Tag Archives: Star Wars

#0690: Poe Dameron

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

POE DAMERON

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

PoeDam1

I’m in a bit of Star Wars mood. I’m sure none of my readers have the slightest idea as to why that might be. Certainly, it can’t have anything to do with a little thing called Force Friday, could it? I can neither confirm nor deny. Well, after a bit of a disappointing start at Toys R Us, my Force Friday experience worked out alright in the end, resulting in a nice little hall of figures, mixed between the two main scales. I figure I’ll be true to the franchise and kick things off with a look at the 3 ¾ inch figures, starting with my man Poe here. Poe, for those of you unaware, is one of Force Awakens’ new characters, and by all accounts he’s set to be part of the new “power trio” of characters.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

PoeDam2Poe Dameron is part of the first assortment of 3 ¾ inch The Force Awakens figures. There are a few different sub-assortments so far, with some slightly different themes. Poe is part of the “Armor Up” set, which are a set of slightly more expensive figures, which feature armor pieces. He’s one of the two 3 ¾ inch Poe figures available (three if you count the one included with the X-Wing.) He’s the only of the three figures not to be based on Poe in his flight gear look, instead presenting him in what appear to be Rebel fatigues. I have no idea which look will end up being the more prominent in the film, but I liked this one. The figure stands 3 ¾ inches tall and has the now standard 5 points of articulation. The articulation is disappointing, but I won’t continue to harp on it. Poe features an all-new sculpt; it’s not bad. The body is nicely proportioned, and the detail work on his clothing is quite intricate. You can even make out all the different types of seams and pockets on his jacket, which is pretty cool. The likeness on the head isn’t spot-on, but it bears more than a passing resemblance to actor Oscar Isaac, which is pretty good at this scale. As far as paint goes, there’s not a ton of it. Most of the plastic is molded in the proper colors. There’s a bit of detailing on the jacket, as well as the belt and the boots. Most of the application is decent, if a little bit sloppy. The head is okay, but the hairline is definitely a little off and they missed his sideburns almost entirely. This was actually the better of the two figures I saw; the other was missing a fair portion of the front of his hair. Poe is packed with a blaster rifle, which has an impressive amount of detail for the scale (Tim was even able to identify the real gun it was built on and what mods were made), as well as the somewhat gimmicky armor piece. It’s some sort of helmet/chestplate/jetpack combo, which I have a sneaking suspicion won’t be showing up in the movie. I do wish the helmet were a separate piece, since it actually looks to be somewhat accurate.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, clearly, I didn’t get Poe from my late night Toys R Us run. I was bummed about not getting much at the 12:01 opening, so, while on my way to visit Super Awesome Girlfriend for Labor Day weekend, I decided to stop by a few other stores. The first was a Target, where I found Poe and a handful of other 3 ¾ inch figures. I like this figure a lot, actually. I know next nothing about the character, but he intrigues me for whatever reason, and, aside from the articulation issues, this is a well done figure.

