Tag Archives: Star Wars

#1528: DJ – Canto Bight

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

DJ – CANTO BIGHT

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI (HASBRO)

Star Wars: The Last Jedi saw the return of a lot of old favorites, but, like it’s predecessor, The Force Awakens, it saw a handful of new character introductions as well.  The biggest standout by far was definitely Kelly Tran’s Rose Tico, but I also quite enjoyed Benicio Del Toro’s turn as the roguish hacker commonly referred to as “DJ” (which isn’t actually a name; it’s merely a shortening of his credo “Don’t Join”).  But then, again, I generally enjoy in Benico Del Toro in just about any role.  Except maybe Sicario… Getting side-tracked.  Here’s this figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

DJ is part of the second Orange assortment of Hasbro’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi line.  He’s the only unique character this time around, but I feel like we’ll at least be seeing a Holdo at some point down the line.  The figure stands 4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  I was a little bummed that his hands don’t move at the wrists, especially since they’re already separate pieces, and Luke got those joints.  I like consistency.  DJ is sporting an all-new sculpt, which is a pretty solid piece of work.  The likeness on the head is perhaps not a spot-on likeness of Del Toro, but it’s close enough that you can tell who it’s supposed to be.  I think it’s the nose that throws it off; it’s a bit too up-turned, like one of the Whos from the live-action Grinch movie.  The body sculpt has nicely balance proportions, and there’s some really amazing texturing on his jacket.  If I had one complaint, it’d be the collar.  In the movie, DJ tended to have it somewhat popped and disheveled, but here it’s flat against the rest of the jacket.  He does have it like that occasionally in the film, but it’s not what I’d pick as my ideal look for him.  The paint on DJ is decent enough.  The colors are rather dull, but that’s accurate, and the application’s all pretty clean where it needs to be.  For the first time…well, pretty much ever, actually, Hasbro’s done a halfway decent job of giving DJ that appropriately scruffy facial hair.  It certainly looks better than any of their attempts at Poe’s, that’s for sure.  DJ is packed with a blaster pistol, which is rather involved and probably one of my favorite blasters from this line.  He’s also Force Link compatible.  The line’s I got were “I can get you out of here if the price is right,” “I’m a thief by trade,” and “Let’s get this over with,” all in a voice that is undoubtedly not Benicio Del Toro at all.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While Luke was an impulse buy, DJ was one I was definitely planning to grab, though he was most certainly helped by the fact that I found him the day after seeing the movie.  There are some slight issues with the likeness, but beyond that he’s a pretty fantastic figure of an intriguing character.  Also, I think this might actually be the first Benico Del Toro figure, so that’s pretty cool, right?

#1527: Luke Skywalker – Jedi Exile

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

LUKE SKYWALKER – JEDI EXILE

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI (HASBRO)

Two years with no new trilogy Luke Skywalker figures, and now, in the span of three months, we’ve got two of them!  We’re moving on up, homebiscuits!  Oh yeah!

