For The Force Awakens, Disney had some restrictions on which characters were allowed to be released before the film, which almost completely relegated the original trilogy’s returning heroes to post-film assortments.One major exception to this was the franchise’s premier walking carpet, Chewbacca, who made several appearances at the first Force Friday.I didn’t get any of them, but the option was there, and that’s the important thing.Chewie’s returning yet again for The Last Jedi, and given that he accompanied Rey to meet Luke at the end of the last film, it’s likely he’ll be receiving a more prominent role to boot.He’s taking it slow on the action figures this time, with just the one figure to start with.That’s better than nothing, though.
THE FIGURE ITSELF
Chewbacca is another of the 11 launch figures for the Star Wars: The Last Jedi line.He comes from the Teal assortment, and gets to fight with C-3PO over which one of them’s the more known quantity in the set.Chewbacca is based on his ever so slightly tweaked look from the new trilogy. It’s not much different from the prior design; the big change is the new bandolier.The figure’s a big one, standing almost 5 inches tall.He’s got the standard 5 points of articulation, though the neck movement is rather limited by the design.The sculpt looks to re-use the torso and left arm from the TFAMillennium Falcon Chewie, albeit with some slightly sharper mold-lines.The rest is new, or at the very least tweaked. The head and bandolier remove the elements of the Falcon headset, and the head gets an open mouthed expression in contrast to the closed mouths of the last two Chewies.The bandolier is a separate piece, but thanks to the slight divot on the torso, it actually stays in place, which I’m a fan of.The legs now have the slightest bend at the knees, making him appear to be mid-stride, and the right arm is bent at the elbow, so he can hold his bowcaster at least a little better than the prior figures.There’s a nice heft to this figure, which I think has been missing from some of the more recent Chewbaccas (the Black Series version in particular felt far too scrawny to me).Getting the paint right on a Chewbacca figure is always a little difficult.Fur’s not easy to handle, especially at a mass-production scale.This figure does okay.Some of the transitions could stand to be a little more subtle, but I’ve seen far worse.The work on the eyes and mouth is very sharp, and the bandolier is pretty decent, too.Chewie is packed with his bowcaster, which is a new, three-piece mold.It’s a cool idea, but ends up falling apart a lot, especially when you try getting him to hold it.Chewie also includes the newest Star Wars-sensation, the Porg!I have no clue how prominent these little guys will end up being, but it’s nice to get at least one small-scale version in the initial launch, and especially nice that it’s not in a huge set (like poor BB-8 was for TFA).
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
I didn’t pick up a single Chewbacca from the Force Awakens product.In fact, I haven’t actually bought a small-scale Chewbacca figure since the Star Wars Saga release from 2003.I guess getting a new one was a bit overdue.I wasn’t 100% sold on getting this guy, but when I saw the figure in person during my pre-Force Friday find, I liked him enough to put him on my list for the actual event.He’s a nice figure, definitely one of the better versions of him I own.
Back when I was looking at the stuff from the very first Force Friday, I had no clue who the heck this Rey person was.I didn’t even know she was the main character (I mean, neither did anyone else not involved in the film at that point, but still).Things are rather different now, of course, since she’s undoubtedly the central character of this new trilogy, and privy to all the action figures that entails.Hasbro is doing their darnedest to make sure the standard Rey is available as many ways as possible, in much the the same way that they handled the standard Jyn figure for Rogue One.At launch, the Jedi Training variant of Rey is available both on her own and packed with one of Supreme Leader Snoke’s fancy new guards.Since I’m a sucker for cool faceless minions, I, of course, went for the two-pack option.
THE FIGURES THEMSELVES
These guys are on of the pair of two-packs in the Star Wars: The Last Jedi line at launch.This one’s the only announced two-pack so far to be TLJ-based, but I’m sure that’ll change.As noted above, the Rey figure here is the same as the version included in the Wave 1 Orange assortment, with one extra accessory thrown in.
REY – JEDI TRAINING
It looks like Rey will be wearing her cool Resistance togs from the end of The Force Awakens for at least some segment of the new movie, but this figure depicts her in her brand new Jedi training outfit.The design actually isn’t too far removed from her Jakku look, albeit in grey and black instead of the tan and white, as well as boots that go further up her calves and a holster for the blaster she got from Han in TFA.It’s definitely a strong look.I think I still like the Resistance look a little more, but I do find this to be an improvement on the scavenger look.This figure stands a little under 3 3/4 inches tall and has the standard 5 points of articulation.Rey’s all-new sculpt is a definite improvement over her inaugural figure, which I always found to be the weakest of the initial batch of figures.This figure’s proportions are far more balanced, she feels much less frail, and the likeness to Daisy Ridley definitely feels like an improvement over prior attempts.Still not spot-on, but closer.Rather than the robes sculpted onto the legs schtick of the last sever Rey figures, this one opts for an add-on piece instead, which works far better for her shorter cut style of garment.As with Luke, the texturing on this figure is nothing short of amazing, and just phenomenal for the scale.In terms of paint, Rey is generally pretty well handled.The application’s all pretty sharp, and the colors appear to match pretty well with what we’ve seen so far from the movie.Both versions of Rey are packed with her staff, blaster, and Anakin’s lightsaber, which is a very impressive selection.The two-pack version adds in a…weird-back-pack-shoulder-blaster thingy… I kinda thought we were done with these.I mean, it looks like one of the Rebel packs from Endor, so that’s at least kind of cool, but it’s still not a piece I see myself using ever.Both the figure and the backpack are ForceLink compatible, so there’s that.