#0689: Stormtrooper Commando & Attack Walker

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

STORMTROOPER COMMANDO & ASSAULT WALKER

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

Trooper&Walker1

Behold! The Star Wars stuff! Here it is! Do you see it? There’s a ton of it! Go, look! I’ll wait. Did you see it? Isn’t there a lot of Star Wars stuff? Man, I gotta be honest, it’s a relief to see it all. The last few months, stores have been almost completely devoid of all things Star Wars toys, and it was getting just a little bit depressing. But now, the Episode 7 stuff has finally hit, and now all the die-hard fans are up for another round of “buy all these figures before seeing the movie they’re from and just really hope they’re worth it to you after the fact.” It’s a long name for a thing. So, what was my first Force Awakens purchase? Well, I played it safe and went for a Stormtrooper. Of course, I couldn’t find just a basic Stormtrooper, so I had to settle for this one included with a vehicle.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Trooper&Walker2The included figure is the Stormtrooper Commando, a variation on the all-new First Order Stormtrooper design. Essentially, it’s just the basic Stormtrooper with a shoulder pauldron. The figure stands 3 ¾ inches tall and has 5 points of articulation. It’s still kind of sad to see Hasbro cut articulation so drastically, but I’ve gotten enough of the reduced articulation figures that it’s begun to bother me less. The sculpt is pretty decently handled. The First Order Stormtrooper is an interesting re-design of the basic Stormtrooper we’ve all come to know and love, with a heavy emphasis on making them look as sleek as possible. The armor is a lot more smooth and rounded then what we’ve seen before. It’s definitely an interesting look. The sculpt does a nice job translating the new design to the small scale. While it’s not the most intricate design ever, there are some finer details, which are handled with nice precision, making the armor look appropriately clean. The right leg has a raised up section, with a small slot, meant for holding the figure’s weapon, which is a nice improvement over previous troopers. The Trooper&Walker3pauldron, which is the main unique piece here, is a rather straightforward add-on piece. It slips over the neck joint and can easily be removed by popping off the head. As far as paint goes, the Stormtrooper Commando is pretty basic. He’s molded in white plastic, and has black paint for detailing. That’s it. Now, to be fair, that looks to be accurate to the film, so it’s not like Hasbro’s skimped out on any additional colors or anything. The actual application of the paint is decent but nothing fantastic. None of the paint is drastically out of place, but the black is all pretty fuzzy around the edges, and a few of the smaller areas are missing their black detailing all together. None of it is quite as obvious as the missing shoulder paint from the Rebels Stormtrooper, but it’s still a minor annoyance. The pauldron is molded in straight black. I have no idea if that’s accurate to the movie, but it looks decent enough. The Stormtrooper includes a blaster, which looks to be their standard blaster for the film. It’s pretty well sculpted and nicely painted. I dig the two-toned thing. It sits a little odd in his hand, but it plugs into the side of his leg pretty securely.

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

Trooper&Walker4The main selling point of this set is the vehicle here, dubbed the Assault Walker. It appears to be a variant of the AT-ST “Chicken Walker” from Return of the Jedi, though, at this size, I guess it’s more patterned after the smaller walkers we saw in Clone Wars and Revenge of the Sith. It stands roughly 7 inches tall and has articulation at the tops of the legs, the ankles, the mounted gun on the front, and the handle bars. That’s not a whole lot of movement, and it would have at the very least been nice to get joints at all the sculpted joints on the legs, but what’s there is serviceable. The sculpt on the walker is pretty impressively handled. Sure, it’s not Hot Toys level of detail or anything, but it’s got a nice, geometric build, with a fair amount of seam lines and visible mechanics to keep it Trooper&Walker5interesting visually. There’s a lot of hollow areas to keep the vehicle low weight, so it looks better from some angles than it does others. That’s not ideal, but it’s also not terrible, and it’s not like it’s out of line from previous Star Wars vehicles. Paintwork on the walker is relatively minimal, with most of the color work being handled through molded colors. That said, there are a few areas that have some painted details, all of which are handled relatively cleanly. The best work is definitely on the front shield piece, which has a nicely executed camo pattern. The Assault Walker doesn’t have any accessories, though, if you really want to get technical, the Stormtrooper Commando is an accessory.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After missing out on the midnight releases of all the Star Wars prequel toys, I decided to go to this year’s “Force Friday” event. I went to Toys R Us, mostly due to none of my local Targets or Walmarts participating in the 12:01 openings. I got there about 45 minutes before midnight and got a fairly decent spot in line. Then I went in. “Underwhelming” is the word I’d say best describes he experience. TRU’s distribution completely misidentified the target audience, resulting in far too few action figures to satisfy demand. I had been wanting to grab a few of the Black Series figures, but only one case was sent to the store, and every figure in it was grabbed by the first person in line. In my search for the Black Series stuff, I walked past the 3 ¾ inch-ers, and by the time I got back to them, they were all but gone. I picked up this set to look at it, and next thing I knew, every other set around it was gone. So, I clung tight to this set, as well as the lone Pop! figure I had managed to grab and called that a small victory. This is actually a pretty fun little set. The Walker is a neat vehicle that doesn’t take up too much space, and the Stormtrooper Commando is a good enough stand-in for a basic Stormtrooper to make me happy. So, I guess the trip wasn’t a total loss.

