Tag Archives: Star Wars

#1181: Clone Commander Cody

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

CLONE COMMANDER CODY

LEGO STAR WARS: CONSTRACTION FIGURES

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Alright, let’s start off week three of the post-Christmas reviews by looking at…something from the same line as yesterday.  It’s like something different, only the exact opposite!  Like yesterday’s review, today’s subject comes from the somewhat contested Star Wars prequel trilogy.  In fact, he’s even the same actor as yesterday’s character, thanks to the wonders of cloning!  Yes, it’s everyone’s favorite clone commander who tried to kill Obi-Wan in Episode III, Clone Commander Cody!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

commcodylego2Commander Cody was another figure from the first assortment of Lego Star Wars: Constraction Figures, released during 2015’s Force Friday event.  Amazingly enough, Cody was the only Storm/Clone Trooper variant available in the first assortment.  The figure is assembled from 82 pieces and, like Jango, stands about 9 1/2 inches tall.  In terms of construction Cody is very similar to Jango, using most of the same basic pieces.  Upon closer inspection, several of the body pieces are clearly designed to be Clone Trooper armor, and it seems they were rather hastily refitted to be Jango’s distinctive Mandalorian togs.  That being the case, a lot of the pieces work a lot better for this guy, and he makes for a more faithful recreation of his on-screen counterpart.  The helmet, while still not as spot-on a recreation like K-2’s head, it’s more complex design makes for a more interesting sculpt than Jango’s.  I personally could still stand to have a little more detail present, but I definitely like this one.  Of the three Constraction figures I’ve looked at so far, Cody has the best paintwork by far.  Not only is the white and orange nice and vibrant, but he’s also got a ton of great detail work, especially on the torso.  There’s some fantastic weathering going on here.  Cody includes his larger blaster rifle, which is a surprisingly good recreation of the rifle seen in the movies.  That’s it.  No action feature for this guy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like Jango, Cody was a Christmas present from Super Awesome Girlfriend’s parents, picked up during the same Walgreens sale.  Cody’s not my first choice of Clone Commander (Rex would be first, followed closely by Gree), but he’s not a bad character, and I’d be more inclined to pick him up than Jango.  The end result is definitely a superior figure to Jango, and probably one of the better Constraction figures Lego’s put out.  K-2’s still my favorite, but this guy’s a solid follow-up!

#1180: Jango Fett

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

JANGO FETT

LEGO STAR WARS: CONSTRACTION FIGURES

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We close out my second week of post-Christmas reviews today, taking a look back at the line that kicked of this year’s gift reviews two weeks ago.  Yes, it’s a look back at Lego’s line of Constraction Figures.  Last time around, I was looking at one of the characters from last month’s very well-received prequel Rogue One.  This time, I’m looking at a character from a prior prequel (a pre-prequel, if you will), generally less well-received, especially as time has gone on.  Yes, it’s none other than Blue Boba Fett Jango Fett!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

jangolego2Jango Fett was part of the first assortment of Lego Star Wars: Constraction Figures, released on Force Friday 2015, alongside Luke, Vader, General Grievous, Obi-Wan, and Clone Commander Cody.  The figure is built from 85 pieces, and when fully assembled, he stands about 9 1/2 inches tall and has 13 points of articulation.  Jango definitely takes some liberties with his design, especially compared to K-2.  All of the important details are there, of course, but greatly simplified, and made to better fit the Constraction Figure aesthetic.  After the rather faithful head sculpt on K-2, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed by the much more simplified sculpt seen here.  It’s not  awful or anything, and I guess it matches the rest of the body a bit better, but I do sort of which it followed the film design more closely, or at least had some sharper detailing sculpted in.  Alas, it was not to be.  Legos are generally lighter on the paint, but this isn’t the case with Jango, who has quite a bit of detailing, in order to showcase his heavily weathered armor.  It definitely goes a long way to make him a visually interesting figure, and makes up a bit for the slightly less detailed helmet.  Jango includes his two blaster pistols (which have, like him, been Lego-ized), which he can hold or “holster” on his thighs.  He also has an action feature on his jetpack which launches the rocket at the top when the button at bottom of the pack.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Jango here was a gift from Super Awesome Girlfriend’s parents.  Apparently, there was a sale on Star Wars toys at Walgreens and they took advantage of said sale to pick me up several things.  I hadn’t really every thought to pick up Jango of my own volition, but he’s certainly one of the cooler figures in this line, and I don’t *dislike* Jango Fett as a character.  Not a bad figure!

