Tag Archives: Star Wars

The Blaster In Question #0053: Qi’ra Blaster

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

BlasterInQuestion1

QI’RA BLASTER

SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY (GLOWSTRIKE)

qira1For the last couple rounds of Star Wars Nerf products, it seems like Hasbro has really settled on the formula of releasing a big show off blaster, a medium one with some features, and then a dinky little pistol that is really just there to have a cheaper offering.  More often than not, the pistol gets shafted in terms of quality, typically winding up being a woefully underpowered (even for the Star Wars blasters) single-shot and that’s it.  Now imagine my pleasant surprise when I saw that the pistol offering from the latest wave not only has legitimate range claims on the box, but also can be fired TWICE before reloading.  Sure, it’s hardly groundbreaking as far as Nerf goes, but it’s nice to see Hasbro going just that little bit beyond the bare minimum.  With all that said, let’s take a look at the Qi’ra blaster pistol.

THE BLASTER ITSELF

qira2Hi guys.  Thanks for tuning in to another video on Forgotten Weapons, I’m Ian and today I’ll be looking at this, the Steyr Mannlicher model of 1905 militar— wait, wrong blog.  Let’s try that again.  The Qi’ra blaster pistol was released in 2018 as part of Hasbro’s wave of Nerf merch tying in to the upcoming Solo: A Star Wars Story film.  It uses a 2-barrel smart AR system like that on the DoubleDown or DoubleStrike or basically any Nerf blaster that starts with “double” (except the DoubleDealer but we don’t talk about that).  Even though I got the wrong intro, it is true that the blaster in the film appears to be based on the aforementioned Steyr Mannlicher 1905 military pistol with a long toe.  You gotta remember that long toe.  I, personally, am quite a fan of the choice here.  It’s nice seeing the prop department for the film taking cues from the original trilogy by using WW1 and WW2 era small arms as the base for most of the blasters you see on screen.  Like all Nerf Star Wars blasters now, the Qi’ra blaster features lights and sounds every time you pull the trigger.  The lights are rudimentary, only lighting up one side of the blaster, but do show a bit more finesse than previous models by fading out rather than just turning on and turning off abruptly.  The pew pew sound effect in this blaster is the same as on the Poe Dameron blaster from the Last Jedi line of products.  It’s a little qira3disappointing that this blaster couldn’t get its own unique sound, but if it plays into Hasbro’s game of halfway decent but still economical Star Wars products, I can get over it.  The blaster also uses the Glowstrike system with UV LEDs in the barrel and glow-in-the-dark darts.  This and the lights and sounds requires just a single AA battery, but this does not effect the actual dart-launching functionality of the blaster.  Being built on a real-world firearm, the ergonomics are decent on this blaster.  The grip is maybe a little blocky but there’s nothing I would really call out as being unpleasant.  The length of the prime is quite short, but the spring feels reasonably powerful and as such, the blaster actually performs pretty well, only just underperforming blasters from the Elite series.  Similar to the Chewbacca blaster, I’d say this blaster is probably best suited for clandestine attacks or ambushes on your younger siblings, preferably at night so they get the full effect with the glowing darts and whatnot.  The Qi’ra blaster comes packaged with 4 Glowstrike Elite darts and 1 AA battery already installed. 

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION 

I picked this blaster up on a run to Target with Ethan.  I had just bought the Chewbacca blaster only minutes prior and decided liked it enough to keep the ball rolling, so to speak.  As soon as I opened it, there was something familiar about it that I couldn’t quite put my finger on, so naturally I consulted the video library of Forgotten Weapons and voila, I had my answer.  While admittedly there would be an incredibly niche chuckle to be had if they had chosen to use the Steyr Hahn pistol in a movie about Han, I think this one works out better aesthetically.  It’s that long toe, man, gotta have that long toe.