*ahem* Aaaaanyway, The Last Jedi presented a very different look at our esteemed hero Luke Skywalker, and his two distinct looks from the film sort of play into that.  The first look, seen at the end of The Force Awakens, presents a Luke we’re all a bit more comfortable with.  He’s sort of a merging of the classic Luke and old Ben from A New Hope.  Older and wiser than when we last left him, but certainly continuing down the path he was set on at the end of Return of the Jedi.  The Last Jedi opens and (almost literally) throws that aside.  The wise teacher Luke we were presented with in TFA is mostly ceremonial, and he quickly changes his garb into something removed from his Jedi teaching, and more in line with the isolated, bitter, and morally compromised hermit he actually is.  It’s utilitarian and practical, and perhaps not as distinct, but in it’s own way, it’s still true to the character.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke Skywalker (Jedi Exile) is, like his sister, part of the second Orange assortment of Hasbro’s The Last Jedi line of figures.  This figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall (he’s a smidge shorter than the last Luke, which is a little odd, but it’s not a terribly noticeable difference) and he has 7 points of articulation.  Yep, this is another figure that’s sporting the wrist movement.  Those joints are showing up with enough frequency at this point that I’m a little bit surprised they aren’t just standard.  It’s certainly nice to have them, though.  Luke’s sculpt is all-new to this figure, and it’s decent enough, but not without its flaws.  The articulation, particularly at the hips, isn’t very well integrated.  I also don’t like the likeness so much on the new head sculpt; I think the last one is a better Hamill.  Sadly, the size of the two neck pegs is different, so you’ll have to pad the socket on the old head if you want to do any sort of swap.  On the plus side, the jacket’s pretty nice, and he has a nice selection pf textures to help keep him visually interesting.  Luke’s paintwork is decent enough.  Aside from a slight bit of slop on the beard, everything’s pretty clean.  Unfortunately, the color scheme just isn’t all that dynamic, so he’s not the most thrilling Luke figure.  This figure’s packed with a walking stick and a removable hood.  The stick is very thin and a bit warped by the packaging, however, it’s a decent enough recreation of Luke’s prop from the film.  The hood’s sort of bulky and goofy, but not terrible.  I do wish there was a pulled down piece to swap out for it, though.  Luke’s Force Link-compatible, and the lines I got out of him were “How did you find me?” “Reach out with your feelings,” “What do you know about the Force?” and “You shouldn’t be here,” along with an assortment of battle sounds.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Luke was a bit of an impulse buy.  I was definitely getting Leia, but Target was doing 20% off all Star Wars toys, and I figured I’d take advantage of the sale.  I like him better than I expected to, but I still don’t like him as much as the Jedi Master figure.  But, if this is the look you prefer, I’m sure you’ll be happy with the figure, and I’m glad there’s more than a single Luke available.

#1526: General Leia Organa

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

GENERAL LEIA ORGANA

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI (HASBRO)

In The Force Awakens, Leia got a slightly lessened role compared to her prior films.  She was still prominent, but her screen time was most definitely reduced.  The Last Jedi amends that.  Due I’m sure in part to this fact, she had a much easier time getting a figure this time around.  After being totally absent from the TFA basic line, Leia’s actually made her way into the Last Jedi assortments pretty quickly, allowing me to review the figure you see before you.  Alrighty!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

General Leia Organa is part of the second Orange wave of figures from Hasbro’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi line.  Unlike the second Teal assortment, Orange assortment 2 has no re-packs, which I’m certain retailers will be thankful for.  Leia actually has two different looks in TLJ, though they’re similar enough that you’d be forgiven for not noticing it.  This is the more “regal” look she was sporting early on in the film, as opposed to the slightly more action oriented design from the film’s climax.  Personally, I slightly preferred the second look, but seeing as the only really noticeable difference between them is how much collar her outer layer has, I’m not terribly worried about it.  It’s nowhere near as bad as the baffling costume choice from the last movie’s first Leia figure, that’s for sure.  This figure stands about 3 1/2 inches tall and has the standard 5 points of articulation.  Leia’s sculpt is an all-new one, and it’s easily one of the best from the whole Last Jedi line.  The likeness on the head is quite a good match for Carrie, and is certainly an improvement on the TFA figure from a few years back.  It probably helps that she’s got a far less goofy hair-do, thus making her more aesthetically pleasing, to me at least.  The rest of the sculpt is pretty decent work.  The base body is a little bit on the skinny side, but that’s mostly so she’ll look okay while wearing the outer jacket.  Since I can’t really imagine displaying her without the extra overlay, I don’t have a problem with that at all.  I especially like the texture work on her dress and jacket, which makes her stand out quite nicely.  Leia’s paint is generally pretty straightforward, but solid work nevertheless.  Apart from a small bit of missing paint on the underside of her hair, my figure’s paint is very clean, especially on the face, which is one of the cleanest examples of work I’ve seen on a Star Wars figure.  Leia is packed with her distinctive blaster pistol, which she holds very well.  Like the others in this line, she’s also Force Link compatible.  The lines I got were: “All troops open fire,” “I will do everything I can to help,” “May the Force be with you,” “Send them in,” and “Together we can defeat the First Order,” as well as some blaster sounds.  It wasn’t Carrie, but it was closer than some of the soundalikes.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Leia was shown off just after Force Friday II and I knew immediately I wanted one.  I’ve been keeping my eye out for this assortment for the last month or so, and, as luck would have it, ended up coming across her (and the rest of the series), the day after seeing Last Jedi in the theatre.  That was definitely a huge plus!  Leia’s a pretty fantastic offering, and definitely one of my favorites from the modern offerings.  Definitely a highlight of the line!

