TIE Fighter Pilot - TVC - Basic (VC65)

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The TIE Fighter Pilot sculpt that originated in the 2008 The Legacy Collection Evolutions line has worn out its welcome in the Star Wars line now. Hasbro, we beg of you, the TIE Fighter Pilot character is in need of an all-new sculpt. Hasbro certainly used the best sculpt available to package into The Vintage Collection, but it’s not worthy of this status any longer and we actually wished they would have chosen another Return Of The Jedi character to use in its place. 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 all problems that riddle this action figure. And this sculpt just feels too think for an Imperial pilot. We’re not expecting Hasbro to make a bulky looking TIE Fighter Pilot to mimic the vintage version from 1982, but there is some room to include more body mass, because this figure just 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 actually 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 it was later reissued in the Return Of The Jedi collection, the spirit of the figure is more Episode V than Episode VI. Again, there are plenty of figures that could have been selected. We feel that the decisions were rushed and the finally tally just isn’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 head. 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 absolutely needs them. The feet don’t particularly lay flat against the “floor” and balancing the figure is not easy. The hands might be designed to hold onto the controls in a cockpit, but don’t expect him to hold on tightly to his blaster pistol. And what’s worse is that it loosely fits into his working holster. In fact, we knocked the gun out of the holster too many times while photographing this figure for the review. We really 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. Give him a wider stance and tighten up his joints and everything should be alright.