#1663: Death Star Gunner

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

DEATH STAR GUNNER

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Why should the Stormtrooper derivations get all the fun?  There was a time when they actually weren’t a major focus, believe it or not.  One basic Stormtrooper in the vintage line was all we got, at least until the ‘90s hit.  To fill out the Imperial forces, we got a greater variety of troops, such as the guy who pressed the button that fired the laser on the Death Star.  Yes, his official title is “Death Star Gunner,” but that does seem to add a bit of excitement to his job that was never really there, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Death Star Gunner was released in the 1996 assortment of the Power of the Force II line, the same assortment that got us the Sandtrooper, it should be noted.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  The Gunner’s sculpt was all new to him, though he’s certainly got some similarities to both the TIE Fighter pilot and the standard Imperial Officer in terms of design.  The main selling point of this particular design is the helmet, a unique design that never really cropped up, despite the franchise’s propensity for re-using such things.  It’s a cool design, and brings to mine a knight’s helmet, with the under-biting faceplate.  It’s a shame this guy never amounted to all that much.  The sculpt is a pretty decent one.  The best work’s definitely on the helmet, but the rest of the body is pretty respectable as well.  He’s still undeniably bulky, but compared to earlier entries in the line, he’s fairly tame.  He’s also not all that pre-posed, which is alright, I suppose.  There’s some solid work on the folds of his uniform, showing some definite progress from earlier, much more simplistic figures.  Paint is rather minimal on this particular figure.  It’s a lot of black, but they do at least give us two different finishes, just like what we saw on the TIE Pilot.  It’s a good way of keeping him from being too drab.  The Gunner, living up to his name, included a pair of guns.  There’s the standard Stormtrooper blaster, as well as a heavy blaster, which I quite like.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like a lot of my Power of the Force figures, I got this guy courtesy of the Farpoint charity auction.  It’s a good way of filling in holes in my collection, while also helping out a good cause, so definitely the sort of thing I’m down for.  This figure is really similar to the TIE pilot.  So similar that multiple times before writing this review, I had to double check that I hadn’t reviewed him before, because I kept thinking of the TIE pilot review.  Of course, I liked that figure, so I guess that’s not the worst thing in the world.  Ultimately, he’s not super stand-out or anything, but he’s decent for what he is.

The Blaster In Question #0052: Chewbacca Blaster

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

BlasterInQuestion1

CHEWBACCA BLASTER  

SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY (GLOWSTRIKE)

chew1Changing gears only slightly from last week, I have another movie tie-in blaster for you.  I mean, it’s mine, it’s for me.  You can’t have this one.  The review is for you, though, so you’re welcome.  With the building hype surrounding the upcoming Solo film, of course Hasbro brought some goodies to the table.  Today, I’ll be looking at the supposed primary weapon of everyone’s favorite space-faring shag carpet, at least for this movie (we don’t like to talk about the Nerf Bowcaster).  As a bonus, I’ll be reviewing this blaster entirely in Chewie’s native tongue.

THE BLASTER ITSELF

chew2Rara arrarRA RARA rara rARAAA rrrrrr  aa A r AR A a RR r RRRR A AAAA ra ARRAARAA aarararra raar ar ra rarar rrr aa ra raa rarra ararr aara ok, that’s enough of that.  What I said was, this blaster was released in 2018 as branded merch for the movie Solo: A Star Wars Story.  Despite its size, it’s actually a very simple blaster, mechanically speaking.  It’s effectively a muzzle-loading shotgun that fires two darts at once.  It might have been nice to have a staggered trigger on the blaster like the Roughcut, but that would have added a significant amount of additional bulk and moving pieces, and subsequently driven the price up.  It does seem like Hasbro are trying to be a little more wallet friendly with this round of Star Wars products, probably after seeing how slowly the more recent Deluxe Stormtrooper blaster and its $80 price tag moved.  As with all Star Wars blasters now, the Chewbacca blaster features lights and sounds and uses the Glowstrike darts to approximate the feeling of firing a laser weapon.  The sound effect in this blaster is fairly satisfying and bass-y which is definitely fitting.  The use of real-world firearms as the bases for the movie props once again gives this blaster pretty good ergonomics.  This blaster in particular is built on the receiver and stock of an M60 machine gun.  I feel confident that the Nerf version is substantially scaled down from the original but they’ve kept the grips a good size so it’s not bad.  The stock of the blaster has a storage area under the butt plate, and is removable, using the chew3standard Nerf stock attachment lug.  There’s also a rail on the top of the blaster for the included scope if you want, or you could remove it and leave it off forever.  That’s valid too, especially with a scope like this.  At least you have the option to take it off without using a hacksaw.  I know it’s meant to look like the movie prop, so I can’t fault Hasbro for including it, but it’s just a narrow tube in a weirdly shaped shell.  The scope on the Han Solo blaster pistol has a sight front post so you can at least pretend you’re aiming it properly.  It might have been nice to have something like that here, but sadly no.   Something noteworthy about this wave of Star Wars blasters is that the boxes actually advertise range claims.  Historically, Nerf only bothers doing this if the performance is at least halfway decent, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised when that turned out to be the case here too.  It’s almost even more impressive when you remember this blaster fires two darts at once using a single plunger tube (we also don’t like to talk about the DoubleDealer).  Having to reload 2 darts for every trigger pull does slow down your potential for follow-ups, the decent amount of power, the lights, the sounds and the Glowstrike darts make this a great blaster for ambushing your younger siblings, especially at night.  The Chewbacca Blaster comes packaged with the stock, the scope, and 6 Glowstrike Elite darts.  Batteries are only required for the lights and sounds, and the Glowstrike functionality.  Fortunately, they come already installed in the blaster.chew4

