Tag Archives: Finn

#2223: Finn

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

FINN

STAR WARS: GALAXY OF ADVENTURES (HASBRO)

After getting a whole slew of figures and product for the launch of The Force Awakens, Finn became a character that made retailers a little less than comfortable.  He was definitely over saturated for TFA, leading to all of his figures sitting around at retail, because boy were there a lot of them, and boy did no one need all of them.  For Last Jedi, he got three figures, one of which didn’t even go to main retail.  So far for Rise of Skywalker, he’s got exactly one.  That will presumably change, but I bet Hasbro’s waiting to see if this one sits like the others.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Finn is the fourth of the six figures in the basic figure line-up for Galaxy of Adventures.  Alongside Rey, Finn is one of the two figures getting dropped from the line-up for the Wave 2 assortment, I’d guess to make sure he doesn’t build up too much at retail.  Given how many Finns I’ve seen, I’d say this is probably a smart move.  Finn is seen here in his new look for Rise of Skywalker, which is far more divergent from his established look than Kylo and Rey.  The usual jacket is gone, replaced with a similarly styled vest, his shirt is now a more neutral color than the white/black from before, and his hair is noticeably longer.  Honestly, this is best look Finn’s had, because it’s the first one to look properly Star Wars-y.  He’s still more civilian than others, but the feel is there.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 23 points of articulation.  The holster restricts the right hip a little bit, but beyond that the articulation is comparable to the others from the line, which is to say it’s very good and very mobile.  The sculpt is definitely stylized like Rey, although it’s a little more subdued than Rey was.  He still follows that same model of not having a Boyega likeness, but capturing that character likeness for Finn.  He’s got that nice generic hero look about him, which certainly works well for the line.  It’s a good, clean looking sculpt.  His paintwork mostly follows the basic look, but there’s still a fair bit of smaller detail work, and like Rey the face is properly aligned and fairly cleanly handled.  Finn is packed with a small blaster pistol and a backpack.  The blaster fits well in his hand or in the holster.  He’s also got a quick draw feature that’s similar to the Jet Trooper’s.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I almost passed on this guy on the trip that ended with me getting all of the figures, but after insisting on buying me Kylo, Rey, and the droids, Super Awesome Wife also informed me that I wasn’t allowed to leave the store without buying the remaining three figures for myself, and Finn kind of fell in with that.  This is definitely the most I’ve enjoyed a Finn figure.  I think the new design definitely plays into that, but also it’s really just the most playable a Finn figure has ever been.  More than the troopers and masked figures, I think this is the type of figure that showcases the core strength of this line at making fun toys out of even the potentially less exciting characters that other lines have let down.

#1548: Finn – First Order Disguise

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FINN – FIRST ORDER DISGUISE

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“To carry out a mission crucial to the Resistance, Finn adopts a First Order officer’s uniform, going undercover and doing his best to blend in among his former ranks.”

Toy companies seem to have a hard time making toys of Finn exciting.  When the product for The Force Awakens first hit, all of the Finns were in his jacketed civilian style look.  While that’s certainly his main design from the movie, it was perhaps not the most thrilling, especially to a customer base that wasn’t yet familiar with the character.  For The Last Jedi, where Finn is sporting a look very similar to the one from the last film, toy makers wisely chose to use Finn’s disguised look from later in the film as his initial go-to for the figures.  While Hasbro gave us the standard Finn for their smaller basic line, they did the Officer’s uniform for his Black Series release, which I’ll be looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

