Tag Archives: Star Wars

#0779: Sarco Plank

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

SARCO PLANK

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

Sarco1

The new Star Wars movie is just over a week away. That’s pretty cool, right? Well, I’m pretty pumped for it anyway. And you know what helps me get even more pumped for stuff? Action figures. And believe me, if there’s one thing Star Wars is good at, it’s getting action figures, even of the most obscure characters. Having not yet seen the movie, I can only speculate, but I’m gonna guess Sarco Plank might be one of those more minor characters.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Sarco2“A scavenger and trader who scours frontier worlds for riches, Sarco Plank must wear a specialized mask that keeps his native atmosphere circulating through his alien lungs.” So l it would appear that Sarco here is some sort of scavenger, possibly related to Rey in some way. Also, it should be noted that this guy was in some of the “Dark Side” reviewer packages, so he seems to be a bad guy. The figure stands about 4 inches tall (making him one of the taller guys in the line) and he has 5 (ish) points of articulation. There’s not much in the way of movement on the neck, but I’m pretty sure there’s still a joint there, just not a very useful one. Having no real reference for the character in the actual movie, I have the judge him purely by the quality of the sculpt. The quality is pretty good, mind you. This guy’s got a lot of cool textures and such, and the folds in his clothing look convincingly real. I also really like this guy’s helmet. It’s got a nice level of sleekness to it, with just the right amount of kitsch-y retro sci fi details thrown in. The multi-part visor in particular gives him a pretty unique look. His robes have been somewhat awkwardly cut into a pair of legs for articulation’s sake; it’s definitely goofy, but it calls back to the vintage Star Wars figures that did the same sort of thing with robed characters, so I don’t mind it too much. I’m not sure what’s going on with his hands, though. They’re kind of…mushy? My best guess would be they’re supposed to be hairy. Sarco actually gets a slightly more intricate paint job than a lot of the other figures in this scale. His helmet has a gradient of colors, making it look semi-transparent, and the robes have a nice variety of orang-y reds, as well as a slight wash to give him some extra depth. The apparatus on his chest even has the slightest bit of grime, which is a nice touch. Sarco is packed with a fairly neat looking gun (which could definitely benefit from some paint), as well as a piece to one of the build-a-things. Fortunately, his build-a-thing piece is actually another gun, so it adds a little more value, instead of being a meaningless piece of plastic like all the others.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

No real exciting story for how I got Sarco. I just happened to find him at my local Toys R Us. He was the only “new” Force Awakens figure they had, and I thought he looked kinda cool, so I figured he warranted a purchase. I know nothing about the character, but I do really like his design, and I think it makes for a pretty neat toy. Here’s hoping the character doesn’t totally blow!

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#0764: First Order Flame Trooper

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

FIRST ORDER FLAME TROOPER

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

Flametrooper1

Basic Stormtroopers are the bread and butter of Star Wars collecting, but if all you have are the basics, things can get a little bit boring. No, you’ve got to have some specialization, right? The original trilogy threw special troopers for piloting, scouting, cold climate, and even desert…stuff into the mix. The new trilogy of films looks to be following suit with all of those, as well as adding an all new brand of trooper, the Flame Trooper, into the mix. I’ll be looking at one of the figures of that design today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Flametrooper2“Specialized Stormtroopers of the First Order, Flametroopers carry incendiary weapons that can transform any battlefield into an infernal blaze.” So, yeah, specialized troopers. Says it right there. The Flame Trooper is part of the first round of the basic 3 ¾ inch The Force Awakens line of figures.  He’s part of the first trio of the “Lava” sub-set of figures. The figure stands roughly 3 ¾ inches tall and has 5 points of articulation. The Flame Trooper gets an all-new sculpt, based, of course, on the upcoming film’s design. The design is a variation of the First Order Stormtrooper design, which makes sense. His armor has been tweaked in a few areas, most notably the helmet, which has a much thinner visor, no doubt to keep the Trooper from being blinded by his own blaze. He’s also got what appears to be a rebreather built into the bottom portion of the helmet, which makes sense. The rest of the armor has also all been tweaked in its own way, mostly to afford the wearer more protection. As far as the actual sculpt goes, the figure does a Flametrooper4pretty good job of capturing the design, at least from what I’ve seen. The figure is just a bit more pre-posed than most of the others from this line; his legs are in a slight step positioning, presumably to help balance the weight of his flame thrower’s fuel tank. The Flame Trooper’s paint is pretty straight forward. He’s molded in white plastic, with paint for the black and silver details. The application is generally pretty clean, so that’s good. The Trooper includes his flame thrower which, while well-sculpted, can’t actually be properly held. He also incudes another build-a-thing piece, for those who care (which doesn’t include me).