Trooper&Walker6

#0672: Bounty Hunter Chewbacca

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

BOUNTY HUNTER CHEWBACCA

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II

ChewieBountyHunter1

My first introduction to Star Wars toys was courtesy of Kenner’s Power of the Force II line of figures. The interesting thing is that I came into the line during the second round of figures, so some of my initial versions of the main characters weren’t exactly standard issue. I’ve already discussed how Dagobah training Luke was my first figure in the line, and some of the other main characters followed a similar pattern. Chewbacca was one such character, which seems a little odd, since you wouldn’t think there would be a lot of potential Chewbacca variants. Well, faithful reader, feast your eyes on Bounty Hunter Chewbacca!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

ChewieBountyHunter2Bounty Hunter Chewbacca was part of the second year of Power of the Force II figures. He was released as part of a small subset of figures based on Shadows of the Empire, which is a story set between Empire and Jedi. In the story, Chewbacca has to take on the guise of well-known Wookie bounty hunter Snoova in order to infiltrate Imperial City. So, technically, this figure could pass for either character. This is only the third time that Chewbacca had made it into the 3 ¾ inch line, which is surprisingly low, given his prominence. The figure stands a little over 4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation. As a Chewbacca variant, you might think that this figure would be heavy on reuse. However, that’s not the case, as the only shared part between this and the regular POTF2 Chewie is the left leg. Everything else is new to this guy, though the sculpt maintains more than a few similarities with the regular version. Chewbacca definitely has a slightly exaggerated style about him (as did most of the POTFII figures) but I think this is one of the few figures in the line that really couldn’t work without the slightly cartoony feel. The concept looks pretty nifty here, presented in all its over-complicated 90s glory, but placed on a more realistically proportioned body I dare say it would look downright silly. And being exaggerated certainly doesn’t mean the figure doesn’t have some great texturing. The armor in particular looks sufficiently worn and beaten. Someone had a lot of fun sculpting this guy. This version of Chewbacca also got some of the very best paintwork POTF2 had to offer. All of the base paint is cleanly applied, with minimal bleed over. He’s also got some pretty nice work on his fur, which, in story, has patches died to make him look more like Snoova. They could have just been solid blotches of color, but they’ve actually been worked in rather subtly, making them look like they’re actually died into his fur. Chewbacca was packed with a giant blaster and a sci-fi looking axe, which both just add to the 90s over-complication thing. They can both be held, or the axe can also be plugged into his back for storage.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This guy was my very first Chewbacca figure. If I recall correctly, Chewie was one of the last main characters I got. I remember that my Grandmother took me to the store (Sears, I think) specifically because I had asked to get a Chewbacca figure. I seem to recall that both versions of Chewbacca were there, but I picked this one. Even then I knew what cool was! The one pictured is actually a replacement I picked up a few months ago, as the original got lost some ways back. I have to admit, I was ready to tear into this one for its absurdity when I first sat down to write this, but I’ve come out of the review with a rekindled love for this X-Treme little guy.

