Review of Imperial TIE Fighter Pilot

Introduction

A couple of weeks ago, Star Wars celebrated 40 years since its theatrical release in North America. Not that we needed a special reason to do so, but Sideshow and Hot Toys, among others, have been putting out much Star Wars merchandise, some of it reflecting the characters and themes of the Original Trilogy. Fittingly, Michael has reviewed a number of the new Star Wars action figures in the last several days.

One of the most obviously ominous-looking characters in the entire original Star Wars trilogy, Imperial TIE Fighter Pilots were obedient, brave, and self-sacrificing, dutifully executing the impractical and wasteful orders of their commanders; and although there were supposedly too many of them, we never quite saw them win a battle. That makes for caricature villains, one of the basic flaws of the great saga. But they were cool characters all the same.

Last year Sideshow followed up on its long tradition of producing sixth-scale versions of imperial military personnel (most recently the Scout Trooper and AT-AT Driver) by releasing its Imperial TIE Fighter Pilot. The action figure is exquisite and nearly perfect. Although I do not own any other sixth-scale versions of the character, I would imagine this is an improvement on its predecessors.

Packaging - ***
Sideshow's Imperial TIE Fighter Pilot comes in the now familiar two-shades-of-black box with a wraparound cover secured with magnets, which opens up to allow a look at the figure behind its transparent plastic trey. To access this, you have to open the box from the top (or bottom). Inside are two plastic treys stacked one on top of the other. The top one holds the figure and its hexagonal base, while the lower trey holds the remaining accessories. The design is solid, if by now not very exciting, and everything is safe and collector-friendly.

Sculpting - ****
The sculpting of the helmet and the armor is exact and smooth. The gloved hands and boots are sculpted in loving and realistic detail, giving them the feel of well-worn leather. As far as I could determine, everything is film-accurate. Standing just over 12 inches, the Imperial TIE Fighter Pilot is a tall figure, something accentuated by the crest section on the helmet. The situation is identical to the similarly-equipped Sideshow AT-AT Driver. By comparison, Hot Toys' Rogue One Stormtrooper stands about 11.75 inches tall.

Paint - ****
Technically speaking, there is little complexity to the paint job. Most of it is made of different shades of black. In fact, because the film helmets were not enhanced with different colors (unlike Darth Vader's helmet), but were painted with a consistent color, and Sideshow followed suit, it was difficult taking photos in which the features were not obscured by the blackness of the paint.

There are, however, specific features in distinctive colors. These include the silver imperial crest on both sides of the helmet's upper front and on the sides of the upper sleeves, the silver ear caps on the helmet, the various white, grey, blue, and red buttons and parts on the breathing unit over the chest, the sparkling silver buckle and button on the belt; there is also the exquisitely detailed communication (?) panel slipped into an open compartment on the lower left sleeve. There is no slop of bleed anywhere. One possible paint option that Sideshow did not pursue are the so-called tiger stripes that appeared on a few of the pilot's helmets (one of the ways in which the filmmakers could hint at multiple and distinct pilots).

The paint on the armor is glossy, while that on the breathing tubes gloves, and boots is much duller, giving them a distinctive appearance, suitable for rubber and worn leather.
One area where Sideshow is on top of its game, is the weathering of the blaster rifle. The detail looks great and stands in stark contrast to the minimal weathering on the same weapon in the case of Hot Toys Stormtroopers, for example.

Articulation - ***1/2
The underlying action figure body is very good, with fairly stiff joints, a great improvement on (for example) Sideshow's Imperial Stormtrooper from 2009. The fabric jumpsuit and the relatively limited armor allow the articulation to be virtually unimpeded. The arms bend at the elbow entirely realistically, while the knees allow the lower leg to be bent back to 45 degrees. This enables the pilot to take crouching or kneeling stances with relative ease. The long gloves limit the wrist articulation somewhat, but they can still rotate freely. The boots, however, do eliminate pretty much any ankle articulation. The chest armor gets a little in the way of some arm poses; the breathing tubes can tug down on the helmet, limiting not so much the head's articulation, as its ability to hold some poses.

