A history of Hasbro's Release Timing for Vehicles and Their Pilots

[Tycho]

THE GOOD: (the vehicle was released with a pilot availabe, or already out on the market.)

Landspeeder: 1995, Luke Tatooine, C-3PO, R2D2: 1995 - an Obi-Wan with softgoods wasn't available until 2004 though! (however, you could make him with the 1999 Jedi Robe in the Accessory Set).

Millenium Falcon: 1995, Han Solo, Chewbacca, (and the rest of the ANH Falcon crew): 1995

Speederbike: 1996, Bikerscout - included: 1996

Snowspeeder: 1996, Luke Snowspeeder Pilot: 1996

Slave-One: 1996, Boba Fett: 1996

Swoop Bike: 1996, included pilot: 1996

The Outrider 1996, Dash Rendar: 1996

T-16: 1997, while one can assume that everyone had Luke Tatooine since 1995

A-wing Figher: 1997, included pilot 1997

Speederbike: 1997, included Luke 1997

Speederbike: 1997, included Leia 1997

AT-AT: 1998, included Driver and Commander: 1998

Tatooine Skiff:1999, included Luke Jedi, however, Pote Snitkin was available at the end of 1998

Anakin's Podracer: 1999, Anakin figure included 1999

Sebulba's Podracer: 1999, Sebulba figure included 1999

Naboo N-1 Fighter: 1999, Ric Olee and Anakin Pilot figures released 1999

Flash Speeder: 1999, Naboo Royal Security Guard figure released 1999

STAP 1999, Battle Droid 1999

Naboo Royal Starship: 1999, crew 1999

Sith Speeder 1999, included Darth Maul softgoods, 1999

AAT Tank 2000, Battle Droids released since 1999

B-Wing Fighter 2001, Sullustan Pilot included 2001

TIE Interceptor 2001, TIE Pilot included 2001

TIE Bomber 2002, TIE Pilot included 2002

Anakin's speeder 2002, Anakin (Hanger Duel) 2002

Owen's Speederbike: 2002, Anakin included 2002

Darth Tyranus Speederbike 2002, Tyranus included 2002

Obi-Wan's Jedi Starfighter 2002, Obi-Wan included with KB Exclusive, regular figure released 2002

Republic Gunship 2002, all crews available 2002, Clone Pilot as well

Jango Fett's Slave One 2002, Jango Pilot 2002

Zam Wessel's speeder 2002, Zam 2002

Imperial Shuttle 2002, Vader softgoods since 1999, Imperial Officer since 2001, variations in 2003








The Fair (the timing of the vehicle and pilot were just a year off)

X-wing Fighter: 1995, Luke Pilot (snowspeeder unfortunately): 1996

TIE Fighter: 1995, TIE Pilot: 1996


Darth Vader TIE Fighter: 1997, Vader Complete Galaxy sitting: 1998



THE WORST (because the timing of the vehicle and its pilot were completely uncoordinated!)

AT-ST: 1995, AT-ST Driver: 1997


I'm working on 1999 TPM up through modern times right now. Stand by or contribute

[mtriv73]

Not really a pilot but...AT-TE gunner 2005 AT-TE 2008

V wing 2008 V-wing pilot 2009 as a freaking WM exclusive.

Red Leader X-wing 2004 a decent red leader and his astromech 2009

[Ando]

[FONT=Courier New]Tycho, it's funny you should be posting these listings...[/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New][/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New]I have been ruminating on this issue myself lately because of the MASSIVE lack of clone pilots vs. the GLUT of Clone Wars fighters available since 2006 (V Wing), 2008 (V-19 + ARC-170).[/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New][/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New]I have a VERY clear memory of my mom taking me to a store when I was maybe 3-5 years old and grabbing a Kenner X Wing AND a Luke Skywalker X Wing pilot figure off the shelf and buying them for me and I remember thinking to myself that it made a lot of sense for both of those toys to be available at the same time and way to go Mom for knowing that I would need a pilot for the X Wing.[/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New][/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New]Having said that, here is my contribution:[/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New][/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New]Good: [/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New][/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New]2007 Target Exclusive ARC-170 (Razor Squadron paint job) + Target Exclusive ARC-170 Elite battle pack on the same end cap at the same time.[/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New][/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New]It was a limited run, but this was WELL EXECUTED. I got 2 sets for Christmas that year.[/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New][/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New]BAD:[/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New][/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New]2006 TRU exclusive Clone Wars I Republic Gunship available around April/May. The Hunt for Grievous battle pack was hard to find and didn't get mine until July or August. I will give TRU half slack due to their deteriorationg deal with Amazon.com (my first order through Amazon got canceled) for online sales, but I found the Gunship IN STORE (stacked to the rafters after they'd been available for a few weeks/months) with NO HfG BP in sight so I had to order it online after TRU took over their online sales. [/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New][/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New]This was a disaster and if I hadn't wanted them so damn bad, I probably would've given up. [/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New][/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New]Seriously, I can't believe somebody else was thinking about this around the same time as me.[/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New][/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New]I wish they would coordinate vehicles and their respective pilots a little better. I tend to like to purchase things together and hate having to wait on a second item to make something complete or not knowing if it will ever come around.[/FONT]

[Tycho]

Hmmm. Looks like you guys are catching on to my idea. If you can, work with 2005 to 2009. I'm checking release dates on RS, but not necessarily dealing with variations - like how many times they repainted the FX X-wing to make it the accurate scale size for the 3 3/4" figures (Red Leader's, Wedge's (upcoming I guess) , Dagobah, etc.

I'll edit my first post again to cover 2003-2004. You guys can work with the rest. But yeah, I'm glad there were other people thinking about this.

You're right about today's lack of Clone Pilots. In the past, the worst offender I found was the AT-ST. The box even showed a Stormtrooper driving it.

[mtriv73]

The original TIE Fighter from the vintage line had a stormtrooper piloting it on the box as well. The TIE pilot wasn't released until the ESB line.

Going backwards:

The worst: Twin Pod Cloud car pilot 2004 Twin Pod Cloud Car: Never

[Tycho]

Actually, the Twin Pod Cloud Car Pilot was released in 2004 - with no Cloud Car 5 years later.