Tag Archives: Star Wars

#1165: Obi-Wan Kenobi

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

OBI-WAN KENOBI

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

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When Star Wars: The Black Series first starting to hit, I made up a list of figures I really wanted to see released, entirely made up of Original Trilogy characters.  As the line progressed, a lot of those figures found their way into release.  In series three, I hit my first real breaking point with the announcement of Obi-Wan Kenobi.  Rather than the OT, Alec Guinness version that most fans were hoping for, we got the Episode III version of the character.  The fact that it wasn’t the version most people wanted, coupled with the general weak quality of the final product made him one of the line’s longest lasting peg warmers (the fact that he was subsequently re-packed just a few series after his initial release didn’t help matters).  Without much effort, you can probably still find him in some retail stores, almost four years after his release.  That doesn’t really make a good case for releasing another version of the character, no matter how fan demanded it may be.  Fortunately, Hasbro wasn’t too deterred, and we’ve finally gotten a proper Alec Guinness Kenobi, which I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

obiwan2Obi-Wan was released in the fifth series of the Rogue One-themed Star Wars: The Black Series figures.  He’s figure 32 in the line, which places him around the middle of this six-figure series numerically.  Obi-Wan was also one of the three summer convention exclusive Black Series figures for 2016, where he included an extra holographic Princess Leia accessory, but apart from that, the two releases are pretty much the same.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and has 27 points of articulation.  Like a lot of figures in this particular line, Obi-Wan is a mix of sculpted and tailored elements.  He’s mostly sculpted, with just the robe being cloth.  Cloth robes are nothing new, and Obi-Wan’s works pretty well, actually.  The rest of the figure is an all-new sculpt, which is probably one of Hasbro’s strongest Black Series sculpts to date.  In particular, the head sculpt is a very good recreation of Guinness’ likeness.  There have been some decent likenesses in this line before, but I think this is the best one they’ve ever done.  Heck, it’s just one of Hasbro’s best head sculpts period.  I really like it.  The rest of the sculpt, while not being quite as “wow” as the head, is still quite solid, and definitely translates his movie design into action figure form quite nicely.  Even the paintwork on this guy is pretty solid.  Everything is nice and clean, and the head has a lot of nice variance in the shading (it’s still a bit too blonde, but seems less off than Han and Krennic).  I wouldn’t have minded a bit of weathering on the robes, but they don’t look awful.  My one complaint about this figure has to do with the included extra.  He just includes his lightsaber, which is a perfectly fine extra, and is even quite nicely done.  The problem I ran into is that my Kenobi’s saber blade broke off, which is quite annoying.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was anticipating finding this guy would be difficult, but it actually wasn’t.  I found him at the Gamestop outside of Super Awesome Girlfriend’s hometown, just mixed in with the Force Awakens and Rogue One figures.  I actually wasn’t going to get him (it was right before Christmas and my budget was a bit tight), but Super Awesome Girlfriend refused to let me leave him there and ended up buying him for me.  I’m really happy to have this guy, and he’s easily one of my favorite entries in this line.  After being rather letdown by the Tatooine Luke, this guy was a nice pick-me-up.  Here’s to more like him!

#1164: Scarif Stormtrooper Squad Leader

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

SCARIF STORMTROOPER SQUAD LEADER

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

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Like pretty much every single Star Wars film, Rogue One introduced it’s own set of faceless troopers, variations on the original Stormtroopers.  In addition to the basic Stormtroopers and TIE Fighter pilots, we also got Krennic’s bodyguards the Death Troopers, a few new vehicle pilots, and (my most favorite) the Scarif Troopers (also known as the Shoretroopers, a name I kind of prefer).  None of them really amounted to all that much in the final film, but they did make for a slightly more diverse selection of faceless mooks for the heroes to take out right and left.  There were a few different types of the Shoretroopers featured, and thus there are few different figures available.  I’ve already looked at the Black Series version of the basic Shoretrooper, but there’s also the Squad Leader, which I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