ELITE PRAETORIAN GUARD
First we had the Imperial Royal Guards, now we have the Elite Praetorian Guard.Always gotta have those regal looking dudes in red, right?These guys were kept und wraps for a while in the lead-up to the product launch, but now they’re all over the place.Here’s hoping they don’t end up as glorified cameos like the Guavian Enforcers.There are three different helmet variations for the Guards; the one seen here has what appears to be a hat of some sort.Maybe he’s trying to keep the sun out of his eyes?Anyway, the figure stands about 4 inches tall and has the standard 5 points of articulation.Like yesterday’s Luke figure, this guy’s got the skirt cut into legs thing going on.It works okay with this design, fortunately enough, so I can’t really complain.The sculpt is all-new, and generally pretty decent.The work on the armored parts is nice and crisp, and he’s even got some great texture work on the skirt to denote it as a separate material.The Guard’s paintwork is actually quite minimal, with the only real work being the small blue dot near the top of his torso, and a little bit of black on his inner thighs.It’s accurate to what we’ve seen so far of these guys, and they did go to the effort of giving the armor and the skirt two different finishes, which is nice.He’s packed with a pair of axes, which can be dual wielded or snapped together to form one larger weapon, which is pretty nifty.Like Rey, he’s also ForceLink compatible.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
Like Luke, this set was pretty high on my Force Friday list.I had initially planned to just grab the standard Rey, but I really couldn’t pass up the sweet looking Guard.I found this set early as well, but was still unable to purchase it until the actual event.This set didn’t prove too difficult to grab on Friday morning; I ended up picking it up off the floor after the guy mentioned yesterday flung it from its peg.Rey’s probably my favorite small-scale figure of her yet (though the Resistance version is still a very reputable contender).The Guard is a lot of fun and I can’t wait to pick up the other two variants down the line.
Heyo! Welcome back to Super Awesome Girlfriend Tries to Review Action Figures! Today, I’ll be reviewing one of the figures from one of the new toy lines from Hasbro.
THE FIGURE ITSELF
This Rey and BB8 combo figure pack is modelled after the costume design at the end of The Force Awakens. After doing some research, I found out that this line is paired up with the web series Forces of Destiny on Disney’s youtube channel. I haven’t heard much about the series, but each episode is only a couple minutes and they focus on one character from the line at a time. So I guess I’ll have to check it out at some point. On another note, Rey does show up in the first two episodes but not in the costume of this figure here.
Rey stands tall at about 11 inches with 22 points of articulation, though I have to note that one of those points is in her waist joint that has slight restricted motion. I feel it safe to say that most of her parts are unique to this figure, the only thing I think she might share is her head sculpt with the other Rey figure in the line. Her pants and linen tunic are the only pieces of clothing that are actually apart of the figure’s mold. The rest of the outfit is made of either cloth, for the jacket and arm sleeves, or rubber, for her gun holster, the bottom of her tunic, and shoes. The hair style is still her signature triple bun, which I still can’t replicate for myself, made with realistic hair that is tied with like colored rubber bands. Most of the hair in the buns and hanging loose are stiff to try and keep the hair all together, though my figure still got some hair pulled out from the style. Her tunic has a nice rough texture to stimulate the roughness of the material, and the bottom part is made of flexible rubber to allow the legs some free movement. Also, if you look closely enough you can see some slight creases in the top part of the tunic to indicate folds. Her jacket is made of a weird, smooth cloth material that is stitched together in some places and looks to have the jacket’s detailing printed onto the material. The end of the jacket is a little moldable, so that you can give the bottom of it a slight flare if need be. Her arm sleeves are made of two different cloth materials; the top is a striped gauzy fabric that is sown to and disappears under the second material which is the same as the jacket, including different printed designs. Rey’s pants are all plastic with simulated folds and texture in the mold and crafted knee/shin pads. Lastly, her shoes are made of a similar rubber as her gun holster, a different color of course, with texture and boot straps included in the mold. Her shoes aren’t fully attached to the figure, and they kind of remind me of a larger, rougher, and harder version of the little Polly Pocket boots.
The figure’s paint/print job is pretty good! I really like the printed detailing in the jack and arm bands. Her face is absolutely fantastic. The detailing in her eyes and brows are meticulous, including dark individual slashes in her eyebrows. Her freckles are there but not overpowering, and it looks like there’s a slight pink tint to her cheeks that is also very subtle.
This Rey comes with a few accessories and an action feature. She has her (or rather Luke’s) lightsaber which has a simple, but decent paint job in the hilt with the blade made of clear blue plastic. Her other weapon is the pistol Han gives her, it’s made of plastic and has ridges and other detailing included in the mold of the gun. Her gun can either be held or stay in the holster. The action feature is quite simple and involves her lightsaber, but don’t let me foul you because it took me several tries to figure out how to get her to swing. Basically, you cock her right arm back until you hear a click, then you bring her legs together and twist her waist. It’s not a fantastic action feature, but it allows her to swing her lightsaber.
Then there’s BB8. I don’t know if I should count him separate or as an accessory, so I’ll do the former. BB8 is only a couple of inches tall with one point of articulation, ladies and gents he can spin his head around (wooooooo). He’s made of hard plastic with lots of grooves and ridges included in the mold to help make him look more realistic. His paint job is ok, it’s rather simple with a few mistakes here and there; not everyone can paint within the lines. Also, his antennae are made of a thinner and slightly shinier plastic, with some ridges.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
I’ve been a Star Wars fan for as long as I can remember, apparently my favorite character when I was two was Yoda when he was still a puppet. Ethan showed me these figures a while ago and I was really excited for this new line from Hasbro. I had Barbies growing up, but I was never satisfied with them. And now that I have this Rey figure I feel like I just gained something I was missing when I was a little girl: a kick-butt female doll with realistic body proportions! One of my favorite things about this figure is that she looks so real, not like she hasn’t eaten in days and is about to snap at the waist. Yes, she’s really pretty but that’s because Daisy Ridley is super pretty. This figure can be marketed to girls and boys and it makes me so happy to own her! It’s a pain in the rear to get her to stand because of her infuriating Ugg-boot-thingies, but once I get it right she looks so killer on my shelf and I love it! BB8 is cute too, but he’s nothing special.
