finally did snip them and set the S-Foils to attack position, I started humming the Star Wars theme.
So glad you didn't pry too hard before finding out about the extra screw. That was a suspenseful few moments there, as I've taken a few of these apart myself. I'm going to make customs for biggs, wedge and red leader but didn't want to use vintage derelict if I could help it.
Ran into one of these at a local comic store. As someone who didn't have any X-wing toys as a kid (born in '02), this thing would've made childhood me lose my mind. Definitely want to get an original kenner one at some point, but for now the '90s one will be a wonderful stand in for my vintage display, and will be the only one I use for my more modern one.
I love the POTF X-Wing. It holds a lot of nostalgia value for me and I found one clean and working in a pristine box. I always wondered what the inside looked like. Now I know!
I have one myself, pretty cool ship. Indecently I also came across a vintage Slave I ship. I repainted it to turn into a ship owned by Boba Fett's son. When I showed my older brother thought it looked cool, till I told him it was an original Slave I
Great video Mike! I bought a parts box from a friend once including an X-wing from the POTF line that did NOT have any electronics. Luckily, there was a busted vintage that was beyond saving which donated it's electronics to the one with none at all. It has the light, sounds, and strangely due to the remodel of the inside, works on triple A batteries.
Michael what you have there is an xwing (95 power of the force) from a display from star wars rouge squadron video game for the N64. I worked at Electronics Boutique back then and i believe every store got the display. I know this because of the tie wraps. These were put in place to hold the wings together so it fit in the cardboard display. I was lucky enough to be given it from my store manager. More than likely it never seen a battery before as we had no need to put one in. Too bad it is missing the cardboard as it was a very cool hanging display.
First off, don't feel too bad. I missed the zip ties as well, even w/a heads up :p. For anyone who wants to restore vintage toys, this sort of reverse engineering is your first step. You can't fix something if you don't know how it works. I always learn something from RetroBlasting, but today it was non-toy related. Didn't know the stripes/chevrons corresponded to the # of the pilot's callsign. Cool!
I imagine the zip ties were to make sure people didn't break it in store, presuming that you bought it loose. I mean, those mechanisms CAN fail if you're not careful, I believe, so maybe it was just some insurance on the part of the store keeper?
Great video, I was amused that you didn't notice the Zip Tie's, I guess they put them on the wings so the laser cannons didn't get lost if they fell off, like they often do. I have this version of the POTF2 X-Wing, it has lot more weathering on it, I think it may of been a later version or the U.K. version is slightly different.
While sitting loose on a store shelf, it makes sense to zip tie the cannons together, they're less likely to get lost or perhaps stolen (Like you said, spare parts for 90's Star Wars are hard to come by).
I acquired a 1998 hasbro potf electronic x-wing for $30 today. it all works except the thruster lights don't light up (I'll likely disassemble to suss the issue hopefully) and its missing the red translucent missile from underneath. suggestions on where I may get one reasonably priced or repro even would be greatly appreciated.
lol it’s the zip ties that are over the wing cannons, which is not a bad idea to do if one had it in a store to keep someone from removing the cannons, which I don’t know if this is mentioned or not, and how many already know this, but the wing cannons and cockpit canopy from the original Kenner x-wings, and the potf x wings, will interchange with each other. So if you have an old Kenner that are missing those, and a potf one that has them and you would like to at least have something on it to put it on your display shelf, hang from your ceiling, or just so it doesn’t look so naked, or maybe you want to put an action figure in it and zoom it around the room making the sounds of the laser cannon and ion engines sounds and pretend it’s 1978 (I’m not judging) you can put the potf x-wing’s parts on it until you’re able to obtain the correct ones for it… which there’s the obvious that the cannons are different colors between each one, and you can deal with it, or you can paint them black, and they make the water soluble paints now, I believe they even have them in an aerosol now..
I grew up with Kenner Star Wars figures but don't really remember any of the ships before the 90s re releases. I remember being very surprised by how little they looked like the movie ships. I think by then I'd been spoiled by the Micro Machines line.
I was missing a Kenner X-Wing in my collection and picked up this same POTF version for about $20 at a toy show last year. The wings work nicely; the stickers are a little more worn than yours, but I think it works with the battle-damaged aesthetic. Bottom line, this has always been a great toy, whether original or re-issue. My original Kenner X-Wing Pilot Luke sits in it proudly.