scarifsquadleader2The Scarif Stormtrooper Squad Leader was released as part of the second assortment of Rogue One-themed Star Wars: The Black Series figures, which, as I noted in yesterday’s Krennic review, is actually the eighth series of red-boxed Black Series figures.  The Squad Leader is figure 28, making him the second numerically in this series of three.  The figure stands just shy of 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  For the most part, I’ve seen this figure before, both in terms of design, and in terms of the actual pieces in use.  Of course, he’s sporting the same design as the smaller Squad Leader, albeit slightly more detailed.  As far as pieces, he’s built on the Hovertank Pilot body, just like the basic Shoretrooper, and also makes use of the same helmet as the basic Shoretrooper.  These remain good pieces, and I can hardly fault the re-use, since they should be consistent.  He gets a new belt piece, which features the kama sported by the Squad Leader.  Surprisingly enough, the articulation isn’t all that affected by the new piece, and the general quality of the sculpt matches well with the rest of the pieces.  Most of the new-ness of this figure comes from the paintwork.  At the most basic level, it’s pretty similar to the basic Shroetrooper, which makes sense.  He’s also got a lot of very similar weathering to that figure, though it should be noted that it’s slightly different, which prevents the two of them from looking too cookie-cutter.  The main difference between the two figures is the presence of the blue detailing on his upper torso and left shoulder.  It does a lot to differentiate him, and I like the extra splash of color it adds.  In addition, the weathering seen on the rest of the armor is also seen on the blue sections, which looks pretty cool.  The Squad Leader includes a larger blaster rifle.  It’s got the same base as the usual Stormtrooper blaster, but with a number of extra add-ons.  It makes for a pretty fun new design.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As with Krennic, the Squad Leader was picked up for me by Super Awesome Girlfriend, during a bit of a “stress buy.”  After getting the smaller version of this guy, I definitely wanted the larger one too, though I initially thought I’d be okay with the basic Shoretrooper.  Once I saw this guy, I knew I needed him too.  He’s just as much fun as the basic trooper, and I’m very happy to have gotten him.

Also, fun fact: the Rogue One products were solicited to retailers using code names.  The Rebels and the Imperials were the “SEALS” and “SHARKS,” and each figure was then given a short descriptor.  It seems Walmart never changed the codenames to the real names in their system, so this guy rung up as “SHRK TOOPER” which I found rather amusing.

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#1163: Director Krennic

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

DIRECTOR KRENNIC

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

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Star Wars is a franchise just as much defined by its villains as its heroes (if not more so).  Darth Vader is pretty much THE iconic movie villain, and every subsequent movie’s villain has had to do their best to live up to the shadow cast by Vader.  Rogue One of course made use of Vader himself, but only as an incidental antagonist.  The primary antagonist was Director Orson Krennic, who is pretty much a departure from Vader in every possible way.  He’s small in stature, largely unimposing, speaks in a notably unrefined manner, is a fan of empty threats, and is even dressed primarily in white.  He was a refreshing change of pace for the franchise’s villains, and Ben Mendelsohn gave a fantastic performance in the role.  Krennic has proven to be one of the more difficult characters to track down in figure form, though he’s available in both primary scales.  I was fortunate to get ahold of the larger figure, which I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

krenicbs2Director Krennic is part of the second series of Rogue One-based Star Wars: The Black Series figures, which is technically Series 8 of the “red box” Black Series that was launched with The Force Awakens.  Krennic is figure 27 in the line, making him numerically the first figure in the series.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and has 27 points of articulation.  Krennic is sporting an all-new sculpt, but I’ll be genuinely surprised if we don’t see most of this body again for Tarkin at the very least.  It’s a very good translation of the Imperial officer’s uniform seen in all of the OT films.  All of the smaller details are properly placed and there’s even a nice bit of texturing on the tunic and pants, showing the fiber of the fabric.  The neck is rather on the scrawny side (which, admittedly, is another point in favor of this being re-used for Tarkin), but that’s actually covered pretty well by the cape.  The cape is sculpted, which is different for the line, since all the prior capes/robes have been cloth.  I’m certainly not complaining; it’s obviously a bit restricting, but for a character like krenicbs4Krennic, who’s not incredibly mobile, and the end result is immensely better looking than a cloth piece would be.  The head sculpt is okay, but not anything outstanding.  From certain angles, you can see Mendelsohn in there, but by and large he’s rather off.  Still, it’s not an awful sculpt, and far from the worst likeness the line has given us.  Krennic’s paintwork continues the general upward trend we’ve been seeing on Hasbro’s collector oriented lines.  While he’s not as impressive as, say, K-2 or the Scarif Trooper, the work here is still very clean, and matches well with what’s seen on screen.  Of note, the hair is greyer here than it was on the Force Awakens Han from earlier this year, though it’s still a little closer to a light blonde than what’s seen in the movie.  Clearly, someone in licensing is against grey hair.  In addition to the removable cape, Krennic includes his custom blaster pistol, which can be stored in his holster.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While Super Awesome Girlfriend was looking for the Leia figure I reviewed yesterday, she came across this guy and decided that I needed him.  She does that a lot, but she also tends to be right about that a lot too, so yeah.  After seeing the movie, I’m definitely happy to have him, and this figure looks really cool when flanked by all of the specialized Trooper’s from the movie.

