Tag Archives: Star Wars

#1296: First Order Stormtrooper

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

FIRST ORDER STORMTROOPER

STAR WARS: ELITE SERIES (DISNEY)

“Equipped with sleek armor and powerful weapons, the Stormtroopers enforce the will of the First Order.”

Wow, that’s the same bio used on the Hasbro Black Series figures.  I guess Disney’s really strict about what goes in those bios.  I mean, I guess it’s a decent enough write-up for the Stormtroopers.  It’s not like there’s a whole lot to them, right?  So, hey, it’s been a while since I reviewed a basic Stormtrooper (First Order or otherwise).  How about one of those?  This time, the figure’s metal.  Oooooooooh!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The First Order Stormtrooper was released as part of the very first series of Disney’s Star Wars: Elite Series, which hit way back on the first Force Friday event.  The figure stands about 7 inches tall and he has 16 points of articulation.  He’s very similar in construction to the previously reviewed Poe figure (metal for the torso,arms, and legs, and plastic for the hands, feet and head), though he does feel a bit lighter weight.  That’s probably due to the slightly more svelte design.  He’s still rather restricted in terms of movement (he’s yet another FO Trooper that can’t actually hold his blaster two-handed), but he’s on par with the other two figures I’ve gotten.  It could certainly be worse.  While there was a definite upturn in the level of detail displayed on the K-2 figure, the Trooper, as an older release, is still rather on the soft side.  Given the sleeker nature of the Stormtroopers, it’s not too bad, but he does miss out on the fun underlying jumpsuit details that we saw on the Black Series version of this design.  On the plus side, he lacks the weird hand thing that plagued the Poe figure, and just seems to have better proportions in general. He also doesn’t face any issues of facial likeness, which seems to alleviate a major issue the Disney figures seem to face.  Like both prior Elite Series figures I’ve looked at, the Stormtrooper is assembled using screws along the back of the figure.  10 of them to be exact.  While K-2 added covers so as to prevent them from ruining the aesthetics, the Stormtrooper takes after Poe, which means his assembly screws are left totally uncovered.  It’s definitely distracting, but at least it’s confined to the back of the figure.  The paint on the Stormtrooper is decent enough; it’s not like there’s a lot of really complex work or anything going on, so there’s less that can be screwed up.  There’s still some slight slop here and there, but for the most part he looks pretty clean.  The figure is packed with two blasters (one large and one small) and a display stand, which is the same as the ones included with Poe and K-2.  The smaller blaster is designed to be stowed on the right thigh, but I ended up having to do a little work on my figure to get the two pieces to fit together, due to a slight malformation of the gun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure was given to me by my friend Rio, who is an exchange student visiting from Japan.  Rio has been staying with one of Super Awesome Girlfriend’s friends, and has become a fixture of our group of friends over the last several months.  She also really likes to give gifts, so she’s made a point of getting something for each of us over the course of a few trips she’s made to various attractions.  When she traveled to Disney World, she got something for Super Awesome Girlfriend, but not for me.  I wasn’t expecting anything, so I was far from upset, but Rio wanted to get me something.  On her trip to NYC over spring break, she tracked down the Disney Store and, with a little guidance from Super Awesome Girlfriend, picked this guy out for me.  He’s actually pretty cool, and you can never have too many Stormtroopers, right?  Anyway, Rio is heading back home to Japan today, so I thought I’d give this figure a review as a send off and a testament to how great it’s been to have her around these last few months.  Good luck, Rio!

#1293: Tusken Raider

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

TUSKEN RAIDER

STAR WAR: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“The Sand People are easily frighted, but they’ll be back, and in greater numbers”