Okay, you guys read this morning’s post.You know what that means.That’s right, it’s time for my Force Friday II reviews!Oh yeah!Let’s do this, homebiscuits!
Perhaps the most anticipated of the new products are those based on Luke Skywalker.Apart from a few re-released OT figures, Luke was almost completely absent from the Force Awakens and Rogue One products.In Hasbro’s defense, their original plan for TFA’s small-scale line was to have Luke offered as a mail-away figure, which would have been a super nifty way of handling things, but it was ultimately nixed by someone higher up.Anyway, I’ve been patiently awaiting a new trilogy Luke.Now I have him.Yay!Onto the review!
THE FIGURE ITSELF
Jedi Master Luke is one of the 11 basic figures Star Wars: The Last Jedi released on Force Friday II.The figures were divided into two different assortments: orange and teal.Luke was part of the Orange assortment, which was the assortment devoted to the more central characters.Luke’s sporting at least two looks in The Last Jedi.This figure is based on the look he was sporting in The Force Awakens’ final moments, which he will no doubt be keeping for at least a decent chunk of the new movie.I like this look a lot; it sort of merges the aesthetics of Obi-Wan’s look in A New Hope with Luke’s Jedi Knight garb from Return of the Jedi.The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.His sculpt is all-new to him, and it’s stylistically consistent with the stuff from both TFA and Rogue One, so the leg joints, for instance are cut right through his robes, rather than the robes being a separate add-on piece.The figure’s stance is simple and straight, but it’s not too stiff; it looks fairly natural.The level of detail on the sculpt is a step up from the two previous lines, which is quite impressive on such a small figure.The head sports a pretty spot-on Hamill likeness, and the texture work on the clothing is just top-notch.The wrinkles and everything really sell that “hermit” look quite nicely.His belt is a separate piece, affixed in place, which offers some nice depth to the figure.Interestingly, he’s got a loop to hang his lightsaber hilt from, but there’s no saber included.It’s good forward thinking, I suppose.Luke also has a soft plastic removable cloak.It’s certainly similar to the one from the old PotF2 Jedi Luke, but the execution is quite a bit more precise, the details are sharper, and the overall appearance is far less goofy.Paint’s always been an issue with Hasbro figures, Star Wars figures especially.While Luke has a little bit of slop in one spot on his back, the overall application is a marked improvement over the TFA and RO figures.Apart from the cloak, Luke has no extras.What?No weird gimmicky accessory to be thrown straight into my box of weird gimmicky accessories?Indeed, this time around, Hasbro’s put the gimmick inside the figure itself, with the CommTech 2.0 ForceLink feature.There’s a chip inside the figure, which, when brought within close proximity of the ForceLink Reader will play character relevant sounds.I don;t have a reader yet, so I’m not sure how well it works, but it does mean that all the figures get this nifty little symbol on their left foot.And now I have less excess plastic to worry about dealing with when I open these guys.Yay!
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
Ever since the end of The Force Awakens, I’ve been wanting this figure, so he was at the very top of my list of wants for this Force Friday.I actually found him and most of the other Last Jedi product a week early, when I stopped by the Walmart nearest my brother’s college after moving him in.Unfortunately, they were all restricted at the register, with a code claiming they’d been recalled for lead paint, so I wasn’t able to buy them then.When Force Friday rolled around, Luke was #1 on my priority list.When I actually got to the action figure aisle, the Lukes seemed to be missing, but they were just hiding at the back of the pegs.Of course, I discovered this when the guy next to me in the aisle flung literally ever figure on the peg in front of the two Lukes at me, but at least I got one of those two Lukes, right?I’m really happy I found this guy.He’s one of my favorites released in this style, and one of my favorite small-scale Star Wars figures in general.
Last Friday was Force Friday II, the big product launch for all of the cool stuff coming out to tie-in with this December’s The Last Jedi.There were a number of midnight openings for various retail stores, with Toys R Us really leading the charge.This is my third attendance of such an event, and each time I’ve had a rather different experience.If I had written this right at midnight on Thursday, it would have been a rather angry, distraught, and disappointed screed about everything wrong with fandom.There’s still a piece of that in this writing, but it’s really just an involved set-up for the much better part of the story.Let me ‘splain.
I arrived at my local Toys R Us at about 9:15, with both Tim and Super Awesome Girlfriend in tow.There were five people lined up outside the store.The first four looked to be long-term Star Wars fans; the sort of people you’d expect to see at an event like this.The fifth was an older woman with bleach-blonde, dressed in a pink t-shirt, spandex pants, and adidas flip-flops; she seemed out of place.She informed us that her purse next to her was saving a spot for her daughter; perhaps the daughter was the Star Wars fan and this woman was just being a supportive parent?Her first utterance of what would go on to be about a hundred 40 Year Old Virgin jokes aimed at the fans in attendance served as an indicator that the “supportive parent” guess was incorrect.
