Review: 75460 New Republic X-wing Starfighter
Posted by CapnRex101,
There have been many LEGO iterations of the classic X-wing Starfighter and the blue-accented 75460 New Republic X-wing Starfighter borrows features from earlier models, particularly 75301 Luke Skywalker's X-wing Fighter, with a similar S-foil mechanism and size.
I was quite impressed with the X-wing produced in 2021, so developing the model from there, with some influence from 75393 TIE Fighter & X-wing Mash-up, makes sense. Moreover, the updated colour scheme is attractive, but while certain details from earlier sets have been improved, a few others have regressed.
Summary
75460 New Republic X-wing Starfighter, 558 pieces.
£59.99 / $69.99 / €69.99 | 10.8p, 12.5c, 12.5c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
This is a great X-wing design, improving in some areas, but a little weaker in others
- Effective shape and colour scheme
- Neat S-foil deployment mechanism
- Sturdy and easy to handle
- Carson Teva's minifigure debut
- Engines and laser cannons are too short
- Astromech droid looks exposed
- No hair piece for Carson Teva
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Minifigures
This is the only set based on The Mandalorian and Grogu not to contain either titular character, instead focusing wholly on New Republic personnel. Colonel Ward also appears in 75447 The Razor Crest, though this version of the colonel is dressed in orange X-wing pilot fatigues, which include plenty of detail, as always. The dark blue decoration on her helmet looks great too.
Carson Teva debuted in The Mandalorian season two and has become a ubiquitous character across this era of Star Wars, so I am happy to see him portrayed in minifigure form. The details on his helmet are fairly accurate, although only some parts of the helmet can actually be printed, so the stripes on the central ridge do not continue nearly far enough.
Teva's double-sided head is lovely though, featuring a white beard and friendly expressions on both sides. Unfortunately, this minifigure lacks an alternative hair element, unlike Colonel Ward, which is particularly disappointing when the ideal part is already in production for Ernie Prang in 76446 Knight Bus Adventure, just needing an updated skin tone. At least Colonel Ward has her hair, plus a unique head.
The pilots are joined by a New Republic Astromech Droid, featuring dark green panels very similar to a droid in 75402 ARC-170 Starfighter. Much though I like a unique droid, this one so closely resembles the Astromech from the ARC-170 that repeating them would have been fine, as long as these slots for new printed elements had been used elsewhere.
Furthermore, the droid still lacks decoration on the back of its body, which now seems to be a standard feature for R2-D2, but no other Astromech droids. The decoration that is here seems reasonable though, with the intricate panels on the front we have come to expect.
The Completed Model
Whenever we see a LEGO X-wing, they are almost always based on Luke's classic starfighter from the Battle of Yavin, which is understandable. This version is an outlier though, with a blue and white New Republic livery. I think the colour scheme looks fantastic and the starfighter can easily be adapted to a Blue Squadron design, featured in Rogue One.
As expected, this vessel is quite similar in size to 75301 Luke Skywalker's X-wing Fighter, with an identical 28cm wingspan and only one centimetre shorter, at 30cm. However, it is far from a simple recolour, as while the Technic mechanism for the wings and the structure in front remain pretty much unchanged, the nose and the area behind the Technic core are totally different.
Apart from the change in shape at the front, the most noticeable distinction is the length of the engine nacelles, which now only extend a little beyond the back of the fuselage. Although they feel a bit stronger in this shortened form, the older design remains more accurate to the source material.
This is not the first New Republic starfighter we have seen, as 75365 New Republic E-wing vs. Shin Hati's Starfighter was released in 2024. Naturally, the duo look brilliant together, with their matching colours. I hope we can see them in action together at some point, maybe even in The Mandalorian and Grogu.
75393 TIE Fighter & X-wing Mash-up contained a minifigure-scale X-wing that finally captured the hexagonal design of the fuselage, using 1x2 slopes along either side. The same technique appears here and it seems very sleek, although the shape of the nose cone is still not accurate because it should be rounded underneath and protrude a bit further on all sides.