#1177: K-2SO

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

K-2SO

POP! STAR WARS (FUNKO)

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For Day 11 of the post-Christmas reviews, I’m going to be taking a look at the licensing juggernaut that is Funko Pop!  Even several years in, I still can’t say I fully understand this whole Pop! craze.  That being said, given that the line encompasses every conceivable license known to man, it’s not the sort of thing one can totally avoid. One of the most expansive licenses within the Pop! style is Star Wars, which is currently host to over 150 different Pops.  Nearer to the end of those 150 is today’s focus figure, K-2!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

k2pop2K-2SO is #146 in the Pop! Star Wars line.  He’s the second to last of the main Rogue One-themed Pops, fourth to last when you factor in the two Smuggler’s Bounty exclusives.  The figure is one of the taller Pops I own, standing 4 1/2 inches tall.  As a Star Wars Pop!, K-2 contractually can’t have any articulation, and is instead a bobble head.  You can get a little bit of movement out of the neck, but it’s not advisable, since you risk ruining the spring.  As far as the sculpt goes, K-2 is probably one of the best Pop! sculpts I’ve seen.  It helps that his design requires that he be a bit further removed from the usual Pop! elements. He already has big circular eyes and lacks a mouth, so he comes off a whole lot less creepy than the typical Pop!, and on top of that, his body is in a straight standing pose, rather than the odd crouch of some of the earlier figures.  I do have to admit, it’s slightly odd to see a K-2 figure that doesn’t have even the slightest hint of his hunched neck.  It’s not really something this style of figure allows for, so I guess I can understand the need for the change.  K-2’s sculpt features a great level of fine detail work, especially on the body; it’s good that they didn’t skimp on the sculpted elements there.  As far as paint, K-2 is fairly basic.  He’s mostly gunmetal grey, with some brighter silver here and there, and of course the white for his eyes.  The lack of any sort of weathering on this guy is a slight letdown, but not entirely outside of the style, so I can’t really complain.  K-2’s one accessory is a display stand (standard for the Star Wars Pops), which is definitely appreciated, since he can’t actually stand without it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

K-2SO was one of two figures I received from my totally cool-tastic brother this Christmas.  After seeing Rogue One, I pretty much wanted all things K-2, and this guy puts me one closer to completing that goal!  He’s actually not a bad little figure; he may not have the playability of some of the other K-2s, but he captures the spirit, and is definitely one of the better Pop figures out there!

#1173: Sidon Ithano & First Mate Quiggold

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

SIDON ITHANO & FIRST MATE QUIGGOLD

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

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Would you look at that?  I’ve made it through a whole week of post-Christmas reviews!  Go me!  For day 7, I’m going back to that galaxy far, far away.  You know what the backbone of Star Wars merchandise is?  You might think it’s Darth Vader, or Stormtroopers, or even R2-D2 or C-3PO, but you’d be wrong.  No, the actual backbone, the thing that’s kept the franchise afloat with a near endless supply of tiny action figures is all of the split-second appearance, no-name characters peppered in to fill out the backgrounds of scenes.  Need to fill a slot in a wave of figures?  Here’s Willrow Hood!  Worried the boxed set doesn’t offer anything new?  How about Snaggletooth?  Need something unique?  Elephant Mon, anyone? Heck, people will spend good money to get a complete set of the bounty hunters from Empire, despite the fact that most of them only appear in that one single scene and only one of them gets even a single line of dialogue.  That’s commitment from the fanbase right there.  Of course, as the prices of oil have risen, these obscure figures are getting fewer and further between.  Fortunately, The Force Awakens provided a great new selection of background characters, which Hasbro in turn took advantage of in order to get some fun new action figures.  Two such characters were Sidon Ithano and his first mate Quiggold, who I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Ithano and Quiggold were released in the second series of two-packs from the Star Wars: The Force Awakens line.

SIDON ITHANO

sidonianthoquagley3Sidon Ithano is the captain of the Meson Martinet, the ship Finn almost transfers to prior to Rey’s capture by the First Order.  That’s pretty much his whole character (okay, not entirely true; like almost every background Star Wars character, he’s got a whole elaborate backstory, which most people will never know).  He was playable in a side mission in Lego The Force Awakens, which is how I became familiar with him.  His figure stands about 4 inches tall and has the standard 5 points of articulation.  The sculpt is unique to this figure, and is quite impressively rendered.  The helmet is nice and clean, with lots of really sharp lines, and his clothing sports some incredible texture work, which really makes him stand out. Easily one of the best sculpts from the smaller Force Awakens line.  Ithano’s paintwork is fairly straight forward.  The application is pretty clean, and the basic colors seem to match up pretty well with what’s seen in the movie.  The color scheme is also rather on the unique side of things, which adds a nice bright splash of color to the shelf.  Ithano is packed with a blaster rifle…for all you blaster rifle needs?  It’s a cool design, I guess.