The Blaster In Question #0038: First Order Stormtrooper Blaster

Posted by Tim Marron in Nerf Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

BlasterInQuestion1FIRST ORDER STROMTROOPER BLASTER

STAR WARS

stormpistol1One little word sure can make a big difference, especially when that word is “deluxe.”  Yes, this is in fact a different blaster review from last week, it’s not a typo.  So what does the First Order have to offer when “deluxe” is off the table?  Well… not very much, as it happens, but let’s have a look at it anyway.

THE BLASTER ITSELF

stormpistol2The First Order Stormtrooper Blaster was released in 2015, alongside the deluxe version as a promotion for The Force Awakens.  If you’re not sure what part of the movie it’s from, you can be forgiven for missing it because it doesn’t get a lot of screen-time, but it’s there, I promise.  Now, having just recently The Last Jedi, I can tell you it gets a couple scenes where characters using it are front and center on the screen, so that’s nice.  The blaster itself is almost as basic as you can get.  It is a single shot, muzzle loaded pistol with a little spring loaded priming tab in the back.  While the tab does a good job of maintaining the blaster’s aesthetics even when primed, it does mean the actual size of the plunger tube is severely limited.  You can really get a sense of this by how short and light the priming stroke is.  The outer shell is completely new to resemble the blaster from the film and looks pretty accurate… until you actually hold it.  In the film, the SE-44C blaster, which this is designed after, is built on a Glock 17 pistol.  If you’ve been keeping up with my Star Wars Nerf reviews, you’ll know that in general the Nerf blasters have pretty good ergonomics as they’re modeled after props that used real world firearms.  In the case of the FOSB, the shape is right, but the scale is waaaaayyy off.  It feels tiny in the hand.  As such, the normally quite comfortable grip of the Glock has been shrunk down so it no longer lines up with regular human sized hands.   I understand the reasoning behind it, because otherwise there would be just an unnecessarily large body housing a small internal mechanism.  Sure, they could have scaled up the plunger tube to get more air into the system but that… actually, that’s a good idea.  Why didn’t they just do that?  I guess it’s probably safe to assume that it all comes down to cost cutting measures, as is so often the case.  But hey, at least it comes with a cool attachment piece, right?  I mean, it does come with an attachment piece which clips onto the standard Nerf rail on the top of the blaster, but what even is the piece supposed to be?  As far as I can tell it’s a sight(ish) but it sits in the dead center of the blaster and has no other sight to line up to, so it’s kinda useless.  It’s actually really useless, but its on the blaster in the film, so there it is.  The FOSB’s performance is about what you’d expect for a Stormtrooper’s backup blaster.  Distance and power are lacking pretty heavily from that of a regular N-Strike Elite blaster, but you can usually hit your target if the muzzle is just about 5 or 6 inches away from it, so… yay?  Stormtroopers are meant to be imposing and scary, but a couple shot from this blaster and I doubt you’ll be able to maintain that kind of fear-based dominance over your younger siblings when you bust into their room.  The First Order Stormtrooper Blaster comes packaged with the useless sight/spike thingy and 3 of the red Star Wars branded Elite darts.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got the FOSB at the same time I bought its deluxe bigger brother.  I think having the deluxe blaster there distracted me from how lackluster the pistol was.  I’m not saying I regret buying it or owning it, but for the price, we essentially got a Star Wars logo that came with a free Nerf blaster.

