Tag Archives: Star Wars

#3316: Magnaguard

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

MAGNAGUARD

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“The bodyguard droids for General Grievous are trained by the cyborg general himself. He has had their memories and combat libraries wiped clean so that the droids can learn battle techniques rather than rely on stored programs. This has resulted in more sophisticated — and lethal – droids.”

When the battle droids were first introduced in The Phantom Menace, we just had the two main versions, standard and Destroyer.  Attack added Super into the mix, and Revenge of the Sith further added the Magnaguards, the robotic bodyguards for General Grievous.  Though only a small part of Sith, they were repurposed for Clone Wars as well, giving them a little bit more to do during its run.  It also gave them a shot at more action figures, and I’m never one to complain about that.  So, let’s look at one of those action figures!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Magnaguard is figure #22 in Hasbro’s Clone Wars tie-in line, as part of the fourth assortment within the first year of figures.  This was the first of the two Magnaguards in the line.  This one was more on the basic side, stripping away the cloak and headdress that they had in the movies.  Those pieces were added for the next release.  The figure stands a little over 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  As an early run non-Clone, his articulation is a little imbalanced.  The movement on the upper half, especially the arms, is really solid, and quite cleverly implemented.  Below the waist, however, he lacks anything beyond basic hip movement, which is frustrating, but it’s also just where the line was at this point.  At the very least, he was actually able to stand, unlike the basic Battle Droid mold.  His sculpt was all-new, and it’s honestly a pretty strong one.  It takes the Magnaguard animation model, and translates it quite nicely into plastic form.  The front and back of the torso have removable plates, allowing for more of a glance into the figure’s inner workings, which is definitely a lot of fun.  The paint work on the Magnaguard is quite impressive.  His base color is a gun metal grey, with a lot of brushing and washes, giving him lots of highlights and shadows, and really bringing out the details of the sculpt really nicely.  The Magnaguard was packed with his staff, which has electricity effects attached, as well as a large missile launcher, which mine doesn’t have.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was always intrigued by the Magnaguards in the movie, but none of the toys really lived up to their coolness in my eye.  This one was the first one that I really felt came close to that, so it was one I made a point of tracking down at retail.  He was slightly beaten to the punch of “best droid in the line” by the IG-86 assassin, but he was still a nice step forward for the droids, and a very nice figure in his own right.

#3311: Padmé Amidala

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

PADMÉ AMIDALA

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“Padmé has worn many mantles during her young life, including queen, senator and warrior. To each role, she brings her characteristic poise and intelligence, whether she is in the midst of a diplomatic discussion or facing a menacing encounter with an enemy.”

Hey, it’s a Padmé review.  Oh man, is Ethan gonna use the same over-used gag he used the last time he reviewed a Padmé?  No, I don’t think so.  I lost the will to keep doing that joke.  It’s really a shame.  Okay, that’s the only time, I swear.  Anyway, since The Clone Wars is a prequel-era story, Padmé is unsurprisingly a recurring player in the series.  Her focus was a little heavier on the earlier side of things, which meant she was also an early addition to the tie-in series of figures.  I’m taking a look at the first of her figures today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Padmé Amidala is figure 20 in Hasbro’s Clone Wars tie-in line. She’s the second figure in the line’s fourth assortment, still during the line’s first year.  This was Padmé’s first of two figures in the line.  This one was based on her repurposed outfit from the end of Attack of the Clones, which is really one of her most consistent designs, so it made sense for starting out of the gate.  The figure stands about 3 1/4 inches tall and she has 10 points of articulation.  Compared to the rest of the line up to this point, Padmé’s articulation was a rather notable step down.  She wound up with the worst of both worlds, lacking the elbow joints like Ahsoka and Asajj, but also lacking the knee and ankles like the initial Jedi releases.  It makes her a rather stiff figure.  Not exactly a ton of fun to play with.  The sculpt is at least an okay offering, I suppose.  She matches up pretty well with her animation design, and the work is generally pretty crisp and clean.  She’s really scrawny, but that’s kind of just how the design works.  The paint work on Padmé is pretty basic stuff.  The application is pretty clean for the most part, and all of the important details are covered.  Nothing super thrilling, but it’s what it’s supposed to be.  Padmé is packed with her small blaster, a droid blaster, her cloak, and a removable headdress.  She’s got some trouble holding the blasters due to the shaping of the grip on her hands, so the clear bands used to hold them in the package were almost a necessity to keep things in place.  The headdress piece stayed in place surprisingly well given the hair, and the cloak is a pretty solid piece on its own.  There’s even a cool printed pattern on both, which is really fun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t recall much about getting this figure.  She sort of falls into the era of just grabbing figures as I saw them, usually in batches.  I think with this one, I probably grabbed her at the same time as the 212th Clone, who would have been my main interest of the purchase.  She’s not exactly one of the line’s star pieces, and kind of shows some of the overall weaknesses of the line as it went into its mid-run.

