Tag Archives: Hasbro

#4119: Luke Skywalker – Bespin Duel

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

LUKE SKYWALKER — BESPIN DUEL

STAR WARS SAGA (HASBRO)

“As Luke battles Darth Vader in Cloud City, he rebuffs Vader’s attempts to mae him submit to the dark side. Wounded by Vader, Luke heroically chooses to plummet to almost certain death rather than to yield to the dark side. Managing to grab hold of a weathervane, he shrugs to hang on until his Rebel friends can rescue him.”

Well, it’s come to this.  I finished a whole run of Power of the Force reviews.  I finished my meager Episode I and Power of the Jedi collections.  Chronologically, that leaves just one thing: Star Wars Saga.  Since completely rebranding with an entirely movie centric line for Episode I didn’t turn out great for retailers when reception to the movie was lukewarm, the tie-in line for Attack of the Clones maintained the cross-franchise reach of Power of the Jedi.  Though not officially named so on the packaging, the ensuing line was dubbed “Saga” by the fanbase, a name that stuck for its three-year run.  Coupled with the Attack of the Clones figures at launch were some classics from the Original Trilogy, including today’s focus, Bespin Duel Luke Skywalker.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke Skywalker — Bespin Duel is figure 29 in the first year of Star Wars Saga.  He was designed to pair off the Bespin Duel Darth Vader, to replicate parts of their fight from Empire.  Luke is in his rebel fatigues, most commonly referred to as his “Bespin” attire, his main look for Empire, which was making its third appearance in the scale here.  The figure stands just under 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  He was notably quite posable for the time.  The line was only just starting to get into more involved articulation with Episode I and had kind of taken a bit of a step back, with Saga trending more towards really pre-posed, almost statue like figures.  While Luke still maintains some of that pre-posing, he breaks from the more static trends.  His sculpt was totally new, and unique to him (though it got re-released in its entirety a couple of times), and its a departure from a lot of the Lukes we’d seen previously.  Gone are the barrel-chested proportions of the Power of the Force days, for something that does look a lot more like the actual Mark Hammil’s build.  His new head sculpt is more expressive than earlier Lukes, capturing the moment where Luke finds out about his true parentage, scrunched up face and all.  It’s quite a detailed sculpt, and shows the stronger side of what Saga brought to the table.  It’s not entirely without the messed up parts of Saga, with the most notable issue being that his arms are just not the same length.  The posing hides it, but it’s certainly there.  The figure gets a slashing action feature, activated by pushing the button on his back, as well as a removable right hand.  There were three variants on the removable hand, one magnetic with the magnet on the stump, one magnetic with the magnet as a peg on the hand, and one with a basic plastic peg.  The one seen here is the third one, which is less flashy, but works.  Luke’s color work is actually pretty cool, because his fatigues get a pretty decent wash to bring out the details of the sculpt, and he even gets some of he blood on his face, seen in the movie.  Luke was packed with his lightsaber (which had a metal hilt that could be removed), a blaster pistol (which could be stored in the working holster on his leg), a bacta pack that goes over his stump, and a rather impressive weather vane piece for him to hang from.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Attack of the Clones is honestly the worst Star Wars movie, and Saga is probably the worst Star Wars toyline, but my deep dark secret is that I not only loved them both at the time, I also love them both now.  It’s 100% nostalgia, and I won’t remotely deny that, but they just hit at the right time for me to be super into them.  I bought a lot of the Saga figures back in the day, but also lost or sold pretty much all of them over the years.  Luke was one I owned back in the day, but he didn’t make it through unscathed.  He’s notably the only one I’ve actually gone back and replaced, because I think he’s genuinely a neat figure.  Like, not even a nostalgic thing, I think he’s just one of the best figures from the set, free of a lot of the issues that plague the rest of the line.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0089: Plastic Man

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , ,

PLASTIC MAN

JLA (HASBRO)

Well, we’re here at the end of the week.  I mean, I hope we’re all here.  It’s been kind of a rough week for, you know, everyone getting through it.  You know what we need?  Levity!  So, for today’s Flashback Friday Figure Addendum, let’s have a look back at a silly stretchy sort of guy, with Plastic Man!