This is one of my favorite ships alongside the 2004 millennium falcon. I think if I remember I got this at a toy shop more lately earlier this year at I think autuum. Around September or August along with the rebel A wing fighter from TLJ & the y wing fighter that was all broken & missing parts. It was the one that came with gold leader & the struts on the back we're missing I took care of that & made some substitute struts by using straws & pool floaty noodles & attached them together & glued them at one point but now they're just old the struts are coming apart from how I glued them to the pool floaty pieces. I don't really have enough money to complete everything with that ship. I was lucky to find the original trilogy collection 2004 millennium falcon all complete with everything for a substantial bargaining of 58.00 dollars & 35.75 something & shipping. But that took almost a hundred dollars out of my account & I'm happy that I finally got it. Along with the x wing & A wing fighter & the y wing. If I could have enough time on my hands to fix those back struts I made a while ago.
Hello Michael and RetroBlasting--greetings from Korea! I did not see the first zip ties but I did see the second ones. Wonder why that was done...and glad that the mechanism worked! My brother had a nice (new) original X-Wing. He later picked one up at a garage sale for like a buck or probably less (it was the 80s) and the S-foils did not work. I remember putting dominoes in between the S-foils that kept them opened and looked pretty innocuous. Overall, the X-Wing is just one of the most well done and beautiful spaceship toys ever! Just looking at one is fun. Happy Holidays!
You can also ball up some aluminum foil and place it between the battery and the lead if there is a gap. That way you don't have to bend it if you don't want to modify the lead.
I know your about the real vintage Star Wars toys but how can you resist the larger X-wings? I love the 2012 Biggs Darklighter red 3 and the recent Luke Skywalker red 5 X-wings. The sculp and paint job is amazing.
I don't know about the original Kenner X-Wing, but my original Palitoy version definitely has the stew under the landing gear. It's a much simpler toy, in that there are no electronics whatsoever (yet, he had to make our own "phut phut" laser noises), so the fuselage only comes in two halves - that whole back section (where the speaker is mounted in the '95 version) is simply part of the upper and lower halves of the toy. All that lovely detailed moulding is just a sticker :( Lovely paint job on the '95 version though. It's the colours of the X-Wing I always wanted as a kid - dirty, filthy, and definitely Red 5.
I saw a vintage X wing at Manchester Comic Con while looking around with my dad, and the wings would not open, and because I don't have an X wing yet I was tempted to buy it but my dad said I shouldn't because of the wings, (And my dad knows a lot about this vehicle considering it was his 3rd vehicle to get as a child), and I would want to have this one because the newer ones which I had the chance to buy or ask for a birthday (Cause I'm only 12) I didnt, but if you could tell me which X wing you would recomend, this one, or the original one to buy, cause this one has got more advanced sounds, but the original is cool, cause it's from the vintage days 👍👌👌
So, I’m a little confused..the vintage vehicles and the subsequent releases (including PoTF and so on) are just reuses of the original molds and tweaked a little? Or were they new molds? I’ve wanted to buy the vintage vehicles again, but they’re just so $$.
I always liked the Power of the Force II X-Wing , Millennium Falcon, Snow Speeder and Slave-1 because they had the better sounding electronics and paint jobs instead of little whirring motors
I like this vehicle but I think I like the dull original or battle damaged one better. I never had the originals growing up. I don't know why I'm drawn to the originals more. Nice digging inside the vehicle.
It seems like there's always another screw. I don't know how many times I've been taking something apart and it won't come apart and then you look more closely oh there's another screw.
This is still the best toy X-Wing ever...earlier versions lacked detail and later revisions from the 2000s have crappy stickers instead of paint. Downside, cockpit was too small for some of the figures and the paint was inconsistent. I have an original 70s X-Wing with broken foils...I haven't tried working on it in nearly a decade.
I've taken this apart before and was at one point thinking of for fun putting the circuit board and speaker into a beaten up vintage x wing if I can an find one that's beaten up What do you think?
The X-Wing's nemesis is the infamous Zip Tie Fighter.
Well played.