The Tusken Raiders.  What the heck are they?  Are they aliens?  Or just weird nomad people?  We never do see what they look like under all those wrappings.  Heck, they weren’t even called “Tusken Raiders” originally; they were just “Sand People.”  But I guess, like Walrus Man, Hammer Head, and Snuggle Tooth, that name was deemed too goofy to be real.   This is why we can’t have nice things.  Well, okay, that’s not true.  We have some nice things.  For instance, we have this Tusken Raider figure that I’m reviewing today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Tusken Raider was released in the second wave of the 1996 assortment of Power of the Force II figures from Kenner, which happens to be the same set that gave us the previously reviewed Greedo figure.  Like Greedo, the Raider wasn’t featured on cardbacks for some reason.  This was the second sand person/Tusken Raider in the line, following the original vintage release.  The figure stands a little over 3 3/4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation.  As I’ve noted before, the PotF2 figures were pretty high on the stylization scale, but as the line progressed, this lessened a bit.  The Raider is definitely a little puffier than most depictions of the design have been, and the head is rather on the small side.  There are also some slight bits of preposing, but it’s mostly limited to the arms, where it more or less makes sense.  The sculpting on the legs/feet isn’t particularly crazy, but for whatever reason, this figure tends to fall over a lot, which is really annoying.  Overall, I like this sculpt, but there are some bits of it that are rather uneven.  For instance, while there’s some great detail work on the head and robes, and there’s even a fully detailed torso under the main robe piece (which is removable), the hands are large and mostly devoid of extra detail, which ends up just looking really goofy.  Still, when compared to some of the Series 1 figures, he’s still a definite step-up.  The paint work on the Raider is mostly pretty passable.  Lots of tans and browns, and there’s even a bit of subtle work at the base of the sleeves and the skirt of the robe.  Not the most thrilling color scheme of all time, but accurate to what’s seen on-screen.  The Raider’s one accessory is his Gaderffi stick.  There were two variations of the figure’s left hand sculpt.  Mine is the earlier, closed grip hand, which prevents him from holding the stick anywhere but the very top, which is a little goofy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like Greedo, I didn’t have this one growing up. I had my dad’s vintage Sand Person, which held me over.  I ended up grabbing this guy from this year’s Farpoint charity auction.  He’s not a bad figure at all.  Not super thrilling, but fun enough to keep me interested.

#1290: Princess Leia Organa

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

PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

“Princess Leia Organa was one of the Rebel Alliance’s greatest leaders, fearless on the battlefield and dedicated to ending the tyranny of the Empire.”

May the 4th be with you!  Yes, it’s May 4th again, known to geeks all over the world as Star Wars Day.  This year’s Star Wars Day is extra special, since this year marks to 40th anniversary of the release of the original movie.  I had initially planned to review another vintage figure today, but as luck would have it, I got a newer item that I wanted to slot into the schedule as quickly as possible.  So, without further ado, here’s Princess Leia Organa!

THE FIGURE IN QUESTION

Princess Leia was released as part of the first series of the special 40th Anniversary sub-set of Hasbro’s Star Wars: The Black Series.  All of the figures in the first series are re-releases of prior Black Series figures, but this time on special commemorative cards patterned after the vintage Kenner hardbacks of old.  The packaging is super nifty, and I was almost a little sad to have to open it up to take her out.  Leia is a re-release of the #30 Black Series figure released last year.  Unlike the others in this set, she’s actually got a slight tweak from her predecessor.  The initial head for the #30 figure was deemed unsatisfactory by Hasbro.  However, they were too late in production to completely replace it, so the initial shipments went out with the initial sculpt.  There was talk of a running change to replace the head, but I’m not actually sure if they ever made it out.  This release is making use of the new head from the start.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and has 29 points of articulation.  Like Luke and Obi-Wan before her, Leia makes use of a mix of sculpted and cloth parts.  The head, boots, and underlying body are all sculpted, and the dress and hood are a tailored piece, held in place by a sculpted belt piece.  In terms of the sculpted parts, the general work is pretty solid.  The head is, as noted, the improved piece.  It’s really quite a nice piece of work; easily one of the better Carrie Fisher likeness out there.  It’s leaps and bounds beyond the prior piece, and I personally think its a closer likeness than the Boushh disguise Leia, which was my personal favorite prior to this.  The underlying body sculpt is decent enough; it’s not really meant to be seen, so the proportions are more on the marionette side of things.  I do wish some of the joints offered a little more range, but other than that, it seems fine.  The boots are a pretty decent sculpt, and make for a pretty decent replica of the actual costume pieces.  They aren’t going to to be seen much, but the attention to detail is appreciated.  The cloth pieces on the Black Series figures have never been one of Hasbro’s strong suits.  I was particularly letdown by how the shirt turned out on the ANH Luke figure.  So, I was definitely apprehensive of how the dress would turn out here.  While I think I still would have preferred a sculpted dress, I’m happy to say the cloth dress is better than I was expecting.  It seems to be less ill-fitting than prior pieces, and sits on the figure rather nicely.  It’s not without issue, mind you.  The seams on the sleeves are rather annoying, and the hood is just sort of a mess.  It doesn’t really want to say up or down; I think sewing it in place would have been a better idea.  The belt piece holds the whole thing together nicely, and adds just the right folds.  It also doesn’t seem to ride up as much as Luke’s did, which is a serious plus!  I’ve been a little letdown by some of the Black Series paint as of late, but Leia actually turned out really well.  Her head gets the majority of the work.  It’s all pretty clean, and I was pleasantly surprised by the slight accent work on her face, which adds some extra color and brings some much needed life to the figure.  Here’s hoping that this style of paintwork continues!  Leia is packed with two blasters: the smaller one she carries during her opening scene and the larger Stormtrooper blaster she’s hauling around during the escape from the Deathstar.  I really appreciate the variety.  Of course the fact that she got both guns only further hammers home how annoying it was that Luke didn’t get any of his Stormtrooper gear, since both Han and Leia did.  Oh well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I never did see the first release of this figure at retail (In fact, the only figure I did see was the Obi-Wan figure that I bought).  So, I was pretty happy to hear about the re-release, since I didn’t want my A New Hope set stuck without a major player.  I ended up finding this figure at the nearby comic book store, Power Comics, while Super Awesome Girlfriend was picking up last week’s comics haul.  I was going to wait to grab her, but Super Awesome Girlfriend insisted on buying her for me, because that’s what she does.  For once, I’m glad I had to wait for a figure, because this release is definitely superior to the prior figure.  The end result is a figure I’m really happy with.  She was definitely a pleasant surprise.  Here’s to more awesome Leia figures in the future!

