If you’re reading this on the date of publication, it’s the day after Super Bowl LV.  I spent my entire day of Super Bowl Sunday photographing this set.  ALL day.  When the HECK is Mr. Nomadscout going to finish his storage locker photo studio?  Fun fact for you:  when it’s complete, it will be the first storage locker photo studio in history to produce safe for work content!  That will be a landmark day.

This set is yet another brutal reminder of how devastating the demise of Toys R Us was to the fate of 3.75” (1:18) scale. The world-building scale is product-hungry.  Unfortunately, now it’s being product-starved.  You can’t world-build on three waves per year.  Well, I should say that you can’t world-build on three waves per year NOW that the giraffe is dead.  When Toys R Us was alive, the mainline was augmented by a plethora of amazing multi-packs. It greatly helped blunt any pain if the mainline failed to deliver. Currently, our only hope for supplementing the mainline is a few exclusives that Walmart will ensure are impossible to obtain.

The biggest problem with this set is that, at the time of its release, the community was starting to suffer pilot-fatigue.  In fact, in 2013, the pegs would become dominated by orange jump-suited 3.75” Black Series figures.  Lesson learned:  I will never complain about segment fatigue again.  Right now I would give my eye teeth for a Rebel pilot 3-pack.

Jek Porkins - Red 6

William “Top Men” Hootkins had the massive foresight top follow Harrison Ford from one tentpole franchise to another having appeared in both A New Hope and Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Prior to this release, X-Wing pilots have had a “short” buck and a “tall” buck.  This figure introduces the husky buck.  At the time of its release in 2009, the pot-bellied Wilrow Hood was rumored to be a pre-sculpt for a Porkins figure, but I don’t see any serious tooling re-use between these two figures.  In fact, this Porkins is a little bit svelter.  I’m thrilled that we got a super articulated Porkins, and I would love to see this re-released in The Vintage Collection with a dose of Photo Real.  It’s an 8 out of 10.

Tiree - Gold 2

We need a new Y-Wing.  It’s probably bad form for me to lead off a figure review with that, but my contention stands.  We need a new Y-Wing.  I still swear this character is “Harry.”  I will never not hear “Pops” say, “Lost Harry.  Lost Hutch.”  This figure is a repurpose of the 2006 VTSC X-Wing Luke Skywalker figure as evidenced by the telltale lightsaber hilt peg hole.  That darn thing is almost as conspicuous as Dannik Jerriko‘s face holes. While that 2006 sculpt is no longer good for a primary character like Luke Skywalker, it’s passable for a secondary character like Tiree. The head sculpt doesn’t bear a tremendous likeness to actor Jeremy Sinden. A splash of Photo Real might help that.  I say re-release it.  7 out of 10.

Davish Krail (a.k.a. Pops) - Gold 5

We need a new Y-Wing.  Have I said that recently?  As with Tiree, this figure is based on the 2006 X-Wing Luke Skywalker.  So if my editor would kindly CTRL-C + CTRL-V that commentary here, I’d appreciate it.  (Editor’s Note. I am VERY BUSY!)  The head sculpt does look somewhat like actor Graham Ashley.  I wish it were a little more squinty though.  If they had given it 10% Gilbert Gottfried, it would have been spot on.  Still, as a secondary character, the old sculpt plus a passable head sculpt makes this an 8 out of 10.  Say, that Photo Real would probably look pretty good here.

R5-D8

This is another “build-a-droid”-based astromech.  We here at Bantha Skull industries are not a fan of the “port hole” sculpt and will never support it.  Astromechs need to be watertight up to ten fathoms.  How the heck are you going to do that WITH GIANT HOLES IN THE SIDES? The actual Red 6 astromech did bear a resemblance to R5-D4, so this isn’t a gratuitous release. It’s distinguished mostly by deleting some of the paint applications from the R5-D4 Vintage Collection figure. The other big change is silver panels on the top of the dome instead of red.  As a build-a-droid figure, this is a 5 out of 10.

Mauler Mithel - Black 2

Mauler Mithel is differentiated from the sea of TIE Fighter pilot sameness by the partial imperial symbol on the right hand side of his helmet (your left, dummy).  Other than that, I don’t care.  I’m sick and stinking tired of reviewing TIE Fighter Pilot figures based on the ankle-less Evolutions mold.  Thank goodness Hasbro would never re-release this mold again in 2021.  I would hate to have to photograph this figure aga-...., wait, what’s that?  YOU’RE KIDDING ME!

The TIE Fighter Pilot needs an update.  6 out of 10.