#3306: Clone Trooper – 212th Attack Battalion

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

CLONE TROOPER — 212TH ATTACK BATTALION

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“The clone troopers of the 212th Attack Battalion are distinguished by the orange markings on their white armor. Led by Clone Commander Cody and Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi, this unit includes a number of elite infantrymen trained for special missions.”

In the first year of their tie-in line for Clone Wars, Hasbro was just starting to dip their toes into the world of clones.  They kept named clones to a minimum at first, instead focusing on diversifying the types of clones present.  Through a combination of exclusives and standard releases, they filled in a few of the core groups of clones.  Since we’d gotten Commander Cody in the second assortment of the line, it made sense to get a few of his crew, the 212th Attack Battalion, aka those guys in orange!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The 212th Attack Battalion Clone Trooper was figure 19 in Hasbro’s Clone Wars tie-in line.  He was the first figure in the fourth assortment of the line.  This marked the first main-line release for the 212th, but there was previously a Target-exclusive boxed set with four of them and an Obi-Wan.  This release was slightly different, of course, just to keep things interesting.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 24 points of articulation.  The 212th is largely built on the standard clone base body, which makes sense, them being in the same armor and all.  However, the notable change on this figure was a brand-new head.  Hasbro was looking to make the helmet more accurate to the animation, as well as more easily adapted to a removable helmet, so this figure debuted what would become the standard Clone helmet for the line.  While it’s technically more accurate, I was always more partial to the original helmet sculpt.  But, I get the point on this one, and it’s still a decent sculpt in its own right.  The figure’s paint scheme is another cleaned up clone, without the heavy wash.  At this point, that was the direction Hasbro was taking all of the Clone Troopers, so he was consistent.  He’s got his proper Battalion markings.  The orange was notably different from the standard release of Cody, and would also be different from the later Waxer and Boil…so, he doesn’t really match with anything.  But, I guess he looks okay on his own.  The 212th is packed with a small blaster rifle and a rocket launcher with missile.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My favorite episode of Clone Wars’ early run was “Innocents of Ryloth,” which debuted Waxer and Boil, two members of the 212th.  Since they weren’t added to the line right a way, and we weren’t sure about getting any named Clones, I got this guy as a stand-in for one of them.  Sure, it’s not accurate, but it’s all I had.  He’s rather basic, but that’s all he needs to be.

#3294: Aayla Secura

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

AAYLA SECURA

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“A cunning warrior and Jedi Knight during the rise of the Clone Wars. A master of the emotional detachment necessary in the Jedi Order, she tried to pass on what she learned”