Although it looks identical on the outside, the internal structure has actually been strengthened, relative to 75393 TIE Fighter & X-wing Mash-up. The side panels are now attached more firmly with Technic pins towards the nose and 2x2 plates with bars further back, whereas the previous model only integrated the latter.
The blue stripes on the sides look lovely for much of their length, but the stickered 2x4 double slopes look awkward. Even if these stickers are applied as close together as possible, without leaving raised edges, there is still a gap that spoils the pattern. Similarly, the white on the New Republic stickers differs from the white plastic, but at least the symbols look nice.
The printed canopy appears identical to its counterpart from prior X-wing sets, but it receives a new part number nonetheless. As ever, there is enough room for a minifigure seated inside the cockpit and a yellow boarding ladder is included, which is a welcome addition, using only a few pieces.
Unfortunately, the pilot needs to lean back quite a long way to fit underneath the canopy, more so than in 75301 Luke Skywalker's X-wing Fighter. I like the tan upholstery inside, however, as well as the decorated console positioned in front of the pilot.
The provided Astromech droid can ride in the droid socket behind the cockpit, though the figure protrudes a lot more than it should. It looks reasonable directly from the front, but the sides and particularly the rear are totally exposed. While I can understand the challenge in building up the bodywork behind the droid, the sides could surely have been improved.
Part of the reason this Astromech droid seems so exposed is that the Technic mechanism is a little lower on this model, relative to the adjoining fuselage, than on 75301 Luke Skywalker's X-wing Fighter. As a result, whereas the Technic elements on the 2021 vehicle formed part of the bodywork, it looks more like a section is missing here.
Fortunately, the fuselage looks more impressive behind the Technic mechanism. I love the use of a mech chestplate for the armour on top, which is another feature borrowed from 75393 TIE Fighter & X-wing Mash-up. The shape is effective and there is room for the pilot's blaster pistol underneath, or this hatch could serve as maintenance access for the engine.
As mentioned earlier, the four engines are shorter than they should be, with only the trans-pink cones extending beyond the bodywork. I suspect this is to make the model easier to handle for play because you would generally want to grip the fighter from the back of its fuselage, in which case longer engines can sometimes get in the way.
Like many of its predecessors, this X-wing includes landing gear underneath. However, these landing struts are more accurately positioned than those on most other sets and all three legs are retractable. Although I appreciate the feature, I wish the struts were better integrated once folded up.
Pushing the Technic button on top deploys the S-foils in their attack position. The mechanism works flawlessly and I like being able to open the wings with a simple button press, instead of turning a dial, as was necessary on most X-wings, T-65 and T-70, released between 2004 and 2016. This design is much quicker and more enjoyable for play.
On the other hand, I wish the S-foils opened a bit further. The current spread is definitely good enough, but looking at the engines in particular, which should protrude above the cockpit once the S-foils are deployed, there is scope for improvement. I like the engines themselves though, with pneumatic T-bars adding detail inside the intakes, missing on the 2021 and 2024 sets.
Like the engines, the laser cannons are shorter than on previous renditions of the X-wing. The reasoning is probably similar here to 75402 ARC-170 Starfighter, as longer weapons are more breakable. The stud shooters integrated beside the laser cannons look fine to me, but you can remove them if you wish, perhaps swapping them for blue 1x4 tiles to match the stickers.
Overall
75460 New Republic X-wing Starfighter is another fine entry in the extensive range of LEGO X-wing fighters, blending lots of the best features from its immediate precursors. There are some compromises, such as the truncated laser cannons and engines, although I would guess those changes were made for easier play, so I cannot complain much about them.
My only other disappointments are the lack of a hair element for Carson Teva and the exposed Astromech droid. The price of £59.99, $69.99 or €69.99 feels slightly expensive compared with 75301 Luke Skywalker's X-wing Fighter, although this model does contain more pieces, despite the sets' outward similarities. With one extra minifigure, I would have been completely satisfied.
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42 comments on this article
I'm slowly warming up to these downscaled sets. Although you have to cram your fig(s) in, at least hey are nice and sturdy. I quite liked the new U- wing (even compared to the old one), buttt... The nose on this one really bugs me, it just doesn't look right. It looks rotated and weird.