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I bought this blaster on one of the regular scavenging trips Ethan and I make to TRU.  While I was initially a little disappointed by how simple the mechanism was, I did gradually stop caring too much about that given how nice the other features are.  Not including the scope.  Sure, it’s not super-efficient or practical as far as Nerf blasters go, but is it fun?   ARr r R RRRaaa arar raarr RA RAR A rr a raraara raa rara.  That’s a “yes.”

 

#1655: Guardians of Evil

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

SENATE GUARD, IMPERIAL ROYAL GUARD, EMPEROR’S SHADOW GUARD, & ELITE PRAETORIAN GUARD

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

Hey, it’s May the 4th!  You guys know what that means…it’s the original Infinity War release date!  Nah, just kidding.  It’s obviously Star Wars Day.  In honor of the day, I’ll be taking a look at a Star Wars-themed item.  I have a few of those lying around here, I think. <Checks the mountains of un-reviewed figures>  Yeah, I think I can manage that.  So, let’s have a look at the “Guardians of Evil” boxed set!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The Senate, Imperial Royal, Emperor’s Shadow, and Elite Praetrorian Guards were released as part of the Star Wars: The Black Series line, as the GameStop-exclusive “Guardians of Evil” boxed set, which hit just after last year’s Force Friday II event.

SENATE GUARD

“For centuries, the Senate Guards kept the galaxy’s legislators from harm while they went about the Republic’s business on the capital world of Coruscant.  With the decline of the Republic, the blue guards were phased out by the Imperial stormtrooper patrols and the red guard in the Emperor’s service.”

Though largely forgettable, the Senate Guards appear in both Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, and were technically in Revenge of the Sith, I guess.  Their best showcase, however, came via the Clone Wars cartoon, where, admittedly, they had a slightly tweaked design.  Of course, the film design is essentially the same as the Royal Guard, thereby allowing for some serious parts re-use.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation.  The Senate Guard’s sculpt is a mixed-media affair.  The bulk of it is sculpted, though it’s largely hidden by a cloth cape.  A cape, which, by the way, is a lot better tailored than a lot of the cloth parts from this particular line.  Under the cape, there’s a fully detailed, fully armored body.  This armor design first showed up in toy form back during the Revenge of the Sith days, shared by the Senate and Royal Guards from that line.  The sculpt is top-notch, and the armor is nice and sharp.  The arms are just a touch on the long side, but that makes them look a bit better when the cape is pulled down.  The Senate Guard’s helmet is actually one of my favorite designs from the prequels.  It’s got this cool futuristic Spartan warrior flair to it, which is quite fun.  The paint work on the Senate Guard is quite subtle, with lots of variations of blue.  The armor is appropriately shiny, which looks nice.  The blue on the cape matches pretty well with the paint and molded plastic, which is definitely a plus.  The Senate Guard is packed with a blaster rifle, which he can hold in his hands, or sling over his shoulder, as well as a small blaster to keep in his hip holster.

IMPERIAL ROYAL GUARD

“Resplendent in crimson robes and armor, the Imperial Royal Guard protected the Emperor.  Secrecy shrouded the Guard, with rumors abounding about the sentinels’ backgrounds and combat capabilities.”