Accessories - ***
The Imperial TIE Fighter Pilot comes with a limited number of accessories, although I must admit that we never see these pilots with any accessory (other than the TIE Fighters themselves) in the film. The one true accessory provided here is the so-called standard imperial E-11 blaster rifle. There are also two additional sets of long-gloved hands, each with their own removable wrist pegs, making for a total of three sets of hands. These include two fist hands, two relaxed hands, one right gun-grip hand, and one left semi-relaxed hand. There is also a black action figure stand with a hexagonal base; the Star Wars logo appears on the bottom of the base. Overall, the selection in this category seems sparse and reasonable at the same time.

Sound Feature - n/a

Light Feature - n/a
While technically this is not a light feature, you will need light to notice and enjoy it. While the helmet's lenses look blackish, if you take it off and shine a light inside, you will notice they are actually transparent and light-greyish in color. Even if it is hardly noticeable in most circumstances, this is certainly a cool and film-accurate detail, which sets this helmet apart from its Sideshow predecessors, except for the AT-AT Driver, whose helmet also had transparent lenses.

Outfit - ****
I have covered the armor and the sculpted relatively soft plastic gloves and boots above. The remainder of the outfit is a one-piece black imperial jumpsuit, which covers the entire visible body. This is film-accurate, opens up with a long frontal zipper (the top of which, when zipped up, is obscured by a magnetically-clasped collar flap). It has the imperial crest on each upper arm (a detail woefully confusing to action-figure makers -- imperial black and grey jumpsuits get crests, blue ones and tunics do not!), different kinds of pockets on each sleeve, on both sides of the chest, and two of them on each leg. There is a silver-clasped black belt at the waist, from which hangs a holster for the blaster rifle. I do not recall the last detail from the film, but it is certainly a reasonable addition.

Fun Factor - ****
This is too expensive and perhaps too exquisite to be suitable for children, especially young ones. And while we do not see TIE Fighter Pilots doing much in the way of extreme physical activity (they sit flying to their deaths in their TIE Fighters, follow Vader out of a hallway in A New Hope, and scurry down a hallway in Return of the Jedi), they do make a welcome addition that adult collectors can put to good use and pose in a variety of poses and companies. One of the most enjoyable aspect of this figure for this collector is its potential for further customization and kitbashing. The black imperial jumpsuit, the black belt, the gloved hands, and the boots, are the basic uniform shared with at least three other imperial characters in the Original Trilogy. These are the dress-down versions of the Imperial Naval Officers, of the "Death Star" or "Death Squad" Troopers (Naval Guards), and of the Imperial Gunners. In one of the photos you can see the Imperial TIE Fighter Pilot posed alongside my kitbashed Imperial Naval Officer and Naval Guard, where the headgear for the latter two was borrowed and customized from Hasbro's old 12" iterations of these characters. Or you could always keep everything as it is, but take off the helmet to reveal a custom head of your choice, as I did in another photo.

Value - ***
Apart from a few crazy-high outliers, these currently can be purchased at various prices ranging between $160 and $300. When they came out, they were about $180-190, which was a very good price for high-end action figures from top companies. It makes me regret that Sideshow did not jump on making the similarly helmeted Imperial Gunner and Emperor's Royal Guard (which will be made by Hot Toys, something that promises excellent quality, but also exorbitant prices). That said, the figure is limited in terms of accessories. Overall, while certainly not cheap, the figure commanded a pretty decent price.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not much. There is little here that can be irreparably damaged, and perhaps the most fragile thing is the blaster rifle, with its unfolding stock. The breathing tubes can come out of the helmet if you yank it off the head too precipitously, but some effort will get them back in place. The hands swap easily, and the boots can come off even accidentally, which is a minor annoyance.

Overall - ***1/2
This is a well-designed and well-executed action figure that portrays the film characters very faithfully. Given their masked look, it is difficult to tell action figure and actual TIE Fighter Pilot apart. Despite some fairly minor limitations in the articulation (most notably the ankles), the result is an almost flawless product.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ****
Paint - ****
Articulation - ***1/2
Accessories - ***
Outfit - ****
Fun Factor - ****
Value - ***
Overall - ***1/2

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Sideshow has the Rogue One version available for $210 on pre-order.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Among Original Trilogy imperials, I recently reviewed Hot Toys' Rogue One Stormtrooper, and Michael reviewed the Hot Toys A New Hope Stormtrooper 2 pack, and the Sideshow AT-AT Driver, Scout Trooper, and Stormtrooper. Check out his many other Star Wars reviews.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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