Tag Archives: Clone Wars

#3269: Ahsoka Tano

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

AHSOKA TANO

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“Anakin’s padawan Ahsoka both amuses and exasperates her master with her plucky attitude and impertinent comments. She is tasked with keeping Jabba’s son safe as she and Anakin try to escape their attackers. She affectionately nicknames the child “stinky” because of his odor, the characteristic stench given off by the Hutt species.”

Before she was the glue that holds the non-film Star Wars canon together, Ahsoka Tano was the obnoxious tag-along kid sidekick added to The Clone Wars purely for kid appeal.  Also, she was the worst thing ever to happen to the franchise.  Worse than Jar Jar.  Worse than the Ewoks.  Worse than Bea Arthur.  But, it’s okay, because she’s had like 30 other things replace her as the “worst thing in the franchise.”  Also, her writing improved by leaps and bounds very quickly, and by the end of Clone Wars, she and the other all-new central character for the show, Captain Rex, had firmly become the heart of the series.  Today, I’m jumping back to her very first figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ahsoka Tano was figure 9 in the 2008 Clone Wars line-up.  She headed up the second assortment of the line, which hit a little bit after the movie and series had dropped, and added not only Ahsoka, but also the previously reviewed Commander Cody, Clone Pilot Oddball, and the Super Battle Droid, as well as mixing in the cleaned up variants of Rex and the standard Clone Trooper.  She was based on Ahsoka’s initial look on the show, since that was all they had to go by at this point.  The figure stands 3 1/4 inches tall and she has 18 points of articulation.  While Ahsoka looses out on the elbow joints that the other Jedi got early in the line (largely due to her arms simply not being large enough to sustain the joint construction), she gets a quite literal leg up on the other early Jedi by gettin full knee and ankle movement, which made her surprisingly posable for this point in the line.  Her sculpt was an all-new one, as expected.  It wound up getting re-used a few times for boxed sets and deluxe releases while this was still her main look on the show.  It’s a pretty solid offering, and does a respectable job of capturing her younger animation model.  As with all of the early line releases, she’s a little more rounded and “real world” in her proportions, but the general feel of the character is still very much there.  This marked the line’s first venture into mixed media, as she gets a cloth skirt in order to maximize posability on the hips.  Ahsoka’s paint work is pretty decently handled.  I especially like how the markings on the face look.  There was a variant to the paint as well on this figure.  Early versions were without the eyelashes, while the later releases added them.  Mine is the later one, and it’s for the better; the eyes are just framed much better.  Ahsoka is packed with her lightsaber, Jabba’s son Rotta, and a backpack for carrying Rotta around.  The Rotta figure is pretty fun; he’s got posable arms, and he sits really nicely in the pack.  It’s a very inventive accessory.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I will admit, I wasn’t sold on Ahsoka early in the show’s run, but she grew on me fairly quickly, and I liked her well enough to want a figure of her by the end of the first season’s run.  Of course, her figure was pretty scarce at the beginning, so it was probably until about the end of 2009 or so that I finally was able to get her.  Towards the end of my senior of high school, I used most of my spare cash for Clone Wars figures, and she was one of those figures.  She’s pretty solid for an early offering for the line, and I think she still holds up really well.

#3236: Captain Rex

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

CAPTAIN REX

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“Captain Rex accompanies Anakin Skywalker to the planet Teth to rescue Jabba’s kidnapped son. Like all clone troopers, Captain Rex believes that the mission always comes first. When he and his fellow troopers are surrounded by battle droids, outnumbered and outgunned, he never wavers in his commitment to the mission, even if it means this battle could be his last.”