By 10:00, another five people had joined this woman in front of us in line.They all wore the same basic attire, with the same hair, and, apparently, none of them were this woman’s daughter, who she was still saving a spot for.They were all happy to take a spot ahead of us in line, and more than happy to join in on the first woman’s bashing of everyone attending.The phrase “wouldn’t usually be caught dead at something like this” came up many times.Eventually, the daughter arrived, another entry in the bleach-blonde brigade.She too joined in on the mocking of the fans.Oh joy.
With their whole cult in place, they began quizzing everyone what would be the hot items this year.It’s a pretty standard tactic for speculators who are looking for a quick buck; something most of the fans in attendance had dealt with before.We mostly responded with something along the lines of “well, I have a list.”When they received no satisfactory answer from direct questioning, they instead took to listening in on everyone’s conversations.Tim and I actually had quite a bit of fun with this, and began having a fake conversation about how important it was that we get a number of items that any fan would know are complete shelf-warmers.Despite this brief respite of fun, but 11:30, after two hours of listening to them insult my fellow fans and just be generally ugly people, I was about ready to call it quits and just head home.Fortunately, Tim and Jess were able to talk me down a bit, and we ended staying through.
By the time the doors opened a little after midnight, each of the seven people in this group had grabbed their own shopping cart, and despite the very polite TRU employee’s instructions to enter single file, not shove, and not run, they proceeded to barrel through the doors in rows of two, using the carts to push others out of the way, while making a mad dash for the main aisle.When I got back to the aisle, the group had gone straight to work scooping the entire contents of shelves right into their carts.I almost gave up again, but then I took a closer look at exactly what was being scooped into their carts: Funko Pops.*They hadn’t found their way to the actual figures at all.
I made my way through the chaos of the aisle, and managed to piece together a more or less complete set of the small-scale figures, along with the one vehicle I really wanted.No sign of any new Black Series figures, but I was content with what I had, so I made my way to the front of the store, on the way passing the cult of bleach-blonde speculators, who now had three shopping carts absolutely overflowing with merchandise.And then I started laughing to myself.The content sort of laugh that comes from seeing someone so ugly, so repulsive, and so reprehensible come face to face with karmic justice.You see, in addition to the cart overflowing with an entire rack of Pops, there were also two full carts of Black Series figures.Not the new, desirable ones; oh no.Two full carts of the Jyns and Cassians and Poes and Finns and Zuvios that have been rotting on the pegs for almost a year.The ones that Target was just clearing out for $3 a piece a week ago.And they paid full price for every single one.Best of luck unloading those, ladies.
Now, if at this moment, you’re thinking this karmic justice is the “better part” of my story, let me stop you there.My joy doesn’t come from someone else’s misfortune, as just and satisfying as it may be.My joy comes from about 20 minutes later, after a good portion of the crowd from the TRU made their way over to the Target across the street.
When I got there, the store was mostly cleared out, but there were still a few items to chose from.Shortly after I got there, a family with a young son, no older than 4, who had been near the end of the TRU line, came into the main aisle.An older fan held the replica Poe Dameron helmet.The father of the boy quickly dashed over and asked where this man found the helmet and were there anymore.The fan pointed them in the direction and said there was one left last he checked.Of course, by the time the family got to the spot, everything was gone.The father came back to the helmet-wielding fan and began asking what other stores might be open and might still have this item in stock, explaining that this was the one item that his son had really been looking forward to getting.The older fan paused for a moment, before outstretching his arms: “You can have mine.”
This guy got it.He understood the importance of this moment.He understood that this was more than a business; that sometimes, the most satisfying thing is just being nice to someone else.Before departing, the boy’s father stopped, turned to the fan and said: “Sir, I need you to understand the importance of this moment.What you just did?Giving this up to my son?Across the street someone else did the opposite.My son and I will remember this.Thank you, sir.”
I don’t have anyway of getting a message to this person, but if I did I like to tell him this: sir, I don’t know your name, or anything about you beyond the one hobby we share in common, but last Friday, you were my hero.You salvaged my night from being utterly miserable, and you reminded me that there are still good people out there.Thank you for that.
*No offense to anyone who collects Pops.I have been known to enjoy them myself, but in a week’s time, the Last Jedi Pops will be available from practically every retail store in the country.They may be popular, but they’re unlikely to be scarce anytime soon.
Alright guys, this is your warning: the Star Wars reviews are coming. Lots of them. You might be aware that recently, the “Force Friday” promotional event took place. Well, I went to the midnight opening of the local TRU to help Ethan snag at least some of the new arrivals and boy did he snag. Now that that’s out of the way, I figured today would be an appropriate time to take a look at one of Nerf’s offerings from the previous Force Friday. So let’s take a look at the signature weapon of one of the most over-hyped class of trooper from Rogue One, the Imperial Death Trooper Blaster.