First Order Disguise Finn is part of the second assortment of TLJ-themed Star Wars: The Black Series figures, hitting just after Force Friday II, alongside Leia, Poe, Maz, and the Guard.  He’s figure 51 in the line, placing him between the Guard and Leia numerically.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and has 27 points of articulation.  His sculpt was technically new to him, but all but his head was almost immediately re-used for the First Order Officer included in a TRU-exclusive two-pack with Ackbar.  Given that it’s largely just a standard Officer’s uniform, that’s a rather sensible re-use, and I have no doubt it was part of what made this particular look appealing to Hasbro.  It’s a solid sculpt, and also makes for a very easy to pose, very playable figure.  The only truly unique piece is the head.  They could have just re-used the first Finn head, but they didn’t.  I’m not entirely sure why they didn’t, since that was a pretty solid sculpt and had a decent Boyega likeness.  While I certainly don’t dislike this sculpt, I do feel it’s resemblance isn’t quite as strong.  From a purely technical standpoint, though, it’s the better piece, with sharper detailing and better relative scaling to the body, though, so it’s not a total loss.  The paint on this guy is generally pretty decent work, with pretty clean detailing and a palette that’s a good match for what’s seen in the film.  I wish the pupils on my figure were a little better centered, but they aren’t as bad as some figures I’ve gotten.  Finn’s packed with a removable helmet, a pistol, and a riot-control baton.  The hat’s a good fit to the head, and isn’t overly bulky like some removable pieces, so that’s good.  The pistol’s pretty basic, but a good match for the material.  It’s a little hard for him to hold it, since his hands aren’t really designed for it, but it’s still a welcome addition.  The best piece is definitely the baton, which, rather than being a simple re-use of the one from TFA, has been totally re-tooled, so that it now can be properly extended into attack mode.  It’s a really fun piece, and I hope it sees re-use elsewhere.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As with Rey and Kylo, Finn is a figure I passed on when I first saw him (sensing a theme to this week’s reviews?), since I already had the TFA Finn and this was a non-standard variant.  I ended up grabbing him at the same time as Kylo, while I was actually on my way back from seeing the film for the second time.  Despite not being the standard version of the character, I really like this figure, and I think he’s an improvement on the standard Finn from TFA.  I’m hopeful that Hasbro will find a way to release his standard look from TLJ somewhere down the line, though, because I’d like to have it in this quality.

#1537: Finn – FN-2187

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

FINN — FN-2187

STAR WARS: TITAN HEROES (HASBRO)

“After his first taste of combat during a brutal First Order night assault on a Jakku village, Stormtrooper FN-2187 defects from Kylo Ren’s forces, becoming a fugitive.”

For my sixth post-Christmas review, I’m ducking back into the world of Star Wars, with another figure from the sequel trilogy.  This one specifically comes from The Force Awakens, which feels so long ago now, doesn’t it?  Prior to the movie’s release, we got a whole slew of Finn figures wearing his more civilian get-up, which, while accurate to the film and certainly the look he was sporting for the majority of its runtime, was perhaps a little less than exciting.  Slightly more exciting was his Stormtrooper-armored look from the opening of the film, which we had to wait until after the film’s release to get.  Thanks to weird distribution, I never actually picked up a single figure of Stormtrooper Finn, but now I have one, and I’m reviewing him today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Finn, or FN-2187 as he’s known when he’s still a Stormtrooper, is from the third main assortment of Force Awakens-themed Star Wars: Titan Heroes.  He hit around May of 2016 and was released alongside the Fifth Brother from Rebels.  The figure stands about 12 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation.  He’s built very much like one of the smaller basic-line figures, but, like the previously reviewed Titan Heroes Rey, he’s molded in a much harder plastic, and he’s largely hollow.  This figure is largely a re-use of pieces from the First Order Stormtrooper, which is sensible enough, I suppose.  It’s rather on the skinny side, given how bulky these particular troopers tend to be, but the overall detail work is generally pretty decent.  It’s not any worse than the smaller figures in that regard, though compared to Rey, the only other Titan Heroes figure I own, he seems a little lower in quality.  On the plus side, his head sculpt was an all-new piece to this figure, and it was certainly one of Hasbro’s best Boyega sculpts, certainly on par with the Ridley likeness on Rey.  The paintwork on Finn is okay, but noting to really write home about.  The head gets the cleanest work, and manages to look pretty lifelike.  The body’s a bit on the sloppy side, especially on the hands, but it’s not atrocious.  Finn is packed with a standard Stormtrooper blaster, which is a decent replica of the real pos and can be stowed on his thigh when he’s not holding it.  It’s a shame he does’t get a helmet or anything, but at this scale and price-point, it’s not a huge shock.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Finn was a gift from Super Awesome Girlfriend’s parents.  He’s more of a companion piece to a larger gift they got for the two of us (a Sphero BB-8 was the main gift, with a Finn figure for me and a Rey for Jess).  I’ve never really devoted much of my time to this particular line, but I did really like the Rey figure I picked up a while back, and Finn makes for a decent enough companion piece to her.  He’s not the most thrilling figure in the world, but he’s still a pretty solid toy.

