X-Wing Pilot - TVC - Builder Packs

Generally speaking, The Vintage Collection Builder Packs line is scratching some itches within the collecting community. While not entirely perfect, they are helping collectors extend their collection by adding generic troopers, pilots, and other characters to the line to accentuate displays and dioramas. They got a little more creative than usual with the X-Wing Pilot Builder Pack set. If you search Wookieepedia or Google, you can find official characters that seemed to have inspired the action figures in this set. For the first time on a 3.75-inch scale, we get a female Mirialan pilot and a male Duros pilot. These are undoubtedly exciting additions to the line, yet their entrance feels lazy. Hasbro utilized 2019’s/2024’s TVC Luke Skywalker (X-Wing Pilot0 (VC158) buck to make all four figures within this set. So, that means the females have male bodies and come without the necessary shapeliness that distinguishes men from women. That aside, if you can get past the androgynous nature of these four characters, we believe you’ll find something to enjoy here. The four new portraits are gorgeous. It’s a colorful set that goes beyond the bright orange flight suits. The green skin color of the Mirialan and the blue skin color of the Duros add depth and dimension to the already broad Star Wars universe.

You can pair a blaster and blaster pistol with 75% of the crew here, but one action figure will be weaponless until you share the accessories from the other figures with the fourth figure. All four removable helmets are unique, and the Duros have unique hands. All four pilots have paint operation changes from the base figure. Other than that, the figures are nearly identical to the original. When first released, a significant convention exclusive, Luke Skywalker (X-Wing Pilot), was part of the Luke Skywalker (Jedi Destiny) Special Action Figure Set. Later, Hasbro included the figure single-carded in the first wave of action figures focused on Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise Of Skywalker. It was the best figure of wave 23, the wave for Triple Force Friday. They’re using it as a template to produce other pilot figures. We believe we’re all right with that. Luke Skywalker (X-Wing Pilot) has been a mainstay in the Hasbro Star Wars line for as long as we can recall, and so will the other pilots if Hasbro keeps producing them. Technology gives us the best-looking X-Wing pilots for the basic figure line from Hasbro. With Photo Real deco technology, enhanced super-articulation, and new portraits that rival what Hasbro produced in the past, it’s a treat to get new super-articulated action figures with a few updates or changes to help us pad our collections.

Like all Builder Pack sets, we get a white box with minimal art. The figures lie in four separate spaces separated by cardboard dividers to keep everything in place. They packed the accessories for these figures in paper baggies as part of Hasbro’s woke packaging initiative. It’s a garbage way to present a toy collectible to collectors, but this is our lot in life, and we are meant to suffer. That said, the drawings of the characters on the box are interesting and generally well done, but there is little color, and it is easily forgettable. This set comes with an MSRP of $54.99, which breaks down to $13.75 per figure, undisputedly a fair cost for the contents. Yes, it’s the exact figure times four, but how can anyone complain when each figure has a brand new portrait where one can almost pass as an upgraded Garven Dreis figure? We must admit that we’re disappointed that we have a Duros X-Wing Pilot before a Duros Cantina alien, but that’s how things are with Hasbro. And it makes us wish Hasbro would utilize the Builder Packs format for a four-pack of Cantina or Jabba aliens. But that’s an un likely option as well. While many of these Builder Pack multipacks have been exclusive to Hasbro Pulse and Shop Disney, the last few have had Fan Channel availability. This set is a great start, but it might behoove Hasbro to develop sets focusing on a single film to help us flesh out those displays.