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#1162: Princess Leia

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

PRINCESS LEIA

STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE

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Okay, I’d like to start today’s review by saying that the subject of today’s review was picked and put on the review schedule over a month ago.  Obviously, I wasn’t expecting Carrie Fisher’s recent heart attack.  I and everyone else here at the FiQ are praying for the best for Carrie and the rest of her family.  In honor of her and in support of her ongoing recovery, here’s this Princess Leia figure.

EDIT: I just learned of Ms. Fisher’s passing.  My thoughts and prayers go out to her family.  She will be greatly missed.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

leiarebels2Princess Leia was released in the second series of Star Wars: Rogue One figures.  She’s not actually based on Rogue One, but is instead based on her appearance from Rebels.  The figure stands about 3 1/2 inches tall and she has 5 points of articulation.  In Rebels, Leia’s design was based on some of the early Ralph McQuarrie designs for Leia, which is in keeping with the aesthetic of the rest of the show.  The figure gets an all-new sculpt, which does a pretty solid job of translating the design into plastic.  While Leia is a cartoon version of her character and meant to be a good decade or so younger than her movie appearances, you can still see a bit of Carrie Fisher in there, thus allowing you to pretty easily identify who she’s meant to be.  The proportions are all pretty sound (though obviously a little on the exaggerated side), and the details are all nice and sharply defined.  The hip articulation coulee possibly be worked into the sculpt a little more smoothly, but that’s really the only negative I can think of.  Her paintwork is probably some of the sharpest work I’ve seen on any of these smaller scale figures.  The color palette is nice and distinct, and all of the application is nice and clean.  No misplaced lines or wonky hair on this figure.  For accessories, Leia sports the E-11 Stormtrooper blaster, as well as yet another version of the grapple piece included with Cassian and Sabine.  It’s getting common enough that I think the missile launchers should be worried about being replaced.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was unable to find Leia when I picked up the rest of the Series 2 on Black Friday, which actually let me down a bit, since I was quite looking forward to the figure.  I ultimately found her a few weeks later at the same time as the Black Series Scarif Trooper, but only had the funds for one, so the trooper won out.   However, I mentioned it to Super Awesome Girlfriend and if you know anything about her, you know where this is going.  Yep, the next time she was at Walmart, she made a point of finding this Leia figure for me.  This is a pretty fun little figure, and a nice addition to my steadily growing Rebels collection.

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#1155: Kanan Jarrus

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

KANAN JARRUS

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

kananbs2

So, when The Black Series was launched, the focus was most prominently on the Original Trilogy characters (with one or two Prequel characters here and there, but definitely secondary).  As the line has continued, it’s become a bit more inclusive, adding The Force Awakens, of course, but also some Clone Wars and Rebels characters (and in the most recent series, even a proper EU character).  Today, I’ll be looking at one of those Rebels figures, namely Kanan Jarrus!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

