Green Leader’s A-wing Fighter - TLC - Vehicles (Exclusive)

In a desperate sacrifice during the Battle of Endor, Arvel Crynyd smashes his A-wing into the bridge of the Executor, causing the warship to crash into the second Death Star – and turning the battle in favor of the Rebels.

The A-wing fighter has seen multiple releases since its inception in 1985, and with each successive release, Hasbro has included unique attributes with them. This time the vehicle gets another shot at retail as a Walmart exclusive in The Legacy Collection for 2008, and instead of being a simple repaint, the quick vehicle gets some overhauls to make it better than ever. Specifically, Hasbro was kind enough to retool the cockpit, and they did an excellent job with it. There are lots of painted details, and it is very colorful, but it nonetheless looks great. Not including the vintage vehicle, this has been the third release of the A-wing and the third time a pack-in pilot is included. 1997's POTF2 A-wing Fighter was an exciting release for the time, and this new version isn't all that different. We also received 2003's SW [S - P1] A-wing Fighter vehicle, which was TARGET exclusive. Both sets provided us with generic A-wing Pilot figures. This release, however, we got a specifically named "Arvel Crynyd" figure. And he is essentially 2007's TAC Tycho Celchu (A-wing Pilot ) (30 44) figure with a new head and helmet. Resuing a great sculpt is good news because he is a great action figure to use as a template for more pilots. Despite this, however, we don't think that the action figure has a fair likeness to the actor who played Arvel Crynyd in Return of The Jedi (we think Hasbro is starting to get confused now, to be honest). But another good point is that the pack-in figure fits perfectly well into this revised and new A-wing fighter. The TARGET exclusive from 2003 has a unique green paint theme with bizarre lightning bolt-like emblems. We think the red version interpretations of these vehicles are much better and course movie accurate. The Legacy Collection version of the A-wing is essentially a revisit of the 1997 version, as both have red markings on the body of the vehicle. The date stamp on the vehicle still says 1997, but Hasbro has made improvements that make this the greatest A-wing Fighter ever.

Other than that, the A-wing doesn't have too much extra to offer the collector. We love the retooled cockpit, and the update was long overdue. But with anything Hasbro, late is better than never. You should spend some time staring into the cockpit and check out all the new detail inside. We stated earlier that there are a lot of colors on all of the controls and the interesting choices work together quite well. The actual "paint" on the various buttons work so much better than any decal applications, and we are so glad that Hasbro chose to go this route instead. Arvel Crynyd does fit into the cockpit, but you may need to spend a little more time futzing with him to get the ideal fit. We don't think this is an issue because he will fit in snuggly to allow you to do "space donuts" or 360s when you play with this toy, so the pilot doesn't fall out. A firmly fitting cockpit is always a bonus, right? Arvel Crynyd also has some impressive details on his uniform. His helmet, in particular, is sculpted very well, and when compared to Tycho Celchu's, the differences are quite numerous. It is cool to see the individuality and uniqueness in these helmets. There are many different shapes and sizes of Rebel Alliance pilot helmets, and it is so great to know that Hasbro is taking note of all the various types and translating them very well into action figure form. We're also impressed with how many fine details Hasbro can capture on a helmet. It makes you wonder why other finer details are not included on some of the costumes of the action figures they make. But without complaining, we are very happy to get another super-articulated figure of a new and different Rebel pilot. In fact, we wouldn't mind getting these obscure Rebels pilots every year. They help round out the line very nicely.

Depending upon the product, the Hasbro exclusive program has been hit or miss in The Legacy Collection. They are either over-produced or impossible to find. Or they can sit and rot on end caps for months or sell out almost overnight it seems. There is no rhyme or reason, and it is almost a gamble to guarantee to get them into your collections. For example, this exclusive initially hit hard at Walmart but disappeared after Thanksgiving of 2008 (in many, many areas). Perhaps the holiday shopping season had a lot to do with its eventual sell-through success, but we believe the production numbers were smaller as well, and the availability was diminished when compared to more mainstream items. Reports came in periodically to some finding this on clearance, but overall, it came and went to be gone forever. (The same was even truer for Walmart's coincidentally released exclusive The Clone Wars Republic Gunship.) If the A-wing does get considered for another release down the road, we bet on it being a unique paint application or just different enough to warrant another purchase of it (again). But we hope so because it would be rather amoebic and boring to get the same old things again and again. The various retail exclusive programs are going to be the only way that we are going to get some of the more obscure and "not so popular" vehicles from Hasbro. Hasbro confirms this sentiment all the time. So if you want to see them at some point again, we recommend showing your support and striking while the iron is hot. Many possibilities exist for exclusives, and while this is an age-old expression, it is true that we vote with our dollars. And besides, in this case, we know you want an updated Arvel Crynyd figure. You know you want it. Your collection isn't complete without it.