#0624: Yoda

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

YODA

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

Yoda1

After a bit of a hiatus, I’m finally getting back into Star Wars: The Black Series. It’s not really by choice or anything, it’s just that I’ve finally started finding the figures I want again. The stores around me are all still drowning in a sea of Episode III Obi-Wans, so none of them have been getting any of the new figures. So, I have to check other places, outside of my usual stops to actually find the guys I want. Fortunately, luck’s been on my side, allowing me to track down several desired figures, including today’s focus, Yoda.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Yoda2Yoda was part of the…umm… he was released in the…hmmm. Okay, yeah, Star Wars: The Black Series has done it again. Hasbro’s releases are strange and more than a little hard to follow, so I’m never quite sure where figures actually got released. Yoda’s been given the number 06, but, in all honesty, those numbers are mostly meaningless, since a) they restarted the numbering with Series 4 and b) the numbers don’t seem to have anything to do with order of release. The TIE Pilot is #05, but I know for a fact he came after Yoda. I think Yoda might have been part of the same assortment as the Clone Sergeant, which I believe was the sixth series of figures. The figure is about 3 inches tall and has 19 points of articulation. Now, here’s where the first real issues begin to crop up. See, that’s plenty of articulation, but, for some reason, the figure’s been given double elbow joints, which seem excessive, and nothing but thigh cuts on the legs, so he can’t really do much but stand. Kind of a bummer. The figure has a brand new sculpt, which isn’t a huge surprise. It’s pretty good, overall. The head, hands, and feet all have a nice amount of detail, and the Yoda4clothes are well textured.  The arms are a little bit long, but that’s minor. Of course, most of the sculpt won’t ever be seen, due to the outer robe being done with cloth. I don’t mind the cloth robe at all. It could maybe be a little better tailored and I’m not sure how it will stand the test of time, but it’s not bad. It’s held in place by a small rubber belt, which does its job well, so that’s good. Paint is the one area where the figure (and the line, really) could stand to improve. It’s not bad, but it’s not super great either. The basic colors are fine, but the application is sloppy, and pretty much everything bleeds over. Yoda has a fairly decent selection of accessories, including his signature cane, the blissl flute and snake of the vintage figure, and a lightsaber. What’s that you say? You don’t see a lightsaber in any of the pictures? Well, that’s because goofball Ethan lost it before taking the pictures. Of course, I’m not much of a fan of Yoda having a lightsaber anyway. Plus, as what is clearly an Empire Strikes Back version of the character, the lightsaber’s really not accurate.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, as I mentioned in the intro, none of my main retail stops have gotten any Black Series since Series 2. This presents problems in getting anything that is after Series 2, which happens to be most of the line. With Yoda, things weren’t helped by him being the only OT figure in his assortment, and the only truly new figure as well. So, I kinda figured I wouldn’t be getting one. But, I was killing some time in a Walgreens, and I actually managed to stumble upon this guy! Ultimately, he’s just an okay figure. He won’t be winning any awards or anything. That said, he does a decent job of conveying the character, and he looks good with the rest of the line. Just don’t pay an arm and a leg for him. He’s not worth it.

Yoda3

#0599: TIE Fighter Pilot

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

TIE FIGHTER PILOT

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

TIEPilot1

Star Wars: The Black Series started out pretty strong, but it sort of got a little bit lost for a while, with weird case packouts and a few questionable character version choices. However, it seems like things have picked up a little bit in more recent assortments.  I’ve been starting to find new figures at a more steady pace, which is always a good thing! Let’s have a look at one of the line’s more recent additions, the TIE Fighter Pilot!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

TIEPilot2The TIE Fighter Pilot is part of …ummm….Series 5(?) of Star Wars: The Black Series. I think that’s just means it was the fifth series of the 2014-2015 segment of the line. Hasbro likes to confuse people that way. He’s marked #005 on the package; I think that places him in the second round of numbering, though it would seem he’s been released out of sequence. The figure is just over 6 inches tall and features 28 points of articulation. The TIE Pilot is based on his appearance from A New Hope. The sculpt is mostly new, which actually surprised me a bit. At first glance, I assumed that the TIE Pilot was making use of Pilot Luke’s body. However, upon closer examination, the only pieces they share are the left hand, and the hips. Some of the other parts are similar, but the TIE Pilot is taller than Luke, and the proportions have been tweaked to match. The star piece here is definitely the head sculpt. It’s got a lot in common with the Stormtrooper, but it’s all new. The details are nice and crisp, and everything is properly symmetrical. It looks pretty much like a miniaturized version of the real thing. Paint on the TIE Pilot is on the light side, but what’s there is quite well handled. He’s got the proper Imperial emblems on his shoulders and helmet, which are nice and clean. Also, the figure may be all black, but he’s got matte and shiny finishes on various parts of the uniform, which adds a nice level of realism. The TIE Pilot is also a bit light on accessories, including only a basic Stormtrooper rifle. However, given that the Pilot’s spend most of their time in the TIE Fighters, there aren’t really a lot of accessory options, so I guess it’s forgivable.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The TIE Pilot is another addition to my collection courtesy of Super Awesome Girlfriend. We needed to pick up a few things from Wegman’s, and, as I’m prone to do, I wandered over to their small toy aisle, where I found this guy. Since she felt bad for dragging me along on a run to the grocery store, Super Awesome Girlfriend decided to buy the figure for me. Because, as I’ve noted many, many times before, she’s waaaaaaaaaay too supportive of this whole collecting thing. The TIE Fighter is a fun addition to the Black Series line-up, and I’m happy to have one.