kananbs3Kanan was released in the sixth series of the third round of Star Wars: The Black Series (i.e. the sixth series of Force Awakens Black Series).  He’s figure #19 in the line, which I believe makes him the first Rebels figure numerically.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  This figure takes Kanan’s animated design and sort of real-world-izes it.  It’s a good plan on Hasbro’s part; with the smaller scale figures, you’re guaranteed to get a larger quantity of them, so the stylized look won’t stand out as much, but for the larger figures, where animated releases will be far more spaced out, it’s far better to have them fit with the rest of the established line.  This way Kanan can get right to mowing through Stormtroopers without waiting for a proper Rebels Trooper release.  Overall, I think Kanan’s sculpt does a reasonable job of taking Kanan’s animated design and translating into how he might look in a live action film.  It’s not perfect, and I do really think Hasbro would have been smart to base Kanan on his voice actor Freddie Prinze, Jr in terms of likeness and build.  While it certainly looks like Kanan, he still ends up being a little more cartoony than a real person; his eyes (and head in general, really) are rather large, and his torso and arms seem very scrawny.  They’re certainly not as exaggerated as his animated counterpart, but when compared to some of the other figures from the line, he does look ever so slightly famished.  On the plus side, the texture work on the figure’s clothes is pretty outstanding, even better than a few of the other Black Series figures.  I like that each article of clothing has its own texture.  As far as the paint work goes, Kanan matches up with most of the more recent Black Series releases.  He’s a notable improvement over some of the prior figures, and most of the work is pretty sharp.  He could probably stand to have a little more accent work in a few spots, but what’s there works.  There is this weird clump scratched paint on his neck thing, almost like he was scratched before the paint had completely dried, but that’s the only real nit.  Kanan is packed with sidearm blaster, as well as his lightsaber, the hilt of which is designed got separate into two pieces that clip onto his belt, just like on the show.  It’s not the world’s largest accessory complement, but it’s better than several other figures in the line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, Kanan was released prior to me getting into Rebels, which means I saw him a number of times and passed him up, since I didn’t know the character (yes, I know I bought all of the Rogue One and Force Awakens stuff before seeing the movies and “knowing the characters.”  You’re very smart.  Now shut up).  By the time I got into the show and actually wanted this guy, he had pretty much disappeared from shelves.  Fortunately for me, there are still some cases of series 6 making their way out there, and one such case had hit the Target where I found the second series of Rogue One figures, allowing me to grab this guy at the same time.  Karan has his flaws, but so did a lot of figures in this particular series, and at least his don’t prevent him from being a fun action figure.

Rogue One: A Movie Review

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Movie Reviews and tagged with ,

rogueonecast

I don’t do a lot of movie reviews here, seeing as I’m running an action figure review site and all, but the Star Wars franchise, more than a lot of franchises, is almost entirely built on the action figures that can be sold to go along with each new film release.  As with last year’s The Force Awakens, I’m sure that this next week will see Rogue One reviews galore, but I figured I may as well throw my hat into the ring.

THE ACTUAL REVIEW

Spoiler Free:

Let me start out by saying I did really like the movie.  It didn’t have perhaps the same awe-inspiring feel I got out of The Force Awakens, but quite frankly, it was just a very different sort of movie.  Where prior entries in the franchise have placed a heavy focus on the “Star” portion of the name, this movie flips over to the “Wars” part.  There is no denying that this is a movie about war.  A lot of reviews have cited it as a fairly straight war movie.  I personally would cite it as having the trappings of both a war movie and a heist movie. It’s a very different feel for the franchise, but it offers a plethora of new ground to be covered in future “stand-alone” movies.

jynbseadu1Felicity Jones’ Jyn Erso presents a slightly different type of lead than we’re used to.  Unlike Luke and Rey (and I suppose Anakin) who are unrelated innocents dragged into a grander conflict, Jyn is in it from the start, albeit in reluctant manner.  There’s a sort of a drive to Jyn that keeps her going, but at times it seems to just appear out of nowhere.  She’s certainly given motivation for each part of the mission, but sometimes her resolve seems stronger than her outward rebelliousness would indicate.

Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor takes the role of dashing rogue in this film.  However, where Cassian is still a charmer, he is perhaps one of the more compromised Rebels we’ve seen on screen.  Luna does a good job of conveying some of Cassian’s internal struggle, and he’s certainly likable, but he’s not a Han Solo clone; he’s cut from a rougher cloth.

cassianeadu3Alan Tudyk as K-2SO delivers what is easily my favorite performance in the film.  It’s an interesting commentary on the states of the various characters that he, a reprogrammed Imperial Droid, is the least compromised member of the titular team.  K-2 is, of course, CGI, but he’s built on Tudyk’s actual performance, and it really shows through.  There is a brief moment where K-2 passes another Security Droid, and just the way the two carry themselves when walking speaks volumes to what sort of a character K-2 is.  K-2 is sort of like Chewbacca, if Chewy happened to speak in a posh Brittish accent.  He lumbers about in the back of scenes, speaks to all of the characters with brash and blunt sort of innocence that makes him quite amusing and very relatable.

Donnie Yen and Jian Wong as Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malbus add another inseparable pair to the Star Wars universe.  The two have a lot of chemistry and feel like they’ve been companions for a good long while before the movie’s start.  They also offer up some of the movie’s best action sequences. Chirrut’s careful, plotted take down off the Stormtroopers on Jedha is beautifully choreographed, and then wonderfully contrasted with Baze’s portable lawnmower approach.