#1286: Greedo

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

GREEDO

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Boba Fett may be the go-to bounty hunter of the Star Wars universe, but he and all of his bounty hunting pals owe just about everything to one guy: Greedo Q. Kazoo.  Okay, it’s really just Greedo.  No last name.  Or first name.  It’s just the one name, really.  Like Michelangelo. Or Beyonce.  I’m getting sidetracked.  Anyway, Greedo was instrumental to introducing the whole wider bounty hunter thing to the Star Wars universe.  He’s probably my personal favorite bounty hunter, truth be told, due to having a fun design, serving a clear purpose, and generally not being overhyped (unlike some *other* bounter hunters out there).  Greedo’s had a few figures over the years, including one during the infamous Power of the Force II incarnation from the ‘90s, which I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Greedo was released as part of the second 1996 assortment of Star Wars: Power of the Force II.  Interestingly enough, Greedo’s not one of the figures pictured on the back of the packaging.  This marked Greedo’s second time as an action figure, after his original vintage figure.  He stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation.  The PotF2 sculpts were generally stricken by ‘90s uber-stylization, but as the line moved forward, the stylizing slowly worked its way out.  Coming from the line’s second year, Greedo already shows some of the steps forward, being a lot less pre-posed than some of the earlier figures were; there’s still a slight bit of a mid-step thing going on, but it’s hardly an extreme pose.  He’s still a little on the buff side (which is further accented by the slightly tighter fit of the clothes), but it’s fairly minor.  He’s helped by his more alien design, which helps to mask some of the faults.  From a purely aesthetic standpoint, his sculpt is definitely solid.  The head is a pretty pitch-perfect recreation of the Greedo mask seen in the movie.  It’s perhaps a bit underscaled, but I actually think it looks slightly better that way.  There’s also a ton of really sharp detail work, not only on the head, but also on the rest of the body sculpt.  While he’s certainly not going to be outdoing the Black Series figure or anything, he’s still sporting a very well-crafted sculpt.  The sculpt is topped off with a decent paint job.  Nothing particularly fancy, but all of Greedo’s basic colors are there, and the application is all pretty clean.  Greedo was packed with two blasters; one large, one small.  The smaller blaster is based on Greedo’s sidearm from the movie, and, aside from being a little sized-up, is pretty accurate.  The larger piece is made up for the figure, but hey, at least they gave him something extra, right?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t have Greedo growing up (in fact, my first proper Greedo figure was actually the Black Series figure).  This figure was another that I grabbed during this past Farpoint’s charity auction, alongside a handful of other PotF2 guys.  I’ve actually eyed this figure a few times before, and, like Kaylee and Cobra Commander before him, the good cause was enough to finally convince me to pick him up.  I’m glad I did, because he’s definitely one of the better PotF2 figures Kenner put out.