TIEPilot4

#0580: Chewbacca

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

CHEWBACCA

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

Chewbacca1

Once a line of figures gets a few series in, there will inevitably crop up one or two characters that are noticeably absent. Following the first three series of Star Wars: The Black Series, it was quite obvious that these two characters were Darth Vader and Chewbacca. Then, both found their way into the 5th series of the line. And there was much rejoicing! Yay! Except for one small issue: they weren’t exactly easy to find. See, there were two things that led to this. The first was that stores were sitting on lots of unsold stock of the first four series, so they under-ordered Series 5. In addition, while the series was all new figures, two of the four were variants of previously released characters. Obviously, this made the two new characters even more desirable, causing quite a bit of scarcity. I myself missed out on Chewbacca the first time around, but, fortunately for me, he got a rerelease!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Chewbacca2Chewbacca was originally part of Series 5 of Star Wars: The Black Series, however he eventually found his way into Series 7 cases as well. He’s figure number 04 in the second round of numbering for the line. The figure has 27 points of articulation and stands a whopping 8 inches tall. He’s actually so tall that he was pushed back to Series 5 from Series 4 so that Hasbro would have time to re-design the packaging so that poor Chewy wouldn’t have to be crammed in some contorted pose in order to be properly seen. Dude’s really big.  Chewbacca is one of the handful of characters who essentially look the same in all of the Star Wars films they appear in. That being said, you can sort of tell which movie he’s from by what his “bangs” are doing. For this figure, they’ve gone with the slicked back A New Hope look, which works fine with me. Given Chewbacca’s unique look, it’s no surprise that he makes use of an entirely new set of sculpted pieces. To be totally honest, it isn’t one of my favorites that the line has produced. It’s certainly not bad, and in fact, they’ve done an admirable job of translating a design that doesn’t work very well on an articulated figure to…umm…an articulated figure. The fur is all pretty well textured, but the breaks for articulation are rather obvious and obtrusive. Not sure it could have been any better, but it looks off. The head was actually the part of the figure I liked the least at first, but my opinion has changed over time and now I think it might be my favorite part of the figure. I’m still not 100% sold on the decision for the mouth to be open, but it looks perfectly fine in person. The sculpt being a little on the wonky side is not at all helped by an iffy paint job. Now, to be fair, this paint isn’t poorly applied or messy. It’s all exactly where it should be. It’s just not as…subtle as it could be. There are two different shades of brown: one dark and one light. The problem is that there’s no shade between, so the change from one to another is rather sudden. It really doesn’t help that many of these changes occur at the connections of joints, which are already a bit jarring to begin with. Chewbacca is armed only with his trusty bowcaster. It might have been nice to get another Stormtrooper rifle or maybe a set of handcuffs, but the lighter accessory load is excusable given the figure’s size.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When Series 5 was announced, I knew I wanted to get a Chewbacca figure. However, when I ended up finding the series, I could only find Luke and Vader, with no sign of Chewbacca. That bummed me out quite a bit. I mentioned it to my dad, who kept an eye out for Chewbacca for several months. He finally came across one while getting lunch from Wegman’s one day, much to my excitement. I know I was a little down on this guy in my actual review. I stand by that, but I will say that just having the figure in hand improves my personal opinion of the figure, even if the actual quality could be a bit better. I think part of it is just that Chewy is an important piece of the films and a collection wouldn’t be complete without him.