By far the best known of the four designs seen in this set.  The Royal Guard never does much in Jedi, but they sure look cool, and they’re one of the Empire’s most distinctive designs.  This figure’s actually a pretty straight re-release of the single-released Royal Guard from last year.  Of course, that one was pretty scarce, so the re-release was more than warranted.  Apart from the head, this figure’s sculpt is identical to the Senate Guard.  He had it first, so it’s fair.  The helmet is a pretty perfect recreation of the simplistic design from the movie, and sits perfectly on the body.  The paint work on this guy is the same as the Senate Guard’s but with shades of red instead of blue.  The differences between the reds are a bit more pronounced, though, which I think looks a little bit better.  The Royal Guard includes a staff, and the  same blaster pistol as the Senate Guard.

EMPEROR’S SHADOW GUARD

“Each one of these elite guards is specially chosen by Palpatine for his exceptional loyalty to the Empire, and for his ability to use the Force. Each of the Shadow Guard carries a pike that can be ignited to use as a lightsaber-like blade.”

The Royal Guard has taken the black!  Okay, I’m not actually familiar with this one.  My extensive research (read: I googled “Emperor’s Shadow Guard” and skimmed the link) tells me the concept comes from The Force Unleashed.  That makes this another video game-based figure, which is pretty cool, I guess.  Structurally, the figure’s 100% the same as the Royal Guard, which seems sensible, since they’re essentially the same design.  The main difference is that this one’s been done up in black, so he looks super edgy.  And also super slim, right?  Has he lost weight?  No, it’s just the black.  The Shadow Guard includes a new staff, with a removable laser blade, as well as the blaster pistol from the other two.

ELITE PRAETORIAN GUARD

“As the Supreme Leader of the First Order, Snoke was flanked by crimson-clad guardians, loyal protectors encased in ornate armor ready to defend the Supreme Leader from any threat.”

Last up, we’ve got the most recent, and most unique of the designs in the set, the Praetorian Guard.  I’ve already looked at one Black Series Praetorian Guard.  This one’s got a new hat different helmet.  Hasbro released all three styles of helmet in both scales; this one is the “hat-wearing” helmet that we also saw in the two-pack with Rey.  Probably my least favorite of the three designs, but a solid one nevertheless.  Anyway, this figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  He’s largely the same figure as the other Praetorian Guard.  The big change is obviously the helmet, which it just as nicely detailed here as it was on the smaller figure.  The other, more subtle change is the skirt, which is now a cloth piece instead of sculpted.  It matches better with the rest of this set, but it means he’s not consistent with the other two Praetorian Guards, which is rather frustrating.  Also, while it improves posability, I don’t find it looks quite as good.  The Praetorian Guard is packed with his axes that snap together into a bladed staff, just like the smaller figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been eying this set up for a while, but it’s got a hefty price tag, so I was biding my time.  As luck would have it, the set went on clearance at Super Awesome Girlfriend’s GameStop, and she was nice enough to buy it for me.  I’m glad I was able to finally get my hands on a basic Royal Guard, and I’m actually thrilled to have the Senate Guard, since it’s one of my favorite designs.  Another Praetorian is never a bad thing either, and the Shadow Guard is fun in his own right.  Overall, quite a fun set, especially since I didn’t have to pay full price for it.

#1642: Sandtrooper

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

SANDTROOPER

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Where would the Imperial forces be without their plethora of environment-specific troops? More importantly, where would toymakers be without and endless supply of Stormtrooper variants to keep selling in rotation from now until the end of time?  They’d definitely have to get a little more creative, to say the least.  Interestingly enough, the Sandtrooper, the very first climate-specific Trooper wasn’t initially recognized as it’s own separate thing for quite some time, so it wasn’t until the ’90s that it actually got an action figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Sandtrooper was released in the 1996 assortment of Kenner’s Power of the Force II line.  As noted in the intro, this was the first time the design was released as a figure.  In fact, it was such an uncharted area that initial releases weren’t even called Sandtroopers.  They were “Tatooine Stormtroopers.”  Pretty crazy, right?  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Given the similarities between the two designs, you might think the Sandtrooper re-used a lot from the basic Stormtrooper.  Not the case, though.  Apart from the head and pelvis, the two figures are unique.  I mean, they still are clearly styled from the same basic look, and are the same figure in differing poses, but the two figures maintain mostly unique tooling nevertheless.  The PotF2 Stormtrooper is, of course, one of the goofiest, most 90s-ified figures in the line, so this guy follows suit.  I will give him this, though: he’s at the very least designed to actually hold his weapon two-handed.  It would be a little while before a standard Stormtrooper got that.  Similarities in design aside, the paintwork is the real dividing line between these two figures.  The Sandtrooper is, appropriately, covered pretty much from head to toe in sand.  Seriously, he’s just a real mess.  The figure handles this very nicely, making use of an airbrushed sort of look, which helps to keep him looking quite worn-in.  You definitely won’t be mistaking these two for each other, even without the orange pauldron.  The Sandtrooper is packed with a removable back pack, and a rather large blaster rifle, that, as noted above, he can actually hold the proper way.  Yay!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Sandtrooper is another figure in the ranks of Power of the Force figures I had access to but did not technically own as a child.  There was one at my Grandmother’s house, meant to be shared by my cousin and me.  When the figures were split up and sent home between the two of us, the Sandtrooper went with my cousin, who’d always been more of a trooper fan than myself.  I got this particular figure from the Farpoint charity auction this past year.  He’s just as goofy as his standard issue compatriot, but that doesn’t stop him from being fun.