#1276: Shoretrooper

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

SHORETROOPER

STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE (HASBRO)

“Specialist Stormtroopers stationed at the top-secret Imperial military headquarters on Scarif, these Shoretroopers patrol the beaches and bunkers of the planetary facility.”

Okay, is it “Shoretrooper” or “Scarif Stormtrooper?”  Make up your minds already!  I mean, at least before it was a company to company thing, but now Hasbro, who have up to this point labeled every other version of this squad as “Scarif Stormtrooper,” jumping on the “Shoretrooper” bandwagon.  Why just this one figure? Why!?!  I NEED TO KNOW!!!!

Okay, actually it doesn’t really matter all that much.  It’s really neither here nor there.  Figures have names on the package, and then the package gets thrown away.  The name on the box could have been Throat Warbler Mangrove, and I’d still buy it.  Because its the Scarif Trooper, and that’s, like, my new favorite Imperial design!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Okay, so the *Shoretrooper* was released in Series 3 of the Rogue One line.  There are a number of different variations of this armor, denoting ranks and the like.  This guy here is the most basic of the bunch; he’s the real cannon fodder.  He’s also the same design as the Walmart-exclusive 6” Scarif Stormtrooper.  The figure stands about 4 inches tall and has the usual 5 points of articulation.  It appears that this figure uses the same mold as the AT-ACT Driver, which I never actually got (because $300 is a lot of money).  It’s worth noting that this mold does *not* share any parts with the Squad Leader figure.  That’s probably a good thing, because, while I like that figure, his sculpt does have some issues.  This one improves the shaping of the helmet, and adds a few details that were missing at the top.  It also adds some nice texturing to the pants, and gives the overall figure a less stiff posture.  All of those things are definite positives.  Also, we’ve flipped back to a separate attachment piece for the “skirt,” as opposed to one that’s stuck to the legs.  It’s my preferred way of handing it to be sure, but it just seems a little odd that they go back and forth.  The paint on this guy is pretty much what we’ve come to expect from this line.  All of the basic details are there, and the colors match up well enough with the on-screen stuff.  The application is mostly pretty clean, with some slight bleed here and there, especially at the edges at the pants.  He lacks the weathering on the larger figures, but that’s the difference between the two lines.  The Shoretrooper is packed with the same larger blaster rifle included with the Squad Leader, as well as…wait for it…a zipline.  Oh yeah, those ziplines!  This one’s got a retracting feature, which is different, I guess.  Yay?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I’ve noted numerous times in the past, the Shore/Scarif Trooper is a favorite design of mine, so I’m down for pretty much every figure they release of it.  Of course, like I said in yesterday’s Bodhi review, Series 3 hasn’t been very prominent much of anywhere at retail, so I didn’t really have any chances to pick this one up.  I ended up finding him at the same time as Bodhi, and certainly wasn’t going to pass him up.  He’s a decent enough figure for the basic line.  If you like this design, you could do worse than this figure.

#1275: Bodhi Rook

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

BODHI ROOK

STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE

“A former Imperial pilot, Bodhi has strong piloting and technical skills that he will put to use for the Rebellion.  Ever practical, highly anxious, Bodhi must gather his courage to bring the battle to the Empire.”

