ROSE – FIRST ORDER DISGUISE, BB-8, & BB-9E
STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI (HASBRO)
A couple weeks back, it was announced that the remaining announced but unreleased figures from Hasbro’s basic Last Jedi line were being distributed solely by online retailers Entertainment Earth (at least in North America, anyway; the rest of the world may yet see them show up at regular retail). This means, that, without any real fan faire, the set I’m looking at today, is the final piece of Last Jedi product to hit retail. Weird. Well, might as well review it. (EDIT: strike that, there’s the four pack that’s hitting alongside the home video release. Forgot about that one.)
THE FIGURES THEMSELVES
Rose, BB-8, and BB-9E were part of the second assortment of “two-packs” for the Last Jedi line. For those of you who have halfway decent counting skills, you may have noticed there are three figures in this supposed two-pack. Hasbro presumably realized how silly it would look to try and sell a normal figure and a BB unit for the same price as two normal figures, so they did the wise thing and threw in a second BB.
ROSE – FIRST ORDER DISGUISE
Our second standard line version of Rose follows the Star Wars tradition of giving us variants of our heroes disguised as the enemy. Rose is, of course, seen here in the First Order uniform that she wears alongside Finn when infiltrating the Supremacy. It’s kind of amusing to get her in this scale, since the corresponding Finn was a 6-inch figure, but not to worry, there’s going to be a Finn to match soon enough. This figure stands 3 1/2 inches tall and has the usual 5 points of articulation. Her sculpt is totally new. Not surprising, since she’s got a whole different look. It’s a decent sculpt, though I can’t say it’s quite as interesting to look at as her standard figure. The uniform’s carefully pressed and everything, so there’s no real room for the fun texturing of the last figure. I also don’t find the head to be sporting quite as strong a likeness as the prior figure, though it’s not like this one’s terrible. Also, minor point of contention that I suppose isn’t 100% fair to hold against this figure but I’m gonna bring up here anyway: Hasbro’s still being inconsistent about the way they handled the bottom sections of the tunics. Hux had his sculpted as part of his legs, but Rose gets an overlay piece. Given that they’re supposed to be in a variation of the same uniform, it’s the slightest bit annoying. I’m not saying I mind Rose getting what I feel is the superior implementation of the design, but I do really wish Hasbro would fully commit one way or the other. Rose’s paint is decent, though not without its flaws. The big issue with my figure is the eyes, which aren’t lined up properly. There were two sets at the store where I picked this up, and I assure you, this one was the better of the two. Beyond that, it’s mostly pretty passable work. There’s not a whole lot going on, but it’s a good match for what we saw on the screen. Rose includes a standard First Order pistol, as well as one of the heavy guns first included with the FO Legion set. Like the rest of the TLJ line, Rose is Force Link compatible. I got: “I’m ready for my mission,” “Quickly, Stormtroopers are coming!”, “Quiet! We have to be careful,” “Take cover!”, and an assortment of blaster sounds.
BB-8 & BB-9E
Once again, the only way to get a BB-8 is as part of a multi-pack. I think that’s just going to be this character’s lot in life, since selling him on his own just doesn’t seem practical at all. Also along for the ride is his “nemesis,” BB-9E. Both droids measure about an inch and a half tall and have a single ball joint at the base of their head. Both of them sport brand new sculpts, which do a respectable job of capturing the droids from the film. I like that the time was taken to give them both completely unique sculpts, as it keeps the set from getting too redundant. Paint on these two is about what you’d expect. I think BB-9E is a little cleaner, and just a slightly better looking scheme all together. BB-8 suffers a bit from the lack of any sort of accent work, which causes the large sections of white plastic to be a little overpowering. Both of these droids are also Force Link compatible, each playing a couple of clips of each droid’s “dialogue.”
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
This is a set that eluded me for a little while. For reasons I can’t really understand, Hasbro decided to pack this trio in a case with more of the two-packs from the first series, as well as the Rogue One-themed Chirrut and Baze pack. As the only truly new pack in the case, this one was guaranteed to be the first one to go every time. Fortunately, on the way back from putting my brother on an early bus to New York, I was able to stop by a Walmart that had just opened and put their stock out, meaning I was able to finally get these guys. Admittedly, it’s not the most thrilling set, but I like all three figures included enough to feel they were worth tracking down.
Sometimes, it is pretty clear when Hasbro, and more specifically Nerf, take criticisms to heart and fix problems with their products. The Recon Mk.II comes to mind. Other times, it seems more like they hear the criticism and offer a solution that isn’t exactly what people had in mind. One of the most widespread gripes about Nerf lately is their tendency to only paint one side of a blaster, leaving the design lopsided. I can’t help but feel they heard this and said “You don’t like how we paint our blasters? Well how about we just don’t?” Introducing the Surgefire. Ok, there’s more to it than that, but I just had to get it out of the way. On to the review!