#1523: Princess Leia Organa

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

PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“After many unsuccessful attempts to bring change to the Empire as a senator, Princess Leia Organa became involved in the Rebel Alliance and immediately established herself as one of its most popular and influential leaders. Although it was extremely dangerous for someone of her prominence. Leia often participated in secret missions for the rebellion. It was during one such mission to recruit General Obi-Wan Kenobi that she obtained the technical readouts for the Empire’s new Death Star battle station. Moments before being captured by Darth Vader, Leia hid the plans in the droid R2-D2, who then escaped to the planet Tatooine to find Kenobi.”

Over the course of the last few weeks, I’ve looked at both Han Solo and Luke Skywalker in their Stormtrooper disguises, which they use to sneak into the Deathstar detention center.  I haven’t yet looked at the subject of their rescue (who ends up doing a little bit of the rescuing herself), Princess Leia Organa.  So, I’m going to amend that today, by looking at one of the worst Leia figures in existence.  Yay?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Princess Leia was released in the first series of Kenner’s Power of the Force II, where she wound up as the short-packed figure.  She was the first of several Leia figures from the line, and is based on her introductory look, her main appearance from A New Hope.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation.  Despite Carrie Fisher being a good deal shorter than most of her cast mates, Leia isn’t noticeably shorter than the other figures in the line.  This was a trend that wouldn’t really be corrected until the line re-formated after The Phantom Menace.  Leia’s sculpt was unique to her, which is a good thing, because that means Kenner realized the horrible mistake they’d made and never allowed it to occur again.  I’m sorry, was that too harsh?  Yeah, I’m not much of a fan of this sculpt.  She’s preposed, she’s got really goofy proportions, her costume’s kind of strangely inaccurate, and, most importantly, her face looks not unlike a monkey.  Seriously, look at that face and tell me that doesn’t look at all like Zira.  None of the PotF2 figures had particularly great likenesses, but every other Leia in the line was way better than this.  I’m trying to find something positive to say about this sculpt…the hair’s not terrible, I guess?  Her paint’s pretty simple, since she’s mostly just molded in white plastic, which a little bit of paint here and there.  It’s not terrible.  Leia included two different styles of blaster pistol (both of which are missing from my figure), as well as a removable cape and skirt.  The cape is a bit baffling, as it just sort of continues the trend of Kenner clearly having no idea what Leia was actually wearing in the film.  I suppose this was a bit closer than the vintage release? [EDIT–I found all of Leia’s missing parts and brought it all back together for her Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!]

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ah, this one.  This one’s an important one.  Why?  Because this is the figure that introduced me to my arch-nemesis: The Scalper!  Yes, in my quest for this figure, I had an unfortunate run-in with a horrid man-creature, which I detailed a few years ago in the ever so eloquently titled “GAHHHHHHHHH!”  Suffice it to say, I did eventually get the figure through non-scalped means, thanks to some dutiful work on my parents’ part.  This was my first Leia, and I have aa whole story that goes with her, which gives her all this great emotional value.  It’s a shame the actual figure kind of sucks.  I mean, I’m glad I have her, but there’s no denying that she’s just a bad figure.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi — A Movie Review

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Movie Reviews and tagged with ,

I am, if nothing else, a creature of habit.  For two years running, I’ve made a point of sitting down and reviewing the latest Star Wars flick, and so, gosh darnit, I’m gonna do that again!  As I noted when I reviewed Rogue One, while I may be primarily an action figure reviewer, the Star Wars franchise is so interwoven with its associated merch that it just sort of feels right.  So, without further ado, here are my thoughts on Star Wars: The Last Jedi!

THE ACTUAL REVIEW

I loved both The Force Awakens and Rogue One, so this movie certainly had its work cut out for it in terms of living up to the hype.  Popular consensus on the film is still very much split down the middle, with half the audience claiming it’s one of the best things ever to come out of the franchise, and the other half deriding it as the worst Star Wars film ever made.  I’m gonna tell you up front: I’m in the first category. 

As of yet, I’ve only seen the movie one time, so I don’t have a 100% accurate reading on where it stacks up compared to its predecessors.  I certainly won’t deny that the movie has its flaws, and I did find there were some more noticeable issues this time around that I didn’t experience with my first viewing of either Force Awakens or Rogue One, but I was still very much entertained for my 2 hours and 40 minutes in the theatre, and I walked out very content with the final product. 