FIRST MATE QUIGGOLD

sidonianthoquagley2What good is a captain without his trusty first mate?  I don’t know.  I guess it depends on the quality of the captain, and, by extension, the quality of the first mate.  So, there’s like, a lot of potential variance there I suppose.  Anyway, here’s Quiggold, who’s a guy who gets just as much screen time as the last guy.  He’s also playable in the same Lego game level, where he gets a cool mini gun thing.  So that’s fun.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and has 4 points of articulation.  Where Ithano is tall and lean, Quiggold is short and squat.  The figure’s sculpt does a pretty solid job of conveying his design from the movie.  He looks suitably like a big puppet (which is pretty much what he was) and the details on his skin and clothing are quite nicely rendered.  I wouldn’t mind if he had some more texturing here and there, but he’s certainly reasonable for the scale.  The paintwork on Quiggold is okay, if maybe ever so slightly imbalanced.  There’s some really great work on the face, which makes his skin look quite lifelike.  I just sort of wish the details continued onto the other exposed parts of his skin, but he’s not awful.  Quiggold includes a large missile launcher version of his big gun, which is…well, it’s not as far off as most Hasbro missile launchers, so I guess it’s got that going for it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I received these two as a Christmas present from my Super Awesome Girlfriend.  We’ve been playing through Lego The Force Awakens together, and I quite enjoyed the Crimson Corsair level.  She happened to spy these figures at retail and grabbed them for me.  I very much enjoy this pair of figures.  They’re solid renditions of solid character designs, and you can’t really ask for much more.

#1169: Akazonae Royal Guard

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

AKAZONAE ROYAL GUARD

MEISHO MOVIE REALIZATION (BANDAI)

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Alright, we got the Aliens, we got the Super Heroes, so for Day 3 of the post-Christmas reviews, why not look at another cornerstone of my collecting habits: Star Wars!  In fact, this one is a double whammy, being both Star Wars *and* a high-end Bandia figure.  Huzzah!  The main Star Wars toy license for North America is held by Hasbro, who are pretty big into exclusivity and no-competition deals.  Because of this, no other toy company can release Star Wars figures under a certain price in the US, which is why the Star Wars Pop!s are bobble heads, and the Star Wars Sideshow figures carry a hefty price tag.  There are a few workarounds, however.  Bandai’s recently been putting out a line of concept figures, envisioning certain Star Wars characters as they might appear were they in a Samurai film, rather than a Sci-Fi one.  They’ve done a handful of the various Imperial Troopers and today I’ll be looking at my personal favorite, the Akazanae Royal Guard.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

royalguardmr2The Akazonae Royal Guard was released as the sixth figure in Bandai’s Star Wars: Meisho Movie Realization line.  He was originally slated as the fourth release, but was pushed back to follow variants of the Trooper and Darth Vader, and he ultimately hit just this past summer.  The figure stands about 7 inches tall (which was actually a bit larger than I was expecting, but I’m certainly not complaining) and he has 43 points of articulation.  The articulation has a bit of a learning curve to it.  It seems rather stiff at first, but once you get the hang of it, he’s actually a lot of fun to mess around with.  His sculpt is mostly unique to him, but it does appear that he shares at least some parts of the legs with the Storm and Sandtroopers, which is certainly reasonable from a consistency standpoint.  As far as the sculpt goes, he’s a bit tricky to review, what with not actually being based on any specific design.  With that being said, the sculpt is definitely a top-notch piece of work, and it does a good job of combining the Royal Guard’s film design with actual, functioning Samurai armor.  He’s a touch more ornate than previous figures (barring maybe Darth Vader), as he well should be, being an elite royal guard and all.  There’s lots of fun, little details sprinkled throughout the figure, and he incorporates some really nice layer work.  Also, I appreciate that, when configured certain ways, this figure can almost pass for just a slightly more armored version of the standard Royal Guard.  Were he not just a bit larger-royalguardmr3scaled, I’d probably just throw this guy in with my Black Series figures.  You might think that the paint work on this guy might be lax, being pretty much entirely red and all, but he’s actually got some pretty incredible work.  The actual hard armored parts have a nice, semi-gloss sheen, which contrasts nicely with the duller finish of the rest of the figure.  He’s also got a few different shades of red, which keep the whole look interesting.  He’s also got some really great accent work; there’s a black wash on a lot of the armored pieces, giving it a nice worn-in sort of feel.  There’s also some blue/indigo piping on a few sections, which adds a nice bit of flair, and really helps to break up all the red.  All around, this is just a very vibrant, very bold figure, especially when compared to the other figures in the line.  The Royal Guard includes a Katana, a scabbard, a large staff, three pairs of hands (in fists, loose, and tight grip), and a tabard that can be swapped out with the insignia on the front of his armor, thus creating a more classic Royal Guard look.  It’s a fun assortment of pieces, and provides a number of cool different looks.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Royal Guard was a Christmas present from my boy Tim.  I’d actually checked the figure out a few times, and it was the first of the Movie Realization figures to really speak to me.  Tim and I had a few conversations about the figure back when it was solicited, and it seems he took note of that.  I really like this figure, a whole lot.  There’s just so much about the design that really works, and I definitely feel he’s the strongest of the Movie Realization line, despite being one of the more minor designs presented therein.  There’s just so many fun ways to pose him and have him interact with others, and now I’m seriously considering picking up one or two of the others in the line at some point (a very dangerous venture indeed).  Thanks, Tim…