#1423: Finn – Resistance Fighter

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

FINN – RESISTANCE FIGHTER

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI

Throughout the last week and a half of The Last Jedi reviews, there’s been one major player absent (well, apart from Leia, who actually wasn’t released): Finn.  He may not have been everyone’s favorite new character from TFA, but I personally really liked Finn.  There was a earnestness to him.  I’m happy (though hardly surprised) to see he’ll be back up and about for The Last Jedi.  Hasbro seems to have learned a bit from their experience last time around, and has put out only one Finn at launch, which I;ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Finn is part of the first basic series of The Last Jedi figures.  With the exception of the First Order Stormtrooper (which I didn’t get) Finn wraps up the Orange Assortment of heavy hitters.  Shots from The Last Jedi have shown Finn in a few different get-ups; the figure opts for what I assume will be his standard look in the film.  Essentially, he’s just wearing the same basic gear that Poe was sporting at the start of TFA.  We already know the jacket’s shared, so maybe Poe’s just loaning Finn more of his wardrobe?  Ultimately, it doesn’t look much different from Finn’s TFA look, but it’s a tiny bit more exciting, I guess.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and has the usual 5 points of articulation.  His sculpt is unique to him, but like a lot of the figures in this series, there’s some definite similarities to a few earlier items.  He looks not unlike a TFA Finn head placed on an Armor-Up Poe body.  He’s not, of course.  The head is a lot sharper and less cartoony looking than the prior Finns.  He’s even got John Boyega’s slight sly grin, which helps to better sell the likeness.  Definitely Hasbro’s best Finn head sculpt.  The body is decent enough.  I appreciate that he doesn’t just have the exact same build as the Poe figure, and I really dig how sharp all the details are.  This is the best that jacket’s looked on a small-scale figure.  Perhaps my favorite part of the figure is a very, very minor detail; the back of his jacket has a small stitched slash, showing where Finn was wounded by Kylo in TFA.  That’s a definite attention to detail, and also confirms that this is the original jacket and not just some sort of replacement.  Finn’s paint work is pretty basic stuff.  It’s well-handled; the lines are all clean, and the colors look to match pretty well with what we’ve seen of this outfit from the promotional images.  Finn is packed with his blaster he got from Han, which looks to be same piece included with all of the Jakku Finns.  If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t buy Finn on Force Friday.  I saw him there (and when I found a set early), but I didn’t get him.  I guess he just looked too similar.  I almost got him when I needed another basic figure to qualify for the Target promotion, but he was sold out by that point, so I figured I’d make due with his TFA figure.  And then I opened up all of my Last Jedi figures, and the set just really didn’t feel right without a Finn.  Fortunately, within a few days, most of the stores around me had re-stocked, and I was able to grab this guy without much trouble.  He’s actually a fair bit different from his predecessors, and makes for a much better overall figure.

#0965: Takodana Encounter

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

MAZ KANATA, REY, FINN, & BB-8

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

Takodana1

It’s hard to believe it’s been six months since The Force Awakens hit theatres. What’s harder to believe is that finding the figures from the film hasn’t gotten any easier, despite Hasbro putting out several new pack-outs of figures. It seems like every store I go to has the same 6 figures they’ve had since last October. Fortunately, there are a few new products trickling in, giving us a few characters who were missing from initial assortments. One of the film’s more popular additions to the mythos was Maz Kanata, a well-traveled bar owner who seems poised to be the next Yoda (well, if Luke doesn’t beat her to it!). She’s been mostly absent from the various toy lines (she was in a Lego set, but that’s it), but Hasbro’s finally put out their own figure of her. Of course, you have to buy three other figures to get it, but that’s not the point.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Takodana6Maz, Rey, Finn, & BB-8 were released in the “Takodana Encounter” set as part of Hasbro’s 3 ¾-inch line of Star Wars: The Force Awakens figures. Maz is the only new figure included, and the other three are re-packs. Rey includes a lightsaber that her single release didn’t have, but other than that these three are the same figures I reviewed here, here, and here.