Even before the tide had generally turned on how people viewed the Star Wars Prequels, there were certain elements that were always pretty well accepted.  Pretty much, anything having to do with Clones, of course, but also a good chunk of the newly introduced Jedi Knights also picked up quite a fanbase.  It helped that they added new ones for each film, and it helped even more when The Clone Wars added further depth to a good number of their stories.  First appearing as one of the Jedi sent to rescue Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padme from Geonosis in Attack of the Clones, Aayla Secura was a pretty popular character right from the start.  Look, being a blue skinned space chick in a revealing outfit gets you a lot of good will with fanboys.  She resurfaced for Revenge of the Sith, this time paired off with fan-favorite Clone Commander Bly, and she got a rather memorable send-off during the Order 66 sequence.  Despite her fan favorite status, her figures are definitely a bit spaced out.  It’s taken her a decade to finally make her way into The Black Series, but she’s finally here, and I’m taking a look at that figure today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Aayla Secura is part of the first main assortment of Star Wars: The Black Series‘s 2023 line-up.  She’s under the Attack of the Clones heading, where she’s figure #3.  Though she’s officially billed as an AOTC Aayla, thanks to her design remaining consistent, she’s able to work as both the Revenge of the Sith and Clone Wars versions of the character as well.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and she has 28 points of articulation.  Aayla’s articulation scheme isn’t quite as impressive as some of the other more recent Black Series figures, being a bit more on par with the pre-2020 stuff.  She’s still able to get some decent poses, but she’s not quite as agile as she could be, I suppose.  Part of this is centered around re-using some parts, as she makes use of the legs from Vice Admiral Holdo, as well as the right arm from Aurra Sing.  Everything else appears to be new.  It’s a pretty decent sculpt, up to par with the rest of the line.  She’s not the spitting image of her on-screen counterpart, but we also only briefly see her on-screen counterpart anyway.  She winds up a little skinnier, I think, than she should be, and her face looks a little rounder, but the rest of the detailing works pretty well.  Her color work is largely handled with molded colors, with just a little bit of paint to cover the basics.  Her eyes seem just a tad askew on my figure, but otherwise, things are basically what they need to be.  Aayla is on the lighter side for accessories, including only her lightsaber.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ll be honest, I’m starting to slow down on Black Series these days.  Most of the assortment that Aayla’s in wasn’t anything I was dying to own, so I largely skipped on this round.  I did decide to grab Aayla, if for no reason other than that I have Commander Bly, and you can hardly have Bly without his General, right?  She’s not exactly ground breaking or anything, but she’s got a fun visual, and it’s nice to finally get her added to the line after all these years.  And, more Jedi is always a good thing.

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

#3281: Asajj Ventress

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

ASAJJ VENTRESS

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“Asajj Ventress communicates via a holographic projector to her mentor, Count Dooku, as they twist events against the Jedi. Ventress can wield a lightsaber with devastating skill and precision and is fueled by the power of the dark side and her hatred of the Jedi.”

Perhaps the most important thing to come out of Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars cartoon (well, apart from General Grievous, who was actually already slated to show up in Episode III when he was added to the show) was Dooku’s apprentice, Asajj Ventress.  She made the jump from 2D to 3D, and went on to be a pretty prominent player in the 3D show’s run…well, at least until you get to the end part where they never got around to producing the episodes that would have wrapped up her story.  Maybe some day.  Well, in the meantime, how about another action figure?  She’s got a nice little handful to choose from, but let’s set our sights on the 2008 version.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Asajj Ventress is figure 15 in Hasbro’s Clone Wars tie-in line, right after Plo Koon numerically.  She was part of the third assortment and was one of the two Sith additions to the line in this particular assortment (the other being her mentor Count Dooku).  The figure stands right around 3 3/4 inches tall and she has 18 points of articulation.  Early in the line, the female non-clones actually made out a bit better than the male non-clones in terms of articulation, and as such Asajj actually gets a full set-up of leg articulation, which makes her quit mobile.  She does lose out on the elbow movement, but, honestly, where would they put it?  Asajj’s sculpt was an all-new one, based on her animation model from the show.  This whole assortment marked a definite step-up in accuracy to the show within the sculpts, and that’s very evident in Asajj, who sticks quite close to her show design.  There’s some really impressive detail work, especially on the texturing of her outfit.  her skirt is a separate, cloth piece.  It’s a nice, heavy fabric, which looks pretty decent, and allows for full movement on her legs.  It’s also removable, so that you can replicate the times on the show she’d ditch it to save the animators trouble free up her movement.  Asajj’s paint work is generally pretty solid stuff.  The small details are nice and clean, and there’s no notably missing elements, which is all pretty cool.  Asajj was packed with her two curved hilt lightsabers, as well as a small hologram of Count Dooku, which I don’t at all recall my figure ever having, but she absolutely did at some point, I suppose.  I’m just losing my mind.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t get Asajj during her first run.  She was rather tricky to find at retail, and wound up getting scalped a lot.  I also hadn’t really warmed to the character yet at that point, so I certainly wasn’t down for paying more.  As the show progressed, I came to like her more, and I recall finding this figure during her second run in the new packaging, along with a stack of other figures.  I wanna say it was during a errand for Christmas decorations with my dad, but it might have been for non-Christmas related purposes.  She’s a pretty strong figure, and holds up well this many years later.