The Surgefire was released in 2018 as part of the core N-Strike Elite series. It operates on a pump-action revolver design that holds 15 darts in the cylinder. It’s hardly the first time we’ve seen these mechanics used in a blaster. I suppose if you wanted to make the leap, you could say it’s an update to the Furyfire from the old Dart Tag line, though most people go with calling it the Elite version of the MEGA Rotofury. Both descriptions work. The shell is all new work and features one Nerf attachment rail along with some pretty interesting body detailing. The dark grey area just above the trigger assembly actually has the word “Elite” carved out of it revealing the blue plastic underneath through the letters. The use of dark blue text sunken into a dark grey panel does make it probably a little more subtle than they might have intended, but I do like that it suggests more intricate builds and sculpts to come. This also plays into the aforementioned lack of paint, save for the Nerf logo and the name “Surgefire” above the barrel. All variation in color is achieved via layering and inlaying separate pieces of plastic. It does lend itself to a higher quality feel to the blaster over something that might rely on paint or decals. Overall, the style is 
pulled off pretty well with just a couple drawbacks. First and foremost is in the pistol grip. Along the front seam where the two light grey halves meet, the screws are placed just far enough that the plastic can flex and produce a hard edge where it splits. At the best, its abrasive over time or if you’re holding onto the blaster tightly, and at worst it can actually pinch my fingers. It seems like adding another internal support wouldn’t have been too much trouble so it’s irksome to find it absent from the design. Ultimately it’s a minor complaint, and my second complaint is even more so. I’ll sum it up here: “By the goddess, that’s a lot of orange in one place.” Yes, it might have been nice to see some other colors on the front end, but it is what it is, I guess. Barring the issue with the grip, the blaster feels good in the hand. It’s stout but solid, giving it a sort of combat shotgun kind of feel. I do wish the cylinder could be loaded from the rear and that the ratchet on the cylinder could be indexed by hand a little easier, but ultimately it’s functional so I can’t really complain. For all its petty aesthetic and operational quirks, the Surgefire actually makes up for most of it in performance. Shots feel like they have more energy behind them than a lot of other recent blasters, flying far and hitting hard. You should really think about whether or not your younger sibling has earned it before you bust into their room and open fire with the Surgefire. Not as much as with, say, a Rival blaster, but more than just popping them in the head with a Jolt. The Surgefire comes packaged with the cylinder which snaps into the blaster and 15 Elite darts.
“Hang on a minute, didn’t we just have a Rival review, like, two weeks ago?” I hear you ask. Why yes, sharp-eyed viewer, indeed we did. Ordinarily I’d try and spread stuff out and keep you guessing about what the next blaster will be, like a game, but this is new and hot. The new hotness, you might say. So this week I’m looking at the Kronos. Something that bears the name of the father to the Olympians must be a behemoth of a blaster, right? Actually, it kind of goes the other way, but trust me, it’s not the size that counts, it’s all about the balls.
The Kronos XVIII-500 was released in 2018 as part of the Phantom Corps subset of Rival blasters. I was initially under the impression that Phantom Corps was a Target exclusive line, but this blaster was purchased from TRU which confounded me to no end, at least for a few minutes. No idea what the deal with that is but whatever, you’re here to read about the blaster. The Kronos is a spring powered pistol with a 5 round integrated magazine à la MEGA Magnus or Star Wars Rey (Jakku) Blaster. Like both of those examples, the Kronos is loaded through a port on the top of the blaster that opens when the slide is primed back. The Kronos also has an additional flap covering the port which I guess isn’t really necessary but it does preserve the silhouette of the blaster a little bit. The shell of the blaster is all new and sports functional front and rear sights as well as 2 Rival accessory rails, one on the slide and one just above the muzzle. Interestingly, while the blaster is labeled “XVIII-500” on both sides, the name Kronos appears nowhere except on the packaging. Something to note about the rails on the Kronos is that, after attaching the Rival red dot sight, I noticed that it could slide back and forth just a little bit, just a few millimeters at most, and the nature of the attachment mechanism means it wasn’t in danger of falling off, but it’s just something I’d never had 
any of my other Rival blaster do. I doubt that’s going to make or break anyone’s opinion of it, though. Aside from that, everything about the Kronos’ construction is solid. The grip in particular is very comfortable and secure in the hand as it follows much more organic lines than the more hard-lined rest of the blaster body, which is a style I quite like, visually and practically. The slide has a surprising amount of thought and engineering put into it. Priming the blaster is fairly easy with the grip panels that add a good amount of traction as well as providing a more defined surface to pull back on. On the underside of the slide, there are a couple of telescoping flat panels that extend when the slide is pulled back, I assume to either keep the mechanism clean or to prevent kids pinching their fingers in the internals. The very rear of the slide also has a cutout so you can see the orange plunger when it’s primed as well as a button to release the lockup if the blaster jams. Like all other Rival blasters, the Kronos has a safety which locks the trigger when engaged. Unfortunately this particular safety has the same after-the-fact addition kind of feeling that the Zeus’ had. It’s hard to describe verbally, but it feels like it’s flexing before it clicks rather than pivoting and is generally unpleasant to operate, not that it’s a necessary feature per se. For its size, the Kronos holds its own surprisingly well against other Rival blasters in terms of performance. Shots fly and hit with the expected Rival accuracy and power, making it a 
real terror for younger siblings, especially given how low profile and nimble it is due to its smaller size. I’ve even found that it fits rather handily into standard jeans pockets for holstering, just so long as you have jeans with actual pockets (why are fake pockets even a thing? Sorry, side-tracked). The Kronos comes packaged with another set of red and blue Rival flag/ribbon things, provided you got the Phantom Corps version and didn’t shell out $70 for the Deadpool variants, as well as one Rival round- what’s that? It comes with 5 rounds? Ok.. if you say so. Scratch that, I guess it’s supposed to come with 5 rounds. Hmm…
The Figure In Question 