TIE Fighter Pilot - TVC - Basic (VC65)

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"I am a Jedi, like my father before me." RETURN OF THE JEDI was a powerful conclusion to this epic saga of good versus evil. The whole world knows this film by its current title, which evokes the glorious return of the hero. But during filming, the movie was slated to be called REVENGE OF THE JEDI. Merchandise was developed based on this title, including Kenner action figure packaging. Then, late in production, there was a dramatic change. Shortly before the film was released, George Lucas decided the title should be RETURN OF THE JEDI. The final title carries a more appropriate emotional tone because, of course, a Jedi would not seek revenge.

To celebrate this monumental film and unique history of its title, we have created special packages of favorite characters from the movie, featuring the REVENGE OF THE JEDI title. May the Force be with you!

The TIE Fighter Pilot tooling originated in 2008's The Legacy Collection Imperial Pilot Legacy Evolutions line. Hasbro continually uses the sculpt to issue one TIE Fighter Pilot after the other, whether for basic figure release or as a pack-in figure for a vehicle. Sadly, it's worn out its welcome in the Star Wars toy line. We don't understand why Hasbro continually releases it. Now, Hasbro selected the TIE Fighter Pilot for re-release in The Vintage Collection line. But instead of selecting the same character they did in 2011, they've instead chosen Lt. Oxixo (TIE Fighter Pilot) from 2011's SW [SOTDS] Battle Over Endor (1 of 2) Toys R Us exclusive multipack. Coincidentally, they also reissued a version of Lieutenant Oxixo in 2018's TVC Imperial TIE Fighter [SW] Walmart exclusive. The most significant difference on the 2018 pack-in figure was that the helmet wasn't removable, and they included a "new" head sculpt cast in black but affixed to the helmet. The 2021 release of Lieutenant Oxixo for the VC65 re-release complicates things. A different character should geta unique VC sequence number. And the card art should be different as well. Hasbro is not consistent with this process, as evidenced by this error, and the Rebel Fleet Trooper pack-in figure with a new VC number. (That figure was identical to the original VC52 release in 2011.)

Besides choosing the wrong character for re-release, the TIE Fighter Pilot received a host of updates to supposedly make it the best figure on the market for The Vintage Collection collectors. However, the sad but true thing is that we need an all-new TIE Fighter Pilot from the ground up, without spindly and close-together legs as well as super-articulation (including ankle articulation). An acceptable action figure for the popular Star Wars character at one time, current technology brings The Vintage Collection action figures to places they couldn't go previously. And the TIE Fighter PIlot deserves better. We've claimed that the TIE Fighter Pilot's repack wave is the worst assortment of repacks to date. We don't understand why Hasbro chose any of these figures. Hasbro, we beg of you, the TIE Fighter Pilot character needs an all-new sculpt. While Hasbro indeed used the best sculpt available to package into The Vintage Collection, it's not worthy of this status any longer. We're tired of keeping it as a placeholder for a yet-to-be-released definitive action figure. We wished they would have chosen another Return Of The Jedi character to use in its place for the Revenge Of The Jedi promotion, and especially the 2021 repack. This release is not a definitive replacement for Kenner's 1982 ESB Imperial TIE Fighter Pilot figure.

Hasbro positioned the figure's legs much too close together. Between the small feet unable to balance the wider upper body and a helmet that doesn't fit on the head perfectly, these are only some of the problems that riddle this action figure. Admittedly, the Lieutenant Oxixo figure has tighter joints, but the tooling is now obsolete. We find it particularly strange that Hasbro glued down the figure's helmet onto the head, but for The Vintage Collection re-release, we're back to clones under the helmets. 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. For the 2011 Return Of The Jedi and Revenge Of The Jedi releases, Hasbro took the TIE Interceptor Pilot from the 2009 LC TIE Interceptor Toys R Us exclusive, slightly altered the deco, and placed them into The Vintage Collection packaging. But for the 2021 re-release, Hasbro took the Star Wars [Shadow Of The Dark Side] Lt. Oxixo (TIE Fighter Pilot), repainted it, and included the figure in the revised packaging. And sorry if we're beating a dead horse, it's driving us insane that we have two different characters with the same VC65 number now, but we have two of the exact figures (less Photo Real updating) with two distinct sequence numbers now (VC52 and VC183).

While we're surprised that Hasbro decided to bring the TIE Fighter Pilot into The Vintage Collection (and "re-released" it), we're more surprised that they also included the character in the Revenge Of The Jedi/Return of The Jedi chase figure promotion of 2011. Hasbro needed a handful of straight repacks for the 2011 assortments and couldn't expect any tooling budgets. That's why we got stuck with the TIE Fighter Pilot for this long. 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. Now, Lieutenant Oxixo designates this character from A New Hope. 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 understand us. Hasbro has a lot of great choices, but some of them leave us scratching our heads. We aren't fond of the TIE Fighter Pilot. It's a decent figure to stick in a cockpit sitting in a pilot's seat, but there's not much more it offers.

Despite its poor design, the figure does have a lot of articulation, but it's not smooth and functional. 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 aren't ambivalent about ball-jointed ankles. This figure NEEDS them. The feet don't lay flat against the "surface," and balancing the figure is not easy. Although Hasbro designed the hands to hold onto the cockpit's controls, the spread of the grip in the hands prevents the figure from holding 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 Kenner action figures, and we want a definitive modern update to 1982's ESB Imperial TIE Fighter Pilot figure. And please give future TIE Fighter Pilot action figures a wider stance and tighten up the joints. We're not quite sure why Hasbro feels the TIE Fighter Pilot is worthy of continuous inclusion in the basic figure line, especially a collectors' line, but we'll probably never know.

Editor's Note: Hasbro re-released The Vintage Collection TIE Fighter Pilot (VC65) figure in January 2021 with a significant number of changes. Updates include: (1) an all-new character for the re-release — Lieutenant Oxixo (2) "photorealistic" deco, (3) improved paint operations throughout the figure's outfit, (4) refreshed 2021 packaging with different graphics

Review Status Update: The original publication date of this review is October 18, 2011. It was subsequently updated with a new Photo Gallery and revised General Analysis and republished on January 31, 2021 after Hasbro reissued the figure.