Tag Archives: Star Wars

#1147: Rey (Jakku)

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

REY (JAKKU)

STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE

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This Friday will see the release of the latest installment in the Star Wars franchise, Rogue One.  In honor of the movie’s release, I’m going to be doing a week of Star Wars reviews to countdown to said release.  “But Ethan, didn’t you just do a Star Wars week?” Listen you, if you’re just going to ruin my good time, you can just go read someone else’s toy review site!  No. Stop. Come back.

All of this week’s reviews are coming straight from Hasbro’s various Rogue One product, but as we determined earlier, that doesn’t always mean that the figures are Rogue One-themed, strictly speaking.  There’s a steady helping of Force Awakens product mixed in with all of the new stuff, including today’s figure, Rey!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

reyro2Rey is part of the second series of Hasbro’s smaller-scale Star Wars: Rogue One line.  She takes Kylo’s spot from Series One as the resident Force Awakens character in this particular line-up.  We’ve gotten quite a few different Rey figures, and a lot of them look rather similar.  What sets this one apart from the others?  She’s got a new hat!  Okay, it’s more of a head wrap thing.  And, it’s not actually “new,” just in a different configuration from the last two times we saw it.  This figure takes the Starkiller Base Rey and the Rey’s Speeder Rey and sort of averages the two looks, giving us a Rey that is sporting her head wrap and goggles, but one you can still see the face of.  Perhaps not the most noteworthy look, but she does appear like this in the film, for like, seconds.  Maybe even a whole minute!  I look forward to the eventual wearing Poe’s/Finn’s Jacket Rey, that way I can have all three of the mains wearing the *same* coat!  Oh, the continuity nightmare!  The figure is about 3 3/4 inches tall and has the usual 5 points of articulation.  The main body appears to be the same mold as the Starkiller Base Rey; it’s not a perfect mold, but there’s at least some consistency.  My only real complaint is the thinness of the arms, but that’s minor.  This figure gets an all-new head, as well as an add-on piece for the additional wrappings on her torso.  The head is a pretty solid piece, and seems to have a slightly better likeness than the Starkiller figure.  It’s not like it’s spot on, but it’s decent, and there’s plenty of solid work on the rest of the head to make the sculpt worthwhile.  The torso add-on is a nice addition, mostly because it hides the slightly flat torso of the original Rey figure, and makes her look much more on par with the Rogue One stuff.  As far as paint, Rey’s pretty standard fare. She’s got all the right base colors, and everything’s pretty clean.  She’s the sort of figure that might be benefited by some accent work to bring out more of the sculpted details, but I guess this way she matches up with the rest of the line.  Rey includes her staff, a back pack, and, of course, the requisite giant missile launcher.  The launcher is patterned after her speeder, so I guess that’s kinda cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, against our better judgement, my family, Super Awesome Girlfriend, Tim, Jill, and I all went out early Black Friday (well, late Thursday, I guess).  Rey was not purchased at this time, because oh gosh the insanity.  Instead, I got her when we went back out much later on Friday, when things had calmed down.  This isn’t a Rey figure I knew I wanted, but I gotta say, I was pretty excited to find her.  Sure, she’s in that weird area of not really being a default Rey, but also being really similar to the default Rey, but she’s actually a pretty fun figure, and a great way for Hasbro to get the character out there one more time.

#1137: Sabine Wren

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

SABINE WREN

STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE

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Alright, let’s wrap up this here Star Wars week with yet another review from the world of Rebels.  It seems like ever since Boba Fett graced the small screen in the Star Wars Holiday Special, the franchise has always put a lot of effort into representing those wacky Mandalorians from whom Boba/Jango got their armor.  The Clone Wars devoted a whole sub-plot to the Mandalorians and where they came from, and Rebels has picked up on a few of those threads, mostly via the main team’s resident T-Visor-wearing warrior, Sabine Wren, who I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

