Tag Archives: Star Wars

#4151: Clone Trooper — 501st Legion

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

CLONE TROOPER — 501st LEGION

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“The clone trooper forces are gathering together for their next mission – and they want you to join them! With your own Republic Army Identification Card, you can become a member of the most elite fighting force in the galaxy. Your destiny awaits – join today!”

Listen up, here’s the story, about a little guy who lives in a blue world, and all day and all night and everything he see’s is just blue, like him, inside and outside.  

Oh, hey there, didn’t see you guys come in, you know, here on the website.  I was just singing thematically and what not.  What about?  Today’s Star Wars review, who’s another Clone, but his gimmick?  Well, he’s blue.  Da-ba-dee, da-ba-di.  Or some such.  The original clones were blue when they were Lieutenants, but by the time of Revenge of the Sith, the colors signified Legions and Battalions, not ranks.  The blue was then shifted to Anakin’s Legion, the 501st, and The Clone Wars would retroactively make the blue markings on Phase I armor represent the 501st.  And that’s how we get where we are now, looking that this rather blue figure today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Clone Trooper — 501st Legion was released right around the same time as the initial Star Wars: The Clone Wars tie-in push in 2008, designed to coincide with the theatrical film’s release.  He was a Walmart exclusive, seemingly chosen by color, much like his counterpart Commander Fox.  Unlike Fox, however, the 501st Trooper didn’t suffer a price bump, instead maintaining the standard price point for the line.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 24 points of articulation.  The 501st Trooper uses the exact same mold as the original basic Clone Trooper mold from the line’s launch.  While it’s not quite as show accurate, it remains my favorite standard clone sculpt for this line, so I love seeing all of its uses, even if there aren’t all that many of them.  The paint work is where this guy changes things up, of course, with the most obvious change-up being the addition of the blue markings that signify he’s from the 501st.  The exact shade of blue used was always a bit back and forth.  This one’s on the lighter side, in contrast to the much darker blue used on the Rex from the initial launch.  It’s an odd bit of inconsistency, but I don’t hate the blue chosen here, so I’m not really complaining.  In addition to the extra details, the 501st Trooper also removes the heavy wash from the original clone, so that this guy ends up looking a fair bit cleaner.  While Fox, despite his higher price point, actually had less accessories than the figure whose mold he was sharing, the 501st Trooper not only gets the medium blaster and rocket launcher included with the standard Clone, but also includes the long blaster as well.  The blasters have a slightly brighter silver wash than the main assortment counterparts, which makes them look rather unique.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve never been much of a Walmart shopper, but I was especially not one when this figure hit, especially because the one closest to my parents house had an atrocious toy section, so there was no chance I was going to find this guy.  I knew he existed, and always kind of wanted one, but it just wasn’t really meant to be, at least not until later.  The first one of these I came across actually wound up going to Max, who also really wanted one, and I was already getting a bunch of other clones at the same time, so I let it slide.  When he decided to thin out his collection a few years later, I still hadn’t gotten one, so he passed it along to me, and here he is, having been in my collection for a bit now.  Like most of the early clones from this line, he’s a pretty fantastic all around figure, and just a lot of fun.

#4147: Commander Fox

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

COMMANDER FOX

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“Commander Fox heads a squad of clone troopers who accompany Padmé to the palace of Ziro the Hutt. She hopes to reopen negotiations with the Hutts, who have been tricked into believing the Jedi abducted Jabba’s son. The commander finds a hostile reception when the group arrives at Ziro’s lavish palace on Coruscant.”