There were still some similar story beats to what we’ve seen in the past, with a lot of elements pulled from both Empire and Return (which, thanks to this film, I don’t think I can just refer to as “Jedi” anymore), but they were presented a bit differently than what we saw in Force Awakens, resulting a very different feeling movie than its predecessors.  And, with that in mind, I understand that this movie isn’t going to resonate with everyone, though I’m surprised by the level of fan vitriol surrounding this one.  I genuinely don’t see how anyone can claim this film is worse than Attack of the Clones…

Now, lets discuss some of the specifics.  The film sees the return of most of the last film’s major players, swapping out Han for Luke, of course, as well as introducing us to a handful of new characters.  I felt they did a pretty solid job of balancing the various characters and making sure everybody got a pretty decent storyline.

At the head of the movie are Rey and Luke, following up on the last film’s cliff-hanger ending.  These two had a good report, as Rey tries to get Luke to open up to her about the past and train her as a Jedi.  We finally get to see some of what sent Luke off into isolation, and Hamill gets to flex his acting muscles and inject a fair bit of pathos into our weary hero.  For her part, Ridley continues to play Rey as very likable and relatable, and it’s fun to watch her progress as a character.

Running in sync with Rey and Luke’s plot, we get to see more of Poe, Finn, and Leia, as they and the rest of the Resistance fend off the First Order.  I very much enjoyed Poe’s attack on the First Order Dreadnought which opens the movie, which serves to reintroduce us to Poe, BB-8, and Hux in a rather amusing sequence, before delving us into actions that drive this segment of the plot for the rest of the film.  I also liked getting to see a bit more of Oscar Isaac as Poe this time around, even if I do feel the film may have been a little rough on him at times. Nevertheless, he gave an immensely enjoyable performance.  Not to be outdone, though, are John Boyega and Carrie Fisher as Finn and Leia, who both give fantastic performances.  Finn continues to view things from the middle of the conflict, providing context for the actions of both the heroes and the villains as he struggles to find his own personal morals.  Leia gets an expanded role compared to TFA, and Fisher’s performance is pretty much everything I wanted.  This movie does a lot to highlight why Leia remains one of the greatest leaders in the franchise.

After spending a fair bit of the last film lingering about and looking very ominous, Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren gets a more emotional arc this time around, as he deals with the fall-out of killing his father, and just how far gone he is.  A series of long distance communications between him and Rey allows him to continue to interact with her despite their separation at the beginning, and I really enjoyed their chemistry this time around.  As a whole, Kylo comes out of this movie much more fully formed, and I liked that.

The other returning players get more minor parts, but they each get a scene or so to do something cool or fun for their character.  After being somewhat ineffective the last movie, Phasma gets one of the film’s coolest fight scenes opposite Finn.  Maz Kanata gets a fun little cameo courtesy of a hologram, and Chewbacca finally gets to show off his piloting skills.

In terms of new players, the film introduces us to Kelly Tran’s Rose, Laura Dern’s Vice-Admiral Holdo, and Benicio Del Toro’s DJ.  Rose stood out to me as my favorite new addition.  Her side mission with Finn was a great little character bit for both of them, and she really felt at home with the rest of the cast.  She also gets to deliver the film’s central message of “Don’t fight what you hate, save what you love.”  DJ isn’t a huge role, but Del Toro’s good at playing a scoundrel and he’s clearly having a good time.  By far my least favorite new addition was Holdo, who just struck me as not being terribly interesting.  It’s not that Dern’s performance is bad or anything, but the character certainly isn’t as well developed as others, and I found her to be rather grating at times.  Nevertheless, she’s actually part of one of my favorite moments in the film, so I can’t say she ruined my experience.

Spoilers after the jump.