Riz Ahmed’s Bodhi Rook is this sort of sad, well-meaning guy.  He’s sort of key in getting the movie’s action going, and is a genuinely likable guy.  Perhaps the only oddity to Bodhi is how alone he always seems to be.  While the rest of the crew seems to naturally form into these little teams, Bodhi never seems to find his comfort zone.  There’s a slight hint of a possible friendship for him and K-2, but the movie’s frantic pace never really allows for it.

Forrest Whitaker’s turn as Saw Gurera is important, because he’s actually the first cartoon character to make the jump to the big screen.  It’s a smaller part than I think a lot of us expected.  He still leaves quite an impact on the story, and provides us with a well-meaning but misguided extremist, the likes of which we haven’t really had before (in the main movies, anyway).  Whitaker gives a very convincing portrayal of a shell-shocked veteran who is just in too far over his head.  His interactions with Jyn are an intriguing analysis of the problems with a warrior trying to take on a paternal role.

Speaking of paternal roles, Mads Mikkelson’s Galen Erso continues the franchise’s trend of troubled parent-child relationships, but with with a different twist.  Galen is sort of a tragic figure, and his relationship with the Empire calls to mind Wernher Von Braun’s with the Nazis.

What good are heroes without some villains, though?  Well, the main villain is Ben Mendlesohn’s Director Krennic.  While the Imperial command have always been rather spineless, I don’t think we’ve ever gotten anyone quite as detestable and slimy as Krennic.  He’s an opportunist, and a manipulator, and it’s clear that even amongst the other Imperials he’s not very well-liked.  What’s interesting is just how separated from the rest of the cast Krennic is.  He spends much of his screen time scheming just off to the side of the main heroes, but rarely does he directly interact. 

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Spoilers after the jump!

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#1151: Scarif Stormtrooper

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

SCARIF STORMTROOPER

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

scariftrooperbs2

Last night, showings started for Rogue One. I was traveling yesterday, so I won’t actually be seeing it until later this evening, but I sure hope it’s good. I’ve got one more Rogue One-related review lined up for today. This one gives us another look into some of the Empire’s new (well newly appearing, anyway) Troopers, specifically of the Scarif variety. I’ve already looked at one of the Squad leaders, but now I’m looking at one of regular grunts!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

scariftrooperbs3The Scarif Stormtrooper is Walmart’s Star Wars: The Black Series exclusive for 2016. He just started hitting right at the beginning of December, but as is always the case with these sorts of figures, he might be more prevalent in some areas than others. The figure is about 6 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation. I’ve already covered a lot of this figure before, thanks to most of his parts being shared with the TRU-exclusive Hovertank Pilot. This figure is really just a new head and belt/skirt. The designs share a lot of common pieces on the actual costumes, so the reuse is certainly warranted, and I had actually guessed this reuse was imminent when I reviewed that figure. It’s certainly a decent base body to start with, and I like it just as much here as I did the first time around. The new pieces mesh quite well with the preexisting parts, and look to be fairly accurate to the movie. The paint work on this guy is pretty solid, and actually a bit better than a lot of prior Black Series releases. The colors match up pretty well with the movie designs, and the base work is all pretty clean. What’s really cool is there’s even some additional accent work and weathering, which helps to make the Trooper look nice and battle worn. After a disappointing number of totally spotless figures, it’s a refreshing change of pace. The Scarif Trooper’s only accessory is a basic Stormtrooper blaster, though it’s worth noting that this blaster’s got the extra detailing that we saw with the Eadu Jyn, which is cool to see be a continuing trend.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Oh boy, this guy. Was getting this guy a fun trek. So, he wasn’t ever really announced by Hasbro. News of him instead broke when someone’s Walmart started running the ad showing off the figure on their in-store monitors right around Rogue Friday. Most other stores, including the one closest to me, followed suit shortly thereafter. Of course, while there may have been an ad, there was no sign of the figure anywhere. It was quite surreal, because it’s very rare to see an ad for any action figure these days, and it’s usually for figures that have long since left shelves. Getting the ad for the figure months before we see even a production sample? That’s weird. With no indication of when the figure would be showing up, I ended up stopping in at the closest Walmart rather frequently, and getting more and more disappointed with each visit. But, as luck would have it, after almost completely giving up, I stopped once more last week on a whim. I actually almost missed him at first; he’s supposedly hitting in solid cases of just him, but there was only the one left by the time I got there. I’m really glad I finally found him. The Scarif Trooper is my favorite of the new designs, and this is a very well put together figure too!

