TIE Fighter Pilot - TVC - Basic (VC65)

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The TIE Fighter Pilot sculpt originated in 2008’s The Legacy Collection Imperial Pilot Legacy Evolutions line, and now it’s worn out its welcome in the Star Wars line. An acceptable action figure for the popular Star Wars character at one time, technology brings The Vintage Collection action figures to places it couldn’t previously. And the TIE FIghter PIlot deserves better. Hasbro, we beg of you, the TIE Fighter Pilot character needs an all-new sculpt. Hasbro indeed used the best sculpt available to package into The Vintage Collection, but it’s not worthy of this status any longer, and we wished they would have chosen another Return Of The Jedi character to use in its place. This release is not a definitive replacement for Kenner’s 1982 ESB Imperial TIE Fighter Pilot figure. Legs positioned much too close together, small feet to balance the wider upper body, the helmet that doesn’t fit on the head perfectly, and the loose joints are only some of the problems that riddle this action figure. And this sculpt feels too thin for an Imperial pilot. We’re not expecting Hasbro to make a bulky looking TIE Fighter Pilot mimic the vintage version from 1982, but there is some room to include more body mass because this figure doesn’t look right.

Hasbro took the TIE Interceptor Pilot from the 2009 LC TIE Interceptor Toys R Us exclusive, slightly altered the deco, and put it in The Vintage Collection. Bam! Done! (Boring!) We’re surprised that Hasbro decided to bring the TIE Fighter Pilot into The Vintage Collection, but we’re more surprised that they did so to be part of the Revenge Of The Jedi/Return of The Jedi chase figure promotion of 2011. History tells us that this figure made its debut in The Empire Strikes Back Kenner collection. Although Kenner later reissued the 1982 action figure in the 1983 and 1984 Return Of The Jedi collection, its spirit is more Episode IV or Episode V than Episode VI. We strongly feel that many other figures would have been better options for this line, and we’re unsure why Hasbro didn’t select them. We think that Hasbro rushed some of their decisions and compiled a group of characters that aren’t truly representative of Return Of The Jedi. Please don’t misunderstand us. Hasbro has a lot of great choices, but some of them leave us scratching our heads. We suppose you can tell that we’re just not fond of the TIE Fighter Pilot. Well, you’re right about that. He’s great for sticking in a cockpit and sitting in a pilot’s seat, but there’s not much more he offers.

Despite its poor design, the figure does have a lot of articulation. A ball-socket head is joined by ball-jointed shoulders, elbows, and knees. But because the legs are so close together, you’re not going to get any meaningful movement out of them. We are usually ambivalent about ball-jointed ankles, but this is a figure that needs them. The feet don’t lay flat against the “floor” and balancing the figure is not easy. Although Hasbro designed the hands to hold onto the cockpit’s controls, don’t expect the figure to hold the blaster pistol tightly. And what’s worse is that it loosely fits into his working holster. We knocked the gun out of the holster too many times while photographing this figure for the review. We want to see an all-new TIE Fighter Pilot action figure at this point. It’s one of our most favorite vintage action figures, and we desperately want a definitive version. Hasbro, put some meat on his bones and make him super-articulated. Please give the TIE Fighter Pilot a wider stance and tighten up the joints, and everything should be alright. We’re not quite sure why Hasbro feels the TIE Fighter Pilot is worthy of continuous inclusion in the basic figure line, and we’ll probably never know.