This wil go on the 30-40% off list.
Every ship deserves a lil' supply cart vehicle for fuel & ammo.
That's my presidential LEGO campaign promise!
Really shocked they dropped this so close to the smart brick set.
Immediate buy as soon as it hits $50.00
https://images.brickset.com/news/131200_New%2011A.jpg
This photo shows quite a bit of flex in that white plate. Is that an illusion or is it really bending as much as it seems?
And they still haven't learned how to print the droid head straight.
Funnily enough the cheap Chinese knockoff versions are printed perfectly straight.
"when the ideal part is already in production for Ernie Prang in 76446"
I solidly disagree with this. What hair Teva has is short. I saw someone put that hair piece on Picard and it made him look very old man-ish. Not saying Teva is young but the look is off. Really they should have provided a separate head.
Really not helping me stop wishing I’d grabbed the 2021 version before it retired.
@Broken_Cheese_Slope said:
"Really shocked they dropped this so close to the smart brick set. "
Right? Feels like competing sets. LEGO might have slipped up in not crosschecking release schedules.
I haven't wanted to get an x-wing or tie fighter in a while because they all look squat. The wings are too short.
@CDM said:
" https://images.brickset.com/news/131200_New%2011A.jpg
This photo shows quite a bit of flex in that white plate. Is that an illusion or is it really bending as much as it seems?"
The plates are actually bending, although not because of how they are attached to the frame, but because of the 1x2 slopes on top. This always happens very slightly because the clutch of parts on top of a plate pulls the studs together, which can cause longer plates to flex inwards, but I am surprised the 1x2 slopes are having such a noticeable effect.
I still prefer 2018's 75218, but given the pieces and price, I suppose that's expected. This looks like a good effort and a solid X-Wing.
The astronech positioning is abysmal. And I still don’t like the new cones. I’m okay with the shortened canons and engines, though.
Other than the color scheme, I’m not seeing a big impetus to buy.
I’m miss the cross generational pictures. :o)
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50898194126_f57b4dc0c2_b.jpg
@Calanon said:
""when the ideal part is already in production for Ernie Prang in 76446"
I solidly disagree with this. What hair Teva has is short. I saw someone put that hair piece on Picard and it made him look very old man-ish. Not saying Teva is young but the look is off. Really they should have provided a separate head."
I agreen on both the hair and that a 2nd head could have been provided. Especially if back of the head would have been printed.
Klontjes, downscaled? Rather that they are proper minifig scale now :)
Anyone else see Ellen Ripley as an X-Wing pilot?
Getting my movies mixed up! LOL!
I still keep trying to think of a way to add hexagonal side to 75218.
What a piece of junk!!
This is a great time to reconsider being a Lego SW former-appreciator (can no longer call myself a 'fan').
Everything behind the cockpit looks like Lego vomit.
@AustinPowers said:
"And they still haven't learned how to print the droid head straight.
Funnily enough the cheap Chinese knockoff versions are printed perfectly straight."
This.
I've got the E-Wing I really want to get this to pair it perfectly with this.
The 2x12 white plates on which the 1x2 cheese slopes are mounted (to recreate the hexagonal fuselage) are being severely bent out of shape. This was also the case when I built 75393 and I ended up taking the model apart right after I was done building. This should not happen and ideally we'd get a new element to help accurately represent the fuselage someday. A shame because the idea itself is good.
@Legomaster2026 said:
"Anyone else see Ellen Ripley as an X-Wing pilot?
Getting my movies mixed up! LOL!"
She's going to fly back to Acheron and nuke the site from orbit.
It's the only way to be sure.
Tsk, are Smart bricks over already?
I 've added a 2x2 round brick to each engine. Much better now.
@CapnRex101 said:
" @CDM said:
" https://images.brickset.com/news/131200_New%2011A.jpg
This photo shows quite a bit of flex in that white plate. Is that an illusion or is it really bending as much as it seems?"