Chewbacca4

#0579: Bossk

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

BOSSK

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

Bossk1

After going a fair bit of time with no new Black Series figures, I’ve actually managed to pick up a few of them in a relatively short span of time. And, as an added bonus, I didn’t actually have to resort to breaking my “no prequel figures” rule again. Yay? Empire Strikes Back is a lot of people’s favorite film of the original trilogy, due in no small part to the introduction of a rather memorable selection of bounty hunters. Now, they certainly can’t all be Boba Fett when it comes to popularity, but today’s focus, Bossk, is certainly up there.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Bossk2Bossk was released as part of Series 7 of Star Wars: The Black Series. He’s figure number 10 in the line, though it is important to note that he’s number 10 of the second batch of numbers. Because Hasbro enjoys confusing people. The figure stands just over 6 inches in height and sports 30 points of articulation. His jaw moves, guys. His jaw moves. That’s pretty cool. Bossk features a sculpt that is all-new to this figure. Simply put, the sculpt is nothing short of amazing. The design from the movies has been translated quite nicely. The figure is also just covered in texturing, which makes him quite interesting to look at and shows that Hasbro definitely didn’t phone things in on this guy. Bossk’s paintwork is decent, though not quite up to par with the sculpt. This is Hasbro we’re dealing with here. On the plus side, the base color work is all very well-matched to the film look, and the colors are nice and clean. He also has a nice wash over his head, hands, and feet, which really brings out the smaller details of the sculpt. So, what’s the bad with the paint? Well, you’d be hard-pressed to find an edge on this figure that doesn’t have any bleed over, and you’d be just as hard-pressed to find a surface devoid of any stray marks of incorrect colors. From a few feet away, it’s hardly noticeable, but up close, the figure looks pretty rough. Not terrible, but rough. Bossk’s lone accessory is his blaster rifle. It’s a little difficult to get into his hands, but it’s well sculpted, and once it’s in place it looks great.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Bossk was purchased for me by my Dad. He was grabbing lunch at Wegman’s of all places and they had a case of this series. Here I was sitting in Political Science and in comes a text asking if I want Bossk and Chewbacca. Bossk was something of a slow-burn figure for me. I knew I wanted to see him made when the line began, and I was certainly happy to see the prototype, but I just never got really excited about him. That did change a little, but not as much as I would have hoped. The figure probably has the best sculpt in the line so far, but he’s really pulled back by the less than stellar paint. I really wish that Hasbro would put some more work into the paint on their figures, because so many fantastic sculpts are being hidden by lackluster paint.

Bossk4

#0572: Clone Sergeant

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

CLONE SERGEANT

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

CloneSWB1

It’s been a whole seven months since I’ve looked at a Star Wars: The Black Series figure. That kind of surprised me. I double-checked a few times, but, yep, Darth Vader was the last one I looked at, back on October 6th of last year. It’s odd, because I was pretty sold on this line when it launched. However, the remnants of the first few series have hung around in my area, so finding the newer figures has been few and far between. Evidently, I was so desperate to get something from the line that I was willing to break my one rule going in: No prequel figures. Yeah, bad Ethan. Just go with it, okay?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

CloneSWB2The Clone Sergeant was released as part of the sixth series of Star Wars: The Black Series. He’s figure #07, though it’s worth noting that the numbering restarted for 2014, so he’s a little higher in the actual numbering. The figure is roughly 6 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation. He’s a Phase I-style Clone Trooper, which technically means he’s from Attack of the Clones, although, as I noted in my last Clone Sergeant review, I’m fairly certain the no Sergeants actually appear in that film, making this figure technically a Clone Wars figure. But I could be wrong. This being a Phase I Clone, it’s not really a surprise that the sculpt is identical to that of the Series 4 Clone Trooper, and will be the same as the soon-to-be-released Clone Lieutenant. In Hasbro’s defense, this is completely film accurate and totally to be expected. The additional Clone ranks are here to get more use out of the completely unique tooling of the first Clone. It’s worth noting that this sculpt is a really great piece of work. Everything is nice and clean, and there’s lots of symmetry. The armor is appropriately smooth and the underlying body suit has some wonderful texture work. There is one issue, and I’m not sure entirely how to classify it. Simply put, the figure has a rather obvious set of serial numbers etched into his left thigh. Well, I say etched, but they almost look as if someone chewed them in. It’s strange looking. Clearly, this isn’t meant to be part of the sculpt, but it’s there and it’s rather distracting. The paint is somewhat important on this figure, since it is the one thing that differentiates it from the normal Clone Trooper. It’s okay, but not great. The colors are well chosen, and everything is pretty much correctly placed, but the green areas in particular are rather rough around the edges, looking almost as if the green hasn’t been fully mixed together. It’s only really noticeable up close, but it certainly could be better. The Clone Sergeant is packed with two rifles: one large and one small. These are the same ones included with the normal Trooper, and they are nice translations of the film designs.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

It’s kind of Super Awesome Girlfriend’s fault. See, I was visiting her at school and we went to Toys R Us, because that’s what we do, and they had this figure there. I’ve been resisting the urge to buy a Black Series Clone Trooper for a while now, and so far I’ve managed to do pretty well. But she was standing there with me and she said three words that meant I couldn’t turn the figure down: “It has green!” Damn. So, I bought the Clone Sergeant. And now I totally have a prequel figure, even though I swore I wouldn’t buy any. To be fair, he’s a decent figure. Sure, the paint could be better, but that’s hardly a surprise when dealing with Hasbro. So, has this figure shattered the glass wall preventing me from buying prequel stuff? Will I be tracking down a Darth Maul on eBay? Nah, probably not. He’s cool and all, but I don’t see this being anything but a one off.