MAZ KANATA

Takodana2Maz stands about 2 ½ inches tall and she has the standard 5 points of articulation. Her sculpt is 100% new to her, and it does a pretty admirable job of translating her on-screen appearance into toy form. The head should perhaps be a touch larger than it is, but other than that, they’ve got her pretty much down. Despite her smaller stature, this figure still has quite a bit of detail work, especially on the shirt and vest. Perhaps the only minor drawback I can think of is that the goggles aren’t articulated. They’re still separate pieces, so she’s got fully detailed eyes under there, the lenses are just fixed at the sides. As it stands, the goggles are just the slightest bit misaligned, which a tiny bit annoying. Maz’s paintwork is decent, if not quite as good as the sculpt. The colors are a little TakoDana3brighter than what we see on screen, but not so much so that it stands out as a bad thing. While areas such as the face and feet are quite expertly detailed, there’s some rather noticeable slop right around her belt, where the green of the shirt goes down too far and the yellow of the belt is rather thinly applied. All in all, though, she looks pretty good. Maz includes a blaster, an unlit lightsaber, and a box of junk for the saber to be placed in. That’s a pretty great assortment of pieces, and I love that we finally got a 3 ¾-inch Force Awakens figure without a useless build-a-thingy piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set was given to me by my friends Cindy and Lance Woods as a graduation gift, which was very thoughtful of them. I had been wanting to pick this set up, since Maz is one of my favorite parts of the new movie. Maz is undoubtedly the main focus of this set, and I personally feel the whole purchase was warranted just for her, but I can understand why others might feel a little taken advantage of. For new fans, this is a fantastic starter set. For fans who have been following the line the whole time, being forced to buy another Rey, Finn, and BB-8 is probably a little frustrating. That said, one can hardly fault Hasbro for offering another way to get Rey, and I can’t imagine it would be too had to find someone who wants the three repeat figures.

Takodana5

#0836: Finn (Jakku)

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

FINN (JAKKU)

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

FinnWM1

“A trained warrior desperate to escape his past, Finn is plunged into adventure as his conscience drives him down a heroic, but dangerous, path.”

One can hardly have Poe without Finn. Those two have to stick together! So, let’s look at a Finn figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

FinnWM2Finn is another figure in the third series of the Walmart-exclusive Star Wars: The Black Series figures. As with Poe, the main draw of this figure is the higher detailing and higher articulation count than the regular 3 ¾ inch figures. The figure is about 3 ¾ inches tall and has 26 points of articulation. The articulation is much the same as Poe’s, which is to say it’s mostly good, apart from the slightly outdated hip joints (though they’re less of an issue here, since being able to sit easily isn’t essential for Finn). As the name notes, this is the Jakku version of Finn (though his Jakku look ends up being his main look for the movie). At first glance it looks like this figure might share a few parts (namely the head and coat) with the regular release Finn, but a closer look shows that all of these figure’s pieces are new to this release. The detail work on the sculpt is absolutely superb, and there’s tons of fine detail work that really makes this figure stand out. The level of texturing on the clothing, especially the incredibly subtle detailing on the shirt, are really impressive. The two previous Finn’s had a pretty decent John Boyega likeness, but I think this one beats both. While Poe’s figure was hampered by sub-par paint, Finn ends up a bit more lucky on that front. The base paint is all very clean, and the work on the face is some of the cleanest I’ve seen from Hasbro in some time. The jacket and the lower portion of his pants also get some nice accent work, which adds a touch of realism. The pants could stand to be a touch more subtle, but the overall look is good. Finn is packed with a blaster, the same one all the other Finn figures have had. He doesn’t really use it much in the movie, but it’s a unique looking gun. What’s more, the level of painted detail on this version is astoundingly good. If only Hasbro could handle all of the accessory paint this well!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After finding Poe, I was eager to pick up the rest of the Force Awakens characters from this line. Finn here was purchased for me by my Super Awesome Girlfriend, at a slightly out of the way Walmart. Poe had a few issues that held him back, but Finn isn’t in the same boat, and ends up being the best version of the character we’ve gotten so far. Definitely glad I got him!

FinnWM3

#0693: Finn (Jakku)

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

FINN (JAKKU)

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

FinnTBS1

If you thought I was done reviewing figures of Star Wars characters I know nothing about, you were sadly mistaken. See, I’ve looked at all the 3 ¾ inch figures I’ve picked up, but, ah, I still have the Black Series figures to look at, don’t I? So, that’ll be the next four days of reviews. Let’s kick things off by taking another look at Finn!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