If there’s one super power that has a tendency to be underestimated, it’s shape-shifting, particularly of the stretching type. Mister Fantastic, arguably the most famous “stretchy” character out there often has that part of his talents down played to focus on his high-level intellect. I’ve always felt that was a shame. I love stretchy characters because I think they have a lot of potential for creativity on the part of the writer/artist. They’re just a whole lot of fun! In fact, one of my favorite characters of all time is the Elongated Man. He’s not the character I’m looking at today, but he almost would have been, had it not been for the fact that Julie Schwartz, one of the guys behind the creation of Elongated Man (and so many other Silver Age DC characters, but that’s more for a later time), didn’t remember that DC owned the name Plastic Man. Granted, EM would have still be the same character, just with Plastic Man’s name, similar to the Hal Jordan Green Lantern and the Barry Allen Flash. I’m getting a bit off topic, aren’t I?

For those of you who don’t know, Plastic Man is Eel O’Brien, a one-time crook who gets doused by a strange chemical and left behind by his gang during a heist. When he awakes, he discovers he has the ability to stretch his body into impossible shapes. He decides to use this power to bring his old partners to justice and creates the identity of Plastic Man. He was big in the 40s, but faded into obscurity until around the 80s, where he saw a bit of a resurgence in popularity, eventually leading to him joining the Justice League of America during Grant Morison’s run on the series in the 90s. But, what of the figure?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Plas was released in the 3rd series of Kenner’s JLA series. JLA was a line of figures exclusive to KB toys in the late 90s. They were made using retooled molds from Kenner’s Total Justice line from a few years previous. Plas’s inclusion in the line makes sense given his place on the titular team at the time. Plas has 5 points of articulation and stands about 7 inches tall with his neck fully extended. The line was in 5 inch scale, so he fits right in. The line used a few common pieces for certain figures, and Plas features the generic male torso, used by a few of the figures. The rest of the figure’s sculpt is unique. It all works together pretty well, though I can’t help but feel that the re-used torso looks a bit too stubby in comparison to the rest of the figure. The head and arms are cast in rubber with wires running through them, allowing you to pose the arms and neck in a variety of ways. The paint is passable. It’s fairly basic, but that fits with the rest of the line. The biggest issue with the paint is that it had some peeling issues on the rubber pieces, particularly the white on his goggles and teeth, which is almost gone on my figure. The hands have also suffered from some noticeable yellowing. Sadly, these are both issues of working with rubbery materials. I don’t know that anything could have been done to prevent them. Plas included a JLA logo stand, in red I believe.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Plas from the KB Toy outlet in the town where my family vacationed. I know I had seen the figure before, and had been interested in getting it, but I never did. My parents bought him and another JLA figure (I believe it was Impulse) for me, which was pretty cool. It’s actually not a bad figure, though it sadly did suffer from a few issues over time. I’d be curious if a Plas who had less playtime might have come out unscathed.

This review was published in the early spring of 2014, less than halfway through my first year working in the site.  It’s particularly wordy for the time, I feel, and also goes off topic a bit there.  Like, I talk for a very long time before getting to anything about Plastic Man.  I even get in an Elongated Man mention, eight whole years before reviewing any of my Elongated Man figures.  No clue why I waited so long, especially given I had two Plastic Man reviews in my first year.  I’m getting side-tracked again, and I’m not even actually reviewing this time!  Since the original review, I’ve found his red JLA-logo stand, and also done some work restoring some of the messed up paint, so he looks a lot closer to his original self.  With the paint fixed up, I do really like how that head sculpt works; it’s one of the nicer ones from this line.  Also, giving me David Byrne vibes?  In some alternate reality, maybe there’s an ‘80s Plastic Man movie starring Byrne in the role.  He’s certainly eccentric enough!