#0564: Return of the Jedi Digital Release Commemorative Set

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

BOBA FETT, BIKER SCOUT, WICKET W WARRICK, & LUKE SKYWALKER

STAR WARS: DIGITAL RELEASE COMMEMORATIVE COLLECTION JediDigital1 Happy Star Wars Day everyb—oh, wait, sorry, I already did that last week. Well, hey, why not have this Star Wars-themed review anyway, just because? So, the Star Wars movies have finally been released digitally! Provided you don’t count the DVDs, Blu Rays, and Laserdiscs as “digital.” I guess you could say that they’ve finally been released in a fully digital format, or something like that. Of course, it’s still the same re-cuts of the original trilogy that they’ve been pushing for a while, so it’s not like there’s much new to celebrate. But Hasbro wanted to celebrate, so dammit they’re gonna celebrate. Being a toy company, they celebrated with the release of TOYS! Shocking, I know.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These four were released as part of the Return of the Jedi-themed boxed set, which was one of the six sets that make up the Star Wars: Digital Release Commemorative Collection. Try saying that name five times fast.

BOBA FETT

JediDigital2Everyone’s most favoritest bounty hunter, Boba Fett! Making figures of this dude is like printing money (it ruins the economy?), so it’s no surprise that Hasbro managed to find him a spot in one of the sets. Boba stands roughly 3 ¾ inches in height and features … 5 points of articulation. Yeah, this is one of Hasbro’s articulation-lite sets. Structurally, Fett is the same as the single release Boba from last year’s Star Wars Rebels Saga Legends and his two-pack release in the Mission Series. It’s not a bad sculpt; the proportions are all pretty good and there’s plenty of texturing and detailing. It would kind of be nice if his right arm was either fully pre-posed so that he could hold his blaster properly or not pre-posed at all; as it stands, he looks like he’s been caught mid-arm lift or something. That aside, the sculpt is generally pretty strong, and one can hardly blame the re-use here. Fett has what is probably the most complex paintjob of the set, and it’s all petty cleanly applied, which is good. It’s worth noting that he’s actually features his color scheme from Empire, not from Jedi. I guess they wanted him to fit with the other bounty hunters from the Empire set. Fett includes a blaster which can be held in either hand, albeit rather awkwardly.

BIKER SCOUT

JediDigital3The Biker Scouts were one of two additions to the Star Wars universe brought on by Jedi’s Endor battle. I’ll get to the other shortly. Height and articulation is pretty much identical to that of Boba Fett, so it’s consistent, I guess. The sculpt is a re-use of the Mission Series two-pack version of the character. It’s actually a pretty strong sculpt. The proportions are all about what they should be, and, best of all, he doesn’t have the weird arm pose thing that Boba’s got going on. Really, this figure feels really similar to the vintage Biker Scout. He’s got a greater level of detail and texture work, but they do give off a the same kind of vibe. The paintwork is fairly straightforward on this guy. He’s molded in all white, with black and a little bit of grey paint. Most of It’s pretty clean, although there are a few spots of bleed over. The Biker Scout includes a small pistol, which he can hold in either hand, or stow in his leg holster, should you so choose.

WICKET W WARRICK JediDigital5

Here’s the other addition from the Endor battle. Yes, Ewoks, those divisive little so-and-sos. Wicket was kind of the central Ewok, being the one that rescues Leia and all, so he earned his spot in this set. It’s worth noting that he’s given the last name “Warrick,” after his actor Warwick Davis, who played him in the movie. That’s a nice touch. Wicket is about 2 inches tall, with only 4 points of articulation instead of the 5 the others have. Wicket’s sculpt was previously used as part of the same Mission Series two-pack as the Biker Scout at which we just looked. It’s a pretty great sculpt. There’s a lot of texture, and it’s a pretty straight re-creation of the movie character. The head covering is a separate piece, which, although it’s not removable, does help to add some depth to the sculpt. Wicket has a paintjob to match the sculpt. It’s not as detailed as some of the larger Star Wars figures, but there’s still some decent work, and everything is clean and well applied. Wicket is armed with a spear which is taller than he is. Talk about compensating.