sabinewren2Sabine is another figure from the first series of Star Wars: Rogue One figures.  She’s the second of the two Rebels figures in the set, and the second version of Sabine to be released as well.  This figure is based on Sabine’s look from the show’s second season, which fits nicely with the other figures released recently.  The figure stands about 3 1/2 inches tall and has the usual 5 points of articulation.  Sabine gets an all-new sculpt, which is pretty decently handled. Rather than the typical straight-armed pose we’ve seen on most of the line, Sabine gets one arm bent at the elbow, giving her something of a quick draw pose, which is actually pretty cool.  I’m glad Hasbro’s moving away from using the same pose on every figure.  Sabine’s sculpt is a pretty good recreation of how she looks on the show.  I’m not sure she’s quite as good as sabinewren3Kanan, but she’s certainly not bad.  I think the head is the most “off” part of the figure; the hair’s pretty good, but something about the face doesn’t quite jibe with Sabine’s on-screen appearance.  I think the chin might be too small.  Fortunately, if you’re not a fan of Sabine’s headsculpt, that’s okay, because she comes with her signature helmet, which actually fits the figure very nicely, and is very well-rendered.  The paintwork on Sabine is quite nicely handled, which is good, because all that graffiti on her armor is pretty integral to the character.  I’m glad to see it’s all been translated so well to the figure.  I also appreciate the color scheme on her; she uses a lot of colors you don’t frequently see on Star Wars figures.  In addition to the removable helmet, Sabine includes two blaster pistols and a zipline contraption.  The zipline is a little on the goody side, but it’s probably one of the better gimmicky weapons we’ve gotten, especially since it actually goes pretty well with the character.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Sabine Was picked up at the same time as yesterday’s Kanan figure.  I actually held out on getting Kanan until I could get him and Sabine together, but it wasn’t really that difficult a task attaining them both.  Like Kanan, Sabine is definitely one of the stronger figures from the initial assortment, though my enjoyment of these two may simply have to do with already knowing the characters.  Of course, now I’ve got Sabine and Kanan, and I’m feeling like I need to pick up the rest of the crew…

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#1136: Kanan Jarrus

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

KANAN JARRUS (IN STORMTROOPER DISGUISE)

STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE

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For my last two entries in Star Wars week, I’ll be moving over to my newest Star Wars obsession, Star Wars: Rebels.  I’ve been steadily making progress through the show (or at least I *was* until Disney XD took the first two seasons off of their site…), and have become familiar enough with the characters that I felt the need to own what I could in action figure form.  Fortunately for me, there’s a nice helping of Rebels figures being mixed in with the Rogue One product, offering me the chance to pick up a few of the main characters.  Today, I’ll be looking at the leader of the show’s band of merry Rebels, Kanan Jarrus!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

kanandisguise2Kanan is part of the first series of Hasbro’s smaller Star Wars: Rogue One line.  He was one of the figures to hit on Rogue Friday, but seems to still be available in decent numbers two months after the fact, which is certainly a good thing.  This is Kanan’s third figure (though his first figure was released quite a few times on its own), and it’s based on his appearance from the Season Two premier, after he steals a Stormtrooper’s armor.  The figure stands about 4 inches tall and has the standard 5 points of articulation.  Kanan has an all-new sculpt; he’s actually a little taller than the basic Rebels Stormtrooper, so I guess Kanan’s a little tall for a Stormtrooper.  I like that he’s close enough to the normal trooper to pass, but different enough that we can easily identify it’s Kanan.  The head sculpt is a fairly decent recreation of Kanan’s design from the show.  It’s not perfect, but it’s close enough, and it certainly appears to be better than the prior versions of him.  The shoulder pauldron is a separate piece (so he can be either a sand trooper or a basic Stormtrooper if you want), which sits a little weird on the body.  His neck is also slightly on the long side in order to compensate for it.  In general, the sculpt is pretty good, though.  The paintwork on Kanan is pretty standard fare for recent Star Wars figures.  Not incredible levels of detailing or anything, but he’s mostly pretty  clean.  He’s better than the basic Rebels trooper I have, so that’s definitely a good thing.  Kanan includes his lightsaber, a blaster pistol, the helmet to match his armor (which fits surprisingly well, especially given his ponytail), and a big ol’ disk-launcher thing.  Because Hasbro, I guess.  He’s actually got one of the better accessory selections from this line, and really for the scale in general.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, after getting into Rebels, I realized what a horrible mistake passing up the two Rebels figures in the first series of Rogue One figures was.  I went back to the Walmart across the street, and they still had both Kanan and Sabine, so I got them.  Thrilling story, right?  Kanan’s a cool figure to be sure, definitely one of the cooler figures from the initial Rogue One assortment.