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#1517: Han Solo – Concept

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

HAN SOLO – CONCEPT

STAR WARS: 30TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION (HASBRO)

“The vivid imagination of conceptual artist Ralph McQuarrie brought to life the characters and worlds envisioned by George Lucas. McQuarrie’s paintings and drawings were instrumental in the push to bring Lucas’s saga to the big screen, giving shape and form to a multitude of fantastic individuals, creatures, planets and technology encompassed in this epic tale. Developed in collaboration with McQuarrie himself, this remarkable action figure series pays tribute to the man whose art defined some of the most memorable characters in film history.

McQuarrie’s concept painting of central characters in A New Hope depicts Han Solo as a fierce Jedi Knight rather than a rougish smuggler. Wearing close-fitting battle gear, he is ready for combat with his lightsaber blazing and his face set with stern determination.”

Here, celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Star Wars franchise, it’s nice to look back at all the possible what-ifs of the franchise.  Ralph McQuarrie’s contributions to the early designs of what was then titled The Star Wars are quite well-known within the fan base.  They’ve spawned comics, animation, and yes, even action figures.  I’ll be looking at one of those figures today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Concept Han Solo was released in the seventh wave of Star Wars: 30th Anniversary Collection, as figure 47 in the line’s overall count.  He was the seventh of the Concept figures (there was one of them per wave), and is a slightly odd-ball figure in an otherwise Return of the Jedi-based assortment of figures.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and has 18 points of articulation.  Han was sporting an all-new sculpt, obviously based on McQuarrie’s early design of Han.  Ultimately, it;s rather far removed from Han’s final character, and seems to have more in common with Obi-Wan Kenobi’s final character, especially as seen in the Prequel Trilogy.  Still, it’s a pretty solid piece of retro-sci-fi design work, and the figure’s sculpt does a rather admirable job of replicating it in three dimensions.  It keeps a lot of McQuarrie’s style, but adds a touch or realism, so he’ll still fit in with the standard movie figures.  There’s a ton of detail work going on, especially on the various parts of his uniform.  If I have one complaint about this figure, it’s the way his articulation works.  It’s not bad; as a matter of fact, he comes from when Hasbro was really starting to improve the movement on their figures, so he’s got a lot of posablity. With that said, the joints aren’t always worked in so well, and when posed, they can leave him looking a little bit odd.  Han’s paintwork is actually pretty solid, and much more detailed than your average Star Wars figure.  The base colors all match up pretty well with the original concept work, and there’s a ton of accent work, which adds a lot of dimension to this figure that a good number of his contemporaries lacked.  Han was packed with a lightsaber (both on and off) and his blaster pistol.  They resemble the final film’s props, but are definitely more classic sci-fi, especially the saber, which has a cool energy flare effect going on at its base.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The McQuarrie Concept figures have always fascinated me, but for one reason or another, I’ve just never tracked them down.  And, honestly, if I was going to get just one of them, it probably wouldn’t be Han.  With that said, I was out with Super Awesome Girlfriend two weeks ago participating in Ellicott City’s Midnight Madness, and I found this guy at All Time Toys.  I wasn’t 100% sure I was going to get him, but she insisted on buying him for me, so here he is.  He’s actually a pretty solid figure, truth be told, and he has a fun bit of history behind him.  Now I definitely feel the need to track down the rest of these guys!

The Blaster In Question #0037: First Order Stormtrooper Deluxe Blaster

Posted by Tim Marron in Nerf Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

BlasterInQuestion1

FIRST ORDER STROMTROOPER DELUXE BLASTER

STAR WARS

stormrifle1Look at this post.  Only Imperial Stormtroopers are so punctual.  Ok ok, technically this week’s blaster isn’t from the “empire” so to speak, but the First Order is basically the Empire 2.0, so yeah.  Also, I know there is a more recent First Order Stormtrooper Deluxe Blaster on the market now, but I couldn’t justify hefty price tag on that one just yet so we’re going with the older one.  But that’s enough about that, on with the review!