#4115: Wedge Antilles

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

WEDGE ANTILLES

STAR WARS RETRO COLLECTION (HASBRO)

Hey! Hey!  Did you guys know that Wedge Antilles is my favorite Star Wars character?  Even though he’s minor?  And that it’s not the expanded universe stuff that I like, it’s literally just the, like, one scene per movie in the original trilogy?  I mean, if you’ve read literally *any* other Wedge review here on the site, you probably do, because I apparently feel the need to start the reviews of him all the same way.  Look, 4000 reviews and you’re bound to repeat yourself a bit, right?  Well, anyway, despite his presence in all three of the original movies, Wedge is notably absent from Kenner’s original vintage run, which has been a pretty notable omission all that time.  But, with all these throwback retro figures floating around these days, it’s the perfect time to make up for that omission, right?  Right!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wedge Antilles is part of the 2026 Star Wars Retro Collection exclusive 6-pack. They’re the only six figures for the line this year, sold as one large package, much like last year, rather than as a proper assortment of individual figures (though the figures are still individually packaged within the set).  All of the figures are A New Hope-based this time around, though technically Wedge could also work as a Jedi figure, since his look is the same between them.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  His sculpt is all-new, and not directly patterned on any vintage figure molds.  It’s honestly kind of interesting that there’s not even a little bit of detail borrowing from the vintage Pilot Luke figure.  Instead, we’re starting from scratch and…it’s kind of a mixed bag?  Like, I think the weird part is he feels maybe a bit too good to really feel like a vintage Kenner figure.  The folds and hang of his outfit are just a little too natural, and the details are just a little too accurate.  He’s got gloves, which Pilot Luke didn’t, but I’m willing to let that slide, because it’s the kind of shift I can see happening later in the line.  But beyond that, there are small details, like the strap on the back of his vest, or the pockets on his arms, which probably shouldn’t be there.  But, then other parts, like his head that’s just a little bit too small to allow for the helmet, which feel pretty close.  The paint kind of continues the trend set by the sculpt, where it’s just a touch too good, and too accurate.  The biggest thing that throws me is the presence of the grey detailing, since the vintage one just sort of split the difference with the black and white details.  It feels a bit more in line with PotF2, which is obviously not *quite* the vibe they’re going for.  But, it’s not actually bad, so I’ll at least give it that.  Wedge is packed with his helmet and a blaster.  Both are new molds, and they’re pretty fun.  The helmet’s too big, but in the right way.  The blaster could have just been a re-use, but it’s a new Han-style blaster, which I really dig.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I sure do love Wedge figures, and I spent a good amount of time sort of pretending Pilot Luke was Wedge for the purposes of my vintage collection.  With all the Retro Collection figures, I was sort of hoping maybe we might see him, but the focus always seemed to be elsewhere.  I was excited when he was finally shown off, but less excited about him being in a boxed set exclusive to a place I don’t shop.  I’ve been sort of keeping my eye on second hand sources for just Wedge, and happened upon one for a good price, so I jumped on it.  He’s not perfect, but in the sort of way where he’s too close to perfect, if that makes sense?  Ultimately, though it’s a cool Wedge figure, and that’s what I wanted, so I’m happy.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0088: Night Creeper

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , ,

NIGHT CREEPER

G.I. JOE: SPY TROOPS (HASBRO)

Hey there faithful readers, and welcome to the end of the week.  Oh, yes, it’s ending.  Fantastic.  Since it’s Friday, let’s celebrate it the only way I know how, with a Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!  Today, I’m going in for seconds on a particularly sneaky ninja, with a return look at the Spy Troops Night Creeper!