The plates are actually bending, although not because of how they are attached to the frame, but because of the 1x2 slopes on top. This always happens very slightly because the clutch of parts on top of a plate pulls the studs together, which can cause longer plates to flex inwards, but I am surprised the 1x2 slopes are having such a noticeable effect. "
I had a similar result when I first made parking lots to use on club displays. They involved a 32x32 baseplate, a 1x border of plates with 6x6 plates in the middle, and mostly 2x2 tiles on the top. When I was finished building them, the corners had all curled up about the height of one plate. After a few months, they did eventually flatten out. I understand the curling, since part schematics have shown that studs and stud spacing are not uniformly the same dimensions on every part. I'm not sure what's going on that the curl relaxed out of my parking lots. It might be specific to baseplates, though, as I've had tiled baseplates that were fine when first assembled, and started shedding tiles a few years later, which is not a problem I've experienced with any other builds.
I know I'm not likely to get an answer without testing it myself, but I'm curious if the curl seen here will eventually relax out of the 2x12 plates, or if they'll stay like that until the slopes are removed. One messy solution for anyone who's worried about leaving them that way is to swap the double cheeses for singles, as those won't pull the studs towards each other at all. But then you're stuck having to get all the individual slopes straightened out.
@ra226 said:
"I still prefer 2018's 75218, but given the pieces and price, I suppose that's expected. This looks like a good effort and a solid X-Wing."
It's the S foil mechanism that sells this. It's a work of genius!
@lost_scotsman said:
" @ra226 said:
"I still prefer 2018's 75218, but given the pieces and price, I suppose that's expected. This looks like a good effort and a solid X-Wing."
It's the S foil mechanism that sells this. It's a work of genius!"
Eh. The mechanism made by Quarrie's Workshop on Rebrickable is leagues better because unlike Lego's, it doesn't leave that huge unsightly gap between the S-Foils.
@PurpleDave said:
"Really not helping me stop wishing I’d grabbed the 2021 version before it retired."
I got 75301, but if I hadn't, I'd be tempted to pick this one up.
@Legomaster2026 said:"Anyone else see Ellen Ripley as an X-Wing pilot?
Getting my movies mixed up! LOL!"
That's not Ellen Ripley, it's Gwen DeMarco!
I was thinking about the stickers, and I wonder if the colors are based on them yellowing/fading faster than the pieces. But it's just strange that TLG has never addressed it at all.
@AllenSmith said:
"Tsk, are Smart bricks over already?"
We can only hope.
The less said about them the better.
@brickwich said:
"I was thinking about the stickers, and I wonder if the colors are based on them yellowing/fading faster than the pieces. But it's just strange that TLG has never addressed it at all."
It's based on the fact that sticker stock defaults to a much whiter white than you can achieve with ABS or MABS. To get it to match, they'd have to figure out exactly what shade of off-white to order for the blank sticker material.
Then because the sticker material always starts with a pristine white background, the colors that are printed on them pop a lot more than they do on saturated colors, particularly really dark shades. This would be easier to correct for, if they started by printing a white underlayer (back when restaurants used to give out character glasses, you could see how this works by looking through the glass from the inside). Some years back, though, I heard they were maxed out on capacity for applying prints to parts. If they went this route, I suspect the result would be a lot less prints, and that means more stickers.
@TheOtherMike said:
" @PurpleDave said:
"Really not helping me stop wishing I’d grabbed the 2021 version before it retired."
I got 75301, but if I hadn't, I'd be tempted to pick this one up.
@Legomaster2026 said:"Anyone else see Ellen Ripley as an X-Wing pilot?
Getting my movies mixed up! LOL!"
That's not Ellen Ripley, it's Gwen DeMarco!"
Look around you… can you fashion some sort of rudimentary lathe?
I guess she don’t like the cornbread either.
I find her interesting because she's a client and because she sleeps above her covers. Four feet above her covers!
@yellowcastle said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @PurpleDave said:
"Really not helping me stop wishing I’d grabbed the 2021 version before it retired."