#1639: Han Solo

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

HAN SOLO

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Han Solo reinvents himself after leaving behind his old life.  Now, Solo is growing increasingly comfortable traveling with law-benders and scoundrels.”

Yes, that’s right, the Solo product is finally here.  And it arrived…with a bit of a whimper, really.  Maybe I’ve just been more invested in the last three of these things, but the Solo product launch just kind of happened, low-key, with no announcements, no build-up, nothing.  Well, I spent some time tracking down a handful of items for myself, and I’ll be looking at the Black Series release of the main character today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Han is part of the latest assortment of Star Wars: The Black Series figures, which officially started hitting stores last Friday.  He’s numbered 62 and is one of four figures in the first assortment to be specifically from Solo.  He’s the fourth Han in the line, and, of course, the first not to be based on Harrison Ford.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation.  Han’s articulation is some of the best we’ve seen in the line.  Range of motion on the elbows is almost equivalent to a double-joint, and the posabilty of the ball jointed neck is downright astounding.  Han gets an all-new sculpt, which at this point in the line is hardly a surprise.  It’s definitely up to the line’s increasing standard of quality when it comes to sculpts.  The details are all very crisp, and he looks quite a bit like Alden Ehrenreich.  If I have one complaint about the sculpt, it’s that I’m not a huge fan of the non-dominant hands on these figures having this weird empty grip they’ve been going with as of late.  Of course, that’s exceedingly minor.  A good sculpt can still be brought down by bad paint, but I’m happy to say that isn’t the case on this figure.  The Black Series figures have begun implementing the same face-printing technique that Marvel Legends has begun using on their MCU figures, an Han is my first figure from this line to feature it.  I’m very happy with the end result; he looks very lifelike, and definitely avoids that sort of dead-ness that some of the earlier Black Series figures possessed.  Moving past the face, they’ve even put some slight accenting on his hair (something that is far too often overlooked) and his jacket, thereby preventing him from being quite as bland as some of the figures in this line have ended up.  Han’s only accessory is his DL-44 blaster pistol; it’s still a good piece, and this isn’t a huge change of pace from prior figures, so I can’t really complain.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had plans for Friday morning when the Solo product hit, so I didn’t really have the chance to go out and look for it first thing.  I instead settled for stopping at a Target on the way back from said plans, which is where I found this guy and…pretty much nothing else.  So, this guy it was.  I gotta say, while I liked the look of the figure in the package, I had no idea what I was getting into here.  This is, hands down, the best Han Solo figure that Hasbro has produced to date.  It’s just a little sad that it’s not actually a Harrison Ford Han Solo.  If we don’t get a Bespin Han of equivalent quality to this one within the next year, I will be sincerely disappointed.

#1635: C-3PO

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

C-3PO

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“Designed as a protocol droid, C-3PO’s main programming function is to interact with human society. He is an interpreter fluent in over six million galactic languages, specializing in the areas of etiquette and translation – especially important during diplomatic missions. To aid in these tasks, he is equipped with microwave and olfactory sensors, photoreceptors, vocabulator speech units, energy transducers and broad-band antenna receivers. He was programmed with an elegant, human sounding voice, but more often than not C-3PO is heard whining and bickering with his companion, the astromech droid R2-D2.”