Today, I’ll be taking a look at an entry in the original Action Figure toyline, G.I. Joe!  Like my last G.I. Joe review, this figure hails from the Real American Hero incarnation of the line.  In the early 2000s, Hasbro attempted to bring this incarnation back after a few years of hiatus.  The reinvented line started as a simple “G.I. Joe vs. Cobra” idea, but quickly moved from gimmick to gimmick to keep things fresh.  One of those gimmicks was called “Spy Troops” and revolved around certain figures featuring special gear that would allow them to blend in with their enemies.  This time around, I’ll be looking at one of the Cobra forces from the line, the Night Creeper.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Night Creeper was released as part of the 2003 wave of Spy Troops figures.  He was paired in a two pack with Kamukura, one of the many G.I. Joe ninjas.  The Night Creepers were one of Cobras many ninja armies, so the pairing makes sense.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and features 20 points of articulation.  The sculpt on the figure is a bit dated now, with an odd kind of “v” shape to the body and long arms, but at the time, it was actually quite good.  Viewed through that lens, it’s pretty good, if not perfect.  There’s lots of cool little details present, which give the figure a lot of character.  The paint on the figure is minimal, with most of the figure being molded in the appropriate shade of blue, but the small amounts of paint present are all nice and clean.  The Night Creeper was actually very well accessorized, with a sword for his basic look, plus a dive mask, re-breather, flippers, and a harpoon gun to allow the Creeper to masquerade as G.I. Joe Wetsuit.  I’ve lost the Wetsuit pieces, but they did the job quite convincingly, and actually made for a slightly better figure than the official Wetsuit release.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I actually bought Night Creeper solely for the Kamukura figure that was packed with him, but I quickly grew to like the Night Creeper a bit more.  The early 2000s G.I. Joe line was far from perfect, and was even downright bad at times, but the Night Creeper was one of the better figures.

The Night Creeper was actually only my second G.I. Joe review here on the site, which is honestly crazy.  Some lines started off on the site with looks at particularly significant figures or at least early additions to my collection, but the Joes kicked it off with a Rise of Cobra figure followed by a random ‘00s off-shoot trooper.  Guess that’s just how it be sometimes.  I was generally rather complimentary towards this figure the first time around, and I’ll stand by that.  Though I have no real attachment to the Night Creeper in general, this figure is quite nice, and I think holds up as one of the better offerings of the era.  When I first reviewed the figure, he was missing all of the parts for his “spy” disguise as Wet Suit, but I’ve since located them.  I think it’s a pretty convincing set-up, and sells the gimmick a lot better than a good portion of this line ever did.

#4111: Scout Trooper – Imperial Patrol

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

SCOUT TROOPER — IMPERIAL PATROL

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE JEDI/SAGA (HASBRO)

“Although lightly armored, Imperial scout troopers are essentially highly mobile stormtroopers. They patrol perimeters, perform reconnaissance missions, and scout enemy locations. They are equipped for high maneuverability and long periods without support.”

Hasbro’s Power of the Jedi line, more than being its own standalone line, was more than anything about wrapping up loose ends before moving onto the next thing.  In addition to serving as a way to release the last of the Episode I product, they also added a few new items to the Power of the Force stylings, with some OT characters that didn’t quite get proper coverage earlier.  While all of the environment-specific Imperial troops got some degree of coverage in PotF2, the Scout Trooper notably only got a vehicle pack-in release, and a kind of wonky one at that.  Power of the Jedi offered up one that served as a slightly more conventional figure, and I’m looking at that one today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Scout Trooper — Imperial Patrol was released in Star Wars: Power of the Jedi’s first year, in 2000.  There were two versions of the figure available, clean and dirty.  The dirty version, seen here, was re-released in 2002 with a bunch of new accessories as part of the Saga line’s “Endor Victory” accessory set.  The core figure is effectively the same, though the pelvis piece is reversed on the second release.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  In contrast to the vehicle pack-in figure, which was specifically built to ride the speeder bike, this one is specifically built to stand around, which he does pretty well.  He’s got some minor pre-posing, mostly limited to the arms, but the articulation all has decent clearance, and he can do some nice basic posing.  It’s interesting to be getting such a basic articulation set-up this late in the game, but as mentioned in the intro, there was definitely some attempt to close out the PotF style a little bit.  The actual detailing on the sculpt is quite nicely handled.  His proportions aren’t anything crazy (though his head’s arguably a little small and his hands are a little big) and his uniform is rather well detailed, and accurate to the source.  It’s not hyper detailed, but there’s plenty to keep the sculpt from getting boring.  The color work starts out with some pretty basic black and white, but adds some dirt and battle scarring on the top of it.  It’s a touch heavy-handed in some spots, but it generally works okay.  I definitely like the boots best of all.  The Scout Trooper is packed with his blaster pistol, which he can hold or store in his ankle holster.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I never actually got a chance to pick up the original Power of the Jedi release of this guy, but in 2002 I was in prime buying so much Star Wars product mode, and ended up snagging the accessory set release.  Over the years, I’ve lost pretty much all of the accessory set parts, but I managed to hang on to at least the main figure.  He’s basic, but fun, and pretty well up my alley in terms of how I like my Star Wars figures.