#3276: Plo Koon

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

PLO KOON

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“A member of the Jedi Council and an intrepid warrior descended from a long line of Jedi Knights, Plo Koon has fought in many battles in the Clone Wars. An imposing figure, he wears special protective goggles and an antiox mask on oxygen-rich worlds.”

Clone Wars placed a lot of effort into building up and fleshing out the clones, but it also did the same for a lot of the Prequel Trilogy’s Jedi Knights.  By and large, they’d just been background fillers with cool looks, but the show really ran with some of them, making them fully crafted characters in their own right.  A particular favorite of the show was Plo Koon, who got quite a fair bit of focus throughout the show’s run, pretty much right from the get-go.  Unsurprisingly, he was added to the tie-in toyline quite quickly after the show’s launch, as the line’s first non-core Jedi release.  Not bad for ol’ Plo!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Plo Koon was figure 14 in Hasbro’s Clone Wars tie-in line.  He was the second figure in the line’s third assortment, the fourth Jedi, and the first proper alien in the line’s run.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  He predates the line giving the Jedi improved articulation to match the clones, so he’s unfortunately lacking much mobility below the waist.  They did at least try to offset things by making his pose just a little more dynamic than Obi-Wan and Anakin’s had been, so he wasn’t quite as static looking.  The arms also retained a lot of movement, so there was still plenty that could be done with him.  Plo’s sculpt was an all-new one, and it was a very nice one at that.  After the first few assortments being just a little bit off in terms of animation accuracy, this one actually looked a lot more on point.  The head in particularly really captures his show design, and the whole thing is very clean and sharp.  There’s also a nice, dynamic flair to the lower portion of his robes, which really aids in making him look a little more action-oriented, as well as making it a bit easier to pose the legs at the hips.  Plo’s paint work is pretty solid.  There’s a lot of rather basic work on the main body, but the head and hands get a nice bit of accenting to bring out some of the textures, and he’s also got some pretty cool small detail work on his gauntlets.  Plo was packed with two different versions of his hood (up or down), two different lightsabers, and a lightsaber gauntlet.  The hood adds some nice variety (or would if I wasn’t missing the one that’s up), and the gauntlet re-uses an old RotS concept in a new and fun way.  You could even plug his standard sabers into the back for a four saber set-up!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Plo’s early focus episodes were some of my favorites when the show first launched, and I’d always been interested by the character in the Prequels, so I was anxious to see him get added to this line back in the day.  I recall actively looking for this one, and being very excited to add him to my collection.  Though he’s more restricted on the articulation front, he’s otherwise still a really cool figure, and probably my favorite Jedi from the line, even after all this time.

#3271: Clone Pilot Odd Ball

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

CLONE PILOT ODD BALL

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“Clone Pilot Odd Ball, who received his nickname during advanced training, has participated in many significant missions in the Clone Wars. Odd Ball is a starfighter pilot trained in flying V-19 Torrent starfighters, ARC-170 fighters and other standard Republic fighters.”