THE BLASTER ITSELF
The Death Trooper Blaster was released in 2016 as a promotion for the film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The blaster uses a 3-barrel smart AR with a pump action prime. The shell of the blaster is completely original tooling and does a good job conveying the look of the E-11D blaster rifle seen in the film. This particular series of Star Wars tie-in blasters were the first to incorporate the “Glowstrike” feature which would activate lights inside the blaster to shine on special Glowstrike darts with glow in the dark bodies. The end result of this was having the darts themselves glow as they were fired, producing a laser blast kind of effect. In the case of the DTB, the lights are activated when the priming slide is pulled back, and deactivated following the trigger pull. We’ve seen similar gimmicks implemented before going all the way back to the N-Strike Firefly REV-8 but this version seems to be the best iteration we’ve had so far. Also, new to the Star Wars branded products, starting with this line, was the added lights and sounds when the trigger is pulled, adding further to the feeling of firing a laser blaster. Pulling the trigger of the DTB plays the sound clip of a laser blast and causes a couple red LEDs along the top of the barrel to flash in succession. It’s nothing terribly special and I was extremely skeptical when I found out it was a feature that couldn’t be turned off, but having played with it thoroughly enough, it does add a bit of enjoyment having a blaster that makes its own sound effects instead of making them myself. I do still make them myself from time to time, though. The lights and sounds as well as the Glowstrike feature require 3 AAA batteries to work, which, conveniently, come installed in the blaster. Actually firing the blaster can be done entirely without batteries, but at that point it just becomes like any other Nerf blaster. The DTB has an attachment rail on the top of the blaster and a stock attachment in the rear. It should be noted that mine is the standard red version, but the TRU exclusive comes with a bright green color scheme as well as matching scope and stock accessories. As just the blaster, it has a nice compact feel, almost like it could pass as an oversized pistol. Everything feels comfortable and solid in the hand. Admittedly, it is still a rather large blaster for only 3 shots, and like with many tie-in products, performance is a hair below par for more core Nerf lines. This is definitely an indoor blaster, and while it doesn’t shoot quite as far or hard as blasters from the Elite series, the flashing lights and laser sound effects leave quite an impression when bursting into your sibling’s room to dispense Imperial justice. The red version of the Imperial Death Trooper Blaster comes with 3 Glowstrike Star Wars branded darts and 3 AAA batteries installed.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
I think this particular release of Star Wars Nerf is the best example of how my opinion of something in theory can be completely different from my opinion of it in practice. Like I said, I was expecting to hate the blasters given that they all made pew pew noises and there was no off switch for it. Having had them for a year at this point, I can say they are some of the easiest and most fun to just pick up and pew pew around my house with.
“A larger version of the standard combat AT-AT, the AT-ACT walker features a dedicated cargo bed for the transportation of heavy building materials or combat munitions. It was deployed at major Imperial construction projects, such as shipyards and sprawling research installations.”
Toy Fans can be a bit stubborn and short-sighted sometimes.There’s this innate inability to see that not every product is aimed at them, and that adult collectors only make up a very small fraction of the target audience of any given mass produced line. This means that there’s whole chunks of product not meant for us in the slightest, or at the very least, items that are designed with kids in mind first and adult collectors second.After going pretty hardcore into the adult collector sphere for a while, Hasbro has shifted their Star Wars product into a more toy-etic form, in an effort to maximize sales and appeal to the new generations of collectors being brought in by the franchise’s newest films.The new product has been an overall success for Hasbro, but some of the more hardcore sections of the fanbase have been less than pleased.There’s been a lot of crying foul, particularly when it comes to the various new vehicles, which have proved quite divisive.One of the most divisive was today’s item, the Rapid Fire Imperial AT-ACT.
THE VEHICLE ITSELF
The AT-ACT is part of Hasbro’s Star Wars: Rogue One line.It was released about a month or so after the first big product launch for Rogue One.As with the two X-Wings and the TIE Fighter, there’s a bit of assembly required when you open up the AT-ACT.The the legs, small blaster stalks for the head, and the cargo bed are packed separately from the main base body and head, and they need to be snapped into place (which takes a fair bit of force, let me tell you).Once fully assembled, the AT-ACT stands 16 inches tall and 12 inches deep.That’s far from accurate scaling for the 3 3/4 inch figures, which was a point of contention for some collectors.It should really be twice the size at least, if not even larger, since the AT-ACT was even larger than the AT-AT.To give a frame of reference, there’s a shot in Rogue One of an X-Wing fighter flying through the open cargo hold of one of these things.At best, you can probably get one of the old Action Fleet X-Wings through there.That being said, at the current size the AT-ACT’s large enough to dwarf just about everything else in a collection, all while keeping it to a manageable size for production and storage purposes.Could it have been larger? Perhaps, but for most people it’s not going to make a huge difference, and this is hardly the first time a Star Wars vehicle has been underscaled for a toyline.The sculpt on the AT-ACT does a decent enough job translating the film design into plastic form.The important details are all there, and it matches aesthetically with the vehicles from Force Awakens and the like.There’s a little bit of cheating in a few spots (such as the slightly larger head relative to the rest of the body) which has been done to maximize playability with the basic figures, but the overall appearance is still fairly close to the source material.When it comes to playability, there are two main spots that you can place the figures.Obviously, there’s a spot in the cockpit for the driver.While the film’s design has spots for two drivers, this one’s just got space for the one.This is in part due to the down-scaling, but also due to offering storage space for the four Nerf darts used by the firing feature, which I’ll touch on in a little bit.The other main spot for figures is in the main body’s removable cargo bed.It’s actually a pretty neat bit; the sides fold down on both sides, revealing a nicely detailed interior, as well as a plethora of footpegs to hold figures in place.There are even spots for the troopers to stow their rifles, which is a cool touch.The bed can be removed and deployed as a cool little base or installation, which also reveals the interior of the AT-ACT proper.There are even more details, as well as two panels that flip up to reveal footwells that can be used for standing space or additional storage.Paint is minimal on the AT-ACT, but not entirely absent; there’s some minor work throughout, and it’s all pretty decently applied.There’s also a sheet of decals to pick up some of the slack, and those work pretty well too.The AT-ACT is packed with three figures (which I’ll look at in just a second) as well as a cannon and a zipline, both of which can be plugged into either the main body of the vehicle or the cargo bed.A major selling point of this set was the two included action features.To make use of the features will require four D batteries.Both play features can be accessed using the various buttons on the AT-ACT’s back, which can be a little difficult to use.Fortunately, the AT-ACT is Bluetooth-enabled.You can download the “Star Wars: Studio FX” app to your phone and use it to control the AT-ACT remotely, which is a lot of fun.Onto the actual features!The first feature is the walking ability, which is pretty decent.It’s slow, and this thing definitely needs to be on a flat, uncarpeted surface to work best, but it’s an amusing feature.There are a number of associated sound effects and such, which help to sell the feature.There’s also a head movement capability worked into this, which is a little difficult to really get working, but nice nonetheless.The second feature is the titular “rapid fire” feature, which replicates the AT-ACT’s blaster capabilities through use of Nerf mechanics.There are four included Elite-style Nerf darts to use, and I find the feature to be generally pretty amusing myself.Don’t take my word for it, though.Here’s a word from the FiQ’s resident Nerf expert, Tim. Quoth Tim:
“With such an extensive history of military manufacturing such as G.I. Joe, Nerf, and Furby, it’s not surprising that the Galactic Empire contracted Hasbro to help develop weapons like the ones seen on the AT-ACT. The dart cannon in the walker’s head is optimized for size, using a greatly miniaturized version of the tried-and-true flywheel mechanisms seen in blasters like the Stryfe. The cannon uses a gravity-fed, 4-round magazine and an electronic pusher to feed the darts into the itty bitty flywheels, producing some rather hilariously flaccid results especially after the ominous revving noise that precedes each shot. Also, just as a fun side note, if we can assume the darts are in scale with the pilot figure, the full size projectiles would be almost 4-1/2 feet long.”