FinnTBS2Finn is part of what is technically the 10th series of Star Wars: The Black Series figures. Hasbro has once again re-numbered, making him #01. To their credit, The Force Awakens serves as a re-launch of all their stuff and the packaging’s been changed up too, so this feels more like a genuine re-starting of the line than the previous re-numbering. The figure stands 6 inches tall and has 23 points of articulation. The articulation scheme is pretty good here; in fact, he may well have the best movement of any of the Awakens figures. The elbows do seem a bit too restricted, but the forward/back movement on his right wrist helps compensate for this a bit. The ankle movement is notable in that it’s the smoothest movement I’ve seen on a Hasbro figure in some time. Finn gets an all-new sculpt for this figure. He is once again presented in his “Jakku” gear, lending credence to this being the character’s primary look in the film. It’s not the most exciting design ever, but the jacket’s pretty cool and he’s not far out of line from the franchise’s previous stars. The sculpt does a pretty good job of keeping the figure from being too boring. The jacket is once again given a very wrinkled, worn-in sort of look, which adds to the character. The rest of his outfit is similarly textured. The shirt in particular exhibits some very nice pattern work, which was present on the smaller figure, but was much easier to miss. The head exhibits some pretty decent work. The likeness is passable; it’s not spot on, but you can see who it’s supposed to be. The detail, especially on the hair, is very well handled, and adds a lot of depth to the figure. I don’t often touch on this in reviews, but the plastic quality on this figure feels sturdier than the last few series of SWBS, especially on the joints. It’s a minor change, but it makes a world of difference when posing the figure. The paintwork on the figure is mostly straightforward; there’s some fairly basic color work, all of which is handled pretty cleanly. There’s just a bit of extra detailing at the bottoms of his legs, which makes it look like he’s been wandering around through a sandy place. It’s a small touch, but it works pretty well. Finn’s only accessory is a blaster, which looks to be the same style as the one included with the smaller figure. It’s not my favorite design, but it’s rendered well here, and the paint is very nicely handled.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After striking out at Toys R Us, and only finding a small selection of Black Series figures at the Target at which I stopped, I came across Finn at the Walmart across the street from the Target. So there. The Black Series figures were the items I was most interested in from Force Friday, so I was definitely glad to find them. Finn’s 3 ¾ inch figure wasn’t bad, but I think he’s better served by this figure, which just offers a lot more fun. That said, he does feel a little light for the price, especially in comparison to the others in this set. Hasbro might need to do some re-assessing of the pricing of these guys if they want the line to succeed.

#0691: Finn (Jakku)

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

FINN (JAKKU)

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

Finn1

Alright, I’ve played it nice and safe on the last two Force Awakens reviews. Not anymore. Are you guys ready for the controversy? Probably not. I mean, I know I’m not. So, yeah, today we’ll be taking a look at Finn, another member of the new “power trio.” He’s also the very first new character we saw, way back in the first teaser trailer. And boy did some people make a big deal out of him. Why was he the first person we saw? Why was he in Stormtrooper armor? Me? I’m just really, really hoping he doesn’t turn out to be related in any way to Lando or Mace. It’s a simple hope really. Let’s just look at the figure already!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Finn3Finn is one of the first assortment of 3 ¾ inch Star Wars: The Force Awakens figures. The line is divided into a few sub-sets, and Finn is from the “Lava” themed set, so…yeah, there’s that. He’s one of the lower price point figures, and, if I’m honest, I really can’t figure out why. The figure is, unsurprisingly, 3 ¾ inches tall and he has the usual 5 points of articulation. Finn’s presented here in a more casual set of clothes than the Stormtrooper armor uniform in which we first saw him. It’s actually pretty similar to what Poe was wearing. At the very least the jackets are the same, though whether it’s actually the same jacket or just a shared uniform piece is yet to be seen. This is the look that all of the Finn figures are sporting, so I’d say it’s safe to assume it’s his main look from the film. He gets an all-new sculpt, which is pretty impressive, because, as I said, the jacket’s the same as the one Poe was wearing. However, rather than just re-use the parts, Hasbro’s actually used this common piece of clothing to add some extra character to the two. Finn’s jacket is much more worn and wrinkled than Poe’s, which is handled very convincingly. The rest of Finn’s sculpt is pretty decently handled, too. The proportions of the body are pretty well balanced, and the head sports a pretty decent likeness of actor John Boyega. Perhaps the only negative thing about the sculpt is that Finn2legs are sculpted with a slight step to them, which makes it a little difficult to keep him standing. The paintwork here is pretty similar to that of Poe. There’s not a ton of detail, but what’s there is pretty clean. On the plus side, the paint on Finn’s face is much better handled, which is encouraging to see. Finn is packed with two accessories: a gun and a…thing. The gun is fine, though he has some trouble holding it. The other thing, though. I really don’t know what it is. It might be a backpack, or a gun thing. All I know is it combines with the parts from the other figures in the “lava” set, allowing you to build a…larger thing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Finn was one of the figures I picked up from Target on my way down to visit Super Awesome Girlfriend last weekend. I don’t know a whole lot about the guy, but he looks to be pretty important. As a plus, the figure’s pretty well done on too!