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#1135: C-3P0

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

C-3P0 w/ EWOK THRONE

STAR WARS: THE SAGA COLLECTION

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For the third day of Star Wars week, I’m actually jumping back a little.  No, not back to the vintage line, or even the ‘90s revival, but rather to the post-Revenge of the Sith line. Hasbro’s license actually went up for renewal not too long after RotS’s release, and there was some discussion (admittedly, not *a lot* of discussion, though) as to whether they were really going to pick the license back up, or if Star Wars toys, now without a steady stream of new movies, had run their course.  But, Hasbro and Lucasfilm renewed, launching the whole franchise encompassing Saga Collection.  Today, I’ll be looking at one of the earlier figures from that line, C-3P0!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

c3po2C-3P0 was released in 2006 as part of the Star Wars: The Saga Collection line.  He was figure 42 out of 74, so he hit a little past the line’s halfway point.  He’s based on Threepio’s appearance from the Original Trilogy, specifically the scene in Return of the Jedi where the Ewoks believe him to be a god.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and has 9 points of articulation.  He comes from a period when the line was just starting to produce decently articulated figures, and it’s worth noting that he’s actually the very first Threepio to feature moving knees (though, it’s likely that the only reason he was given them was so he could sit properly in his chair).  This version of Threepio had an all-new sculpt.  I can’t say for certain, but I’m fairly confident this one got used at least a few more times, too.  It’s a pretty decent sculpt, and certainly does his design justice.  There’s a lot of nice detail work, where really makes him feel like an authentic recreation of the character, and he looks far more accurate than even the RotS version, released only a year prior.  The paint on this figure is mostly reliant upon the vac metalizing, to give him the proper shiny finish.  They even got the silver for his right shin correct!  He’s still got actual paint for all the important details, such as the eyes, mouth, wiring on his torso, and even the black on the undersides of his hands (a detail very frequently left out).  There were two variations of this figure’s knees.  He initially shipped out with two gold knees, but later figures (including mine) had knees that matched the lower legs.  It’s a small detail, but does make a noticeable difference.  Threepio was packed with the wooden throne constructed for him by the Ewoks (with removable carry poles), a Saga Collection display stand, and a little holographic Han Solo.  There were 12 different hologram figures, each available in both red and blue, included with all the Saga Collection figures, and packed in at random.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Threepio here was a slightly early birthday present from my pal Phil.  Last year he got me Maria from Metropolis, so it’s only fitting that this year he’d give me a character famously inspired by her (it’s entirely possible this was not intentional on Phil’s part.  He tends to give me something either Star Wars or robot related, so Threepio showing up isn’t that far-fetched).  He may be a decade old, but this is still possibly the best version of Threepio Hasbro ever put out!