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#1150: Darth Vader

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

DARTH VADER

STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE

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I don’t have any specific numbers off of the top of my head, but if I had to hazard a guess as to which Star Wars character had the most action figures, I’d probably go for Darth Vader.  Something about this guy speaks to the fans, and that results in a lot of merchandise with his face (or mask, I guess) plastered all over it.  It’s not really a huge shock that Rogue One found a way to include good ol’ Darth in the film, especially since getting him in there didn’t take too many insane jumps of logic (I mean, I think.  Still haven’t seen the movie).  Vader has found his way into a few of the toylines for the film, because really, what licensee in their right mind wouldn’t take advantage of his latest appearance.  Today, I’ll be looking at his newest 3 3/4 inch figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

vaderro3Darth Vader is another figure from the second series of Hasbro’s Star Wars: Rogue One line.  The figure stands about 4 1/4 inches tall and has a whopping 6 points of articulation.  Waist articulation FTW!  Can that become standard again?  Believe it or not, Vader’s actually an entirely new sculpt, which is a pretty big deal.  He’s based specifically on his Rogue One design, which is itself just a slightly cleaned up version of the A New Hope design.  Believe it or not, ANH-accurate Vader’s are few and far between, which means this guy offers up something pretty darn cool, despite just being another Darth Vader.  On top of the ANH accuracy, the sculpt is also just one of the best Vader sculpts out there, especially when compared to Hasbro’s last few attempts at the character (including the less than stellar Black Series figure).  The scaling is right, the proportions are well matched, the details are sharp, and his left hand is doing his ANH force choke (which was slightly different from later films).  I suppose the lightsaber grip on the right hand could be a little better (his hold on the hilt is a little loose and awkward), but that’s really the only major complaint I can come up with.  He even gets a nice sculpted cape, which is much nicer than the mediocre cloth capes included with the last few Vaders.  Even the paint’s pretty good on this guy.  The color work is all pretty tight, and there’s some nice variation on the finish of the different blacks of his costume (to be truly ANH-accurate, the helmet should really be matte finish, but it looks like the shiny helmet was kept for Rogue One, meaning this guy’s still accurate).  Vader includes his lightsaber, as well as a big missile launcher, which is really, really goofy, especially with Vader.  He makes missile launchers goofier.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, oddly enough, Vader was my most wanted figure from the second series.  It’s strange, because it’s not like I don’t already have a handful of smaller-scale Vader figures, but I guess after getting the Rogue One Stormtrooper, which was such a great rendition of that design, I just really wanted a version of the big boss man himself that was of a matching quality.  Like the last four figures I’ve looked at, I picked up this Vader figure from Target late on Black Friday, and I was quite happy to find him.  The figure really turned out well, and this is definitely my go-to Vader moving forward!

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#1149: Chirrut Imwe

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

CHIRRUT IMWE

STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE

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Of the five Star Wars figures I’m looking at today, only one of them is actually a new character (well, one of them’s debatably a new character, but it’s iffy at best), and that’s today’s focus, Chirrut Imwe.  Chirrut is portrayed Donnie Yen, who isn’t the biggest name in the States, but is a pretty big name action star in Hong Kong and other parts of Asia.  Given just how much of the original Star Wars was influenced by Asian cinema, Yen feels like a more than natural fit for the franchise.  I’m definitely looking forward to seeing him in action in the film.  Now, onto his figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