#4107: Obi-Wan Kenobi – Jedi Training Gear

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

OBI-WAN KENOBI — JEDI TRAINING GEAR

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE JEDI (HASBRO)

“Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Jedi Knight training under Jedi Master Qui-Gin Jinn, has proved his loyalty to the Council and Jedi code time and time again. In missions involving great danger, the Jedi don specially made training gear that protects them in close combat without hindering their movement.”

I started my return to Power of the Jedi with one of the two concept Obi-Wan figures from the line, and after a quick stop off with a wacky sort of Darth Vader, let’s head back to the Obi-Wan concept well for another one.  This time, less environment specific and more…um, like, merchandise specific?  They wanted a different color palette, I guess? Well, anyway, here’s Jedi Training Gear Obi-Wan.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Obi-Wan Kenobi — Jedi Training Gear was released in the second year of Star Wars: Power of the Jedi in 2001.  He’s the second of the two concept Obi-Wans that year.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  It’s sort of an odd articulation set-up, because he’s got wrist swivels on both arms, but an elbow swivel only on the left arm.  This is coupled with a really quite strange pose for the body.  Like, he’s got…something going on, but I’m not entirely sure what.  Parts feel like they’re meant to be sort of loose, while other parts are really stiff and rigid.  He feels like his pose was designed by committee.  His actual design is interesting, mostly in the sense that there was also a Jedi Training Gear Qui-Gon Jinn that year, and the two don’t really share much in terms of design aesthetic, so they don’t really work as a pair, despite what the names might imply.  Beyond that, it’s an okay design, with a bit of OT stylings with the ribbing on the jumpsuit underneath and all.  Obi-Wan’s head sculpt is yet another variation.  This one’s…fine.  Not the strongest, but I guess not the worst either.  He looks a little…pudgy?  I don’t know, maybe it’s just how stiff the posing is.  The color work on Obi-Wan is heavy on the black shades, because we sure do love putting a Jedi in all black.  This one has some variation, though, with different parts getting different shades and finishes.  Obi-Wan is packed with his lightsaber (without the black detailing on the hilt, much like the Cold Weather Gear) and his training helmet.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had the Cold Weather Gear figure as a kid, but somehow I missed this one.  I remember the Qui-Gon variant, and kind of wanting an Obi-Wan to match, but I don’t think I remember seeing this one new at retail.  I do remember seeing him later on, but by that point I’d moved away from Power of the Jedi.  As with Jedi Knight Obi-Wan, post-Power of the Force, I’ve found myself looking at some of the other spots from the era, and decided to work a bit on my McGreggor Obi-Wans, and happened upon this guy at Yesterday’s Fun while vacationing this year.  He’s odd and quirky, and not as strong as the Cold Weather Gear, but he’s nothing if not unique.