SERGEANT JYN ERSO
The first of the three included figures is the film’s leading lady, Sergeant Jyn Erso.As the main character, I suppose it makes sense to pack her in again, and they were undoubtedly trying to avoid the issues caused by leaving Rey out of the Millennium Falcon from TFA.That being said, I don’t believe Jyn ever actually interacts with an AT-ACT in the film, so her inclusion does seem a little bit out there.The figure stands about 3 1/2 inches tall and she has 5 points of articulation.She uses the same sculpt as the Jedha variant of Jyn from Series 2 of the main line.Of course, I never got that figure, so this one’s new to me.It’s a pretty decent sculpt, and I think I like this one more than the Eadu version.The likeness to Felicity Jones is definitely improved.The paintwork also appears to be a step-up from the single-carded released.The basic colors are all the same, but the application is a lot sharper, and she’s also got some extra detailing on the legs, indicating she’s been running around on Scarif’s beaches for a bit (not that it happens in the final film, but hey, let’s go with it).It’s a little on the heavy side, but it looks decent enough.Jyn is packed with her blaster, which is painted silver, rather than molded like the single releases, which looks a lot better.
IMPERIAL AT-ACT DRIVER
The AT-ACT isn’t going to get very far without someone to drive it, right?Well, as luck would have it, the second figure included with the AT-ACT is the Imperial AT-ACT Driver.This is easily the most sensible of the three figures included.The figure stands about 4 inches tall and he has the usual 5 points of articulation (though the hips are a bit limited).The larger scale AT-ACT Driver was a total parts re-use, but I don’t think that’s the case here.He’s definitely got some similarities to the basic Shoretrooper, but there are enough subtle differences between the two to illustrate that they aren’t made from the same molds.It’s a little weird that they aren’t the same sculpt, though, because the AT-ACT Driver has some slight inaccuracies to his design that would totally come from sharing parts with the Shoretrooper.Most glaringly, the skirting on his belt; the driver should have the same style of belt as the Hovertank Driver, but instead he’s got the Shoretrooper skirt, just painted the same color as the pants.It’s an odd choice.The other problem with the presence of the skirt is that it impedes the movement on his hips.Normally, I’m not a huge stickler about such things, but given that this figure’s whole purpose is being able to sit in the cockpit of the vehicle he was included with, it’s more than a little annoying.In terms of paint, this guy is fairly decent.Like the larger scale figure, he uses the deco of the AT-ACT Commander, as denoted by the grey on his shoulders.Where the larger figure kept the dark brown and bone white of the Tank Driver, this figure goes for a more straight black and white scheme.It’s not terrible, just different.The figure includes a large blaster rifle, which is the same one included with the two Scarif Troopers.
C2-B5
I can’t say I know much about ol’ C2 here, given its complete lack of presence in the final version of Rogue One.There were a few potential endings floating around, I suppose it’s possible C2 played a role in one of those.Or, perhaps Hasbro just really wanted to put an astromech in this set.It’s Star Wars.It wouldn’t be right if they didn’t get an astromech droid in there somewhere.This figure’s about 2 1/2 inches tall and has 3 points of articulation.C2’s a head-to-toe repaint of the Mission Series R2-D2 (which was re-released for Force Awakens as well).It’s a pretty standard astromech sculpt, so that’s reasonable.It’s a shame it couldn’t have been one of the slightly better articulated R2s, but they’re undoubtedly going for consistency here.Instead of the usual R2 colors, C2 is done up in a more imperial dark grey and silver.Not a bad look, though perhaps not the most exciting color scheme.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
I was intrigued by this set when the Rogue One product started hitting, but the initial $300 price tag was just too much for me.Rather quickly after the holidays, Target started marking it down to $150.At that price, I was very much tempted, but my finances at the time didn’t really allow me to drop that much on one item.I mentioned it to my parents, but that was kind of the end of it.It disappeared from shelves, and I convinced myself that I hadn’t really needed it that much.Flash forward to my birthday this year, when I unwrapped this.Apparently, mentioning my interest in it to my parents was *not* the end of it.My mom went out the very next day and bought this, and then they hung onto it for six months.This thing got a lot of flak from the fanbase, and perhaps some of it was deserved, but this is a really, really fun toy.I’m definitely very happy to have it!