The last time I was talking about Clone Wars, it was the Genndy Tartakovsky 2D-animated series, which actually aired between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, but there’s *another* Clone Wars animated series, launched with a 2008 theatrical film that served as the pilot to the show, which ran for seven seasons over the course of 12 years, and actually got a lot more toy coverage.  A lot of toy coverage that I happen to own, so behold, a new Star Wars theme for me to dive into for a good long while!  The back bone of Hasbro’s Clone Wars tie-in line was, unsurprisingly, the clones, and today I’m looking at one of those, Clone Commander Fox!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Commander Fox was released early on in Hasbro’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars tie-in line, right around the initial launch assortment and the theatrical release of the movie in 2008.  He was an exclusive release to a retail chain that shares his taste in being primarily red.  And also his taste in just being…the worst.  And turning on the people that trusted them.  Man, maybe Fox was a better fit for an exclusive than any of us knew in 2008.  I’m getting side-tracked though, aren’t I?  Fox was a standard packaged figure stuck into a clamshell, which was used to justify charging an extra $6 for him, which didn’t go over well at the time, but then people bought him anyway, so I guess no lesson was really learned.  Fox was seen here in his Phase I armor, which was all we knew him in at the time.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 24 points of articulation.  Fox was entirely built from parts re-used from other figures in the launch assortment.  He’s predominantly the first Captain Rex figure, minus the removable pauldron and with the alternate helmeted head from the first Obi-Wan.  While the parts aren’t bad at all on their own, it’s a slightly awkward combo, mostly owing to the fact that the head sits a bit too high on the neck joint, so he’s got a bit of giraffe neck going on.  Otherwise, the figure’s mostly being sold by the new paint scheme.  The red seems a bit too dark, and the application’s a bit sloppy around the edges, but he’s at the very least pretty unique.  Fox is packed with a DC-15 long blaster rifle, and a pair of DC-17 blaster pistols.  He was notably lacking in the missile launcher style accessory that prominently featured in the early line releases, despite his much higher price point.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I recall Fox being released back in ’08, but I never actually saw one at retail, so I never had a chance to debate whether he was worth the extra money or not.  2008 me probably would have caved, if I’m honest.  That said, it was actually 2019 me that ultimately did the caving, when I got the chance to snag a sealed one through work at a stretch of time where he’d actually fallen a bit in value.  It’s honestly wild that he was so much more expensive than the main line, because he feels rather behind where most of this line was.  He’s certainly not bad, mostly by virtue of working from a really good bank of parts, but he’s a little awkward in his assembly, and he just has this overwhelming feeling of being rather phoned in.  Hasbro just hadn’t quite worked out how to make these repainted exclusive clones work to their advantage just yet for the line.

#4143: Biker Scout

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

BIKER SCOUT

STAR WARS: THE LEGACY COLLECTION (HASBRO)

Oh, we are just rolling through different Star Wars lines around here, aren’t we?  Well, next week I’m settling into a theme that should run for a bit, but before I do that, let’s take another stab into the proverbial dark with a one-off from a line I didn’t really collect, The Legacy Collection.  But, it had a Biker Scout, and I sure do like a Biker Scout action figure, so I sure did get one of those.  So, let’s look at that Biker Scout figure, which I sure am reviewing today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Biker Scout was released in Hasbro’s Star Wars: The Legacy Collection in 2009, as figure 12 in the Build-A-Droid run, contributing a part to L8-L9.  The figure was first released as the 2006 Vintage Saga Collection Biker Scout, then again as part of the “Battle For Endor” set that same year, then in the “Shadow of the Darkside” set also in 2006, again as part of the 30th Anniversary Collection in 2007, and then finally here in 2009, with a number of re-decos and slight tweaks interspersed.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 22 points of articulation.  At this point in the line, the only things that really separate him from a modern figure in terms of movement are the t-hips, something that George Lucas himself was apparently a stickler on in regards to how the joints broke up the sculpt.  I’ve actually looked at the sculpt once before through one of its repaints, the Elite Corps release from 2006.  It’s honestly really solid for its era.  It’s accurate to the source material (and in fact a but more so than some of the later Biker Scout molds) and it moves pretty well.  The structure of the wrist and elbow joints makes his hands prone to popping off from time to time when posing the elbows, but it’s not terrible, and they go right back on.  There were some minor tweaks over the years to the exact paint work on this figure, but they all kind of added up to the same general look.  This release was generally cleaner across most of the armor, confining the dirt more to the feet.  The Biker Scout was packed with his small blaster pistol, which he can hold or holster, as well as one of the legs to L8-L9.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t buy this new, but I did buy it new-ish.  2009 was the start of my senior year of high school, so my spending was a bit more restrained at times, so a lot of stuff I might have casually picked up got overlooked.  My Star Wars focus was almost entirely on Clone Wars, so the old stuff got overlooked.  By college, I was more comfortable in my collecting again, and picking up oddball stuff when I saw it.  This guy was picked up at a mall pop-up toy shop called “Toy Zam” I wanna say?  I visiting some friends in the late fall of 2011, and found this spot in the mall.  They had a bunch of close-out Hasbro stuff from ’09, mostly junk I didn’t need, but this guy was there, and I of like a good Biker Scout.  And he is that.  He’s a good Biker Scout.  Probably my favorite Biker Scout mold, honestly (though I do remain partial to the Power of the Jedi one).