@@BeeTeeGee Thank you, sir.
In michaels defense.....who the hell would zip tie the wings together???
hahaaa! nice :)
* tips cap *
Warts and all! I love RetroBlasting because you could’ve edited out all the D-oh’s but you didn’t. Respect.
As much as I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Kenner Classic fan, I have to admit that the POTF2 vehicles do look great. I am not a fan at all of the POTF2 figures but they really did a nice job (for the most part) updating/detailing the classic Kenner vehicle molds. The charm of the toy may be lost but the screen-accuracy is very appealing.
Their crazy proportions and oversized weapons have their own kind of charm.
The Leia from that line is so roided up with a small manly head she looks more like Leia Svetlana Organa-Owski.
@@skylx0812 We called the Leia from that line Monkey Faced Leia can't believe there are people who think that one is rare.
Swole Wars!!
Broken Vader: “Don't get too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of a simple Zip Tie”.
Zip Tie side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.
Late 80s kid here. POTF2 was my introduction to Star Wars. I know alot of people tend to not like that era of production, but it helped make for a happy childhood. Never had any of the vehicles though. My mom did buy this for me a couple of years ago at a local second hand store. I need cannons for it, but other than that it's in great shape.
I modified a vintage Kenner X-Wing by putting in the soundboard from the '95 version, so the vintage now has sound effects, as well as the light. It took some work, but it came out perfectly. :-)
Would be really interesting to see that! You should upload a video of your work.
I second that.
What's funny is I used to take apart my Star Wars toys and put them back together when I was a kid 😂
Zip tied to stop the arm guns falling off.
I had this X-Wing as a kid and I loved it. I was one of my favorite toys as a kid and paired well with my Power of the Force 2 Millennium Falcon.
4:20
They probably zip tied the wings shut that way so the guns wouldn't be able to come off and get lost.
The reason I was happy to see the PotF 2 collection is because my parents didn’t buy me a lot of the original line. I snatched up all sorts of figures and vehicles being an adult by that time. Many of the vehicles were the same molds of the original.
I wouldn’t have seen the zip ties unless you pointed it out 😂😂😂👍
That particular toy came with a bitter lesson for me. When it came to giving toys to needy children our department had the policy of collecting used, old and worn toys to give away. When I first started there I asked why be so insulting? The answer was if the toys are new and modern the parent or guardians might sell them.
I had long since given away my ESB toys for a fund raiser and in 98 our department was putting together a jumbo Christmas stocking to raffle off. I went to a Walmart, saw a huge box with Star Wars on it and put it in the cart. It was that X-Wing. I didn't even look at it too closely, I didn't want to. I went to the girls area and grabbed the latest Barbie what-ever toy for a girl. When I handed them to the dispatcher everyone said, WOW, Star Wars?? You really went all out. I said, we're trying to raise money here, we need something eye catching.
The event didn't go over without a hitch or controversy. Conservative patents that saw the stocking and said that was far too many toys for just one kid. A department employee ended up taking it away from the winning family. It seems the parents were selling off the toys and the kids didn't get any of them. The X-Wing and Barbie I donated fetched a high price for them. Poeple felt bad for me and all I said was, they're poor. There's a reason they're called the needy, they need the money. It only served to validate the dept's original policy, ratty old toys only for the poor kids. After I left the department they began working with the U.S.M.C's Toys for Tots program and became better coordinated for the holiday give aways.
Since the franchise has phased out the original chracters and Disney and Hasbro are treating fans so shabbily I've begun rebuilding my old tiny collection for nostolgia's sake. They do remind me of not better days, just more innocent ones.
Whenever you do a resto vid of a flying vehicle, I always take a shot when you say "fuselage". It's not that you say it too often, I just really like the word "fuselage"....and whiskey.
Geek Chorus Underrated comment.
@@bashcrash9148 Cool avatar, the Mastodon big Van Vader :)
Cheers.
I bought nine of those when they were new in the '90s to create Red Squadron to hang in my office. I never had a problem with the battery not contacting on any of them, and I took them all apart to take the droids out and repaint the R2 units to match astromech for each fighter. I used Sculpy to modify three of the droid heads to make an R4 and R5s and painted those too. I cut up the stickers to make the various markings from Red Leader to Red 12, and used some custom ones to make a Blue Leader too. I used custom POTF2/POTJ pilots for most of them, painting the helmets to match the characters. I later found out that each X-Wing had a unique paint job beyond just the stripes, but never got around to custom painting all of them. I moved and they all ended up in the storage unit for now.
