LEGO Star Wars 75248 Resistance A-wing Starfighter from The Rise of Skywalker [Review]

LEGO has released the first wave of LEGO Star Wars sets from The Rise of Skywalker, and we’ll be reviewing each one between now and the movie’s release on December 20th. First up here on TBB is 75248 Resistance A-wing Starfighter, which includes 269 pieces with minifigs and is available now ($29.99 USD | $39.99 CAD | £24.99 UK).

The box, instructions, & sticker sheet

There’s nothing particularly special about the small box that the Resistance A-wing comes in — the front shows the A-wing in flight along with the minifigs, while the back simply shows the starfighter from another angle on the ground, with a callout highlighting the shooting mechanism.

The parts for the set come in three numbered bags, with the sticker sheet and instruction booklet loose in the box. Fortunately, the curled sticker sheet was undamaged in our copy of the set.

The sticker sheet itself features designs unique to the A-wing, and is unlikely to be especially useful for your own creations.

The build

Despite outward similarities, the interior structure of the Resistance A-wing is unlike both the recently retired 2017 version as well as the chunkier 75150 Vader’s TIE Advanced vs. A-wing Starfighter from 2016. The first bag provides the parts for the underside of the fighter, including the shooter bricks and a slot for the forward landing gear.

A simple Technic mechanism provides buttons for shooting the missiles, identical to the mechanism in the 2017 Rebel A-wing. We were particularly impressed with the well-integrated, carefully concealed shooter buttons on the fantastic 75155 Rebel U-wing Fighter from Rogue One, so the exposed Technic buttons don’t represent an improvement over the previous A-wing.

By the end of the second bag, the forward section of the A-wing is largely complete.

The final bag adds the stickered canopy and the identical engine sections with atmospheric stabilizers.

The finished model

Resistance RZ-2 A-wing interceptors are largely identical to the Rebel RZ-1 versions first seen in Return of the Jedi, so it’s no surprise that the LEGO version’s outward appearance essentially mirrors the previous Rebel version released in 2017.

The most significant difference is the slightly sleeker forward section, which uses three 2×4 wedge plates rather than two 3×6 wedge plates underneath the 3×10 curved slope. I continue to be disappointed that LEGO has not found a way to incorporate the A-wing’s distinctive towing slot in its nose, relying instead on stickers to represent this unique structural element.

The engine sections are also completely different from the Rebel A-wing, attaching via Technic pins rather than a floppier clip/bar connection. The Technic connection slots into the rear of the fuselage so that the stabilizers’ angles are maintained better.

The cockpit interior doesn’t include much in the way of detail — no stick or other control mechanisms. 1×2 panels introduced with Friends sets a few years ago hold the pilot minifig’s legs securely in place.

All three landing gear raise and lower on click hinges.

A-wings are the sleekest and fastest of the Rebel/Resistance starfighters, and the overall shaping of the LEGO version matches the source material nicely.

Other than the landing gear and canopy, the main play feature is a pair of missile shooters, which we mentioned earlier. Pressing the exposed Technic buttons on the upper surface of the fuselage launches the missiles from the shooters tucked underneath.

The minifigs

J.J. Abrams has included childhood friend Greg Grunberg in nearly every TV and movie project, from “Felicity” back in the 90’s through “Lost” and both Star Trek and Star Wars franchises more recently. Grunberg’s character Snap Wexley appeared in The Force Awakens, but was completely absent in The Last Jedi. With Abrams’ return to the helm of The Rise of Skywalker, Grunberg returns as well to his role as the Resistance starfighter pilot, switching from an X-wing to an A-wing. Snap Wexley is accompanied in this LEGO set by Lieutenant Connix, played by Carrie Fisher’s daughter Billie Lourd. Wexley’s minifig is identical to the version released in the Microfighters X-wing in 2016. Lt. Connix’s minifig is new.

Lt. Connix wears a Resistance officer tunic with a design that extends to the back of her torso.

The Lt. Connix minifig features a reversible head with an alternate expression, changing from smiling to serious. Even though the back of Wexley’s head is obscured by his helmet and would support an alternate expression, he does not have one (leading us to speculate that this minifig was literally left over from an excess production run while the Microfighters X-wing was available).

One disappointment for me is that I don’t find Snap Wexley a particularly interesting character. In contract (and likely to raise the ire of those who have a visceral hatred of The Last Jedi), Tallie Lintra was one of the new characters introduced in The Last Jedi that showed some potential — a brave young A-wing pilot who escorts the doomed Resistance Bomber wing as they assault the First Order Siege Dreadnought Fulminatrix. LEGO never released a minifig-scale version of her green A-wing, although it also appeared in Microfighters form with her as a minifig. While it’s certainly no surprise that LEGO would release a version of the fighter as it appears in The Last Jedi, it’s disappointing that we likely won’t be getting a Tallie Lintra A-wing anytime soon. (The offical Star Wars Databank confirms that she died along with most of the Resistance pilots when the First Order blew up their hangar aboard the Resistance flagship Raddus.)

Nevertheless, it’s nice to get a Lt. Connix minifig, rounding out the cast of The Force Awakens as well as the upcoming movie.

Conclusions & recommendation

Even though the interior structure and many details are dissimilar to the Rebel A-wing released in 2017, there are enough similarities between that version and this new 75248 Resistance A-wing that this latest version looks like a mere recolor next to the older version on a display shelf. Add to this the fact that one of the two minifigs is not new, and there’s not a lot here for those who aren’t looking to complete a full LEGO Star Wars collection. The one unique aspect of the set is the new Lt. Connix minifig, but it remains to be seen whether she’s more than a background character in The Rise of Skywalker.

Without seeing how crucial Snap Wexley’s A-wing is to the plot of the next movie, it’s hard to recommend this set at full price for $30.

75248 Resistance A-wing includes 269 pieces with two minifigs and is available now from the LEGO Shop ($29.99 USD | $39.99 CAD | £24.99 UK), Amazon.com, and elsewhere.


3 comments on “LEGO Star Wars 75248 Resistance A-wing Starfighter from The Rise of Skywalker [Review]

  1. J-rod

    I compared the previous version of snap to this the new one and the face seems to be a tad different. the body is the same but the face looks updated (the beard looks fuller). Can you take a closer look and see if you agree?

  2. Andrew Post author

    Hmmm, maybe I didn’t notice because I was comparing with their helmets on. I’ll take another look tonight. (It’s also possible that the printing quality is different—that sometimes happens even within the same design.)

  3. J-rod

    Cool. I have a really nice minifig display case and the criteria for making it into it is that the minifig be unique in some fashion. This is a disappointing small difference but it does meet my criteria. I look forward to hearing whether you agree or not. :)

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