The Clone Wars begins with a focus on characters we’ve seen before in the main movie, but to allow for a little bit of visible growth, given its status as an inter-quel, there were a few new characters as well.  Over the course of the series, two of these new characters, Jedi padawan Ahsoka Tano and Clone Trooper Captain Rex, become the central focus of the series, as their unique views on the titular conflict allow for quite a journey for both characters.  Today, I’m looking at the first figure of one half of that pair, Captain Rex, today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain Rex was figure 4 in the first series of Hasbro’s Clone Wars tie-in line, and was released with the main product launch before the pilot movie hit theaters.  Just before this figure’s main release, there was a special mail-away “Sneak Preview” version, which is more or less the same figure, albeit with an ever so slightly different paint scheme, and slightly different accessories.  The one seen here is the initial release, however.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 24 points of articulation.  The Clones always had the best articulation in the line, and, apart from t-hips instead of universals, it really didn’t get any better than this.  Rex shares a number of parts with the standard Clone Trooper, namely the arms and legs.  The head, torso, and pelvis were unique when the figure first dropped, but pretty much everything on the figure would eventually be re-used elsewhere.  It was generally a pretty strong sculpt.  It’s not perfect, and it certainly doesn’t have the polish of the later Jet Pack Rex, but it was a good effort for the start.  The articulation on the hips is a bit stiff, but he’s otherwise quite posable, and it’s generally a good mix of function and aesthetics.  The helmet on this figure is removable, and it’s probably the weakest aspect of the figure.  Later removable helmets were more consistent with the non-removable ones, but this one’s oddly shaped to accommodate the design set-up.  The underlying head is a passable sculpt, but it suffers from the recurring issue of the early clones, where their faces made them look much older than they should have looked.  Rex’s paint work is fairly involved, and very much on par with the rest of the figures from the same time.  The base work is a little bit on the dark side, especially on the blues, so some of the contrast is lost a bit in some spots.  As a first release, he’s also got a lot of that black wash to add the grimy look to him.  It’s a little heavy handed in some spots, but he’s at least unique when compared to later clones.  Rex is packed with his long blaster rifle, two small blaster pistols, a grapple attachment for the front of the rifle, and two different missiles for it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Back when the line launched, this was one of the first four figures I grabbed from Target, prior to seeing the movie or the show.  Obviously, I didn’t know who Rex was yet, but I had liked Fordo in the 2D series, as well as his corresponding figure, so I saw this one as at the very least an update to that.  Rex would wind up becoming one of my favorite Star Wars characters, so it was a figure purchase that certainly worked out for me in the end.

#3231: Clone Trooper

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

CLONE TROOPER

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“Clone troopers put up an unrelenting defense against the hordes of battle droids that are pouring into the B’omarr monk monastery. The intrepid troopers are keeping the enemy at bay so that Anakin and Ahsoka can rescue Jabba’s kidnapped son. The clone troopers use their blasters and thermal detonators with skill, focusing exclusively on ensuring that the mission is a success.”

You can’t really do a toyline based on something called “Clone Wars” without a decent focus on the actual clones, can you?  No, that would just be silly.  Thankfully, Hasbro agreed, so their Clone Wars tie-in line was just chock full of Clone Troopers.  They had plenty of focus on named clones as the line continued, but at the beginning, their primary focus was just on building the numbers as quickly as possible.  The best way to facilitate that was kicking things off with a standard, all-white Clone, which I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Clone Trooper was figure 5 in the first series of Clone Wars, as one of the 8 figures that dropped at launch for the line.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 24 points of articulation.  This figure debuted the standard Clone Trooper body, which this line made a ton of use of….well, mostly.  As with all of the early Clones, he’s one of the best articulated figures in the line, making him awesome for all sorts of great poses.  The body holds up as a respectably offering.  It’s not as accurate as the later clone bodies would, but it’s also better on the articulation set-up, which feels like an okay trade-off.  This figure and a small handful of other Clones close to launch had a different head sculpt than those that followed.  It’s less accurate to the animation model, and not as conducive to matching up with the removable helmets, which is why they changed it pretty quickly.  That being said, I’ve always liked it a little bit more than the later helmet.  Just one of those things that got lost in translation, I suppose.  The paint work on this guy starts out rather basic, since he’s got no markings on his armor, and then gets the heavy wash that all of the early figures got.  The Clone Trooper is packed with a mid-sized blaster rifle, a larger rocket launcher, and a missile.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Clone Trooper was one of the first four figures I picked up from this line, back before the show and movie had hit.  While there was a degree of taking a chance on some of the others, I was already a sucker for a good clone, and even removed from the source material, that’s what this one was.  He was my favorite of the first batch I picked up, and set the standard for my love of all the clones in this line.

#3221: Obi-Wan Kenobi

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

OBI-WAN KENOBI

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“To gain free passage through Jabba the Hutt’s shipping routes, the Republic agrees to rescue the crime lord’s kidnapped son, Rotta the Huttlet. Obi-Wan learns that Anakin and his team have found the child and are under attack by Separatist forces. Obi-Wan races to join them on the remote planet, bringing much-needed reinforcements to Anakin and his embattled team.”