I never had a battery contact problem back in the '90s either. But I took mine out of storage and had the problem Michael had. Weird!
@@matthewpahnke2613 Interesting, when I organize my collection in storage this winter, I'll have to check to see if any of mine develop the same issue?
Love this, and your intricate drawings from the mindset of a child’s curiosity.
Michael, you would have been a fantastic toy designer!
Red 3 was Biggs' callsign.
Blast it Biggs, where are you?
"Hold on to your butts" is the only way to indicate that a test of a system will soon commence.
Thank you MICHAEL for demonstrating the trouble shooting of the X wing!!! Your the best!!!
I think it makes a sound effect when you push R2 in, while locking the wings into attack position. I may be wrong on that.
The engine sound comes on when push down r2 d2 and laser sounds from the button and combine the 2 like I love doing with mine
Thank you Michael for showcasing this POTF2 Xwing. This is why I am both a vintage Kenner Star Wars collector AND a POTF2 collector. AND technically, both lines are officially antiques, being they are both 20th century. The vintage line gives me the nostalgia for my childhood toys, and POTF2 is a nice update, and the xwing (which I own) is a great example. Other vehicles I like (and own) are the POTF2 Slave I, AT-AT, Tie Fighter, Land Speeder, and speeder bikes. I love the fact that you can still get POTF2 vehicles relatively cheap, though collectors are turning to POTF2 as good alternatives as Vintage Kenner vehicle supplies dry up, or have priced themselves out of reach for many collectors.
"Oh. Someone has zip-tied the wings shut! Well..."
* video ends *
Awesome video Michael, very fun and interesting:)
Stumbled while realizing he was about to give out the town they live in.
Don't feel bad Mike...I didn't see the zip ties until YOU did! LOL!
I've definitely had my share of derp moments taking apart amplifiers... Don't beat yourself up over it, because you make up for it by helping others.
12:55
I know it's a very late reply, but I can highly recommend guitar picks for this job and any other situation where you have plastic tabs holding two parts together. They are soft enough and small, so you can hold them nicely with your fingertips and act very delicately on the material
I honestly want a POTF X-Wing Fighter SO BAD!!!!!!
It was the best, especially the ELECTRONIC POWER F/X version.
I literally just bought one of these for US$38, fully working (Sounds, wings, canopy and stickers intact). Arrived this afternoon :)
The very best X-Wing made.
Thanks for leaving the zip-tie portion in, you’re the best! Haha and thanks for the laughs! 😂👍🏻
Michael,
Very cool video on the mechanics of the X-wing! I really enjoyed that and glad you got it working.😁👍
I still have this vehicle as well as the reissue of this reissue that came out in 2004, though that one doesn't have sound effects. They're very similar, and had always considered upgrading to The Vintage Collection-style X-Wings, but kind of glad I never followed through. For what it's worth I feel the 90s vehicles for the most part are great. Good to know about the inside of this in case I ever need to disassemble it.
Love the video....I have my 195 X-Wing but the wings won't stay up they close right back. Are you doing to get rid of that X-Wing? I would love a second one. I love it.
That type of x wing was the first star wars vehicle i restored it was 5 dollars with a few other toys at a yard sale
no canopy or cannons so i went to ebay and i think i bought a parts xwing for the missing parts
Got new decals from zac paris
It came out great
I think it Cost 40 dollars to restore
Awesome video Michael
I still have mine somewhere at my parents house. Probably my favourite toy.
This was the X-Wing I got from my late grandfather when I was a child. This was around the time The Lost World Jurassic Park toys were on shelves, because I went ahead and attempted to fit Ian Malcolm into it. He was too big, turns out Kenner made Star Wars and Jurassic Park toys at different scales, which was weird. It was the first Star Wars toy I ever got, and was the first step in my family's process of turning me into a fan of the franchise.
I like the potf 2 falcon, I use one in my vintage empire strikes back display.