#4103: Darth Vader – Dagobah

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

DARTH VADER — DAGOBAH

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE JEDI (HASBRO)

“Taking the form of Darth Vader , the Dark Lord of the Sith, this spirit is the embodiment of the dark side of the Force. It dwells in a cave on the swamp-covered planet of Dagobah. Although defeated by Luke Skywalker in combat, its unmasked face revealed that Luke has yet to master the ways of the Force and become a Jedi.”

One of the aims of Power of the Jedi was to reintegrate the Original Trilogy characters into the main Star Wars line, to assuage retailers after the concerns surrounding the unsold Episode I product.  In some ways, it feels like a continuation of Power of the Force, but it also leans into a concept not quite as explored in PotF: scene specific variants.  They went to the scene specific well twice for franchise icon Darth Vader, and I’m looking at the first of those two instances today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Darth Vader — Dagobah was released in 2000 as part of the first year of Star Wars: Power of the Jedi.  Though listed as a Vader variant, he’s not technically one, since he’s a figure of the spirit Luke sees in the cave on Dahobah, and is therefore not the actual guy.  But, he’s good enough for the toy company to count him.  The figure stands a little over 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 8 points of articulation.  Though he he feels quite similar to the later run PotF Vader figures, this one had an all-new sculpt, which, as far as I know, remained unique to this release.  It’s slightly more on the pre-posed side, dialing more into the specific shots we see of the spirit in its one scene.  He’s made for holding his lightsaber and standing there with a bit of menace, which he does rather well.  He’s still got a bit of residual bulk from Power of the Force, but nothing crazy.  The actual detailing is all pretty sharp, and they do a good job with his costume details, and the elements specific to the Empire design.  To fully replicate the scene, the figure’s faceplate is removable (a feature that’s surprisingly well hidden), showing Luke’s face beneath.  You can also remove the figure’s head, through use of a kind of rudimentary peg.  He was originally supposed to use a magnet to attach the head, but that was deemed too involved for the line, and delayed until Saga came along.  The figure’s color work aids in the “spirit” vibe, with a slight translucent feature to it, most visible on the cape and cloak.  Vader is packed with his lightsaber, which notably gets actual detailing on the hilt, in contrast to the Power of the Force figures.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember seeing pictures of this figure when the line was running, and I was always fascinated by the look with the Luke face.  But, because he was packaged with the faceplate on, I didn’t ever realize which Vader he actually was.  It wouldn’t be until much later on that I realized how it worked, at which point I reaffirmed my search, tracking one down a few years back through Yesterday’s Fun, during one of my many family vacations in the area.  He’s a nifty little variant, and really the best way to recreate a rather memorable scene from the movies.

#4102: Undertow

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

UNDERTOW

G.I. JOE VS COBRA (HASBRO)

“Any frogman can operate efficiently in clean water, under optimum conditions, but the UNDERTOW are specially trained to function and fight in the murky, polluted waters surrounding busy industrial and military waterfronts. Their wetsuits are made of a nontoxic, anti-corrosive material, and their face masks are coated with silicone to repel oil slicks. They are almost impossible to capture or defeat because others cannot enter the hostile water environments in which they work.”