Since about November of last year, there’s been one major hole in my Rogue One collection:  Bodhi Rook.  Everybody else from the main team found their way into one of Hasbro’s two scales, but not poor Bodhi (to be fair, he did get a figure in Disney’s Elite series, but I didn’t want to get another scale just for him).  Fortunately, he’s finally gotten a small-scale figure, so yay, completed team!  Let’s see how this guy turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Bodhi Rook is part of Series 3 of Hasbro’s Star Wars: Rogue One line.  In a series of mostly variants on previous releases (even Thrawn’s gotten two figures before), Bodhi is the one wholly unique figure.  He doesn’t seem to be noticeably harder to find than any of the others in this series, but seeing as the series as a whole still hasn’t shown up a lot of places, that’s not saying a ton.  The figure stands just shy of 4 inches tall and has the standard 5 points of articulation.  He’s an all-new sculpt.  While Bodhi may be wearing an Imperial uniform, he’s not built like the typical imperial.  He’s a bit on the scrawny side (as he was in the movie), and he’s even got Bodhi’s slightly bad posture and slouched shoulders.  I like that Hasbro isn’t just going with the “stiff as a board”, “at attention” posture for all of the smaller figures.  His detailing is a little soft in some spots (it’s most noticeable on the torso, where you can only barely make out the flap for his jumpsuit), but by and large, things look pretty good.  The likeness is about as good as any of the likenesses from this line have been; the face is a little gaunt for Riz Ahmed, but you can more or less tell who it is.  The vest piece is removable, if that’s your prerogative; it’s a pretty solid sculpt, and does a good job of covering up the soft sculpt of the actual torso.  Bodhi’s paintwork is decently handled.  It’s nothing amazing, but the application’s all pretty clean.  The goggles were clear in the movie, but aside from molding the whole head in clear plastic and painting the rest of it, I’m not sure what they could have done.  The off-white they went with looks fine in person.  There’s one notable inaccuracy: the Imperial insignia on his shoulders is the inverse color scheme of what it should be.  Super minor, and only really noticeable if you go looking for it, but there it is.  There was some concern when the prototype was shown that Bodhi’s jumpsuit would be too bright a blue, but it looks like it’s been changed to the more appropriate blue-grey for the final figure.  It could perhaps be a little duller, but if I’m totally honest, I’m not one for making these figures any duller in color than they already are.  Bodhi gets a fairly standard issue blaster, as well as the requisite gimmicky thingy.  In a rather smart move, Hasbro’s actually managed to make said gimmicky thingy (which is yet another zipline gadget, by the way; they sure do love those ziplines) resemble the cable pack that Bodhi is carrying during the film’s big climactic battle.  It’s actually a pretty key piece for Bodhi, and the zipline feature isn’t really that obtrusive at all.  This is by far the most sensible gimmick accessory in the line so far.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Picking my favorite Rogue One member is a bit like picking my favorite Serenity crew member: it’s really hard.  Okay, no, it’s actually not.  In both cases, it’s the sassy pilot played by Alan Tudyk.  So, I guess it’s really picking my second favorite that’s hard.  Bodhi’s a pretty good contender for that spot, though.  So, the fact that he was the only major member of the team left unreleased when I got out of seeing the movie was really eating at me.  As of today, I have still yet to see a single Series 3 figure at any of the retail stores near me.  Fortunately, a few weeks ago, Super Awesome Girlfriend and I went up to visit her Dad, who lives in a small town in the middle of nowhere.  You know what’s cool about small towns in the middle of nowhere?  Well, most of them have at the very least a nearby Walmart, and there’s virtually no demand for Star Wars toys.  So, when they get something, it sits for a while.  Such was the case with Rogue One Series 3, allowing me to get the esteemed Mr. Rook.  Bodhi’s not going to be anyone’s figure of the year, but he’s a solid addition to the Rogue One line, and he fits right in with the rest of the team.  Now, play the waiting game on him getting a Black Series figure…

#1241: Wedge Antilles

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

WEDGE ANTILLES

STAR WARS: COMIC PACKS (HASBRO)