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#1134: Han Solo

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

HAN SOLO

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

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Here’s another Star Wars review for Star Wars Week!  Alright!  As I noted back in my first Force Awakens Han Solo review, Han (along with pretty much all of the returning guard from the original trilogy) was left out of the initial rounds of product for TFA.  While his 6-inch figure ended up showing up within a month or two of the film’s release, neither of his 3 3/4-inch figures proved quite as timely.  I ended up finding the Walmart-exclusive Starkiller Base version over the summer, but his basic small-scale version proved somewhat illusive.  But, in case you haven’t figured out by this point, I found one, which I’ll be taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

hantfa2Han was released alongside Resistance Rey in the second “Forest” assortment of Star Wars: The Force Awakens figures.  (The third figure in said assortment was the Hassk Thug.  Who’s the Hassk Thug?  Good question.  Perhaps the sort of question that should have been asked before Hasbro decided to pack him in equal numbers to two of the higher-demanded figures in the line, thereby adding to the already frustrating over-abundance of “unknown” characters.  I’m getting off-topic; sorry).  The figure stands about 4 inches tall and has the typical 5 points of articulation.  Han’s sculpt is unique to this figure.  It’s overall pretty good.  The head has a decent Harrison Ford likeness (better than the Starkiller version, at the very least), and the general pose is pretty natural.  The level of detail is okay; some of the details are a little on the soft side compared to other figures in the line.  My biggest issue with the figure is the jacket piece.  It’s a little on the thick side, and the shoulders on the arms aren’t sculpted to compensate, which makes it look like he’s wearing like a life jacket or something.  It’s not awful, but they’ve done better, and for someone as important as Han, it’s something of a letdown.  Han’s paintwork is fairly straight forward, but certainly not bad.  What’s there is pretty clean, and the eyes in particular are much cleaner than a lot of the other figures in the line.  This figure, of course, still has the issue with the hair being light brown, rather than the grey that it should be.  There’s some traces of grey in there, which is better than the other two, so at least they were trying.  Han includes his usual blaster pistol, which is really cool, as well as the usual build-a-thingamajig piece.  In this case, it’s a big gun, which is at least a little better than some of the pieces.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Just like Rey, I found Han out of the blue at Cosmic Comix.  He was definitely a major want for me, since the Starkiller version wasn’t really cutting it.  He’s a decent enough figure; not perfect, but pretty good.  I wish the sculpt were a little sharper, and the jacket’s annoying, but I’m honestly just happy to have him.

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#1133: Rey – Resistance

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

REY – RESISTANCE

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

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I think it’s about time we had another theme week.  And, since this is my site, my word is law, so here’s another Star Wars week!  (That’s code for “Ethan’s been buying a lot of Star Wars stuff lately and sometimes it’s hard to space it all out).

Star Wars has long been keen on giving us lots of costume changes for the main characters (because it’s easier to sell more toys that way), and The Force Awakens did a little of that, giving each of the three main characters (and Han and Leia) at least two distinct looks.  As luck would have it, however, the only character who could have both looks represented in the initial TFA assortments without violating Disney’s strict embargo on certain parts of the film was Poe.  Now, for Finn, you could get his second look easily enough by swapping his head onto a standard Trooper, but this left poor Rey without a second figure until after the film’s release.  To make matters worse, the assortment featuring her was held up by the second assortment not moving at retail, meaning it took today’s Rey figure as much 10 months to show up in some areas.  That seems excessive.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