LUKE SKYWALKER

JediDigital4Last up, there’s this other guy. He’s sort of important to the movie, I guess. It’s not like he’s the main hero or anything. *ahem* Anyway, Luke is about 3 ¾ inches tall and he has those magical 5 points of articulation. Luke is based on his look from the end of Jedi, which, to be fair, is only slightly different from his look in the rest of Jedi. This whole sculpt has been seen before as part of the Star Wars Rebels Saga Legends line. Right up front, this is probably the strongest sculpt in the set. It has some great proportions, great texturing, and great detailing. The pose they’ve chosen is just far enough away from standing straight up and down that it’s still interesting, but not so much that he looks weird. In addition, he’s the only figure in the set with any sort of likeness work on the head. It’s not a perfect match, but there’s definitely some Mark Hamill in that sculpt. He goes lighter on the paint, being mostly molded in black, but the work on the face is cleaner than a lot of Hasbro faces, and the other painted areas manage to not suck, which is always good. Luke includes his lightsaber from the film, and just about the only downside of the figure is that he can’t hold his saber in both hands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

These four were bought for me by my always incredibly supportive Super Awesome Girlfriend. We stopped at a Toys R Us while I was down visiting her a few weeks ago, and I saw this set. I found a few other things I wanted, so I wasn’t sure I would get this one. Super Awesome Girlfriend was having none of that, and insisted on buying it for me. This is a set made up completely of re-issues, however, since I didn’t have any of the originals, that doesn’t bug me too much. Luke and Wicket are the strongest figures in the set and the Biker Scout is a pretty great figure too. Boba isn’t as good as the others, but he’s not terrible, and he’s Boba Fett, so… you have to like him, I guess. You could do a lot worse with $20 than get this set.

#0559: Admiral Akbar

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

ADMIRAL AKBAR

RETURN OF THE JEDI

Akbar1

It’s a trap! Sorry, there was literally no way I was starting this review without saying that. It had to be done. So, happy Star Wars Day everyone! May the fourth be with you! In honor of the day, I figured I’d take a look at something Star Wars-related, and this guy called to me. Something about a tarp… I don’t know. So, let’s jump right on into the review of everybody’s favorite aquatic, trap-sniffing, rebel Admiral!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Akbar2Admiral Akbar was released way back in 1983 as part of the Return of the Jedi line, released to tie in with the movie. The good Admiral stands roughly 3 ¾ inches tall and features 5 points of articulation, which was the standard for the time. The figure is, of course, based on the character’s appearance in the film, though, like the rest of the line, he’s presented as viewed through the Kenner lens. So, he’s a little bit more exaggerated and a little bit more simplified than his on-screen counterpart. As was the standard operating procedure of the time, Akbar features his own, unique sculpt. It’s probably one of the goofier sculpts of the time. The head and arms are pretty faithful to the film’s design, but they lack a lot of the texture and such that made the character more believable-looking. Without it, the goofier aspects are more obvious to the eye. In addition, the figure’s body is a lot skinnier and stretched out than the guy on-screen. This ends up adding goofy proportions to the list of wonky features, which only emphasizes the figure’s silliness. As far as paint goes, the figure is pretty straightforward. He’s mostly just molded in the appropriate colors, with paint for his eyes, hands, the sides of his torso, and the tops of his legs. The paint is all pretty straight color work. It ends up further adding to the somewhat goofy look of the figure, but at least it’s consistent. Akbar’s only accessory was a weird sort of stick-thingy, which mine never actually had.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Now, obviously, I didn’t pick this figure up when it was released, what with not being born and all. This figure is actually one of the most recent vintage Star Wars figures I’ve picked up. He was amongst a small selection of them that I found at an antique store located near my friend Phil’s house. Admittedly, I picked up Akbar for the novelty of having such a figure. Sure, he’s super goofy, but that’s exactly what I was looking for in this figure. There is definitely a certain level of charm to such figures.