I got 75301, but if I hadn't, I'd be tempted to pick this one up.
@Legomaster2026 said:"Anyone else see Ellen Ripley as an X-Wing pilot?
Getting my movies mixed up! LOL!"
That's not Ellen Ripley, it's Gwen DeMarco!"
Look around you… can you fashion some sort of rudimentary lathe?
I guess she don’t like the cornbread either.
I find her interesting because she's a client and because she sleeps above her covers. Four feet above her covers!"
Okay, I'm not getting the cornbread one.
@TheOtherMike said:
" @yellowcastle said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @PurpleDave said:
"Really not helping me stop wishing I’d grabbed the 2021 version before it retired."
I got 75301, but if I hadn't, I'd be tempted to pick this one up.
@Legomaster2026 said:"Anyone else see Ellen Ripley as an X-Wing pilot?
Getting my movies mixed up! LOL!"
That's not Ellen Ripley, it's Gwen DeMarco!"
Look around you… can you fashion some sort of rudimentary lathe?
I guess she don’t like the cornbread either.
I find her interesting because she's a client and because she sleeps above her covers. Four feet above her covers!"
Okay, I'm not getting the cornbread one."
My 3rd favorite movie of all time. :o)
I don't know. Is there anything you can do?
It’s the only way to be sure.
They mostly come at night, mostly.
Maybe we got 'em demoralized.
Somebody wake up Hicks.
I guess she don’t like the cornbread either.
No, have you?
Hudson, come here!
Now if we can only get a decent sized Rex’s Y-Wing and blue and white A and B-Wings, we’ll have a full line of color coordinated Rebel/New Republic fighters.
I think I’m now at 4 or 5 $70 LEGO Star Wars ships that I’ll get as soon as they hit $50 or less. Once upon a time I was able to snag 75312 for $40, but I don’t think any LEGO sets have been getting sales like that for a while
@ACubeInABox said:
"I think I’m now at 4 or 5 $70 LEGO Star Wars ships that I’ll get as soon as they hit $50 or less. Once upon a time I was able to snag 75312 for $40, but I don’t think any LEGO sets have been getting sales like that for a while "
Is it that bad in the US? Over here, Star Wars sets are constantly disocunted in normal supermarkets. I got Jango's Slave I for 43, the Clone Tiny Tank for 80 and the ARC-170 for 36, all in the same store. They have the UCS AT-ST for 120 and the V-19 fro 45 as well. I've also seen the buildable Star Wars Logo for about 50 but I'm not interested in it.
@Spacefarer said:
" @ACubeInABox said:
"I think I’m now at 4 or 5 $70 LEGO Star Wars ships that I’ll get as soon as they hit $50 or less. Once upon a time I was able to snag 75312 for $40, but I don’t think any LEGO sets have been getting sales like that for a while "
Is it that bad in the US? Over here, Star Wars sets are constantly disocunted in normal supermarkets. I got Jango's Slave I for 43, the Clone Tiny Tank for 80 and the ARC-170 for 36, all in the same store. They have the UCS AT-ST for 120 and the V-19 fro 45 as well. I've also seen the buildable Star Wars Logo for about 50 but I'm not interested in it."
Yes, it is that bad. I think the increased interest in Lego during Covid showed retailers that they don't need to discount Lego anymore.
Walmart used to discount most Lego sets 10-20%, sometimes on release, usually after just a couple of months. Now, there's usually only a few sets that are discounted at all.
I won't buy from Amazon.
Carson Teva? You mean Appa, surely?
Looks close to the Resistance X-Wing but distinctly isn’t one
As your photos show looks too similar to Luke's X-wing to worry about. I would prefer an update on the slightly larger and more detailed Poe's X-wing Fighter 75102.
Lego StarWars sets have gotten so bad that I've actually taken to buying older sets I missed or did not have an interest in a the time, such as the EP9 X-Wing.
Really do not like these scaled down squashed sets, sturdy they may be but just doesn't have the same appeal the older sets had.
After the horrid Smart Brick line, and they overly expensive Mando/Grogu sets I'm saving alot of money this year.