I don't think I would have noticed the cable ties because of my enthusiasm.
Heh. I've already taken my PotF2 one apart to take out the corroded electronics and put in a spare I obtained out of an incomplete X-Wing I got cheap. I followed yours and/or Toys Polloi's video on the vintage X-WIng to take this apart. I had to figure out all these quirks on my own. Glad you shared it for guys my age that grew up with the PotF2 line. Those are to me as vintage is to you.
This gave me anxiety!!!! Gosh Michael... Lmao
Hey Michael,
Wanted to say thanks for all the Star Wars restoration videos. Over the past year I've gotten into finding a number of vintage vehicles (often in thrift or collectors shops), often in not so great a shape. While I usually do try to figure out issues they may have, I've found your videos quite helpful when I get stuck, or am unsure of what parts I'm missing.
I've taken apart both the vintage X-Wing (white 1978) and the POTF2 one (which I've had for the past 19 years when I bought it at a Kay Bee Toys store), so this was fun to watch... although I did cringe at the attempt to pry the fuselage open.
But, you did prove I'm not completely crazy. When I took my X-Wings apart, I for the life of me couldn't find the screw that goes in the landing gear well of the vintage one... I thought I'd lost it. But apparently there wasn't one to begin with. Thanks!
If anyone dares to doubt your integrity again, you can show them this video. A lesser man might have edited out his mistakes.
I didn't see the zip ties at first either, but I did think to myself, "maybe those wings are zip tied together", right when you said that R-2 wasn't working. I have no idea why that thought came to mind, because I never had an X-Wing.
When you finally did snip them and set the S-Foils to attack position, I started humming the Star Wars theme.
So glad you didn't pry too hard before finding out about the extra screw. That was a suspenseful few moments there, as I've taken a few of these apart myself. I'm going to make customs for biggs, wedge and red leader but didn't want to use vintage derelict if I could help it.
This type of video is becoming my favorite.
Ran into one of these at a local comic store. As someone who didn't have any X-wing toys as a kid (born in '02), this thing would've made childhood me lose my mind. Definitely want to get an original kenner one at some point, but for now the '90s one will be a wonderful stand in for my vintage display, and will be the only one I use for my more modern one.
I love the POTF X-Wing. It holds a lot of nostalgia value for me and I found one clean and working in a pristine box. I always wondered what the inside looked like. Now I know!
Great video!
I have one myself, pretty cool ship. Indecently I also came across a vintage Slave I ship. I repainted it to turn into a ship owned by Boba Fett's son. When I showed my older brother thought it looked cool, till I told him it was an original Slave I
Great video Mike! I bought a parts box from a friend once including an X-wing from the POTF line that did NOT have any electronics. Luckily, there was a busted vintage that was beyond saving which donated it's electronics to the one with none at all. It has the light, sounds, and strangely due to the remodel of the inside, works on triple A batteries.
ROFL, I love your captions Michael.
As soon as you said "obvious" I saw the zip ties, but like you I didn't notice them immediately either! DOH!
Michael what you have there is an xwing (95 power of the force) from a display from star wars rouge squadron video game for the N64. I worked at Electronics Boutique back then and i believe every store got the display. I know this because of the tie wraps. These were put in place to hold the wings together so it fit in the cardboard display. I was lucky enough to be given it from my store manager. More than likely it never seen a battery before as we had no need to put one in. Too bad it is missing the cardboard as it was a very cool hanging display.
First off, don't feel too bad. I missed the zip ties as well, even w/a heads up :p. For anyone who wants to restore vintage toys, this sort of reverse engineering is your first step. You can't fix something if you don't know how it works. I always learn something from RetroBlasting, but today it was non-toy related. Didn't know the stripes/chevrons corresponded to the # of the pilot's callsign. Cool!
used to have 1 of these, I added thick card between the hatch and the metal pin
You are 100% correct. That worked!! Thanks
I imagine the zip ties were to make sure people didn't break it in store, presuming that you bought it loose. I mean, those mechanisms CAN fail if you're not careful, I believe, so maybe it was just some insurance on the part of the store keeper?
Zip Tie side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.
