Clone Pilot - ROTS - Basic (III 34)

Clone trooper pilots are specially trained for the skills needed to fly attack and troop ships. As part of the Grand Army of the Republic, the clone pilots engage the Separatist forces across the galaxy.

After Attack Of The Clones but before Revenge Of Sith, Star Wars fans had officially been introduced to only six different clones. (We’re not talking about anything in the Expanded Universe here.) But when Revenge Of This Sith did hit theaters, our observance became instantaneous sensory overload and we probably needed our fingers and toes to count how many unique battalions were in the film. Not only were there different colors, but there were different armor styles and outfits. It made us think how it was possible for so much change to happen in the universe in a few short years Episode II and Episode III separate those films. Liken the comparison to the creatures in Episode IV versus Episode VI. By the time of Return Of The Jedi was released, fans saw a plethora more of aliens in all the scenes related to Jabba than those few short moments of screen time from Chalmun’s cantina in A New Hope. We say all that to say that there is a big difference in how many different clones appear from one film to the next. Star Wars collectors were quickly offered the opportunity to get the new phase II Clone Pilot into their collection courtesy of Hasbro in the Revenge Of The Sith line, but like many other figures in this line, it isn’t movie accurate (and as a result didn’t appear as the film as is). At best Clone Pilot is a Concept Art action figure. (We’ll explain shortly.) But in theory, Clone Pilot could have been a great movie accurate figure with a great super-articulated design, had they been given the appropriate reference materials to design it. Then again, we would have liked to see a better sculpt before developing a movie specific Clone Pilot.

Hasbro must have figured that kids and collectors both would be hiding this figure in a Republic vessel thus eliminating the need for a more premium action figure. (We know. This isn’t our preference either.) Any figure that gets considered for release should have the most optimal articulation. You should probably know that the Clone Pilot is a meagerly average figure. It doesn’t look terrible and you may be drawn to it since it looks like a Prequel Trilogy version of our much more loved Imperial AT-AT Drivers, but he has become a victim of some sad shortcuts. Swivel articulation has taken over here and it’s a decision that really hinders this figure from being likeable (and even practical). What’s probably more perplexing is that Hasbro sunk some extra tooling dollars into giving him ball-jointed knees. We don't like to complain when great articulation is added but why bother here? This may assist the collector in seating him in any cockpit a bit more, but does it really matter? The addition of ball-jointed shoulders probably could have saved this figure from being a dud, but the three points of swivel articulation in each arm basically does nothing to help you achieve any interesting or useful poses. He looks way too frozen in the upper body. What’s worse is that Hasbro wasted time and money giving the figure a ball-socket head. It barely articulates thanks to the glued on chest box preventing the tubes attached to his helmet from moving. Perhaps this figure’s strongpoint lies in its accessories. Because Clone Pilot is a Collection 1 figure, that means it’s been designed for the kiddies. As a result Hasbro packed in a “Firing Cannon!” that has no real relevance except that its big and looks cool with the Clone Pilot.

It isn’t screen accurate and we haven’t come across it in any reference materials, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a planned concept for use in somewhere within Revenge Of The Sith at one point. The cannon accessory is impressively large. It makes us wonder how Hasbro was able to cost it out without converting it to a Deluxe figure instead. (We’ve gotten less plastic than all the parts in this basic figure than we did in some of the products in the Deluxe line.) But if you’re more figure oriented, you’ll be left with wanting a lot more from the Clone Pilot. It would behoove Hasbro to develop super-articulated sculpts of all the clones they make for our collections. As we’ve mentioned, Clone Pilot comes to us from some amalgamated concept including official Revenge Of The Sith Concept Art and Hasbro, but you might be interested to know that Hasbro took their cur from the Open Circle Armada (also known as Open Circle Fleet) and you can tell this by the insignia on his helmet. This legion was commanded by Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi and you can easily identify this by the Open Circle Armada symbols that adorn their respective Jedi starfighters. Also, a concept art image exists of a V-wing fighter pilot wearing the same outfit of this figure, with a different helmet, but one that also displays the Open Circle. More clone pilots that were actually in the film will come our way, but Hasbro apparently didn’t have all the tools and resources they needed to give us all of the necessary clone army members we saw in Revenge Of The Sith. You’ll just have to determine for yourself if you need this one. (Editor’s Note: Obviously we all have much better options for great Clone Pilot action figures now than we did in 2005.)