“After Han Solo was captured by Boba Fett, several attempts were made on Luke Skywalker’s life which threatened the future of the Rebellion. Princess Leia Organa and Chewbacca sought to protect the young Jedi, and traveled to Coruscant to follow up leads surrounding these attempts. They hoped to draw from the extreme intelligence gathering network of the Black Sun, a criminal organization whose operations extended to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. Because Coruscant is the homeworld of the Empire- a dangerous place for any member of the Rebel Alliance- Leia disguised herself as the renowned Ubesian bounty hunter Boushh. Boushh’s helmet concealed her entire face while a built-in voxscrambler altered her voice to resemble that of an Ubesian; a false I.D. and code taken from Black Sun completed her disguise and provided a safe level of anonymity. Little did she know that Prince Xizor, Underlord of Black Sun, was behind the murder attempts on Skywalker, and had his sights set on Leia as well.”
Long bio there. How do you follow that, amirite? Um, so, yeah, today’s another Star Wars review. Yaaaay. This time around I’m taking a look at another Princess Leia figure, specifically the one from that time she pretended to be a bounty hunter. Everybody loves bounty hunters!
THE FIGURE ITSELF
Leia in Boushh disguise was released not as part of the main Power of the Force II line, but instead as part of the basic assortment of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (she would later see a re-release on a standard PotF2 green card, though). She has the notoriety of being the only movie-based figure in the line-up. The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation. As with the PotF2 Slave Leia figure, this Leia is a bit on the tall side. This was a recurring issue early into this line; at least they were consistent, right? Leia sports a unique sculpt. It’s fairly decent for the time, being only slightly pre-posed and generally pretty decently proportioned. It captures the look from the movie pretty well, and only makes minor stylistic adjustments. The thermal detonator in her left hand is permanently attached, which removes a little bit of versatility from the figure, but given how integral that piece is to her intro in Jedi, I’m willing to give them a pass. The head doesn’t exactly look like Carrie Fisher, but it also doesn’t look like a chimpanzee, which puts it ahead of most of the Leias of the time. The paintwork on Leia is generally pretty solid. The colors match well enough with what we see on-screen, and the application is all pretty clean. Leia was packed with a removable helmet and half-cape to complete her Boushh look, as well as the usual staff, which according to the packaging is actually a blaster rifle. Who knew? I certainly didn’t.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
This wasn’t my first Leia (that was the monkey-faced ANH version), but this figure has the distinction of being my go-to Leia for most of my childhood. I actually don’t 100% recall where this figure came from. She was probably a gift, likely for my birthday, but that’s really just me making an educated guess. Nevertheless, this was my favorite Leia for a good long while, and is the strongest of the ’90s Leia figures. This figure is pretty much single-handedly responsible for my love of Leia as Boushh.
Check out this review’s Flashback Friday Figure Addendum here!
Oh hey, look!It’s another K-2 figure!It’s been, like, forever since I’ve looked at one of these.But, of course, there were still other K-2 figures in existence, so it was really just a matter of time before I got another one on the site.I’ve looked at pretty much all of the lower-end K-2s, so now I’m turning my sights to the higher-end stuff, starting with Bandai Japan’s S.H. Figuarts offering!
THE FIGURE ITSELF
K-2SO was released as part of the Rogue One sub-set of the main S.H. Figuarts line, and he hit shortly after the film’s theatrical release last December.The figure stands a little under 7 1/2 inches tall (he’s just a smidge smaller than the Black Series and Elite Series figures) and he has 34 points of articulation.Not only does he have the most articulation of any of the K-2 figures, he’s also got the most mobility by a very large margin.The sheer range of posability on this guy is just insane.Things like the shoulder pads are on their own hinged joints, allowing them to be posed out of the way, which helps to maximize the possible range of all the articulation.I didn’t know I wanted a K-2 that could pull of crazy high kung-fu kicks, but by god did this figure convince me that was a thing I wanted.Posability is one thing, but how’s the actual sculpt?As much as I loved the Black Series sculpt, there were some definite inaccuracies present.This figure fixes all of those issues, and presents the most accurate version of K-2 we’ve seen yet in plastic form.In addition to the sheer accuracy of the sculpt, the detail work is really clean, and really, really sharp.Truly amazing work.Given that he’s made from a less rubbery plastic than the Black Series figure, I was a little worried about this guy’s durability, but so far I’ve had no issues.Obviously, he’s not going to hold up to seriously rigorous play, but he’s still pretty solid.The paint on K-2SO is also very top-notch.The base color is the appropriate gunmetal finish, which looks super sleek.The small details are really nicely handled as well.I love how they handled the eyes in particular; the lenses are clear plastic, with details painted beneath.I do believe this is the first K-2 to implement the eyes in the proper way.K-2 is a little lighter on extras than most Figuarts offerings, but he does at least include three pairs of hands (in fists, gripping, and open gesture poses), and a clear display stand with a posable arm.I do like the stand, but I really wish he’d included the blaster pistol he has during the climax.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
K-2 here was given to me as a birthday present from my boi Tim.He’s apparently run out of Aliens to buy me, so he went with the next best thing.I didn’t know what to expect from this guy, but I have to say, I’m very impressed.The Black Series release is still perhaps the best toy of K-2, but this figure is definitely my favorite.
“Rom Mohc is an Imperial general involved in the testing of advanced battle droids known as Dark Troopers. One of these droids ends up on Tatooine and becomes activated by scavenging Jawas. The Dark Trooper attacks three friends camping in the desert. But things change when the prototype encounters a clumsy IG97 Battle Droid on Tatooine, and the machines battle each other.”