When it comes to characters in fiction, I’m sort of odd about my favorites.  Main characters are great and all, but my favorite characters, the ones that really stick with me, tend to be the ones just slightly out of focus.  Most of my favorite Marvel characters aren’t going to be headlining their own movies any time soon, and my all-time favorite DC character is Elongated Man, who 90% of people have probably never heard of.  So, it follows that my favorite character from the original Star Wars Trilogy isn’t one of the mains, but is instead X-Wing pilot Wedge Antilles.  In Wedge’s defense, he’s one of the only background characters to show up and have dialogue in all three movies, and he participates in three major battles without dying, which is actually pretty impressive for a generally normal dude.  He’s also been a rather prominent player in the Expanded Universe, which is how he got the figure I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wedge Antilles was released as part of the Comic Packs sub-line of Hasbro’s Star Wars: 30th Anniversary line.  He was packaged with Borsk Fey’lya, as well as a copy of Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron #35.  They were set 14 in the line.  Wedge stands 3 3/4 inches tall and has 18 points of articulation.  Wedge is seen here not in his usual pilot garb from the films, but instead in what appears to be a dress uniform, presumably from Rogue Squadron.  It’s certainly a unique design, even if its not one I’m immediately familiar with.  Wedge uses the legs and hands of the 2007 Training Fatigues Clone Trooper, along with a new head, torso, and arms.  The end result is perhaps not the greatest sculpt that the Star Wars line ever put out, with arms that feel a little over-sized, and a slightly awkward bend to the legs.  That being said, it’s not awful, and is certainly better than some of this figure’s contemporaries.  The likeness presents a decent halfway point between Dennis Lawson and the comic depictions of Wedge, resulting in a pretty good likeness of the character, if maybe not the actor.  Still, if you know who it is, you can see some of Lawson peeking through.  Paint work on Wedge is pretty solid, if not amazing.  The colors match up with what I’ve been able to find of the source material, and he’s a different enough palette of colors to stand out pretty well on the shelf.  Some of the application is a little sloppy, but nothing incredibly bad.  Wedge was packed with a rather basic rebel blaster, which he can hold or stow in his holster.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve honestly been meaning to buy this figure since it was first released.  I don’t really know the material he’s based on, but I like Wedge, so why not?  I ended up picking him up from Yesterday’s Fun over the holidays.  He was loose, which is why I didn’t also get his pack-mate.  He’s a decent enough figure, and probably the best version of Wedge I own, even if he’s not from the movies.

#1233: Princess Leia Organa – Bespin Gown

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

PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA — BESPIN GOWN

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (KENNER)

2016 was pretty unrelenting when it came to celebrity deaths (and, sadly, 2017 seems to be continuing the trend).  The one that me the hardest personally was undoubtedly Carrie Fisher, an actress I had come to admire more and more with every passing day.  She was truly awesome.  Truly, there is no better way to celebrate an awesome person than with action figures, and, thanks to Star Wars, Carrie was privy to quite a few of them.  Today’s focus figure is one of the earliest, coming from Kenner’s Empire Strikes Back line of figures.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

This Leia figure is one of the two Leias released in Kenner’s Empire Strikes Back line (the other is her Hoth attire, reviewed here).  This one depicts Leia in the gown she was given by Lando when she and the rest of the Millennium Falcon’s passengers arrived on Bespin.  It’s not as prominent a look as the Hoth gear (which she spends most of the movie’s runtime wearing), but it’s certainly unique, and, if nothing else, was an excuse to release a Leia figure in a color other than white.  It’s actually a rather infrequent look for Leia figures, with only a handful of figures over the years.  Still, Han and Luke both got Hoth and Bespin figures, so Leia was due two figures as well.  The figure stands a little over 3 1/2 inches tall and has the usual 5 points of articulation.  Bespin Leia was an all-new sculpt.  Like every other figure in the vintage line, there’s definitely a degree of stylization going on here, especially in how the outfit has been rendered.  With that being said, she’s not as far off from the film design as her first film predecessor.  The basics of the sculpt are pretty good.  She doesn’t really look a whole lot like Carrie Fisher, but she’s at least consistent with the ANH and Hoth versions.  The details on the clothes are rather on the simple side, but all of the important stuff is there, and she fits in with the rest of the line. The skirt has still been cut into a set of legs, but no longer in a way that resembles whatever the first figure was wearing.  Here, the skirt is simply cut with straight lines, as many of the other figures in this line were handled.  Also, while she’s still got the vinyl robe thing that the first figure had, it actually works a bit better with this design, which included a sleeveless cardigan-thing of a similar nature (thanks to Super Awesome Girlfriend for help IDing that piece of clothing.  Side note: she would like it noted that she’s not a fashion expert).  Sure, it wasn’t opaque pink like this one is, but it’s close enough, given the rest of the line.  It’s even got some nice printed detailing, which I believe is a unique feature to this iteration of Leia.  As far as paint, she’s once again pretty simple.  Mostly, she’s just got paint for the hair, the details of her face, and the few spots of flesh tone on the body.  Everything’s pretty clean (apart from the slight wear present on my figure).  The figure was packed with a small blaster pistol, which my figure does not have.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This Leia is a relatively recent acquisition.  I actually picked her up a few days after Carrie Fisher’s passing, from an antique store just outside of the town my family vacations in (in fact, it was the same store where Super Awesome Girlfriend bought me the ANH Leia just the year before).  It’s a figure I’ve been meaning to get, and they had this one there, and she was in pretty nice shape for the price.  I guess it was kind of part of my mourning process.  Anyway, despite this being one of her less essential looks, this was probably the best version of Leia that Kenner released.

