I agree completely with Scott on facial hair... I prefer less "distinguishing" marks on army builders. The more generic, the better. The same for the Endor Rebel, however I think Hasbro was slightly trying to mimic the Endor Sergeant from Sideshow (I see he's also compared to a Hasbro sculptor, and I think at best they were trying to combine the two). The Endor Sergeant had a goatee, but it was thinner, and I could've probably gone without any facial hair on him.
Anyway, on the Cloud Car Pilot, I look at it two ways... First that the OTC Pilot was a much more generic army builder, and so I like it better, but second that the TVC Pilot is a superior figure in MOST ways (except one).
I had the vintage Pilot and loved him... I had him salute all the time with his goofy posed arm, and he was another one who would find himself in GI Joe adventures, somehow. He was weird for the time too, coming with an extra accessory even though he was just a very, very background guy.
I kind of agree, the resculpt on him was probably less than necessary. I appreciate Hasbro's effort to give us the mustache though, since the one maquette had it. Also the articulation update is apprecaited.
My one issue with him though, is the lack of a removable communicator. That's a pretty noticeable step backwards from the OTC figure, even if it seems minor to some. The communicator is there on his belt, they thought to sculpt it, but not make it a separate accessory. That sort of sucked. I also found the massive change in the outfit a little odd/annoying. It makes the OTC figure look out of place. Why would the police from the city have different outfits, ya know?
My only other gripe I guess is that the paint is sloppy on my Vintage pilot... The communicator looks like it should have a bit of paint detail that it is lacking all together. Little stuff like that stands out.
One could also argue that the OTC pilot has the better pistol too, since it's an homage to the vintage pistol. I'd argue that I think. I mean, I liked the vintage homages on the last figure, more than this one.
I did buy a 2nd TVC pilot to put an OTC Pilot's head on, and then I'd like a 2nd Cloud Car, with 2 OTC Pilots in it as well, for the two that flank the Falcon as an escort. I don't like dividing up the uniforms though, and genericness would've really, really helped this figure.
I'm hoping the ENdor Rebel gets re-used for some of the other Endor Rebel uniforms too, and "genericness" prevails there.