When the 3D-animated Clone Wars went into production, in order to save trouble on the animation concerning the flow of the robes that were signature to the Jedi Knights, the designs for the characters were somewhat ruggedized. Calling back on Obi-Wan donning a set of Clone armor during a sequence in the 2D Clone Wars, all of the Jedi were granted far more armored appearances, with Obi-Wan himself getting a more unique set of attire, merging his armored and robed looks. He kept the look for the shows first two seasons, and it was present for all of the launch product. Today, I’m looking at the first figure he got based on the design.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Obi-Wan Kenobi is the second figure in the first series of Hasbro’s Clone Wars tie-in line, which hit shortly before the movie that launched the show in 2008. The figure stands just shy of 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  Early in the line, only the Clones were getting full articulation, so Obi-Wan only gets proper movement above the waist, and even that’s slightly more limited.  Below the waist, he gets t-hips, and that’s it.  No knees or ankles.  As a result, he’s a little bit stiff.  The sculpt is at least a decent one.  Like the other early line sculpts, he’s not quite as accurate to the show model as later figures would be, but he gets the general gist of it.  The broader elements are there, with some of the edges rounded and lessened a bit, so that he comes just a little bit closer to the main line.  It’s an appealing look, and it’s at the very least quite in the spirit of the character.  The paint work on this guy is very indicative of its era; the base colors are pretty cleanly applied, and then the whole thing gets a sort of a messy wash over it.  It makes the details of the sculpt pop pretty well, but it’s also a bit heavy handed at times.  Obi-Wan was packed with his lightsaber, an alternate helmeted head, a jetpack, and a missile that can be launched from the pack.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was a little bit skeptical about The Clone Wars when the toys first dropped.  I’d liked the 2D version a lot, but I was still pretty iffy on the prequels as a whole at the time.  Nevertheless, I did still grab a small handful of the figures when they launched, with hopes that I’d enjoy the source material.  The movie *wasn’t* what I hoped for, but the show at least picked things up pretty quickly.  Obi-Wan was one of the first four figures I grabbed, because I’ve always been an Obi-Wan guy.  He’s not a perfect figure, and there were better ones later in the line, but this one wasn’t a bad start.

#3191: Rise of Boba Fett

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

BOBA FETT, BOSSK, & ANAKIN SKYWALKER

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“Ever since the Battle of Geonosis, young Boba Fett has made it his mission to confront the Jedi who defeated his father. Jango’s son doesn’t care that the duel between his father and Mace Windu was a fair battle between skilled warriors; Boba wants his chance to fight the Jedi. Eventually, his hunt is successful. He and Bossk fly Slave I to a planet where Mace and Anakin Skywalker are on a mission. The moment has come, and Boba is determined to make Windu pay for his actions on Geonosis, and to take his place as the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy.”

Prior to the Book of Boba Fett, as far as general audiences were concerned, Boba Fett was a character in three Star Wars films with about five lines spread across them, and very little in the way of motive or characterization.  I mean, there was probably something there, but it was easy to overlook.  Even within his expanded universe stories, the character’s main set-up was just being the ultimate undefeated bad-ass who was the best at everything all the time.  He was like a walking Chuck Norris joke.  It’s honestly kind of boring, narratively speaking.  The first real bit of character work he got came when he was worked into Clone Wars, seeking vengeance on Mace Windu, the Jedi that killed his father.  Since Clone Wars was a prequel to Revenge of the Sith, a story where Mace is still alive, so he can’t exactly have anything of note happen to him.  So, Boba’s revenge arc must instead take the form of a character study, as he faces inevitable failure.  Given he’s a character that was previously defined as undefeated, it’s a unique take, and one that made the character far more intriguing to follow.  There was a whole set of figures based on the arc from the show, and I’m looking at that (or a portion of it), today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

“The Rise of Boba Fett” was a Toys R Us-exclusive Ultimate Battle Pack released in 2010 as part of Hasbro’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars line.  It consisted of Boba Fett, Bossk, Anakin Skywalker, Mace Windu, R3-B7, the Slave I, and Mace Windu’s Starfighter.  Today, I’m just focussing on Boba Fett, Bossk, and Anakin Skywalker.