royalguardmr4

#1166: K-2SO

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

K-2SO

LEGO STAR WARS: CONSTRACTION FIGURES

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Behold!  The gift reviews commence!  As I’ve done the last few years, I’ll be kicking off the Christmas gift reviews not with a Christmas gift, but instead with my anniversary gift from Super Awesome Girlfriend.  Think of this as “Day 0” of the Christmas reviews.

So, have you guys had enough of Star Wars?  I sure hope not, because I’ve got more Star Wars stuff.  It’s like there was a movie this year or something.  As I noted in my review of that movie that was released this year, my favorite new addition to the mythos is definitely that lovable security droid, K-2SO.  I’ve looked at the two Hasbro versions of the character, but there are a few other companies who have taken a shot at him, including LEGO, whose figure I’ll be looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

k2solego2K-2 is one of the three Rogue One-themed LEGO Star Wars: Constraction Figures, released alongside the rest of the Rogue One products on Rogue Friday.  The “Constraction Figures” are similar to LEGO’s Bionicle and Hero Factory lines, but based on their licensed properties (mostly Star Wars as of late).  K-2 is built from 169 pieces (which is over 60 more pieces than either of his compatriots uses) and when fully assembled, the figure stands just shy of 12 inches tall (so he’s about 1/8 scale) and has 13(ish) points of articulation.  The Constraction stuff tends to take a lot of liberties with the source material in order to fit the LEGO style a bit better, but K-2’s design, being already robotic in nature, has actually made the transition a lot less changed.  There’s obviously some tweaking to streamline him ever so slightly, and there’s the whole “made out of LEGOs” bit, but he’s surprisingly accurate to the source material.  Particularly noteworthy is the head, which is pretty much just a straight recreation of his on-screen design, rivaling even Hasbro’s Black Series figure in terms of accuracy and quality. There’s a part of me that sort of wants to start compiling a Mego-style Rogue One crew just to go with this head sculpt.  The body is a slight step down, but for being built pretty much entirely out of pre-existing LEGO pieces, it’s still quite accurate, and certainly impressive.  LEGOs are generally light on the paint, and while this is mostly true for K-2, he does get some nice work on the shoulders, and some downright impressive work on the head (once again rivaling the Hasbro version; they really brought their A-game on the head).  While K-2 has no accessories, he does get an action feature.  It’s nothing major, but when you press on K-2’s back, his shoulders swing forward.  If you position his arms right, you can get him to do sort of a smashing pose this way.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I noted in the intro, this figure was an anniversary present from my Super Awesome Girlfriend.  She was well aware of how much I liked K-2 and made a point of making a trip out to pick this guy up for me after we saw the movie.  I actually almost picked the set up myself while we were out and about on our anniversary, but she quietly steered me away (in hindsight, I should have noticed that she was encouraging me *not* to buy a figure.  Really a dead give away).  I really like this guy a lot.  I’m not super into doing licensed characters in this style, but K-2 is a good fit for the style, and a lot of work obviously went into making the final product as cool as possible.

#1165: Obi-Wan Kenobi

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

OBI-WAN KENOBI

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

obiwan1

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.

scarifsquadleader3

#1163: Director Krennic

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

DIRECTOR KRENNIC

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

krenicbs1

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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