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The Ghost (Comparative Review)

August 16, 2016 | By Errex More

Among the many items offered in the weeks prior to the Episode VII premiere, some of the more ubiquitous items had to be the small diecast ships and vehicles.

However, this time around, we got treated to offerings from two different companies focusing on very similar items, although each line had it’s own strengths and weaknesses.

On one hand, we had the Titanium line by Hasbro, which works as a follow-up on the 2005 line, with packaging updated to match the current Black Series Phase 3 aesthetic, while on the other, Mattel had their own Hot Wheels Star Wars line.

Both the HWSW and Titanium lines share some traits, like existing in that no-scale realm where each item is designed to fit on the designated packaging, eschewing any attempt at having a consistent scale within the collection. Also, both lines mix plastic and metal parts in their products and furthermore, they even seem to tackle the same sources for inspiration.

I felt that, for the purpose of fairness, it would be interesting to compare the same vehicle released from both lines, and for this purpose I selected The Ghost, the modified VCX-100 Light Freighter featured in the Star Wars: Rebels TV show.

Right off the bat, you can tell that the Mattel version is larger than the Hasbro one. Both ships have a very consistent geometry and mass distribution, but you can also see that the Hasbro version has more details sculpted in it.

Both ships come with clear/translucent plastic bases. The Hasbro version has a simple round peg, which allows the ship to be rotated around, but makes it wobble a little bit because the peghole is built into a separate plastic piece that is placed inside the hull of the ship during assembly.

The HW ship has a keyed, square peg to connect the ship to the base, and it does a much better job at holding the vehicle, considering the base was designed to works as a ring to allow children to play around with it, as well as for display.

Unlike the Hot Wheels ship, the Hasbro Ghost has a rotating gun turret on top, which is a feature common to most Titanium vehicles.

Lastly, the paintjob on both versions of this ship are quite different, and not only because of the placement of some of the markings.

The HW Ghost has a brighter, cleaner color scheme applied only to the topside of the ship. This coat of paint appears to be as durable as anything used on the regular Hot Wheels vehicles.

On the other hand, the Titanium ship displays a darker gray for the hull, as well as weathering effects painted both on top and on the underside of the Ghost, which works well to showcase the sculpted details.

In the end, I must conclude that the Hot Wheels Star Wars Ghost works admirably well as a toy, while the Titanium Ghost is more of a display piece. Being on the older side of the spectrum, I feel inclined to like the Hasbro ship a little better.