BOBA FETT

There were two Boba Fett’s in the Clone Wars line, but this one was specifically based on Boba’s first arc on the show, where he sports his Kamino clone smock thing that he uses to infiltrate the cloning facilities, which is also effectively the same attire he’s got in Attack of the Clones…which begs the question, did Boba change his clothes between his appearances, or was he just running around in the same set of clothes for god knows how long?  Only Boba really knows.  Or perhaps those who were within smelling distance.  The figure stands 2 3/4 inches tall and he has 22 points of articulation.  Boba’s an all-new sculpt, sporting just shy of the line’s best articulation scheme.  All he’s really missing are the universal joints on the hips, but given the outfit, the t-hips are just fine. The sculpt is pretty solid, especially for that mid-line level of being fairly accurate to the show models, but just a bit removed for accuracy’s sake. He’s perhaps a little full-faced for animated Boba, especially when compared to the later single release, but it’s still a very good piece of work. Boba’s color work is largely pretty basic. Most of it’s just molded colors, but what paint application is present is all pretty clean. Boba included a display stand, a collector card, and a chance cube. Light for a figure on his own, but given how much other stuff came with the set, not too surprising.

BOSSK

Another OT character getting some representation in Clone Wars, it’s Bossk, whom the show confirmed had ties to Boba pre-Empire. He too appears to have not changed his clothes in the meantime. Of course, it’s a pressure suit, and presumably there’s other stuff beneath it, so I guess it’s maybe a bit less gross.  The figure stands about 4 inches tall and he has 22 points of articulation.  Bossk’s sculpt is all-new, and remained exclusive to this release.  It’s a pretty impressive piece of work.  It really embraces the style of the show, so that it’s clearly different from a standard movie Bossk figure.  I really enjoy the exaggerated proportions, as well as the lager scale relative to the other figures in the set, and I like how the articulation works with the rest of the sculpt.  The color scheme on the figure takes Bossk’s usual colors, and goes slightly brighter with them.  The paint work is pretty basic, but it’s clean, and it does what it needs to.  I particularly like the slight accenting on the exposed skin.  It really sells the detailing on the sculpt well.  Bossk is packed with his usual blaster rifle, as well as a display stand and a collector card.

ANAKIN SKYWALKER

You gotta have one of the main guys in the big sets, I suppose, so this one got an Anakin.  Not the worst thing ever, but, you know, it’s still another Anakin.  This one is, at the very least, a pretty good one.  The figure stands a little over 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 22 points of articuation.  This Anakin re-uses the mold from the Space Suit Anakin, which, while it looks like just a re-use of the first series Anakin at first glance, was actually an updated mold, with a better articulation set-up, specifically giving him actual knee and ankle movement.  Beyond that, the sculpt is just a pretty impressive piece.  It’s fairly accurate to the show design, while still working in the articulation and everything pretty well.  Anakin’s color work is nicely handled; there’s a fair bit going on, and the detailing on the armored parts in particular is quite an impressive set-up.  Anakin is packed with his lightsaber, a display stand, and a collector card.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember this set being released, but I was not in the market for the whole set-up, with the big vehicles and everything, especially at that time.  It just wasn’t really worthwhile for the two figures I actually wanted.  When these three came into All Time a couple of years back, I was able to get those two, plus the extra Anakin, which is honestly a pretty good one too, all in a more affordable package.  Boba got a slightly better figure later, but this one’s still cool, and the Bossk figure is very definitely hard to beat.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with these figures to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.

 

#3186: IG-86 Assassin Droid

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

IG-86 ASSASSIN DROID

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“An IG-86 Assassin Droid lies deactivated in a Trandoshan trader’s cargo hold until a buyer can be found for the dangerous droid. But he is accidentally reactivated by a clumsy astromech droid, and the lives of everyone on board the ship are in peril.”