#4139: Fenn Rau

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

FENN RAU

STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE (HASBRO)

“Fenn Rau was a former fighter pilot instructor who fought for the Republic during the Clone Wars. Once the Empire cam to power, Ray became leader of the Protectors of Concord Dawn, an elite Mandalorian warrior group patrolling the Concord Dawn system.”

Would you believe I’ve already gone through all of my 2D Clone Wars figures?  Well, I have.  So, I guess it’s time to move onto the next thing, which, in this case is actually a jump forward about a decade, to an animation tie-in right around the release of *another* live action movie.  While Rebels had its own dedicated toyline for its first year, by the second season, they were kind of locked into slipping the figures in with movie tie-ins, which is why we got Rex and Ahsoka in the Force Awakens tie-in.  Rogue One’s toyline took things even further, adding new versions of the main cast, as well as a couple of the recurring players.  Fenn Rau was introduced in Rebels as an ally to the main team, and a positive representation of the Mandalorians to contrast the Imperial-backed Gar Saxon.  Rau got a single action figure, which I’m looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Fenn Rau was released in the fourth assortment of the basic Star Wars: Rogue One line from Hasbro.  His release was…tricky.  Only the first three assortments made it to proper retail domestically.  The fourth assortment saw a limited release overseas in early 2017, but wouldn’t see a US release until later in the year, when Entertainment Earth stepped in to facilitate distribution.  Fenn had an even trickier time than the other three (specifically Rogue One-based) figures, who got a release together.  Fenn wound up further delayed, but he did at least make it out eventually.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Rau’s sculpt was all-new and would remain unique to him.  He’s based on his design in the show, angling for that animated appearance, rather than real-world-izing it.  There was a notable progression in the Rebels figures as they filtered into the various lines, with far more basic figures at the start, but by the time Rau came along, they’d gotten better at keeping the animation model design, while also working in some finer detail work, most notable in the folds and ribbing on his jumpsuit.  He also includes details like a removable helmet and fully functioning holsters, which weren’t as often present on some of the earlier figures.  Fenn Rau’s color work is a fairly good match for his show design.  It’s a cool mix of different blues, and the application is all fairly clean, apart from some slight bleed over on the belt.  Rau is packed with his removable helmet, a pair of blaster pistols, and an oversized rocket/wing pack.  The rocket pack makes him tricky to stand, but it’s less intrusive than a lot of the Rogue One gimmick accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I was certainly collecting the Rogue One line when it was hitting, and I’d even started watching Rebels and picked up most of those tie-in figures from the line, the strange distribution of the last assortment, and of this guy in particular, meant I missed the whole set at “retail” or whatever close approximation they had.  This guy was on my list for a while, and just ended up being one of those “he happened to land in front of me” purchases, back a few years ago when I had a chance to grab a loose complete one.  There was a rather fun simplicity to these lines that I do kind of miss in more recent stuff.  Rau’s a nice combo of fun gimmick and solid core figure, and it’s too bad he wound up being so rare.