THE BLASTER ITSELF

stormrifle2The First Order Stormtrooper Deluxe Blaster (the first one) was released in 2015 as part of Nerf’s Star Wars tie-in products, at the time, corresponding with the release of The Force Awakens.  Functionally, the blaster operates just like the N-Strike Elite Rampage, or Raider before it as it built on virtually the same internal mechanism using a pump-action magazine fed setup.  This makes a lot of sense as a design choice since it probably saved the good people at Hasbro some time and therefore money working out how the blaster was going to work.  Also, given that the Sterling Mk. IV SMG (the real steel firearm on which the F-11D Stormtrooper rifle is based) loads magazines from the side, I’d say the decision practically made itself.  The blaster looks and feels pretty good.  Leaving enough to clearly denoted it as a toy, the blaster resembles the prop from the film pretty closely.  Being modeled after a real world firearm, the ergonomics are pretty good.  The pistol grip is simple but does the job well.  The pump grip could be a little more rounded for comfort in my opinion, but it’s understandable squaring it off to accommodate the proportions of the blaster body.  As a fun side-note, most of the official promotional stormrifle3images for the blaster show it with the pump grip installed backwards.  The FOSDB also comes with a scope and stock accessories that fit onto standard Nerf attachment rails and lugs, respectively.  The scope is very low-profile and actually provides quite a nice sight picture for what that’s worth in a Nerf attachment.  The stock is nice and solid, if a bit short on its own but the way the body of the blaster extends back past the grip means it’s at least a useable length when attached.  At the very least, it fits with the overall compact size of the blaster.  Without the stock, the blaster itself is really sized more like a large handgun than a rifle, something that it has over the Rampage.  That and the fun primed indicator disguised as a vent that changes from black to red when the blaster is primed.  Both of these little improvements make it that much more disappointing that the performance isn’t up to the same standard as Elite blasters.  I’ve been over the reasons why this is the case, but it still bums me out sometimes, especially with blasters that should be awesome by all rights.  Even if you’re not getting exactly the same range and power, at least you can throw out movie quotes as you bust into your younger sibling’s room and start blasting.  Good luck hitting anything, though.  It is a Stormtrooper rifle, after all.  The FOSDB comes packaged with a scope, a stock, an all-white 12 round magazine, and 12 red Star Wars branded Elite darts with transparent red tips.stormrifle4

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This blaster was really the first Star Wars Nerf blaster I can remember seeing and getting excited about.  Before this series, the best we got always seemed to be single shot, muzzle loaders, so it was really great to see tie-in blasters get more serious designs, even if they’re almost direct copies of existing blasters.  Clones, maybe.  Wait, no, we’ve confirmed the First Order doesn’t do clones.  Only bad movies do that, that’d be stupid.

#1516: Luke Skywalker as Stormtrooper

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

LUKE SKYWALKER AS STORMTROOPER

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“Disguised as stormtroopers and fighting off a regiment of Imperial troops inside the Death Star, the escaping band of heroes finds refuge in a garbage receptacle. The Rebels realize their problem has changed when the walls begin closing in.”

So, apparently there was this movie released yesterday.  Star Wars?  Kind of a big deal I guess.  While I’m still totally up to date on the actual Last Jedi stuff in my collection, I still have plenty of older figures in the backlog.  And, since I looked at the Stormtrooper Disguise Han Solo two weeks ago, why not take a looksie at his companion Luke figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke Skywalker as Stormtrooper was released in the 1996 assortment of Power of the Force II, as that year’s third variant of Luke, and the fifth overall Luke in the line.  This was our second Stormtrooper Disguise Luke, following the one released in the original Power of the Force line.  He’s about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Despite how it may look, the only re-used piece on this guy is the torso, which is the same one used on the Stormtrooper Han.  Nevertheless, he’s still the same height as Han and the basic troopers, meaning he’s not actually short for a Stormtrooper.  Instead of Han’s more pre-posed look, Luke has a more generic standing pose, which looks decent enough.  He still follows the general style of the line, so he’s far more muscle bound than any of the troopers we see on screen.  But, like I said with Han, if you’re gonna have the style, I guess it’s best to stick with it.  His head is a re-working of the early PotF2 Luke head.  It’s not one of the better Hamill likenesses, but it’s not as terrible as some of the early sculpts.  Plus, it means he fits with the rest of them, which I suppose is for the best.  The paint on Luke is fairly straight forward stuff.  It’s pretty clean overall, and matches up with the rest of the line pretty well.  Luke was packed with a removable helmet (the same one included with Han) and a standard Stormtrooper blaster.  It’s a pretty standard set of extras, but more than one accessory is always nice with a Star Wars figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After getting Han as a mail-away, I was on the look out for this guy.  It took him a little while to hit, but I ended up finding him at Another Universe, the comic book store in the local mall.  I was pretty excited for him, and he makes for a pretty cool pairing with Han to be sure.

