B-Wing Pilot (ROTJ 1983-4)

The B-Wing pilot is one of those figures that, as a kid, you probably didn’t bother with unless you actually got a B-Wing, and, to be honest, how many of us did? Sure, your parents bought you that mini-rig that never appeared in the film, but they didn’t shell out for the big kahunas, like the B-Wing, or the much rarer A-Wing. To top it all off, where were the B-Wing pilots? They had one of the coolest new ships, and you don’t seem them.

The B-Wing Pilot comes in a stylish red suit, and comes with the same blaster packaged with a few other figures, including the AT-ST Driver. The Pilot came on an ROTJ and a POTF card. The POTF card is, naturally, rarer (as are all POTF carded figures).

Why should you own this figure? Five reasons:

1. Owning one gave you that slim hope that you could use it as leverage to get your own B-Wing Fighter. Slim, but still there.

2. Nothing says Ewok after-battle party like a few B-Wing Pilots.

3. Nothing says pre-battle war room conference like a few B-Wing Pilots.

4. If you were one of those few that actually got your own B-Wing Fighter, this figure was a no-brainer.

5. A-Wing Pilot vs. B-Wing Pilot smackdown! Let’s get it on!

Backstory:

Because of the difficulty of flying a B-Wing (more on the B-Wing Fighter in tomorrow’s post) the pilot’s had to be highly trained. By the Battle of Endor few had actually qualified to fly the B-Wing, so more Y-Wings were put in use at the Battle. The B-Wings did manage to blow up a Star Destroyer by themselves however, but this was not shown on film. Due to the ship’s unusual design, it was deemed too hard to make a B-Wing sequence, so you barely see them in ROTJ. You basically see a glancing shot here and here, and the pilots before and after the battle.

Full story? Wookieepedia article

18th in alphabetical order