Hey, the Solo product officially dropped yesterday!  Yay…I guess?  I’ve not yet actually gone out and started tracking all of that stuff down, but I do have a metric ton of *old* Star Wars stuff to review.  I’m continuing with the Power of the Force theme I’ve had going for a little while now, and taking look at C-3PO!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

C-3PO was part of the first series of Kenner’s Power of the Force II line, hitting shelves in 1995.  He’s the third version of 3PO in the 3 3/4 inch scale, following up on the two from the vintage line.  As his design remained essentially the same for the entirety of the Original Trilogy, this figure serves to represent all of those appearances.  He stands 3 3/4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation.  For 3PO, this was really about all the movement he’d ever need.  The figure’s sculpt is a fairly decent recreation of his film design.  As with all of the figures in this line, he was given a slight stylistic change-up, but it’s definitely more minor here than it was on other figures from the same assortment.  Compare him to, say, the first Han from this line, and you’ll see that he’s far less dramatically pre-posed and has his overall proportions far less changed from reality.  There’s actually a rather impressive level of detail on this figure’s sculpt, even managing to show through the vac-metalizing process and everything.  Clearly they had learned from their  experience with the vintage line.  Interestingly, though it wasn’t a selling point as it would be on later figures, this figure’s legs can be popped out of their sockets with relative ease, allowing for his slightly disassembled look from Empire.  Sure, it’s not 100% accurate, but it’s a fun little extra.  Though the figure is vac-metalized, that doesn’t mean he lacks paint like his vintage counterparts.  He gets the proper detailing for all of his wiring and such at his mid-section, a first for a 3PO figure.  The only minor issue with this figure’s paint is his right lower leg, which is gold like the rest of him, instead of its proper silver color.  Since the upper and lower leg were all one piece, there was unfortunately no way to do this correctly while still maintaining the shiny finish.  3PO included no accessories, but I’m not sure what you’d actually give him.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had 3PO growing up.  I don’t actually recall where he came from.  Shameful, I know.  Over the years, I ended up losing one of the legs, so a replacement was in order.  I ended up finding a second one at Yesterday’s Fun while vacationing with my family over the holidays.  As far as 3PO figures go, there are certainly better ones out there, but this figure’s actually held up a lot better to the test of time than many of his compatriots.

#1622: Darth Vader – Vantablack

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

VANTABLACK DARTH VADER

STAR WARS: THE VANTABLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Once a heroic Vantablack Jedi Knight, Vantablack Darth Vader was seduced by the Vantablack side of the Force, became a Sith Vantablack Lord, and led the Vantablack Empire’s eradication of the Vantablack Jedi Order. He remained in service of the Vantablack Emperor for decades, enforcing his Vantablack Master’s will and seeking to crush the fledgling Vantablack Rebel Alliance.  Vantablackly.”

Have you ever looked at something and thought it could use some more light devouring, piercing, soul-sucking absolute blackness?  No?  Well, that’s ’cause you’re silly.  The obvious answer was “vanta-yes!”  Enter Hasbro with their brand new product line, combining all of the coolness of their Star Wars: The Black Series line with the absolute blackness that is Vantablack.  Behold, Star Wars: The Vantablack Series.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Vantablack Darth Vader is the inaugural figure in Star Wars: The Vantablack Series‘s first assortment, alongside Vantablack TIE Pilot, Vantablack Death Trooper, and the ultra-secret-mega-chase-one-per-case-completely-theoretical Vantablack Panther.  Why’s there a Marvel figure in there?  Disney, that’s why.  All of those are all well and good, but today’s the main event, the main man, Vantablack Darth Vader, representing Darth Vader as he’d be if he were more Vantablack-y.  This figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has…points of articulation?  I think there’s like around 30?  I don’t know, it’s hard to tell.  Absolute blackness and all.  You try to get an accurate count on something you can’t see!  Vader’s sculpt is..uhh, well there’s…I mean, uhh, it’s new, I think?  It feels new.  Or maybe it’s old.  I suppose it could be the same as the last one.  I’m not used to reviewing my figures by touch.  The quality is good, though.  I think.  There’s probably tons of details there.  It sure feels like it.  I think it’s accurate to the movies, but having never touched any of the Vader suits from the movies, I can’t quite give an accurate reading.  If my fingers don’t deceive me, this is an ANH Vader.  Good choice, guys, that one’s the best feeling one.  The paint on this guy is all Vantablack all the time.  It’s obviously got consistent coverage, since I can’t see any reflection at all.  Vantablack Vader is packed with his usual lightsaber, but with the hilt also in Vantablack.  It’s cool, but I’ve already dropped it on the floor, and what with the Vantablack…I mean, do you know how hard it is to find an item that doesn’t reflect?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I stumbled on this guy at my Toys R Us.  I mean that literally.  The box is *also* in Vantablack, and, as I noted, that stuff doesn’t reflect, so it’s kind of hard to see, especially since TRU’s literally just stacking this stuff on the floors now.  Since I’d already left a sizable shoe-print on the box, I figured I should probably pay for it.  I greatly look forward to having more of these figures that I can’t really see.  Maybe I’ll put them in a dark corner of the room.