It may have been my introduction to the smaller scale version of the franchise, but I haven’t talked too much about the early ‘00s G.I. Joe vs Cobra re-launch of the A Real American Hero incarnation of the brand.  While the initial offerings from the line were all-new sculpts, and in fact even moved away from the traditional O-ring construction, a stronger interest than Hasbro expected, and a need for product fast resulted in a lot of padding of the re-launch’s first year with older molds.  In particular, a lot of molds used for the 2000 drug store run found their way back into circulation.  One of those molds was Undertow, whom I’m looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Undertow was released as part of the G.I. Joe vs Cobra line in 2002.  He and seven other figures made up a “Sound Attack” themed 8-pack of figures, which was a BJ’s Wholesale-exclusive set dropped near the holiday season.  While the original Undertow was introduced as part of Destro’s forces, this one moves them under the Cobra banner.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  Undertow makes used of the entirety of his 1990 v1 figure’s sculpt, which I reviewed in its original form.  Honestly, it’s a strong sculpt.  I think it’s a bit more reserved than others of the era, and that works in its favor, making him feel generally more timeless in his design.  The change-up here comes in the color work.  The original release had a color scheme I described as “Christmas pageant reject” and I stand by that.  All the Cobra forces in this set went heavy on the red for whatever reason.  Undertow was almost entirely red and, honestly, I kinda dig it.  It’s bright, but less garish than the original.  The grey accenting works pretty well too, and the addition of the Cobra logo on the forehead feels like it’s adding an element that was missing from the beginning.  Undertow gets none of the original’s accessories, instead getting an…odd assortment of parts.  There’s a blaster pistol that originally belonged to the 1992 Destro (missing from mine), a chainsaw with a Sound Attack tab on it, which began as Buzzer’s, got refitted for the 2002 Zartan, and a backpack recolored from the original Snow Serpent.  Nothing remotely aquatic there, which makes it real hodgepodge and like they’re just filling space in the set.  His Joe counterpart, Wetsuit, was pretty much the same way, so at least they were consistent?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I jumped into the line with the first assortment, specifically the Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow set, and picked up quite a few others over the course of the year.  My parents made note of the interest, and this set was snagged for me for Christmas, and it was certainly a major focus. Of the figures included, this was my favorite, for whatever reason, though I pretty much never used him as a proper villain.  My original didn’t make it through my childhood intact, so I’ve been looking to replace him for a while.  I had tracked down the original, but he didn’t *quite* hit that same mark for me.  I was glad to find this one at Yesterday’s Fun while on vacation this summer.  He’s cool.  I still love the mold, and I do think these colors work better than the originals.  The accessories are weird, but otherwise, I really like him.

#4099: Obi-Wan Kenobi – Cold Weather Gear

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

OBI-WAN KENOBI — COLD WEATHER GEAR

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE JEDI (HASBRO)

“A Jedi must always be well equipped for any circumstance. Obi-Wan Kenobi, a loyal and disciplined Jedi, is often sent by the Jedi Council to resolve matters on worlds where the environment is very cold. He often must prepare for these missions by bringing special gear with him to handle the colder temperatures.”

With my review of IG-11 last week, I’ve once again exhausted my new Star Wars merch, so it’s time to go back to the retro stuff.  With my meager Episode I collection wrapped up, I’m moving onto that which follows, Power of the Jedi.  The diminishing returns of the Episode I line at retail led Hasbro to rework it into a more franchise comprehensive line, more in the mold of the just wrapped up Power of the Force.  In addition to putting out the handful of remaining Episode I toys, the new line offered up some Original Trilogy stuff, and also a handful of early stage concept figures from the Episode I production process.  A few of the heavy hitters got some variants this way, especially Obi-Wan, whose Cold Weather variant I’m looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Obi-Wan Kenobi — Cold Weather Gear was released during Star Wars: Power of the Jedi’s second year in 2001.  He’s one of two Obi-Wan concept variants from that year.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Obi-Wan was sporting an all-new sculpt for his all-new cold weather gear design.  The gear design is pretty consistent with the other looks we’ve seen in Star Wars, bringing to mind the Hoth looks for sure.  The sculpt captures it well, with minimal pre-posing, and an extensive level of detailing that’s all pretty sharp.  The design’s a little limiting on the movement front, especially on the hips, but it’s not as bas as some.  The head sculpt is, to my eyes, the strongest McGregor likeness of the ’99-’01 run, generally just hitting the mark a bit better than the others.  It lacks the Padawan braid and the rat tail is pressed into the head, rather than sticking out, making him far less prone to breaking as well.  His color work brings to mind Han’s Hoth Gear, or the toy version at least, which is a decent set-up.  It’s always nice to see a little bit of blue on a Star Wars figure, especially in this era.  Obi-Wan was packed with a lightsaber, removable cap with goggles, and a survival pack.  The lightsaber is notably missing the black detailing on the hilt, which is a bit of a step down.  The paint on the visor of the goggles is also quite prone to rubbing off, due to the soft rubber construction, but it’s otherwise a very cool piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m fairly certain this was my first Power of the Jedi figure.  I’d seen a fair number of figures from the line, but I remember this guy showing up in ToyFare, and thinking he looked super cool, so I kept my eye out for him.  He was ultimately a comic book store purchase, if I recall, probably Comics to Astonish, which tended to have the best off the beaten path selection of newer Star Wars figures at the time.  I’ve always really liked this one, and time hasn’t really changed that.  He’s quite a fun variant.