The Star Wars Expanded Universe may not be as “official” as it once was, but when it was in full swing, it encompassed a whole lot of stuff.TV, video games, novels, and of course, comic books.There are many, many unique characters there-in, with many of them remaining exclusive to one medium or the other.Only a handful of characters have made appearances in multiple forms of media.The set I’m looking at today includes one of those cross-over characters, as well as a character that only has one appearance to date.Without further ado, let’s take a look at IG97 and Rom Mohc.
THE FIGURES THEMSELVES
This pair was released in 2010, during the Star Wars: Legacy Collection line.They were part of the Comic Packs sub-line, and were offered as a Walmart-exclusive set.The two are based on the Star Wars Tales #4 story “Sand Blasted,” in theory at least…
IG97
IG97, or IG-97 as he would be if he followed the usual droid naming conventions, is the less frequently appearing of the two figures included in this set.In fact, his only appearance is in Star Wars Tales #4.While he’s not the most major player in the story, he’s a fairly sensible choice.The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation.He’s surprisingly posable for a figure of his scale, and definitely a lot of fun to play with.IG-97 is built using the body of the 2009 Legacy Collection version of the Battle Droids from the prequels.It’s a pretty close match for the design of thedroid from the comic, and it was one of the best droid bodies Hasbro had at the time (and even now, it really hasn’t been topped).He gets a new head, which is based on the art from the book.This is a point of contention for some, who find him to be too cartoony and goofy to truly fit in with the rest of the figures of this era.Personally, I rather like him, and enjoy the character and expression present in the head sculpt.I certainly prefer this look to the basic Battle Droid head.For a figure that’s largely a pale tan color, the paint on this guy is surprisingly well-done.He’s molded in the base tan, and then has a darker brown wash, which brings out the details of his sculpt very nicely, and also helps to replicate the line-art from the comic.IG-97 included a standard Battle Droid blaster, as well as both the standard and commander back-packs from the Battle Droid.
ROM MOHC
Rom Mohc is a character with a decent chunk of appearances, in a number of differing mediums.He first appeared as the antagonist of the Dark Forces video game.Subsequent appearances have been related to that, by and large.Him getting a figure isn’t that odd, but it being part of a set based on “Sand Blasted” is somewhat strange, given that he only appears in about 3 panels of the story at the very beginning, and he’s almost completely divorced from everything else that’s going on.But, he’s here nonetheless.The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 14 paint of articulation.Despite technically having more articulation than his pack-mate, he’s much stiffer, and way more limited in posability.The figure is largely re-used, with his upper torso and arms coming from the Revenge of the Sith Tarkin (which also served as the basis for the previously reviewed Comic Pack Tarkin) and his legs coming from Janek Sunber.He gets a new head to top it all off.While the actual quality of the pieces used isn’t bad, they don’t add up to a figure that looks much of anything like any of Mohc’s appearances; certainly not the comic that this guy was actually supposed to be based on.A lot of it comes from the re-used body, which just doesn’t have the right build for Mohc.All of the available Imperial officer bodies were on the skinny side, so there’s not much Hasbro could have done, I guess.The paint on Mohc is decent enough.It’s not terribly exciting, being mostly drab colors, but it gets the job done.He’s packed with a SE-14C blaster, which he has a little bit of trouble holding.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
I wasn’t super familiar with either character in this set prior to acquiring it, but I’m always a sucker for a cool robot toy, meaning this sets been in my sights for a little while.I spotted the two at Yesterday’s Fun, and Super Awesome Girlfriend insisted on getting them for me as an early birthday present.I can take or leave Mohc, since he’s not super exciting.Still, he works as a nice generic Imperial Officer, so that’s something.IG-97 more than makes up for any of Mohc’s shortcomings, and is easily one of my favorite Star Wars figures I’ve gotten in a while.
Chewbacca is another of the 11 launch figures for the Star Wars: The Last Jedi line. He comes from the Teal assortment, and gets to fight with C-3PO over which one of them’s the more known quantity in the set. Chewbacca is based on his ever so slightly tweaked look from the new trilogy. It’s not much different from the prior design; the big change is the new bandolier. The figure’s a big one, standing almost 5 inches tall. He’s got the standard 5 points of articulation, though the neck movement is rather limited by the design. The sculpt looks to re-use the torso and left arm from the TFA Millennium Falcon Chewie, albeit with some slightly sharper mold-lines. The rest is new, or at the very least tweaked. The head and bandolier remove the elements of the Falcon headset, and the head gets an open mouthed expression in contrast to the closed mouths of the last two Chewies. The bandolier is a separate piece, but thanks to the slight divot on the torso, it actually stays in place, which I’m a fan of. The legs 
now have the slightest bend at the knees, making him appear to be mid-stride, and the right arm is bent at the elbow, so he can hold his bowcaster at least a little better than the prior figures. There’s a nice heft to this figure, which I think has been missing from some of the more recent Chewbaccas (the Black Series version in particular felt far too scrawny to me). Getting the paint right on a Chewbacca figure is always a little difficult. Fur’s not easy to handle, especially at a mass-production scale. This figure does okay. Some of the transitions could stand to be a little more subtle, but I’ve seen far worse. The work on the eyes and mouth is very sharp, and the bandolier is pretty decent, too. Chewie is packed with his bowcaster, which is a new, three-piece mold. It’s a cool idea, but ends up falling apart a lot, especially when you try getting him to hold it. Chewie also includes the newest Star Wars-sensation, the Porg! I have no clue how prominent these little guys will end up being, but it’s nice to get at least one small-scale version in the initial launch, and especially nice that it’s not in a huge set (like poor BB-8 was for TFA).
The Figure In Question 