X-wing Pilot Asty - TBS [P3] - Six Inch Figures (14)

Ello Asty is a skilled if occasionally reckless X-wing starfighter pilot for the Resistance.

Is it just us or does the Star Wars line nowadays seems cluttered and disorganized? With our inability to determine when and what things are coming, to the bizarre character selection chosen by Hasbro, the easiest way of describing collecting today is that it’s a crapshoot. Thankfully there are action figures produced that provide serenity in this chaos, and a great example of this is X-wing Pilot Asty from The Black Series [Phase III] 6” lineup. Spiritually, he is everything longtime collectors have come to expect from Kenner and Hasbro all of these year. X-wing Pilot Asty is a background character that is almost a “blink and you’ll miss it” visage in The Force Awakens. But the more obscure, the more we like to see action figure interpretations of these characters. Now we have him released as 2015’s TFA Asty X-wing Pilot (Snow) Build A Weapon action figure as well as a 6” scaled super-articulated version in The Black Series [Phase III] line. Guess which one is infinitely better? X-wing Pilot Asty is as quintessentially Star Wars as Luke Skywalker is. From the homage-paying modern X-wing pilot uniform update to the “Special Edition” Chalmun’s cantina alien familiarity in his likeness, X-wing Pilot Asty should intrigue those who love aliens as much as they do more popular Star Wars characters.

In a slightly surprising move, actually a shocking move, X-wing Pilot Asty is an all-new figure. We were CERTAIN that Hasbro would have reused parts on 2015’s TBS [P3] Poe Dameron (07) to make this newer X-wing pilot. But they didn’t. In fact, they’ve enhanced the design of the uniform in quite a few ways and it makes us wish they would go back to Poe Dameron and correct a few of his wonky parts so that he looks the best he can too. Most notable is the design how the hem of his flight suit rests against the shoes. The boots now rest under the pant leg instead of the pant leg rest on top of what look like “clogs” on Poe Dameron. Another way of saying this more simply is that the pants are longer and look to have a much more natural drape with X-wing Pilot Asty. Trust us, it’s a tremendous upgrade. The rest of the uniform has natural creases and everything, but the wrinkling isn’t as obnoxious as it is on Poe Dameron either. You can really sense that Hasbro has paid attention to things that need revising and updated them. We don’t believe that these updates are just a coincidence. Maybe they are, but it just seems that there was intent to improve here.

X-wing Pilot Asty has a beautiful head sculpt, and the paint operations aren’t terrible. But it seems there is some room for improvement. The design of this alien’s species has a completely Star Wars feel to it, especially to A New Hope, and it works well with the X-wing pilot uniform. Where we struggle however is the neck area. We If you lift up the head to look at the neck post, it is a different color (human flesh tone) than the rest of his head. It is glaring and looks unfinished. We don’t fully understand why more efforts weren’t made to camouflage this a bit more. If if wasn’t visible when looking at the figure, then of course we wouldn’t take too much issue with it, but because of how obvious it is, it makes us wish Hasbro did more. Other than this, X-wing Pilot Asty has been painted quite beautifully. We’re impressed with most of him. Loaded with articulation like most of the figures in The Black Series line are, X-wing Pilot Asty can attain every pose you wish.... and probably more. It would be wonderful to see this sculpt translated in 3.75” scale, which rumors abound that he is already in the works. Part of a very difficult wave to find at retail: brick and mortar as well as online, X-wing Pilot Asty started showing up in most areas after the next chronological wave 5 did, a testament to Hasbro’s horrid distribution.