#4135: Clone Wars Volume 2 Pack 1

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

ANAKIN SKYWALKER, SAESEE TIIN, & CLONE TROOPER

STAR WARS: CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“In this time of galactic civil unrest, Anakin Skywalker sets off on a spiritual quest that foreshadows his dark destiny. Obi-Wan seeks to give strength and encouragment to his gifted student and through his guidance, Anakin is awarded the prestigious title of Jedi Knight. Meanwhile, Yoda, Mace Windu and the clone troopers battle a massive Separatist droid army that has suddenly attacked Coruscant. Led by the cunning warrior General Grievous, the Separatists succeed in kidnapping Chancellor Palpatine. Now the stage is set for a re-emergence of the Sith and the birth of a dark new Galactic Empire.”

Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars was split into three “seasons” when it originally ran, with a clear division of time between season’s 2 and 3, thus splitting the series into two “volumes”.  Volume 1 maintains the aesthetics of Attack of the Clones, while Volume 2 takes everything decidedly closer to Revenge of the Sith.  While there was a notable merchandising push for the first design set-up, by the end of the series, there was less time to get things out before the larger RotS push.  What we got instead of a proper assortment of figures was two boxed sets of three, heavily leaning on pre-existing parts.  And, today, I’m looking at one of those sets.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Anakin Skywalker, Saesee Tiin, and the Clone Trooper make up “Volume 2 Pack 1,” one of four sets offered in the “Commemorative DVD Collection” of Hasbro’s Star Wars: Clone Wars tie-in line.  The set was released in 2005, before the release of Revenge of the Sith.

ANAKIN SKYWALKER

The newly knighted Anakin Skywalker spends most of Volume 2 isolated, on a mission on the planet Nelvaan, where he winds up with a rather distinctive and cool design, which is kind of torn down and sporting some pretty nifty tribal markings.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He makes use of a decent amount of tooling from the second single Anakin Skywalker release from the line.  Since they both have him sporting a sort of damaged and stripped down look, it’s a sensible choice for re-use.  He gets a new head and torso for this release, showcasing his updated design.  He actually got the most new parts of any of these multi-pack figures, since he’s got more than just a new head.  That new head is a very nice piece of work.  It captures his Sith style hair-do, and even manages to get his facial features a fair bit closer to the the model than either of the previous attempts.  The torso isn’t really different from the one on the original figure, but it lacks his vest/tunic/whatever it is.  His color work is a good match for the cartoon; in contrast to the single release figures, his skin tone is a molded plastic, rather than painted, and I think it looks a little bit better here.  He gets some more involved work on the tribal markings, which grant him some rather nice pop.  While the original Anakin used a flatter orange-ish sort if plastic for the robotic hand, this release used gold…which, though a softer plastic, is somewhat susceptible to “Gold Plastic Syndrome.”  Mine broke and has been very carefully repaired.  Anakin was packed with his lightsaber and a display stand.

SAESEE TIIN

Each of the Volume 2 packs got one new character, and this set’s new guy was Saesee Tiin.  He’s virtually a non-entity in the movies, but the 2D Clone Wars gave him a decent focus he hasn’t really gotten anywhere else.  Personally, I’d have preferred Kit Fisto, but there’s some good reasons for going with Saesee instead.  Well, mostly just the one reason, and that’s parts re-use.  It’s also the same reason that Saesee is in his standard robes, rather than his more distinctive armored appearance, because this way he can re-use the body of Obi-Wan.  It’s a rather pre-posed body, but it’s at least a good pose, and it’s a generic enough robed body to work for multiple characters.  Saesee gets a unique head sculpt, which is a solid recreation of Tartakovsky’s take on the character, right down to the broken off tip to one of his tusks.  His color work is fine, if perhaps a bit underdone.  There are definitely some spots where it just kind of ignores the sculpt, most notable the figure’s forearms, which don’t have the wraps painted.  Saesee is packed with a lightsaber and a display stand.

