A-WING PILOT

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Our first glimpse of the Rebel pilots in A New Hope had them all wearing the same uniform, be they X-Wing or Y-Wing pilots.  Empire continued the trend for the snowspeeders as well.  It wasn’t until Return of the Jedi that the idea of fighter-specific pilot uniforms really came into play, with the A-Wing and B-Wing pilots being granted brand-new designs.  The toyline took advantage of these new looks and they were introduced into the vintage line pretty quickly.  The B-Wing pilot would end up being absent from Power of the Force II, but the A-Wing pilot got his due, and that’s the figure I’m looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The A-Wing Pilot was included with the A-Wing proper, released in 1997, during the third year of Power of the Force II.  While a lot of the PotF2 vehicles came sans-pilot, I guess they decided the A-Wing pilot just wasn’t exciting enough to sell on his own.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  The A-Wing Pilot’s sculpt was unique to him, and it’s fairly decent, if maybe not all that thrilling.  He fits the general aesthetic of the line three years in, meaning that the worst of the stylization is gone, and he’s not pre-posed to speak of, but he’s still not quite at the high point of the line.  He’s a little bulkier than pilots tend to be, but not ridiculously so.  I do like that his face isn’t just a complete blank slate; there’s a bit of character there.  Curiously, this figure lacks peg-holes on his feet, something that’s unique to him.  They’ve been a standard feature of the line for quite some time, but for some reason this guy got skipped.  It’s strange to say the least.  His paintwork is as straightforward as anyone else from the line, meaning he’s clean, and pretty much accurate to the source material, but very definitely basic.  The A-Wing Pilot included no accessories of his own, being an accessory himself.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t own the A-Wing, and I never did.  But, I kind of like pilots, so I picked this guy up loose from All Time, because why not.  I had store credit, and I was on one of my PotF binges.  He’s not a terribly impressive figure, but then he was never really meant to be; his purpose is to fill a cockpit, and in that regard, I guess he’s alright.

As noted above, I grabbed this guy from All Time Toys.  If you’re looking for other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.