When they first appeared in Attack of the Clones, the Clone Troopers were completely interchangeable and devoid of any distinct traits or personalities.  Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars expanded on them a little bit, but only a little.  Revenge of the Sith went further by giving a few of them names, but it was really just commanders, and, again, any personality or the like was largely absent.  When the second Clone Wars launched, its creators much more quickly went to work making the clones into actual characters.  In many cases, they were working with all-new characters, but they also went back and filled in a little more with the small handful of named clones we’d gotten in Sith as well.  Today’s focus, Clone Pilot Odd Ball began as little more than a cameo in RotS’s opening dogfight.  He didn’t get a *ton* to do in Clone Wars, but it was certainly more than he’d had previously.  And he also got a figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Clone Pilot Odd Ball was figure 11 in Hasbro’s Clone Wars tie-in line.  He was one of the four new figures in the line’s second assortment.  While he sports the name “Odd Ball”, his design is also just a fairly basic Clone Pilot, which allowed Hasbro the opportunity to do one of those, while still providing another named character for the line.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 24 points of articulation.  Odd Ball was largely a re-use of the standard Clone Trooper body.  It makes sense, since they would have the same build and armor, and Odd Ball has minimal unique pieces on the armor.  It’s still a really good base as well, so it’s hard to really go wrong with a figure on this set-up.  His head is a modified version of the standard helmet sculpt, now with the extra pilot gear.  It wasn’t quite as show accurate as later helmet sculpts, but I think it still made for a nice translation.  In contrast to the prior standard clone, Odd Ball’s armor is without the heavy wash, making it look far cleaner.  It makes a good degree of sense, since you wouldn’t imagine that the guy in the ship would get nearly as dirty as the trooper on the ground.  The rest of the paint is basic, but covers all the bases, and he looks pretty sharp.  Odd Ball was packed with the smaller blaster rifle, as well as a rocket launcher and missile.  They were the same ones from the standard Clone, but without the silver detailing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t remember anything special about Odd Ball’s acquisition.  I remember seeing him a few times before actually getting him, and finally breaking when there were a few other Clones to go along.  He’s never really been one of my favorites from the line or anything, but he’s a solid by the numbers release, and he had a lot of appeal being a pretty basic pilot and all.

#3269: Ahsoka Tano

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

AHSOKA TANO

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

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

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

THE FIGURE ITSELF

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

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

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

#3259: Antoc Merrick

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

ANTOC MERRICK

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Antoc Merrick commands Yavin 4’s starfighters before the Battle of the Death Star, flying as Blue Leader”

Originally, during A New Hope‘s climactic trench run on the Death Star, the color-coded squadron of pilots joined by Luke was not supposed to be red, as seen in the final film, but blue.  However, when the production realized that the blue-screen effects they were using for the space sequences would result in all of the blue markings on the ships being replaced by the background, the squadron was switched to red, with the intended back-up squadron going from red to gold, and Blue Squadron winding up shelved.  With the advancement of special effects over the years, Blue Squadron has shown back up in other forms, including in Rogue One, where Blue Squadron is more or less wiped out during the final battle on Scarif, thus explaining their absence from A New Hope.  The squadron is lead in the film by Antoc Merrick, who’s a cool dude who got far too little action figure coverage when the original Rogue One product hit.  Have no fear, the second round of product is here!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Antoc Merrick is one of two Target-exclusive Star Wars The Black Series figures released for the Rogue One sub-set from earlier this year.  He is figure 8 in the overall Rogue One line-up, making him the second numerically of the two exclusives.  The figure stands a little bit under 6 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  For the most part, this figure is re-using parts from the original Pilot Luke body (which I reviewed when it was used for Wedge), but he actually swaps out the arms for the ones from the Snowspeeder Pilot Luke, so as to give Antoc his proper gloves.  The Luke body’s technically a touch short for Merrick, whose actor Ben Daniels is closer to 6 feet tall, but given that he’s a much more minor player, I suppose expecting a totally new pilot body just for him is probably a bit much.  It’s at least a decent sculpt, and the alternate arms mix things up a little bit from Luke and Wedge.  He doesn’t get the proper collar piece from the movie, but it’s otherwise fairly accurate, and the collar’s honestly quite minor.  Antoc gets an all-new head sculpt, which sports a respectable enough likeness of Daniels in the role, although it does seem a little too large for the body.  Antoc’s color work is a nice change of pace for the pilots, since it’s predominantly blue.  The paint work is generally pretty basic, but it’s got some solid application, and the face printing works well.  Antoc is packed with his helmet and a blaster pistol, which have become the standard pilot offerings.  The pistol looks to be the same one included with Luke, while the helmet is, curiously enough, the Snowspeeder version of the mold, which is a bit smaller than the X-Wing version.  It makes getting the piece onto Antoc’s head rather tricky, since the sizing doesn’t work quite right.  It’s at least a very nicely painted piece, and it makes for a decent thing for him to hold.  Given he’s not likely to get an X-Wing to pilot at this scale, having him hold the helmet seems more appropriate anyway, but it’s still odd.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve honestly been hoping for an Antoc Merrick in some form or another since Rogue One hit theatres.  He’s a minor character, but a cool enough one that he caught my attention.  I was always a little bummed that the basic line never got to him.  I wasn’t super thrilled by him being an exclusive, as I’m not really going out of my way to track any of them down these days, but I happened to find him in store right as Target was doing that crazy markdown on all of their figures, so I got him at $12, which is a price that I really couldn’t say no to.  He’s not a game changer or anything, but he’s nifty, and I do like actually having him.  Hey, another pilot for the shelf!