#4095: IG-11 — Nevarro Marshall

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

IG-11 — NEVARRO MARSHALL

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“The blasted fragments of the assassin droid hero undergo a complete rebuild and reprogramming, including the addition of marshal stripes that denote IG-11 as Nevarro’s new protector.”

Two Star Wars: The Black Series Reviews? In the same quarter? Is that legal?  Well, yeah.  But is it ethical? That’s a far more complex issue.  So, it would seem I’ve exhausted my admittedly kind of small Episode I collection, which means it’s time to move onto the next thing.  But, before I do another retro dive, I happen to have a new Star Wars figure, so why not give that a bit of focus?  With the release of The Mandalorian & Grogu, the whole Mandalorian side of the franchise is getting a little bit more focus from the toys, mostly based on the movie, but with a few non-movie ones as well.  The Mandalorian’s third season was kind of sparse on its own toy coverage at the time of release, but there’s been some filling in since then, and we’ve finally gotten my most anticipated figure from the season, the rebuilt IG-11 as Marshall of Nevarro!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

IG-11 — Navarro Marshall is figure 46 in the Mandalorian sub-line of Phase IV of Star Wars: The Black Series.  He’s hitting alongside the second batch of Mandalorian & Grogu product, and is the only show-based figure in the bunch.  There was a white-boxed “First Edition” release to kick things off, followed quite closely by the standard release.  As the name implies, the figure is based on IG-11’s slightly modified appearance from the end of Season 3’s last episode.  The figure stands 7 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  While the last two IG-11s re-used the quite inaccurate IG-88 mold, this time around, he’s making liberal re-use of the brand-new parts introduced with the deluxe IG-12 in 2024.  The 12 parts were far better scaled and just more screen accurate then the 88 mold, so it’s a much better starting point, for sure.  This release gets a new torso, to showcase his proper droid-ness, as opposed to the remote control compartment of 12.  While I won’t deny it looks the part, I was disappointed by the removal of the built-in hinge joint used on the original IG-88 mold.  It gave him a lot more posing options, and this figure is a lot stiffer by comparison.  It does otherwise look very nice, though, and the detailing is all quite sharp.  He also gets a new belt add-on piece, complete with holster, as seen in the show.  IG-12’s color work was rather on the basic side, and while Marshall IG-11 isn’t quite back to the level of his original release in terms of accenting, he’s at least a bit of an improvement over 12.  In particular, his silver is a more consistent and more proper metallic finish, as opposed to the swirly, kind of translucent shade of the IG-12.  He also gets all of the fancy, eye-catching Marshal stripes, which gives him a nice splash of color, and his paint application is notably pretty clean.  IG-11 is packed with his blaster pistol, which fits in his holster.  You can sort of get him to hold it in one of the hands, but it’s really tricky, and doesn’t stay well, so it’s not super advisable.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been anticipating this figure pretty much since the show appearance, but especially since IG-12’s release, since I figured Hasbro would be eager to re-use the molds.  I believe I said at the end of the IG-12 mold that I’d kill for this figure, though I did re-negotiate a bit on it before the end.  I did say I’d pay good money for it, which I did, in fact, do.  12 was cool, but he was really always just a place-holder for this guy.  He took a bit longer to get here than I expected, but I’m glad he’s here.  Issues with the torso articulation aside, I really quite like this mold, and I’d still definitely buy at least an IG-88 built from these parts.