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RCX4 Star Stryker: Don't call it an X-Wing

That's no moon... And this is no X-Wing Fighter. It's the remote control RCX4 Star Stryker mini-helicopter

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
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Richard Trenholm

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away -- well, this morning, in Las Vegas -- we encountered this super-cool remote-control, four-engined mini-helicopter X-Wing Fighter. Except it isn't an X-Wing Fighter at all: it's the startlingly audacious knock-off going by the name of the RCX4 Star Stryker.

The Star Stryker boasts a range of 1 mile, and costs a whopping $400 (£250).

Manufacturer Digittronics claims it faces no licensing issues with George Lucas, as the design is 20 per cent different from the Incom T-65 X-Wing last seen pootling about in the vicinity of a rapidly expanding battle station over the moon of Endor. Should the company avoid a lightsaber up the unmentionables from Darth Lucas and his legal Stormtroopers, a TIE Fighter will follow in March. Sorry, we mean a "bad guy", in no way connected to any film, no sir.

As if inviting the wrath of George Lucas wasn't enough, Digittronics is planning future releases based on other iconic spaceships. They'll probably be called something like HMS Men Surprise and Blingon Battlecruiser, and will be in no way based on the famous spacecraft of Star Trek. You're in the clear, kid, now let's blow this thing and go home.