#1515: First Order Special Forces TIE Fighter

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

FIRST ORDER SPECIAL FORCES TIE FIGHTER

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“The elite of the First Order straighter pilots have access to specialized craft, such as the two-seater TIE craft outfitted with enhanced weapons and sensor systems. The skilled pilots of the First Order launch into combat aboard advanced fighter craft, hunting down enemy vessels and protecting space around installations and warships.”

There’s no denying that vehicles are a defining piece of the Star Wars mythos.  They’re so important, that the scale of the vintage line was largely chosen to facilitate the inclusion of these vehicles.  They’ve been an important part of the line for the past 40 some years, and its part of why the 3 3/4 inch scale has never fully died out.  When Hasbro introduced the 6-inch Black Series, it was kind of assumed by the fanbase that this line would be without any vehicles.  Fairly early on, there were a few smaller items (such as the speeder bike), but full scale vehicles seemed more than a little cost-prohibitive.  Imagine the fanbase’s surprise at SDCC 2015 when Hasbro unveiled a 6-inch scaled TIE Fighter, as part of the products tying into The Force Awakens.  I’ll be looking at that vehicle today!

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

The First Order Special Forces TIE Fighter (gosh, that’s a long name) was released as a special deluxe item in Hasbro’s Star Wars: The Black Series, which hit in the winter of 2015.  The TIE has a pretty large footprint, at a whopping 18 by 18 inches.  It’s sizable enough that I was half tempted to just put a flat surface on the top of it and just use it as a coffee table.  It has an articulated antennae, a rotating lower cannon, and an opening hatch at the top.  Like the smaller scale TIE, this vehicle is based on the slightly updated TIE Fighter design seen in TFA, which isn’t too far removed from the classic TIE design.  The sculpt is, understandably, unique to this particular item.  It’s a pretty solid piece of work.  Hasbro took advantage of the larger scale, and has filled every inch of this rather sizable piece with tons of detail work.  Speaking of scale, this TIE is a fair bit closer to proper scale with its respective figures than the smaller TIE was.  It’s still not 100% spot-on, but you can get two people in the cockpit sitting back to back as seen in the film, which is a step up indeed.  Said cockpit is definitely the coolest part of the Fighter for me; it’s got two full seats, plus all of the various instruments and panels seen in the movie.  There are clips in each seat, to help hold the figures in place.  They can make it a little difficult to get the figures in there, but once you get the hang of it, it’s not too bad.  A definite plus, though, is that you don’t have to be quite as picky about the figures that go into this Fighter, unlike the smaller one.  I was able to get Poe and Finn in there without too much trouble at all.  The paintwork on the Fighter is decent enough.  It’s pretty clean overall, and there’s some sharp work on the interior of the cockpit.  There’s also some pretty sweet accent work on the red Special Forces stripe.  The TIE Fighter’s only real accessory was an exclusive TIE Fighter Pilot figure, which I didn’t get with my fighter.  It’s the same as the single-release First Order TIE Fighter Pilot, just with some extra red detailing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As cool as the novelty of this item was, when it was originally released with a $180 price tag, I passed.  That’s a lot of money and it takes up a lot of space.  And then I was out to dinner with my family, and there was a wait for our table, so Christian, Tim, and I walked over to the Goodwill across the parking lot.  At said Goodwill, they had this behind the counter, marked at $20.  So, for the price of a single Black Series figure, I got this huge freaking thing.  It’s pretty awesome, I gotta say.  Sure, I don’t have either pilot for it, but Poe and Finn look pretty at home in there, and I can’t stress enough how awesome it was to get this thing for 11% of its original retail price.