reyresistance1Rey was released as part of the second “Forest” assortment of Hasbro’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens figures.  She and the other two figures in the set technically hit in February, but as I noted in the intro, they didn’t arrive a lot of places until after the Rogue One stuff.  Rey is presented here in her Resistance garb from the end of TFA.  It’s only in the movie for like five minutes or so, but it’s there for the film’s final shots, and is a pretty sharp design in general, so it was begging for a figure.  The figure stands about 3 1/2 inches tall and has the usual 5 points of articulation.  Rey is head-to-toe a new sculpt; nothing re-used from her prior figures here.  Across the board, this figure’s sculpt is a pretty substantial improvement over the Starkiller Base version.  The proportions feel a bit more balanced, she doesn’t feel as frail, and the pose seems a bit more natural.  The vest is an add-on piece, and it adds some depth to the figure.  The head is probably the best Daisy Ridley likeness in the smaller scale (only the Titan Heroes figure is a challenger in terms of all the scales).  It’s still not perfect, but it’s a lot closer, I think mostly because rather than upscale the strands of hair at the sides of her face so they wouldn’t break (and thus making them look like braids or something), they just left them off, which looks much more accurate at this size.  Rey’s paint is generally pretty good, with one caveat on my figure.  The basic scheme is nice, and matches alright with what we see on screen.  There was some controversy about what the color of her vest should be, grey or tan.  It seems Hasbro went with the color of the actual costume, and didn’t replicate the effect of the lighting from the film.  It’s Han’s jacket all over again!  The application is mostly pretty clean, but my figure’s missing most of the paint representing the bottom of the shirt at the top of her left leg.  It’s really weird, because the app isn’t missing entirely; there’s a small sliver of it around the hip joint.  Not sure how it ended up like that.  Rey was packed with the blaster given to her by Han, Luke’s lightsaber, her staff, and a piece of the build-a-whatsit.  The blaster’s definitely the coolest piece.  The saber is neat too, though she never actually wields it ignited in this particular garb.  The staff is frustrating because it’s worked into the build-a-thing, and so it’s got this big block right in the middle of it, which is really annoying.  Sure, I’ve got several of them, but not everyone does.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been on the lookout for this figure since January, to no avail.  I refused to pay scalper prices for her, so I held out that I might find her in an actual store.  Hasbro recently announced she’d be getting a re-release in a Target-exclusive 7-pack, so I figured that would be my ticket.  As luck would have it, while I was up visiting my parents for Halloween, I went to pick up my comics, and my store had just randomly gotten in a case of this series (these would be the first Force Awakens figures they’ve gotten).  So, hey, I’ve got a Resistance Rey!  Yay!  I really hope this is a sign of the series getting a wider release, because this is probably Hasbro’s best small-scale Rey. 

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#1120: Baze Malbus & Imperial Stormtrooper

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

BAZE MALBUS & IMPERIAL STORMTROOPER

STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE (HASBRO)

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Who wants more Rogue One stuff?  I sure hope the answer is you guys, ‘cause otherwise I’m writing for the wrong audience.  As noted yesterday, in the just over a month since Rogue Friday, a few new products have been slowly hitting, offering us a few new characters from the upcoming movie.  Slowly but surely, we’re getting all of the members of the lead team of Rebels.  Today, I’ll be looking at the latest member of the team, Baze Malbus, alongside an Imperial Stormtrooper.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Baze and the Stormtrooper are part of the second Battle-Packs assortment of the Star Wars: Rogue One line.  There are only two two-packs this time around, and this is the only Rogue One set in this assortment (the other is from Rebels).

BAZE MALBUS

bazetrooper2I don’t really know much about Baze.  His bio on the back of the box reads: “Hardened by the harsh reality of his Imperial-occupied home world, pragmatic soldier Baze Malbus is a crack shot with his heavy repeater cannon who uses his natural bravado during the occupation of Jedha to face off against the Galactic Empire’s deadly, white-armor encased loyalists, the Imperial Stormtroopers.” He also looks a little like a Ghostbuster.  Which I guess is cool, depending on how you feel about Ghostbusters.  The figure stands a little under 4 inches tall and has the same 5 points of articulation as most of the other figures in this line.  His sculpt is all-new, and matches up pretty well with the other figures from the line so far.  It does a decent job of capturing Baze’s look, at least from what we’ve seen so far.  The head sculpt presents a decent likeness of actor Jiang Wen.  It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty close, and it’s very easy to tell who this is supposed to be. Base is ever so slightly preposed, with his arms at a slight bend and his legs sort of mid-strut.  In the case of the legs, this is mostly to offer Baze a bit more balance to offset the big thing attached to his back.  It’s a smart move on Hasbro’s part and makes Baze here a lot easier to stand than he might otherwise be.  I do sort of wish that if they were going to prepose the arm anyway, that they’d just go ahead and sculpt him to hold his weapon two-handed, but he looks alright holding it one-handed, I suppose.  Paint is perhaps the weakest part of Baze.  As with so many Hasbro figures, it’s not that it’s *bad*, but it’s just sort of bland, and also notably thick on the face and hair.  A little subtlety would go a long way, and might make him a little more interesting to look at.  Baze includes his repeater cannon/backpack, which is all one piece, and plugs into his back.  The piece can be removed and swapped with a big missile launcher thing (because Hasbro), which at the very least fits stylistically.