#1621: Momaw Nadon (Hammerhead)

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

MOMAW NADON (HAMMERHEAD)

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

The smash success of both A New Hope and its tie-in line of toys in the late ‘70s created a demand that Kenner was having trouble meeting.  They needed more figures for their toyline, but had produced the major players, apart from the less exciting likes of Tarkin, or Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru.  They were out of named characters.  How do you solve this problem?  You give names to unnamed characters, specifically the very unique crop of aliens seen in the Mos Eisley Cantina.  Along the line, Lucasfilm decided that Kenner’s names weren’t quite cutting it, and introduced their own.  Thus, for his second figure, Hammerhead became Momaw Nadon.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Momaw Nadon was released in the 1996 assortment of Power of the Force II figures.  The figure stands 4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation.  As an earlier entry in the line, Momaw has a fair bit of pre-posing going on here.  With that being said, there’s something about his more alien nature that makes it seem like less of an issue on this figure (though he has some slight difficulty with standing).  As far as detail work goes, Momaw’s actually pretty solid.  There’s plenty of texturing on the skin, which makes for some nice variety.  I quite like the hands, which are uniquely posed and very full of character.  His vest is an add-on piece, split at the sides to allow for removal.  It’s a little difficult to get over his head, but once you due, there’s an undergarment of some sort, which I suppose is a nice touch.  In terms of paint, Momaw is rather on the monochromatic side, being mostly shades of warm brown.  It’s more or less accurate to the source material, so there’s that.  No random turquoise or anything, like his original figure had, but that was what people wanted at the time.  The fools!  Momaw was packed with a big blaster thing, based on nothing he has in  the movie, but I guess he needed something, and it’s fun in a goofy sort of way.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Momaw was another figure picked up from the Farpoint charity auction.  Slowly but surely, I’m putting together a complete collection of Power of the Force II figures.  It didn’t start out that way, but here I am now, buying Momaw Nadon.  Once you buy a Momaw Nadon, there’s really no going back, right?

FiQ Friday Fab Five at 5 #0003: Top 5 Princess Leia Figures

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Friday Fab 5 and tagged with , , ,

Hey FiQ-fans!  It’s the final Friday of another month, and that means it’s time for another FiQ Friday Fab Five @ 5!  For today’s list, I’m jumping over to that galaxy far, far away, looking at the top 5 Princess Leia Organa action figures!

#5:     Leia as Boushh – Shadows of the Empire (Kenner)

Leia’s disguised look from the beginning of Return of the Jedi is one of her coolest looks from the whole franchise.  It’s had a lot of good figures, and it gave us the best version of Leia in the ’90s Power of the Force II re-launch.

#4:     Princes Leia – Star Wars (1978 – Kenner)

It’s hard to beat the original, right?  Well, I mean, not *that* hard, since she’s fourth on the list, but still.  This Leia is a bit dated, but like all of the vintage figures, she’s just got a lot of charm.

#3:     General Leia Organa – The Last Jedi (Hasbro)

After the less than stellar offering from The Force Awakens, this version of the late Carrie Fisher as she was seen in The Last Jedi is one of the best Hasbro’s put out.  What she lacks in poseability, she more than makes up for in sculpting.

#2:     Hoth Leia – The Vintage Collection (Hasbro)

Leia’s Hoth look is a good middle ground between her regal attire and her more action-oriented personality.  The vintage collection’s version of the costume from 2010 is to date the best version of the costume in action figure form.

#1:     ANH Leia – Star Wars: The Black Series (Hasbro)

Remember what I said about it being hard to beat the original?  Well, it wasn’t that far off.  Plain and simple, this is the look most people associate with Leia, and Hasbro delivered a truly awesome figure, albeit on their second go at it.  The initial release had a lackluster head sculpt, but the improved sculpt from the 40th Anniversary line is top-notch.