#3257: Axe Woves

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

AXE WOVES

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“A skilled warrior, Axe Woves is loyal to Bo-Katan and is a member of a band of Clan Kryze Mandalorians striking back at the Imperial remnant”

When Bo-Katan Kryze made her first appearance in live action during The Mandalorian‘s second season, she was accompanied by two other Mandalorians: Koska Reeves and another guy.  Today, we delve into the other guy.  Okay, the other guy actually does have a name: it’s Axe Woves.  That’s a name that’s really just peak Star Wars naming, honestly.  And it really should be, since Axe was actually named by none other than George Lucas himself, who named Bo-Katan’s then un-named Lieutenant during a set visit whilst Season 2 was in production.  Unlike Koska, who re-appeared alongside Bo-Katan for Season’s finale, Axe has thus far only appeared in the one episode, but is rumored for a Season 3 return.  Perfect time for some action figure coverage.  Let’s take a look at that, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Axe Woves is part of the first main assortment of Star Wars: The Black Series‘s 2023 line-up.  Clearly, he’s a little early.  It’s okay, so’s pretty much everything else.  He’s part of the Mandalorian sub-set of the line, of course, and he’s figure 25 in that numbering scheme.  The figure stands roughly 6 inches tall and he has 28 points of articulation.  In terms of construction, Axe is largely built on the bank of parts first seen on the Death Watch Mandalorian from earlier this year.  He keeps the same articulation scheme from that release, which is to say that he poses pretty well, and certainly on-par with a modern Black Series figure.  Axe gets two new pieces thrown into the mix, a new un-helmeted head and a new belt/lower abdomen add-on.  It’s otherwise just the Death Watch Mando, which is fair, since there are a number of shared armor pieces between the two.  The new head sculpt bears a passable resemblance to actor Simon Kassianides (who, it should be noted, has an oddly close resemblance to the Saga-era Jango Fett head sculpts), though it’s not as spot-on as other sculpts in the line.  Axe’s paint work pretty decent for the most part; it’s on par with other recent offerings, and there’s some rather nice weathering to the armor.  The only slight misstep is the face paint, which, at least on my copy, has the eyes set ever so slightly higher than they should be.  It’s not crazy, but it’s definitely off.  Thankfully, amongst his accessories is his distinctive Mando helmet, which is a re-use of newer Boba Fett mold.  It doesn’t sit quite as well on this figure’s head, but it overall works.  He’s also packed with his jet pack and a small blaster pistol, both of which are re-used molds.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Once we had both Bo-Katan and Koska, it was just a waiting game for Axe, since it’s not like they’re gonna leave one Mando undone, right?  Axe is exactly the sort of background character that would fascinate me in older Star Wars entries, and that came through on the newer stuff too.  I dig his look, I dig his name, and I dig the background behind it all.  He’s not a perfect figure, but he’s a pretty fun one, and a good by-the-numbers offering.

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