IMPERIAL STORMTROOPER

bazetrooper3Okay, do you remember when I looked at the basic Rogue One Stormtrooper?  Remember how awesome that guy was?  Yeah he was pretty cool.  Well, the good news is, if you like that guy, you’ll like this one, because he’s the same figure with an extra pauldron piece.  The extra piece is actually pretty cool, and thanks to its removable nature, you can use him as either an all-new figure, or just another trooper.  The paintwork is a bit improved this time around.  A few of the details missing from the standard figure have made their way onto this guy, for those that care about that sort of thing.  Also, it’s worth noting that this figure’s white is ever so slightly more yellow in hue than the single-carded figure (due to the single-carded figures being produced in China and the two-packs in Vietnam, thereby using slightly different materials).  He still includes the standard blaster from the single figure, but loses the “exploding” chest piece, which, given the added pauldron, seems forgivable.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

No particularly exciting story here, I’m afraid.  I found this pair at my new local TRU about two weeks back (at the same time that I got Dr. Strange and Enchantress).  Baze is a pretty fun little addition to the Rogue One team, and I’m certainly happy to have him.  He’s got a fairly unique design.  I loved the basic Stormtrooper from this line, so getting a variation on that so quickly is definitely a plus in my book.  The more Troopers, the better!

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#1119: Jyn Erso – Eadu

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

JYN ERSO – EADU

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

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And we’re back with the Rogue One toys!  Alright, alright.  After the initial surge of product for the September 30th “Rogue Friday” event, there’s been a slow trickle of additional products making their way out over the course of the last month or so. Everyone and their mother seems to be getting in on the store-exclusives for this one, including K-Mart, who presumably wanted another chance to send out shampoo to those poor customers who try ordering their exclusive online (genuine flip side question: do you think there’s someone out there who opened a box expecting some Head & Shoulders and instead found themselves with only a Jyn Erso to treat their dry, itchy scalp?)  I’ll be looking at the K-Mart-exclusive Jyn Erso today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

jynbseadu3As noted in the intro, Jyn is a K-Mart-exclusive, but more specifically, she hails from the popular Star Wars: The Black Series line by Hasbro.  Jyn follows the K-Mart exclusive trend started by Starkiller Base Kylo and Rey, being a standard-sized Black Series figure packed with a large environment base/diorama.  Unlike the prior two, however, the actual Jyn figure is more than just a simple repack of her non-exclusive figure, but is rather a (mostly new) figure based on her Eadu look.  The figure is about 5 1/4 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  She shares her lower half, hands, and possibly her torso (it’s hard to tell) with the Jedha version of Jyn, which, given what we’ve seen of the two designs, is accurate.  In addition, she gets a new head, arms, and an add-on for her jynbseadu4poncho.  There’s also a removable hat and breathing mask.  Unlike the hood from the Jedha figure, the removable pieces here don’t feel overly bulk or out of place.  That being said, that’s likely because (especially in the case of the hat), she wasn’t really meant to be seen without those pieces.  It’s still a much more pleasant end look, though.  The new pieces on Jyn are all nicely sculpted, and match up with the smaller Eadu Jyn in terms of specific details.  The new head has a stronger resemblance to Felicity Jones.  I’m not sure if that’s specifically the sculpt or the paint, but I feel this figure just looks more immediately like her.  It’s kind of too bad she’s jynbseadu6got hat hair, or else I might suggest swapping this head onto the Jedha version.  One of my more minor issues with the Jedha Jyn was that, while her paint work was clean, it was rather bland in terms of accent work.  Fortunately, this Jyn does a lot to fix that, offering a much wider variation of color on her poncho, and making her look less like a cartoon and more like a real person.  There’s still some room for improvement, but she’s generally a step up from the regular release.  This Jyn includes the same blaster pistol as her Jedha counterpart, as well as a collapsed version of her baton we’ve seen from the trailers (which she can hand from her poncho), a Stormtrooper rifle, and the previously mentioned environment base, which is made to look like a rocky cliff of sorts (if the Kylo/Rey pairing from last year is any indication, we’ll probably be seeing another figure shortly after the movie with a corresponding base).  Those accessories, along with the removable hat and breathing mask, mean that this Jyn feels like a much better deal than the standard retail version, even at $5 more.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Some K-Marts got this figure on Rogue Friday (some even got it a bit earlier).  The K-Mart nearest me may have, but they decided to open late that Friday morning, so I went to Target instead.  I ended up hitting the store up a week later, which got me this figure.  Yay.  Honestly, I’m wishing more and more that I’d just skipped the standard Jyn.  She’s not bad, but this figure’s just much better (and I’m gonna end up with another standard Jyn anyway, due to the Target set).  If you just want one Jyn figure, I wholeheartedly recommend this one if you can find it.  She’s easily the coolest version of the character on the market.  She’s even worth stepping into a K-Mart to get her!