CLONE TROOPER

There was also a clone in each Volume 2 pack, so, you know, here’s one of those.  In Volume 2, the Clones have upgraded to their Phase II armor, which for the purposes of the animation really just means a new helmet, and for the purposes of this figure, really just means a new head.  As such, this guy’s really just the same mold I looked at last week, but with the adjusted head.  It’s decent, if maybe not amazing.  While I think the Phase II helmets look fine in a more realistic set-up, I never felt they translated as well to Tartakovsky’s style as the Phase I, and this figure really just exemplifies that.  But, it’s hardly a bad offering.  The Phase II is without any color or rank, just a basic white shiny armored guy.  Paint is respectable, if perhaps a bit fuzzy on the line-work.  The Clone Trooper is packed with his blaster rifle and a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, the ARC Trooper (aka Fordo) was my entry into the line, and this was actually the only follow-up I got during the original run.  In fact, I very nearly missed it, but managed to find just this set, sitting off on its own right after the holiday rush in 2005.  I never saw the companion set, but always meant to track it down.  Maybe I still will one of these days.  I do like this one.  The Anakin in particular remains my favorite version of the character from the line, and honestly from the prequel era, and the other two aren’t as definitive, but they’re still fun.

#4131: Clone Lieutenant

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

CLONE LIEUTENANT

STAR WAR: CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“Through the creative vision of Lucasfilm Ltd. and the Cartoon Network, the Clone Wars are brought to life in an exciting new series of short animated chapters. A unique animation style captures the drama of this epic period in galactic history along with its outstanding heroes and adversaries. Noble Jedi warriors lead Clone Troopers into battle against the evil Separatist forces and their droid armies. Anakin, Obi-Wan, Yoda and their comrades struggle against the rising power of the dark side and confront personal challenges against a backdrop of war-torn planets.”

Undoubtedly my favorite thing to come out of the Prequel Era of Star Wars is Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars, a 2D animated bridging of Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.  While the films rarely branched out beyond the core cast of characters, Clone Wars established a precedent, later followed by The Clone Wars, the 3D animated show, of placing focus on less fleshed out characters.  While its time spent with the titular clones was still a lot less than the later show would feature, they’re still a notable presence, and they made up a sizable portion of Hasbro’s tie-in line from the time…albeit mostly through a lot of repaints, but it’s kind of what you expect, right?  Okay, let’s take a look at a Clone Lieutenant.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Clone Lieutenant (who is only actually identified as “Clone Trooper” on the package, due to sharing all packaging elements with the Captain and the Commander) was released alongside the other two colored Clone variants as a late addition to the Star Wars: Clone Wars line in early 2005, before all the Revenge of the Sith product hit the shelves.  He’s based on the Phase I trooper designs, as seen in the first two seasons of the show.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 4 points of articulation.  He’s rather standard for the line on the movement front, with movement at the neck, shoulders, and waist.  They weren’t really built for poseability, but more as mini-maquettes of the show’s designs.  The Clones did get a leg up on the rest of the line, though, since they all got ball-jointed necks.  It doesn’t do a ton, but it gives him some subtle variety in his posing. He, as well as the Captain and the Commander, really just existed as way of putting the standard Clone Trooper mold back out there, so he’s just a complete re-use of that mold.  Like the rest of the line, it does a really good job of taking Tartakovsky’s designs and making them work in three dimensions.  He’s slightly pre-posed, but not in a crazy sort of way, which is ideal for a guy you’ll probably get a lot of.  Just the one raised arm for the rifle is a good look, and he’s honestly pretty stable on his feet.  The first use of the mold was all white, but the re-releases add the color markings for the different ranks.  The Lieutenant is blue, which, let’s be honest, is the coolest of the color markings.  Both literally and also in a figurative sense.  The application here is a little bit fuzzy around some of the edges, but in general, it looks alright.  The use of panel lining on the armor also does a lot to help the mold, as well as bringing it closed to animated stylings.  The Lieutenant was packed with his blaster rifle and a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Back when these were new, the line was rather a hot commodity, so I only had a few pieces, and this guy wasn’t one of them.  In more recent years, I’ve found more of them, and in the case of this guy, I bought a lot of the recolored clone troopers, mostly just for him.  He wound up being the only one I actually got around to opening, and he’s been sitting mixed in with my 3D figures for a couple of years now.  For as simple as these figures are, I always really enjoy messing with them when I get the chance, and the Clones are really the star pieces of the line.