chirrut2Chirrut is another piece of the second series of Star Wars: Rogue One figures.  Given his prominence in the trailers, he was one of the more notable absences from the first wave of products, but he’s here now, and that’s what’s important.  The figure stands a little under 3 3/4 inches tall (he the shortest of the Rebels, excepting Jyn) and he has the usual 5 points of articulation.  I’m a little saddened that Hasbro didn’t take advantage of the loose sleeves to give him extra movement on the arms they war they did with the first Jyn figure, but oh well.  Chirrut’s sculpt is alright, but there are some oddities to it.  First and foremost, it’s by far the most pre-posed of the Rogue One figures. He’s posed sort of mid-stride, or something, but like only from the waist down.  His upper half is rather on the rigid side, but he also seems to have a slight hunch.  All that being said, the head sculpt has a halfway decent Donnie Yen likeness, which is certainly better than a number of other figures in the line.  The sculpt also does a nice enough job of translating his costume into plastic form.  It’s worth noting that we’re back to cutting the robes into an odd set of legs.  It actually works a bit better here than it does sometimes, though it’s quite clear it was sculpted as a solid piece and had the articulation cut into it.  The paint work on Chirrut is fairly well handled.  Th colors a pretty nice match for those from the film (well, I think so, anyway), and the application is all pretty clean.  His irises seem a little on the dark side, since he’s supposed to be blind and all, but they’re different enough from the normal figures’ eyes to be noticeable, which I guess is the important part.  Chirrut includes his staff, which he has a little trouble holding, but is overall a nice piece, as well as a giant missile launcher, which looks to be patterned after his crossbow-looking thing we’ve seen in some of the posters.  He has a lot of trouble holding the missile launcher, but it’s not like I’m really going to complain about that.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Remember where I got the last two figures?  Wanna guess where I got Chirrut?  Yeah, same bat-place, same bat-story (wait, I thought this was a Staaaaar Wars post!).  Of the figures in Series 2, Chirrut was nearer the top of the list of the ones I wanted.  Ultimately, he’s not the best figure in the smaller scale line, but he’s hardly the worst either.  He’s certainly a nice addition to the team.

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#1148: Cassian Andor

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

CASSIAN ANDOR (EADU)

STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE

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Perhaps the most glaring omission from the first 3 3/4 inch series of Hasbro’s Rogue One line was Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor.  He got a 6-inch figure, and he was included in the big U-Wing set, but there was no basic single release for him.  It’s not a huge surprise that he’s one of the main figures in the second assortment, albeit sporting a different look than the U-Wing figure (though it’s actually the exact same look as the 6-inch figure).  So, was he worth the extra wait?  Let’s find out.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

As noted above, Cassian Andor was released in Series 2 of Hasbro’s Star Wars: Rogue One line.  Like his larger counterpart, he’s based on his Eadu look, which is a look rather reminiscent of the Hoth looks from Empire Strikes Back.  It’s not a look we’ve seen him in very much in the trailers and such, but I suppose it’s just as valid as any, and it’s not like Cassian’s more prevalent brown-jacketed look isn’t getting it’s own share of figures in the coming months.  The figure stands about 4 inches tall and he has the usual 5 points of articulation.  Cassian is sporting a brand new sculpt, and while it’s decent enough, I think it’s one of the weaker sculpts from the Rogue One line.  It’s possible that it’s because I saw this design on the Black Series figure first and that’s coloring my opinion, since this one is a bit simpler in terms of details.  On its own, the sculpt is a passable translation of the design from the movie (from what I’ve seen, anyway).  The proportions are decently balanced, and he does actually look like he’s wearing all of the appropriate layers (always a concern with the Hoth-style looks).  The lower portion of the coat is a separate piece, glued in place.  While I certainly don’t mind, I do kind of wish Hasbro could stick to either this style or the “cutting everything like a normal set of legs” style; the jumping back and forth makes the figures less cohesive. The hat isn’t removable like the larger figure’s was (though it is still a separate piece, just glued to the head), which isn’t a surprise at this scale, but it robs him of that extra look the other figure had.  The likeness on the face still doesn’t look much like Luna to me; it’s looking like he’s the Oscar Isaac of this particular film in that respect.  The overall stance of the figure is a little stiffer than I’d like, but it’s not awful.  The paintwork on Cassian, like the sculpt, is certainly passable, but a little bit disappointing.  A lot of the issues are on the face, specifically the beard, which is really, really inconsistent.  For some reason, there’s this whole strip on the underside of his chin that’s just clean, unpainted flesh.  It looks weird.  Aside from that, the rest of the paint is okay, but a little on the drab side.  Like so many others from this line, he really feels like he’d benefit from any sort of accent work.  Cassian was packed with a small blaster and a zipline contraption.  The zipline is a slightly different model than the one included with Sabine (though it works the same way), but it’s still a pretty cool accessory.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Remember how I got yesterday’s Rey figure?  Yeah, same story for Cassian.  Truth be told, this isn’t the Cassian I’ve been holding out for (that would be the jacketed one from the U-Wing, who’s set to be re-released in a two-pack sometime in the near future), but since I didn’t have the character at all in this scale, I felt sort of obligated.  I know, I have no restraint.  Ultimately, he’s not the most exciting figure, but I guess he’s not the worst thing ever.

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