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#1112: Rey

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

REY (JAKKU)

STAR WARS: TITAN HEROES (HASBRO)

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Let’s talk disappointment.  No, wait, that’s not quite right, let’s talk misplaced expectations and poor decision making.  Shortly after the release of The Force Awakens last year, social media became aflutter with the hashtag #wheresrey.  After seeing the film, a number of people wanted to rush out and buy figures of Rey, the film’s unquestionable lead.  Unfortunately, as far as conventional figures went, there weren’t really any Reys to be found. No figures of the main character on shelves?  Foul villainy must be afoot!  …maybe not quite.  See, it’s important to note that #wheresrey started cropping up about a week after the film’s release.  Now, right after a film’s release, it’s not uncommon for figures from that movie to become a little scarce (for instance, a week after Pacific Rim came out, the figures were gone from shelves and commanding as much as three times their retail value on the aftermarket).  On top of that, the week after the movie came out, we also had this little event called Christmas, which has a tendency to leave toy aisles rather barren.  So, maybe expecting to find a ready supply of figures of the main character of one of the biggest movies of the decade the week of Christmas wasn’t the most realistic expectation.  That’s not to say Hasbro did everything spot-on, mind you.  While they did put out a number of Rey figures, she (and all the main characters barring Kylo in the 3 3/4-inch line and Finn in the 6-inch line) was only available in the initial assortments of figures, released three months prior to the movie.  What really kicked off the whole hashtag, though, was Rey’s absence from the Target-exclusive Titan Heroes 6-pack (and really, Titan Heroes as a whole).  Now, there are a number of credible reasons she was left out of this set, but ultimately, it’s the sort of thing that Hasbro should have avoided (and is looking to avoid in the future, if Rogue One has been any indication).  To their credit, one of the earliest items Hasbro released following the film’s release was a Titan Heroes version of Rey, who I’ll be looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