Great video, I was amused that you didn't notice the Zip Tie's, I guess they put them on the wings so the laser cannons didn't get lost if they fell off, like they often do. I have this version of the POTF2 X-Wing, it has lot more weathering on it, I think it may of been a later version or the U.K. version is slightly different.
The paint jobs seemed wildly inconsistent, painted on weathering for such a mass produced toy was pretty incredible for it's time though!
Most rational reason for zip ties so far.
They definitely made an improvement with Darth Vader's tie fighter. It still holds up well today.
While sitting loose on a store shelf, it makes sense to zip tie the cannons together, they're less likely to get lost or perhaps stolen (Like you said, spare parts for 90's Star Wars are hard to come by).
I acquired a 1998 hasbro potf electronic x-wing for $30 today. it all works except the thruster lights don't light up (I'll likely disassemble to suss the issue hopefully) and its missing the red translucent missile from underneath. suggestions on where I may get one reasonably priced or repro even would be greatly appreciated.
lol it’s the zip ties that are over the wing cannons, which is not a bad idea to do if one had it in a store to keep someone from removing the cannons, which I don’t know if this is mentioned or not, and how many already know this, but the wing cannons and cockpit canopy from the original Kenner x-wings, and the potf x wings, will interchange with each other. So if you have an old Kenner that are missing those, and a potf one that has them and you would like to at least have something on it to put it on your display shelf, hang from your ceiling, or just so it doesn’t look so naked, or maybe you want to put an action figure in it and zoom it around the room making the sounds of the laser cannon and ion engines sounds and pretend it’s 1978 (I’m not judging) you can put the potf x-wing’s parts on it until you’re able to obtain the correct ones for it… which there’s the obvious that the cannons are different colors between each one, and you can deal with it, or you can paint them black, and they make the water soluble paints now, I believe they even have them in an aerosol now..
I grew up with Kenner Star Wars figures but don't really remember any of the ships before the 90s re releases. I remember being very surprised by how little they looked like the movie ships. I think by then I'd been spoiled by the Micro Machines line.
I was missing a Kenner X-Wing in my collection and picked up this same POTF version for about $20 at a toy show last year. The wings work nicely; the stickers are a little more worn than yours, but I think it works with the battle-damaged aesthetic. Bottom line, this has always been a great toy, whether original or re-issue. My original Kenner X-Wing Pilot Luke sits in it proudly.
Nice work! Easy to miss stuff like that.
This is one of my favorite ships alongside the 2004 millennium falcon. I think if I remember I got this at a toy shop more lately earlier this year at I think autuum. Around September or August along with the rebel A wing fighter from TLJ & the y wing fighter that was all broken & missing parts. It was the one that came with gold leader & the struts on the back we're missing I took care of that & made some substitute struts by using straws & pool floaty noodles & attached them together & glued them at one point but now they're just old the struts are coming apart from how I glued them to the pool floaty pieces. I don't really have enough money to complete everything with that ship. I was lucky to find the original trilogy collection 2004 millennium falcon all complete with everything for a substantial bargaining of 58.00 dollars & 35.75 something & shipping. But that took almost a hundred dollars out of my account & I'm happy that I finally got it. Along with the x wing & A wing fighter & the y wing.
If I could have enough time on my hands to fix those back struts I made a while ago.
Hello Michael and RetroBlasting--greetings from Korea! I did not see the first zip ties but I did see the second ones. Wonder why that was done...and glad that the mechanism worked! My brother had a nice (new) original X-Wing. He later picked one up at a garage sale for like a buck or probably less (it was the 80s) and the S-foils did not work. I remember putting dominoes in between the S-foils that kept them opened and looked pretty innocuous. Overall, the X-Wing is just one of the most well done and beautiful spaceship toys ever! Just looking at one is fun. Happy Holidays!
You can also ball up some aluminum foil and place it between the battery and the lead if there is a gap. That way you don't have to bend it if you don't want to modify the lead.
I know your about the real vintage Star Wars toys but how can you resist the larger X-wings? I love the 2012 Biggs Darklighter red 3 and the recent Luke Skywalker red 5 X-wings. The sculp and paint job is amazing.
Does the 1978 canopy glass fit the 1995?
How on earth did you not notice the cable ties?!? First thing I saw on closeup before the prompt!
