Review & Photos: Chris Spice (Darth Spice)
Graphical Work:  David Syczylo (Boba Binks)

INTRODUCTION
The remote control Republic Gunship is one of two new Star Wars Flying RC vehicles that have recently been landing on shelves at retail locations. For the past week we have been putting this new electronic wonder to some very rigorous field tests.  The tiny foam ship is a pretty decent replica of a gunship, both vehicles feature a charging controller and battery for up to five minutes of flying time. There are also three different channel selections so you can run several vehicles simultaneously. 

The first potential problem I see for any kid is the fragile plug-in for the charger on the bottom of the ship as seen below in frame nine. Although it's clearly labeled on the plug as well as on the ship, you can see any kid in a rush might break the connections. I'm sure one or two of us busted a co-ax cable in a rush to plug in a video game, you might see the same thing happen here.

The Gunship can be somewhat difficult to control, and even though you can't really hurt anything, you might want to make sure there's nothing you'd like broken in the room you're running it. If you do take the vehicle outside, it doesn't take too long as the distance between the ship and remote seem to have to be pretty close.

As stated above, we ran this in the collection room of Dustrho, as well as gave it to two of the most destructive forces of nature in northern Illinois. Yes, my two sons Tyler and Caleb Spice are getting older, but could not resist having the kid brought out in both and they seemed to really enjoy playing with this toy. Most the fun is in crashing it!

During the tests I observed that if you fly the ship into another persons head, you can get hair caught up in the rotor. This will cause the ship to spin in circles until you spend the necessary time to get the hair out. Another problem occurred not too far after take-off. The cannon on the left side broke, and it required glue right away. This happened because it bent upward into the rotor blade, so make sure to inspect your ship thoroughly after each and every crash if you want it to stay in shape. 

Overall I'm not sure if it's worth over forty dollars, but I will say it's can be a very fun and addicting toy. You will find yourself charging it over and over again, maybe even making doot doo doot blaster noises feeling like you were ten years-old once again! Therefore I have to give it a thumbs up for being able to see it enjoyed by young and old alike!

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

• $39.99 Retail

PHOTOS