#1223: Governor Tarkin & Stormtrooper

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

GOVERNOR TARKIN & STORMTROOPER

STAR WARS: COMIC PACKS (HASBRO)

tarkintrooper1

Back before they were both owned by the same parent company, the first comic book company to hold the Star Wars license was Marvel Comics.  They had a pretty solid run with the license, going a full decade.  The series started off with a pretty straight adaptation of the events of A New Hope, and then eventually filled in the gaps between movies with some of the earliest Expanded Universe stuff.  When Hasbro started releasing packs based on specific comic stories and issues, the Marvel stuff was right at the forefront, including today’s pair, Governor Tarkin and an Imperial Stormtrooper!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Tarkin and the Stormtrooper were part of the very first series of Star Wars: Comic Packs from Hasbro.  They were pack 03 in the line, and included issue #2 of the Marvel Star Wars comic (albeit with all the Marvel stuff scrubbed off and replaced with Dark Horse, the then current holders of the comic license).

TARKIN

tarkintrooper2This was only Tarkin’s third time in the 3 3/4 inch scale, which is honestly a bit surprising.  In the Marvel adaptations, the colors were rather different from the movie, in order to make some of the designs a bit more comic friendly.  Tarkin and the rest of the Imperial officers were dressed in grey in the film, which was a rather difficult color to replicate with 1970s printing processes.  So, Marvel changed their pallet to something more akin to Hydra, their in-house branch of fascists.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and has 10 points of articulation.  As far as structure, he’s a pretty straight re-use of the Revenge of the Sith version of Tarkin.  It’s slightly odd, since that’s not actually a Peter Cushing Tarkin sculpt, but it was the most recent Tarkin sculpt at the time, and, by virtue of being meant to emulate a comic version of the character, I guess he’s not really that far off.  The sculpt is a decent enough piece of work.  He’s rather cartoony, which ends up working a bit better for this particular figure than it did the originator of the sculpt.  There’s not much in the way of posability, but Tarkin was never a super mobile sort of dude, so I guess that’s okay.  The paint work is okay in some spots (mainly on the head), but really bad in some others (mainly anything that’s yellow).  Seriously, I’ve painted customs that looked more professional than this.  Maybe the yellow’s so off because it’s not actually following any sculpted lines?  Tarkin was packed with a standard Stormtrooper short blaster, which is better than nothing, I suppose.

STORMTROOPER

tarkintrooper3The Stormtrooper’s comic design was more or less the same as the movie look, which makes this figure a bit more reliant on replicating comic shading than anything else.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and has 13 points of articulation.  Not an awful amount of articulation, but slightly disappointing.  See, this figure is a repaint of the CommTech Stormtrooper, which was, at the time of this figure’s release, 7 years old.  That’s not an insane age for a Star Wars mold, and it’s a decent enough sculpt, but the issue that really arises is one of consistency.  The comic versions of Han and Luke from this same line were both also sporting the Stormtrooper armor, but those two figures were built on the body of the Vintage Collection Stormtrooper, which was quite a bit more advanced than this one.  Why didn’t Hasbro just use that body for this guy too?  Wouldn’t that make more sense?  Then he’d at least be able to hold his gun the right way.  Oh well.  The main selling point on this guy is the light blue shading of the paint, which showcases the whole dynamic lighting thing of the comics.  It’s replicated pretty well here, though, as with most figures of this nature, it really only works from select angles.  The Trooper is packed with a Stormtrooper longblaster, which, as I noted above, he can’t actually hold.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like last week’s Baron and Hobbie, this pair came from my Super Awesome Girlfriend.  This is actually a set I almost picked up a few times back when it was new, but never got around to.  Now I understand why.  I’m not an advocate for leaving toys in the package, but this is definitely one of those times where I was more impressed with something before I took it out and played with it.  Both figures are perfectly fine, and I’m happy to have them, but the execution could have been so much more!

