25 Nights of Nineties Nostalgia: Star Wars B-Wing Fighter

In honor of the new movie, Freeform Friday is about Star Wars! Now Star Wars‘ influence on toys can at no point be understated. Seriously, it was the reason one of the biggest toy producing giants fell, why it became common for figures to have bio cards, and the number of franchises created just to compete with it is staggering. Let’s fast-forward the clock a bit though, and take us to the early 90’s with a company named Galoob and their tiny cars they called Micro Machines.

This was a time of resurgence for Star Wars, and George Lucas was on the verge of releasing his updated “masterpieces.” A big part of Star Wars’ ongoing popularity was due to Micro Machines. What had started with small inch-and-a-half vehicles exploded into mini figures, playsets, tiny heads you put people in, and eventually larger scaled vehicles with half-inch figures to pilot them. This Micro Machines line was called the Action Fleet and it included all the classic vehicles as well as a few of the obscure ones.

B, the most actionable letter of the alphabet.
B, the most actionable letter of the alphabet.

Obscure ones like the B-Wing which we first got a look at in Return of the Jedi, but only if you really payed attention. The B-Wing isn’t your typical spacecraft either, while it does draw from the X-wing with the fold out wings, its aesthetic is completely different. For one thing, the entire ships rotates around the cockpit. This really gives the toy some life as you can imagine different types of situations where that maneuverability would come in handy. It looks the part of a classic Star Wars Rebellion fighter, with its less-refined detailing, and the blue highlights to bring the design home.

Star Wars has been here for as long as some of us have been alive, and it’s more than safe to say that as long as there is a Star Wars there will always be toys to go with it. May the Force be with you.

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Al Baldino is half bear, half owl-bear, which makes him some sort of terrible fraction no one wants to think about. He's a co-host on the Line Cutters every Wednesday at 7pm EST.