Star Wars The Clone Wars Indoor Flying R/C [Republic Gunship]

Written on Nov 18, 2009 by Brian and filed under Hasbro, Reviews

We were able to see early designs of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars indoor flying R/C vehicles at Toy Fair this year and were pretty excited about the opportunity to fly Star Wars ships. The foam-bodied flyers come in two versions, a Republic Gunship and Jedi Starfighter. We’ve been putting our review unit of the Gunship through its paces the last few weeks – making kid’s Clone Wars dreams come true.

We’ve reviewed a bunch of flying vehicles on the site, they always are a winner with our test kids. This time though it’s a little different, as these are some of the first branded flying R/C vehicles, which takes the imaginative play to a new level. Kids that are into the Cartoon Network’s The Clone Wars, already know all about these vehicles and love the idea of flying them around with remote control.

Getting Started

Just like most others toys in this class, the vehicles have an internal battery that charges off the remote. Unfortunately the connector is difficult to work with, not only for the 8+ target age group, but also for parents with eyesight in decline. The connector is difficult to line up and the little pins are susceptible to damage if the cord is not inserted properly. The latest flyer we reviewed from WowWee made a change to a round plug, which is substantially easier to work with.

The Star Wars flyers also take a long time to charge, 20-30 minutes for 4-5 minutes of flight time. While the flight time is about right, the charge time is nearly double that of comparable ships. To be fair, it may be that the lateral controls and trim settings use up battery faster and a larger capacity battery is required to make for a good experience, but even so, be prepared for a lot of breaks in between flying sessions.

Flight Time

After the battery is charged, you’re ready for flight. It’s best for a parent to try it the first time, as the trim settings need to be adjusted. To start, apply gradual pressure to the throttle until the vehicle takes off. Gradual is important, jerk the switch up and you’re certainly going to crash. Once you get a nice hover, use the two trim buttons at the bottom until you get a straight flight pattern. From there you’ll be able to steer and adjust altitude pretty easily.

While the flyers are designed for kids 8 and up, we had kids as young as six properly navigating the skies with no issues. Well, no serious issues, there will be crashes, a lot of them. The good news is that the twin rotors are protected by rings that keep the blades safe. This mechanism also keeps your walls safe; the blades can’t impact them, which is a nice touch.

The vehicles also operate on three channels that can be manually set, which means you can fly three of them at a time. At present there are only two vehicles to choose from, but at Toy Fair the indication was there more would be on the way.

Coming in for a Landing

We love the idea of what Hasbro is offering here, and so do kids. The vehicles are easy to control and have the rings in place to keep the blades and your walls/valuables safe from errant flights. The charging connector and time required to charge though are problems and keep us from giving these flyers our highest recommendation. They’re still fun though, especially for Star Wars fans and at $35 should provide more than enough play value.

Rating – 4 out of 5 stars

Have a comment about this article? Leave a comment in the KidsTechReview.com forums.