In addition to fleshing out the prequel-era characters, The Clone Wars also placed a focus on more directly tying the two trilogies together.  We got handful of younger OT characters featured, as well as a few lineages, and predecessors to things seen in the OT.  Amongst those predecessors, a recurring feature were the IG-86s, precursors to IG-88 and other Assassin Droids of the same model.  They never really step beyond bit player, but they help to more fully fill-in the world around the characters, and they always make for a good toy.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The IG-86 Assassin Droid was released in 2008 as part of the first year of Hasbro’s Clone Wars tie-in line, where he was figure #18.  The figure saw a few multipack releases as well during the line, with minimal deco changes, as well as one more widely changed version in the form of Ziro’s assassin droid, added to the line as figure #37 in the following year (that’s the one pictured next to Wilson over on the right).  All of the releases used the same mold.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation.  The IG-86 mold was one of the most posable molds in the whole line, with universals on the shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees.  He’s also got posable hands as well, making for far better gripping of the weapons.  The point is, there’s just a lot you can do with this guy, and it’s a lot of fun.  The sculpt is one of the best from the line.  It’s a great recreation of the animation model, with a nice merging of function and form.  Figures like the most recent Vintage Collection IG-11 are totally still banking on how this figure worked.  For the first release, IG-86 got a tarnished and dirty finish, a stark contrast to the usually more clean Clone Wars offerings.  It was a really impressive set-up especially for the time, and captured the whole “deactivated” thing quite well.  Ziro’s assassin droid trades in the grime for a unique set of markings, as well as a less metallic finish than the original release.  It’s suitably different, but cool for its own set of reasons.  Both versions of the Assassin droid, included two droid-style blasters, as well as a backpack for storing both of them.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The standard IG-86 was one of my earliest purchases from the line, shortly after he hit retail.  I’ve always had a soft spot for IG-88, and I liked seeing the elements in animated form.  The sculpt, form, and function all just really work, making him one of the line’s very best.  I like him so much that I wound up snagging Ziro’s assassin from a collection that came into All Time, just so I could get another chance to mess with it.  They’re both really fun, and I love the two different decos.  Seriously top-notch.

#3181: Obi-Wan Kenobi

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

OBI-WAN KENOBI

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“Obi-Wan battles the enemies of the Republic as war expands across the galaxy. The Jedi General continues his hunt for General Grievous and leads diplomatic missions to far-flung worlds. Whether he is battling droids or negotiating with potential allies, Obi-Wan is resolute in his fight to save the Republic.”

The prequel films were, admittedly, not great when it came to character building. They were a bit like reading a Wikipedia article on the events. All the big stuff was covered, but there was ver little human element. The Clone Wars does a lot to salvage the films and the characters within by actually spending time with them, and even giving them some genuine emotional arcs, making you actually care about what happens to them. Though technically one of the main characters of the films, Obi-Wan had the misfortune of largely getting shoved to the side in favor of the plot. The Clone Wars gives him his own stories, and even a small glimpse into his history before the movies. And it also lets him just be cool, and that’s never a bad thing.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Obi-Wan Kenobi was released in 2011 as figure 40 in Hasbro’s Clone Wars Collection. He was the fifth version of the character in the line, and the first to be based on Obi-Wan’s improved design model from later in the show, as they slowly moved him closer to his RotS look.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 18 points of articulation.  As the line moved into its more show-design accurate era, the Clone figures notably took a slight hit to articulation, but, on the flip side, the Jedi characters made out a lot better, by virtue of, you know, actually getting knee joints.  That’s the case with Obi-Wan, and even with the harder plastic skirt piece and the t-hips, he still manages to be quite mobile.  His sculpt was an all-new one, and it’s a far more show accurate one than the four that preceded it, and for my money, more accurate than those that followed it as well.  There’s a really good flow to it, and I love all the sharp angles.  The style is really captured well here.  The color work on this guy is generally pretty good as well.  The paint work is cleanly applied, and the colors all match well with the show.  Obi-Wan’s only accessory was his lightsaber.  It was a step down from prior offerings, but it does at least cover the basics, so it’s got that going for it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The late run Clone Wars figures were much harder to keep up with at retail, so by this point I was really just making do with what I already had.  Since I already had the first Obi-Wan, I wasn’t actively searching for another, and this one slipped under my radar.  Back in the summer of 2019, All Time got a sizable collection of Clone Wars figures, and I wound up snagging a large swath of them.  Mostly, they were clones, but I also picked up this figure out of the bunch.  He’s probably the best Obi-Wan to come out of the line, and certainly my favorite.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure for review.  If you’re looking for toys both old and new, please check out their website.