#4127: Paz Vizsla

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

PAZ VIZSLA

STAR WARS: EPIC FORCE (HASBRO)

“A descendant of the esteemed house Vizsla, brawny warrior Paz Vizsla is protected by the strongest Beskar armor.”

Would you believe I’ve finished up all my Saga reviews?  Well, I guess I haven’t *really*, but I’ve finished all the reviews of figures that are ready to go, since all the ones I have left are pretty woefully incomplete.  I’m past the days of incomplete figure reviews…mostly.  Anyway, I’m actually jumping a fair bit further ahead for today’s review, to something “modern” era, though still a couple of years old at this point.  I don’t get much into the Mandalorian-based stuff anymore, but I’m doing at least this one jump back with a look at this Paz Vizsla figure that’s, you know, actually named Paz Vizsla, rather than just “Heavy Infantry Mandalorian.”

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Paz Vizsla was part of the debut assortment of Hasbro’s Star Wars: Epic Force line, back in 2024.  He was one of two deluxe figures in the set, the other being Sabine.  Paz has pretty much always been relegated to the deluxe sizing, so it makes sense that it happened again here.  The same core figure, with a different selection of accessories, was also available in the “Unite the Clans” three-pack at the end of the year.  The figure stands 4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  The Epic lines are all technically 4-inch lines, rather than 3 3/4-inch, and it was especially notable on the earlier Star Wars stuff.  Thankfully, in the case of a character like Paz, they stuck to that strict 4-inch mark, which means that he scales okay with earlier figures, since Paz should be a little taller than the others.  His sculpt is unique to him, and it’s based on his design from the show.  The level of detail here is definitely not as in depth as, say, a Vintage Collection figure, but it’s a little more than a Retro Collection figure, making it kind of feel a bit like a mid-run Power of the Force figure.  Gee, I wonder who around these parts might like such an aesthetic? Honestly, it works well.  It gets all the important details down, with a decent degree of sharpness, but it still lets them do more of a basic feel overall.  The paint work here leans heavily into the basic side.  The broad colors are present, but there’s a lot of spots where things are just left unpainted.  This is where the figure feels more like a Retro Collection or even proper Kenner figure over, say, Power of the Force, because after the ‘90s, it was very rare to just get straight up unpainted details.  The torso is definitely the most stripped down, with a lot of just unpainted dark blue.  Other sections get more variation, though, and the actual application is clean.  Paz is packed with his jetpack (which is definitely a fair bit oversized), his large gun (which has been converted into a missile launcher and is *comedically* oversized), a missile for said large gun, and a removable flame-thrower effect that clips onto either of his forearms (though it has a gauntlet attached which is quite clearly meant to match the left side).  They cover all of his standard extras, and there’s enough more there relative to the standard releases that it feels like “deluxe” was justified.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When Epic Force launched, I liked the idea, especially with the similarities to Power of the Force, and the fact that I’d really been bummed out by the ending of the basic 5-POA line after Resistance, but I’d also kind of moved on and was focusing on scaling back on my Star Wars collecting in general.  That said, one of the collections I more or less kept intact was my modern era Retro Collection stuff, and Paz was notably absent from that set-up, so this figure offered a decent little “close enough” set-up.  I wouldn’t say it was enough to make me go out hunting, but when a loose one came into work, I really had no good excuse not to, and so he got added to my collection.  And, you know, sat in a box for two years waiting to be reviewed.  Look, I got to him, didn’t I?  It’s interesting to look back at this figure now, given how quickly the Epic line evolved into something totally different than what it was here.  He’s a weird sort of middle-ground figure, and while I’m happy to have a Paz that fits with my Retro figures, it’s not hard to see why this incarnation of the line really struggled to find its footing.  He’s a good figure and a good toy, but just feels so very much like he’s from an entire different era than the one that spawned him, which is odd for a figure that’s not intentionally a throw-back. 