reytitan2Rey was released in the second round of Force Awakens-based Star Wars: Titan Heroes, alongside a Stormtrooper Finn and the Fifth Brother from Rebels.  She’s wearing her Jakku gear that she spends the vast majority of the film wearing.  The figure stands just under 12 inches tall and she has 7 points of articulation.  Structurally, Rey is rather similar to her first 3 3/4 inch figure.  The only real difference is the size and the actual materials being used.  She’s made of a much harder plastic than the smaller figures, and her torso and legs are hollow, which makes her slightly weird feeling (and also a bit creaky when you move her).  Aside from being rather stiff, the sculpt on this figure is actually pretty strong.  The head is definitely the best part, and it gives us Hasbro’s best Ridley likeness so far.  It’s really spot on, in part, I think, because the strands of hair in front of her ears didn’t have to be sized up quite as much and thus don’t look like dreads or curls or something.  The rest of the body is all pretty solid work; not Hot Toys level or detail or anything, but still solid.  The paintwork on this figure is actually pretty impressive.  The base color work is all strong, but I think the best part is the subtle accent work on the skin-toned areas.  There’s just the slightest bit of a red hue there, and it makes her look incredibly lifelike.  There are still a few spots of bleed over here and there, and it’s worth noting that the harder plastic makes this figure more susceptible to paint scuffs, but for a $10 figure, this is pretty great work.  Rey included her staff, which, thanks to the wrist swivels, she can actually hold with two hands, albeit rather awkwardly.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I have to admit, because of the whole #wheresrey thing, I ended up buying just about every Rey I could get my hands on just to prove a point, and this figure was included.  I don’t actually have any of the other figures in this style, but beyond the novelty of it being another Rey figure, this figure really surpassed my expectations, and, from what I’ve seen looking at the other figures in stores, the quality of the rest of the line as a whole.

#1107: Captain Rex

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

CAPTAIN REX

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

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Ever since The Force Awakens re-launched everything, I’ve been on a pretty serious Star Wars kick, and it’s only gotten worse with all the Rogue One stuff.  One of the things I’m finally getting around to as part of said kick is watching Star Wars: Rebels.  I gotta say, I don’t know why I put it off for so long, it’s definitely a fun show.  One of the cool things about the show is how it’s connecting its predecessor Clone Wars with the Original Trilogy, by bringing in a few of Clone Wars’ original characters.  One of my personal favorites from Clone Wars was clone Captain Rex, who appears in Rebels during the second season.  I haven’t gotten to him on the show just yet, but that didn’t stop me from picking up his action figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

rexrebels2Captain Rex is from the towards the tail-end of the Star Wars: The Force Awakens line.  He was part of the third Desert Gear assortment, alongside Unkar Plutt and FN-2187.  This assortment technically hit back in February, but most places didn’t see it until early summer.  Rex is based on his Rebels appearance, which is a fair bit removed from his Clone Wars look, what with it being 15 years later and all.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and has the basic 5 points of articulation we’ve come to expect from the standard 3 3/4-inch stuff.  Rex’s sculpt is unique to him, and it does an alright job translating his show design into plastic form.  I wouldn’t mind a bit more fine detailing here and there, but the overall appearance matches up pretty well.  For some reason, Rex has been sculpted with his chest puffed out bit and his neck set back.  The only way to get him to look forward is to tilt the head down as far as it will go on the ball joint, and even then he’s still sort of looking upward.  I’m not sure why they handled him that way, and it makes posing him rather difficult.  In terms of paint, Rex is certainly well executed from at technical standpoint, with most of the paintwork being rather clean.  The real issue is that he’s actually too clean.  His show design has the armor looking rather disheveled, but on the figure that’s really limited to just the bottom of his boots.  He doesn’t look terrible by any means, but he isn’t quite as cool as he could be either.  Rex includes a pair of small blaster pistols, just like the ones he carried during Clone Wars, which can be stored in the holsters on his legs.  He also has his helmet, which seems slightly oversized, but is still pretty cool.  I especially like that he still has the tally marks that he was sporting towards the end of TCW.  Lastly, Rex has a piece of the build-a-whatsit thing.  It’s a staff that fires a missile.  It’s actually not as lame as prior pieces, but still not adding much value to the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I actually picked up Rex before starting Rebels, back during the summer.  I was in upstate New York with Super Awesome Girlfriend and her aunt and uncle on an RV trip, and I found this guy at the local Walmart.  Not gonna lie, I partly bought him because he was one of the few figures there I didn’t have, and I was sort of going into withdrawal due to not having ready access to internet and being in a town with literally nowhere to buy action figures (apart from said Walmart).  That being said, I’d been intrigued by this figure since seeing his prototype at SDCC.  I’ve always had a soft spot for Rex, and I look forward to seeing him on the show.