#3176: Clone Trooper Hardcase

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

CLONE TROOPER HARDCASE

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

 

“Clone Troopers train for combat on the planet Kamino. Kamino is not only the place where the clone troopers are engineered, it is also where they are trained in battle tactics, fighting techniques and explosives. Seasoned clone troopers push the cadets hard to turn them into the toughest and most skilled soldiers in the galaxy.”

The success of Star Wars: The Clone Wars comes from how well they humanized the clone forces of the Republic.  Previous, just a sea of identical cannon fodder, the show went out of its way to name them and give them each a unique personality.  It also gave them plenty of stock for all sorts of Clone Trooper figure variants of all those cool named Clones.  Today, I’m looking at one of those clones, who specifically has a penchant for blasting.  Without further ado, let’s look at Hardcase!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Clone Trooper Hardcase was part of the 2012 “Republic Troopers” Movie Heroes boxed set, under the overall Star Wars: The Clone Wars banner.  The other two clones in the set, were Cutup and the Bomb Squad Trooper.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 16 points of articulation.  Hardcase made use of the second major Clone Trooper base body for the line.  This one placed priority on capturing the animation style, rather than full articulation like the earlier base body.  Both bases have the pluses and minuses.  I do quite like how this one looks, but it’s certainly not going to be pulling off the same level of posing as the earlier mold.  Still, there’s plenty of posing to be had with it, more than the early non-Clone figures, even, and it definitely captures the look of the clones in the show very nicely.  Hardcase’s main change-up is the paint scheme.  He’s largely white, but he’s got some nifty blue detailing, matching up with his design in the show.  The application is nicely handled, and there’s even a little bit of simulated weathering to really make it look worn-in.  Hardase is packed with a large blaster rifle, which itself was on its second main sculpt by this time in the line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

By the time this set was released, I was pretty much out of Clone Wars figures in their first run.  But, over the years, I’ve been keeping my eye out for cool Clones as I’ve been able to get ahold of them.  Hardcase wound up getting traded into All Time loose shortly after I started working their full-time, and he wound up being one of my earliest grabs as I was processing the collection.  He’s just the basic clone with some new painted details, but you know what, it’s a good formula, and it made for a lot of really cool figures.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.

#3032: Cad Bane

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

CAD BANE

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“A ruthless bounty hunter from the planet Duro, Cad Bane was the preeminent blaster-for-hire in the galaxy at the time of the Clone Wars. No quarry was too dangerous for Bane … if the price was right.”

Well, hey, this one’s actually pretty timely, huh?  Or…is it?  You know, cuz, umm, spoilers or whatever.  Introduced in The Clone Wars cartoon, and patterned on Lee Van Cleef’s Angel Eyes from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, Cad Bane is probably one of the few examples of an attempt to create another Boba Fett actually kind of working.  He’s generally a pretty popular character in his own right, and has managed to find footing in two additional series outside of Clone Wars‘ run.  His toy coverage has been surprisingly sparse.  He got a small handful of figures during the Clone Wars run, and back in late 2020, he also got a Black Series figure.  Sure would be a shame if that thing were, like, impossible to get, or something, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cad Bane is figure 6 in the Clone Wars sub-line of The Black Series‘s Phase IV incarnation.  He’s only the second Clone Wars figure to get a standard release, though he did also get a Pulse-exclusive release, which was the same core figure, but with his robot sidekick Todo 360.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  Cad’s articulation style is of the new breed of articulation for the Black Series figures, but as an earlier release, he’s kind of at the beginning of them figuring things out, so some of it’s not quite as refined as more recent figures.  The joints are all there, but the range isn’t always.  The neck and elbows are both more restricted than I’d like.  Cad’s sculpt is unique to him.  As a character that, at the time, had only animated appearances, there’s a degree of artistic license on translating him from Clone Wars into a real-world style.  Things on this one end up adhering much closer to that animated style than any other characters to make the jump in this line, barring possibly Zeb.  Essentially, they took the animation model, ever so slightly tweaked a few of the proportions, and added a fair bit more texturing.  It ultimately works pretty well, especially given his more alien nature in-universe.  There’s a lot of actual layering going on with the assembly of his outfit, which looks really sharp, and also gives him quite a bit more depth.  The figure’s hat, bag, and breathing apparatus are all removable, adding some extra variety to his display options.  I’m not super crazy about the hat, if I’m honest.  The shaping seems a little bit off, and it doesn’t really sit securely at all, at least on my figure.  You can kind of find a decent spot to hold it a little better, but even then, it’s not going to be staying in place during any posing.  Cad Bane’s paint work is genuinely pretty solid.  There’s not a ton of variety of color inherent to the design, but they make up for it with a lot of weathering, which helps to really sell the character’s gunslinger angle.  Cad is packed with his twin blaster pistols, which he can either hold, or stow in his holsters.  It’s a shame we couldn’t also get his rifle, but given how much is going into the core figure’s construction, it’s pretty understandable.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