#1220: Baron Soontir Fel & Hobbie Klivian

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

BARON SOONTIR FEL & HOBBIE KLIVIAN

STAR WARS: COMIC PACKS (HASBRO)

baronhobbie1

On top of the usual movie faire, a lot of the success of Star Wars is due to its continued presence in other media during the periods between films.  Star Wars has had pretty much a consistent comics presence ever since Marvel first adapted the first film.  Dark Horse Comics took over in the ‘90s and had a rather lengthy and very successful run with the license.  There were lots of different series over the years, but one of the most popular by far was X-Wing Rogue Squadron, which followed several of the X-Wing pilots we met throughout the Original Trilogy.  When Hasbro renewed the Star Wars license following Revenge of the Sith, one of the ways they kept things fresh was with comic-based figures, and a number of them were based on Rogue Squadron, including the pair I’m looking at today.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Baron Soontir Fel and Hobbie Klivian were pack 12 in Hasbro’s Star Wars: Comic Packs, and they were officially part of the 30th Anniversary line as well.  The two included figures are based on their appearance in issue #24 of Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron, which was included in the set with them.

BARON SOONTIR FEL

baronhobbie2Baron Soontir Fel.  Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in quite some time.  No, wait, scratch that, that’s a name I’ve heard never.  Yeah, I got no clue who this guy is.  Going by the gear, he’s a TIE Fighter pilot, so that’s cool.  Obviously, he plays a part in Rogue Squadron, so…yeah.  Anyway, the figure stands a little over 4 inches tall (he actually seems  a little out of scale), and he has 16 points, which was really good for the time.  The sculpt for this figure is actually pretty strong, but it’s also a little odd, because it feels less like a Star Wars sculpt and more like one of the GI Joe: 25th Anniversary figures.  That’s not really a knock against the figure himself, since I quite liked a lot of the 25th Anniversary line, but it does make him stand out quite a bit from the rest of his peers.  It may have to do with his pack-mate being a bit older in style (more on that in a bit).  In terms of his sculpt, there’s a lot of cool stuff going on.  His jumpsuit has some awesome texture work, and all of the various parts of his uniform are quite sharply detailed.  His helmet and chest apparatus are removable, revealing his head and the rest of his uniform beneath.  The head sculpt is sufficiently smug and Imeperial, so that’s cool.  I also like that the helmet is pretty decently scaled to the body, and is probably one of the best trooper helmets I’ve seen at this scale.  As far as paint goes, the Baron is pretty solid.  He’s mostly grey and black, but all of the application is nice and clean, and he looks decent enough.  In addition to the removable helmet and chest piece, the Baron is packed with a small blaster pistol, which is the same style as the Biker Scout.  It’s a cool piece, and it can be stowed in his holster.

HOBBIE KLIVIAN

baronhobbie3Okay, I kinda know Hobbie.  I think.  I recognize the name.  He’s not really distinctive enough that I could point him out to you in the movies, but I know he’s in there, so that’s good, I guess.  The figure stands just under 4 inches tall and has 10 points of articulation.  He’s a lot stiffer than the Baron, which is a little sad.  A lot of that has to do with being built on the body of the 2004 Dutch Vander figure.  The line made a lot of leaps and bounds between Vander’s release and Hobbie’s, which made Hobbie feel a little out of place at the time.  He’s not really helped by being packed with Baron Fel, who was rather ahead of his time.  Nevertheless, Hobbie’s certainly not a bad figure on his own merits.  He’s got all the basic X-Wing pilot gear, and the sculpt is really sharply rendered.  I love the amount of detail they were able to get into all of the folds and wrinkles on the jumpsuit.  Also, he comes from an era when Star Wars figures were really good at hiding articulation, so his sculpt is at the very least very aesthetically pleasing.  His only truly new piece is his head, which is rather on the generic side.  He’s sporting a cap under his helmet, which aids in the generic-ness.  Honestly, this feels like the closest you can get to a straight up generic X-Wing pilot.  In terms of paint, Hobbie is once again pretty solid.  The colors all match up to what you’d expect from an X-Wing pilot.  In particular, I rather like the custom details on the helmet.  The figure includes his removable helmet, as well as a later pistol.  No holster for this guy, but his arm’s in a permanent gun-holding pose anyway, so I can’t really see many people posing him without it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

These two were a gift from Super Awesome Girlfriend.  She got them for me last summer during a visit to Yesterday’s Fun.  Honestly, they’re the sort of set I might have overlooked on my own.  And that would have been too bad.  They’re not going to blow anyone out of the water, but they’re certainly a fun little pair, and a worthy addition to my collection!