I just picked one up today at a Con in NC
Sound effect doesn’t work but this will help me fix it!
I don't know about the original Kenner X-Wing, but my original Palitoy version definitely has the stew under the landing gear. It's a much simpler toy, in that there are no electronics whatsoever (yet, he had to make our own "phut phut" laser noises), so the fuselage only comes in two halves - that whole back section (where the speaker is mounted in the '95 version) is simply part of the upper and lower halves of the toy. All that lovely detailed moulding is just a sticker :(
Lovely paint job on the '95 version though. It's the colours of the X-Wing I always wanted as a kid - dirty, filthy, and definitely Red 5.
God, I wish I could fave this more than once. This is exactly the sort of thing I would have done.
X-Wing Road Trip! And don't feel too bad about the obvious stuff. Sometimes I still look for my glasses while wearing them...
I need to replace the chess table on my potf2 falcon. Please show how to do this. I love your channel. Thanks!
I can appreciate leaving in all of those problems. I don't feel like it's just me who struggles with figuring these things out now.
I have one of those, and I'm glad that I do.
I saw a vintage X wing at Manchester Comic Con while looking around with my dad, and the wings would not open, and because I don't have an X wing yet I was tempted to buy it but my dad said I shouldn't because of the wings, (And my dad knows a lot about this vehicle considering it was his 3rd vehicle to get as a child), and I would want to have this one because the newer ones which I had the chance to buy or ask for a birthday (Cause I'm only 12) I didnt, but if you could tell me which X wing you would recomend, this one, or the original one to buy, cause this one has got more advanced sounds, but the original is cool, cause it's from the vintage days 👍👌👌
Get this one.. It will be cheaper than the vintage and it has sounds..
Were they zip-tied? 😂
1980s and Star wars Guy it was a joke..
So, I’m a little confused..the vintage vehicles and the subsequent releases (including PoTF and so on) are just reuses of the original molds and tweaked a little? Or were they new molds?
I’ve wanted to buy the vintage vehicles again, but they’re just so $$.
@@michaelmo6575 That would explain it, 😂
I always liked the Power of the Force II X-Wing , Millennium Falcon, Snow Speeder and Slave-1 because they had the better sounding electronics and paint jobs instead of little whirring motors
I like this vehicle but I think I like the dull original or battle damaged one better. I never had the originals growing up. I don't know why I'm drawn to the originals more.
Nice digging inside the vehicle.
fun video i love this xwing so glad hasbro reintroduced the POTF line i never had any star wars vehicles in the 70's.
It seems like there's always another screw.
I don't know how many times I've been taking something apart and it won't come apart and then you look more closely oh there's another screw.
Was that The Wright Stuff in Woodstock?
Meh. I didn’t notice the zip ties either.
This is still the best toy X-Wing ever...earlier versions lacked detail and later revisions from the 2000s have crappy stickers instead of paint. Downside, cockpit was too small for some of the figures and the paint was inconsistent.
I have an original 70s X-Wing with broken foils...I haven't tried working on it in nearly a decade.
Michael where did you get those shelf’s you use for your displays?!
See the "Too Frequently Asked Questions" video from a little while back. It's pretty funny and has the answer.
@@justinthomas7222 thank you im going to watch it again, i remember watching it, but dont remember the shelfs being a question>?
Future Michael, you're hilarious
See? Micheal even gets snarky with himself. Love this guys "hutzpah" :)
Good video. Thanks.
awesome video
Great video, and I really appreciate that you ran it even though... Yeah, I saw the zip-ties before you did.
First thing I seen bro the rubber bands on the wings at the guns
That was gold.
Great video, this is the only x-wing I have and it’s well loved. Michael, how many people have asked you what you think about the Mandalorian??? Lol.
I've taken this apart before and was at one point thinking of for fun putting the circuit board and speaker into a beaten up vintage x wing if I can an find one that's beaten up
What do you think?
I need to find the decals of this x-wing plz.
Multiple ebay listings
@@retroblasting i mean a link to download the decals.
Lol I’ve been watching these guys since I was 11. I’m 16 now
Was Biggs Red Three?
I didn't see the zip ties. Don't beat yourself up.....
Oh.... There's more. LOL
Thanks for the self depreciating laugh.