#4123: Boba Fett – The Pit of Carkoon

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

BOBA FETT — THE PIT OF CARKOON

STAR WARS SAGA (HASBRO)

“Part of the entourage accompanying Jabbe the Hutt to the Pit of Carkoon to watch the execution of Han Solo, the infamous bounty hunter Boba Fett leaps into battle to save his life after Jabba’s sail barge is attacked by Han’s rescuers.”

You gotta really respect the moxie of Star Wars Saga, the worst Star Wars toyline, for producing two figures of Boba Fett, one of the most popular “cool guys” in Star Wars, and having them both be based on objectively his lamest moments in the franchise.  His entry into the line was kid Boba, of the “hyuuup”-ing variety, and then the one Original Trilogy figure is specifically called out as being based on the moment just before his extremely humiliating death in Return of the Jedi.  Clearly, someone at Hasbro wasn’t feeling very generous to poor Boba.  Well, I’ll do my best not to humiliate him any further.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Boba Fett — The Pit of Carkoon was figure number 08 in the 2003 assortment of Star Wars Saga, hitting in the line’s second year.  As touched on in the intro, he was the second Boba in the line, after the more direct Attack of the Clones tie-in figure from the launch assortment.  He was the first specifically Jedi-based Boba since the Power of the Force days.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation, plus a moving range-finder.  The movement on this guy is kind of interesting, because he’s more posable than was standard for the line at the time, but it’s all kind of weird.  Both legs get three joints each, but on the right leg, the two joints beneath the hip are on his knee, while the left leg puts both joints on the ankle.  His arms also both get swivels at the shoulders and the elbows, but the shoulders are tied into the action feature, so they can’t really hold a pose.  He himself is rather pre-posed, meant for a sort of firing his blaster from the hip while flying through the air pose, which…honestly, works pretty well.  Saga was frequently a mess with the over posing, but I gotta give them credit for the times they hit their mark.  The sculpt is honestly not bad.  It takes a lot of design cues from the 300th Boba, and that was a nice sculpt itself.  Hasbro rather liked this one, and wound up re-using it a lot until the more posable options came into vogue.  The only drawback of this release is the “missile” on his jetpack, which, due to doubling as the plunger used to activate his blaster firing action feature, is just the wrong shape.  The pilot Jango Fett from the prior year used the same feature, and had the same problem, but he had the other jetpack design, so it was less noticeable.  Boba’s color work is generally on the basic side.  He’s not too far off from what we were seeing with Power of the Force, which isn’t quite as technically impressive as later Fetts, but it’s also not a terrible look.  The basics are covered, and the sculpt is strong enough to shine through pretty well.  Boba was packed with his blaster rifle, a blast effect for the rifle, and a rocket blast flight stand that plugged into his jetpack.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While not my first Boba Fett, this was the first one I actively chose to get.  Well, okay, it’s the first OT Boba I actively chose to get.  The second year of figures weren’t as plentiful as the first, but showed up in some weirder spots, notably the PX at the military base where my grandparents did their grocery shopping.  I was with my Grandmother for one of her trips, and got to pick out a few Star Wars figures, which wound up being this guy, Hoth Han, and robot hand Anakin.  Boba is the last hold-out of the trio, the one that stuck with my collection through a good number of purges.  I make fun of Saga and of Boba Fett, but I can’t knock this figure.  He’s kind of a gem of the line, much like last week’s Luke.

#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.

#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.