Carbonite Chamber Collector's Pack (2012 SDCC) - Hasbro - The Vintage Collection (2012)

Imperial TIE Fighter Pilot - ESB - Basic

Imperial TIE Fighter Pilot

Visual Analysis

Detailed Visual Analysis

General Analysis

The Imperial TIE Fighter Pilot is another one of my all-time favorite vintage Kenner figures. I remember how long we had to wait as kids until we had a proper pilot for all of the Imperial TIE Fighters Kenner released before him. I specifically recall that I thought he looked a whole lot like an AT-AT Driver, but more like a negative of an AT-AT Driver instead. I found it odd that the figure came packaged with the same weapon as the (Twin Pod) Cloud Car Pilot. I often wondered why he didn’t come with the Stormtrooper blaster instead. It always disappointed as a kid that all of the members of the Galactic Empire lacked head articulation, and the same was true for the Imperial TIE Fighter Pilot. He could fit inside the cockpit of an Imperial TIE Fighter pretty well and fleshed out display scenes nicely, but when Hasbro started making modern versions of this character, we soon were alerted to the fact about how inaccurate the 1982 figure is. Still, I don’t think that matters much to collectors now. Collectors still revere the Imperial TIE Fighter Pilot as one of Kenner’s best. And while we do have some pretty lovely modern updates to this classic action figure, I still think Hasbro needs to do one more take before we can claim we have a definitive update.

Hasbro's Most Definitive Modern Counterpart: 2011's THE VINTAGE COLLECTION TIE Fighter Pilot (VC65) figure.