POE DAMERON & RIOT CONTROL FIRST ORDER STORMTROOPER

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

By the time you guys read this review, I’ll have already seen the new Star Wars movie. Lucky me! Unless it’s terrible, in which case, un-lucky me! Of course this review was written beforehand, since I had to, you know, go see the movie, so I can’t offer any actual thoughts on the movie. I also still don’t have any real information on any of the new characters, so, hey, enjoy one more review of me talking about stuff I don’t know! That’s the best, right? Let’s have a look at resistance pilot Poe Dameron and a Stormtrooper variant!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This pair was released as part of a two-pack of figures from the new Force Awakens-branded Star Wars: The Black Series line. The set is a Target exclusive (in the US, anyway).

POE DAMERON

“An ace pilot, Poe Dameron is a leader in the Resistance’s fight against the evil First Order. He soars into battle behind the controls of a modern X-Wing fighter.” So, yeah, that’s kind of the same bio we’ve gotten on every Poe figure so far. Hey, at least they’re consistent! This figure is based on Poe in his
“casual” look (the same look used for his “Armor Up” figure in the smaller scale). Poe is 6 inches tall and has 25 points of articulation. When this figure was first announced, the assumption was that he’d be making use of a lot of re-used parts, especially given that he and Finn have the same jacket. However, it appears that the only piece to actually be re-used is Poe’s head, which is the same piece as his single release figure (though you can be forgiven for not realizing, for reasons I’ll touch on in a bit). The likeness is decent enough, though not quite as good as some of the other figures. The rest of the sculpt is all-new, and quite well handled too. As with the smaller scale figures, Poe and Finn’s jackets have enough minor differences to give each of the figures a bit of uniqueness. Poe’s jacket is much sharper detailed in general, which makes it look a bit better. Poe’s paintwork is generally pretty good, though it is not without its drawbacks. The base color work is all pretty good, and there’s not too much slop or bleed over. The clothing, especially the coat, have some nice accent work to help bring out some of the sculpt’s details. The head’s paint is easily the sloppiest, with the same wonky hairline that’s plagued all of the Poe figures so far, as well as a slightly messy attempt at giving him 5 o’clock shadow, which just looks a bit goofy. However, it’s leaps and bounds above the regular release Poe, who’s paint was, to quote Shaun of the Dead’s TV edit, “funk ugly.” Poe is packed with a rifle (which is the same model as his smaller scale figure), and a helmet.

RIOT CONTROL FIRST ORDER STORMTROOPER

“Armed with specialized batons, the First Order’s Riot Control Stormtroopers are trained to subdue crowds in the most ruthlessly efficient manner possible.” Yeah, so here’s another Stormtrooper. But he’s got a new hat—I mean baton and shield! He’s the same figure as the regular First Order Stormtrooper from the first series of Force Awakens The Black Series figures.  It’s still a good sculpt, and you really can’t have too many Stormtroopers, so no complaints there. The main difference is the accessories. He gets the same pair of blasters as the regular release, plus a shield and baton, which make him an official “Riot Control” Stormtrooper. They’re both quite nicely sculpted, though he has a bit of trouble actually holding the baton.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I ended up finding this set at one of my two local Targets, without too much trouble. The main appeal of this set (for me anyway) was definitely Poe, since I hadn’t yet gotten him in this scale. I don’t have his other figure to compare, but this one looks to be the better of the two. The Riot Trooper doesn’t offer much new, but the new accessories are pretty cool, and I won’t say no to another Black Series Stormtrooper!