If you keep up with the site, you might recall that I reviewed the rest of Cad Bane’s assortment of Black Series figures at the beginning of last year, while they were still rather new.  Why not review Cad then?  Because I didn’t have one.  For whatever reason, that assortment was scarce, and Cad was the only one with no immediate re-stock, so I had to wait until they finally got the solid cases of him distributed, which took over a year’s time (hey, he did better than Bly, whose restock took almost two whole years, and happened after his packaging style had already been abandoned).  So, it was a bit of a wait.  Was he worth it?  Generally, yeah.  I’ll admit that he did let me down just a tad right out of the box, but that might have been due to the whole playing up the hype in my head thing.  I’ve had him for a bit now, and I’m warming up to him.  He’s got some issues, but I like the overall product a lot.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure for review.  If you’re looking for toys both old and new, please check out their website.

#3028: Tech

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , ,

TECH

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Tech is the computer and weapons specialist, the most talkative of the group.  His genetically enhanced brain can puzzle through technical issues at speeds even faster than some droids.”

Remember all the way back in April, when I took a look at the first two members of the titular team of clones from The Bad Batch?  Well, hey, like 10 months later, I finally have another one of them to talk about!  Shway!  In my review of the team’s second member, Crosshair, I discussed how the team members all really fall back on classic action movie team archetypes.  Hunter is the fearless leader, Crosshair is the cold marksman, and today’s focus, Tech, is the resident smart guy.  Go smart guy, go!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Tech is figure 04 in the Bad Batch sub-line of Hasbro’s Star Wars: The Black Series‘s Phase IV incarnation.  He’s the third member of the actual team in this set, and the second to last of the initial line-up for the crew.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  While the other two members of the team shared a good number of parts with each other, Tech’s more removed, more Scout Trooper-inspired design means that he actually gets an entirely new sculpt.  Thus far, it’s my favorite of the three team sculpts I’ve looked at.  While Hunter and Crosshair stuck a little closer to the actual animation design, Tech does a better job of sort of hybridizing things, meaning he retains all of his distinctive elements from the show, while still really fitting right in with the rest of the standard-release figures.  The only part I’m not crazy about is how they’ve worked the knee joints into the sculpt; I feel like they’re too low on the leg when he’s posed.  Beyond that, it’s all really strong.  There’s a ton of detail work going into his costume elements, and whole bunch of depth to the sculpt.  A number of the armored pieces are separate overlays, adding to this depth quite nicely.  As with the others, Tech features a removable helmet.  It follows the show design quite well, and even includes a posable visor, which is fun.  Under the helmet, there’s a head that looks remarkably like Phil Collins, if I’m honest.  He’s not sporting his signature glasses from the show, but that’s honestly one of those in-show cheats, since he wouldn’t be able to have them under the helmet anyway.  Tech’s paint work is a pretty decent set-up, improving on the other two a bit.  There’s just a lot more going on with the layout of the color work here, and it gives him a lot more to work with.  The underlying head gets the printed technique, which looks good on the sculpt.  Tech is packed with a small blaster, three different tools, and a back pack.  The blaster’s standard issue, and doesn’t actually have a spot for storage, but I’d rather have it than not.  The tools can all be stashed on his belt, where they stay nice and secure.  The back pack is a little loose when plugged into the back, but otherwise it’s a cool piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Of the core Bad Batch team, Tech was definitely the one I was looking forward to the most.  I just really like his design, and I was looking forward to seeing it in toy form.  It was a long wait to get him, but I’m really happy with the end result.  Definitely my favorite of the team so far, and just generally one of the best Black Series figures of the more recent offerings.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure for review.  If you’re looking for toys both old and new, please check out their website.