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I ended up finding the Flame Trooper during the same trip that got me PZ and Goss. I had actually seen the figure once before, while visiting Super Awesome Girlfriend, but ended up passing him up at the time. Of course I wasn’t able to find him anywhere else, which certainly bummed me out. So, I was glad to come across him again. I really like this particular design, and the figure does a good job translating it.

#0758: Goss Toowers

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

GOSS TOOWERS

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

Goss1

In spite of it being a series very much built around its fancy space ships and fully autonomous robots, the main entries in the Star Wars franchise never really places any focus on the mechanical experts necessary to keep such things running for any real period of time. It’s interesting, since the main characters tend to cover a wide gamut of various places in the two main armies. I mean, even Batman’s got a mechanic, certainly Luke Skywalker does too! It would seem the makers of The Force Awakens are at least somewhat aware of this ill-covered area, if Goss Toower’s bio is anything to go by.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Goss2“Goss Toowers is part of the tireless technical crew that provides mechanical support for the Resistance’s fleet of Starfighters.” See that? See, he’s mechanical support for the Resistance! Ha ha! Also, that’s literally the only thing I know about this guy, so…yeah. Like PZ-4C0, Goss is a part of the second round of the basic 3 ¾ inch figures from The Force Awakens. Goss is another part of the second assortment of the “Jungle” sub-set of figures. He’s a little shy of 3 ¾ inches tall and has the standard 5 points of articulation for the smaller scale line. Goss is one of the many new alien characters from TFA, and he doesn’t appear to be from one of the pre-existing races. That’s cool, we needed some new, exciting aliens, right? He’s mostly pretty humanoid, with most of his more alien parts being on what little we can see of his face. He’s also got three fingered hands, and generally a shorter and stockier build than the other characters we’ve seen, which adds a bit of variety. The sculpt seems to be a fairly decent translation of the onscreen look, going by the only character art we’ve been given, anyway. The folds and textures of his clothing are nice and sharp, and he doesn’t feel lacking for detail. His weird helmet thing is a little restrictive, so his head has a tendency to pop Goss4off if moved too far to one side or the other. He’s also just a bit forward leaning, so standing him can be a bit frustrating. The paint work on Goss is alright, but not the greatest. The colors work fine, and I like the gold on the gloves in particular, but the application is a mess; the boots start a good millimeter before their paint does, and the various uniform colors tend to be applied at best in the general area of where the sculpted lines place them. Goss includes a small handheld device, which I assume is a drill or welder or something, as well as another piece to the build-a-thing, which looks not unlike a push mower.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I found Goss at the same time as PZ. I wasn’t going to get him. I really wasn’t. His design is just okay, and I don’t know the character, so I could just wait until after the movie. But, Super Awesome Girlfriend was with me, and, well, she won’t stand for me not buying figures, so I ended up getting him, because there’s no point fighting her. I actually kind of like him, so I’m glad I got him. Just as long as he’s not another Jar Jar…

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#0755: PZ-4C0

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

PZ-4C0

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

PZ4CO1

The toys from The Force Awakens were supposed to start out with a bang, but then Force Friday happened and turned out to be more of a fizzle. Since then, there’s been sort of a slow trickle of figures for each of the various lines. The 3 ¾ inch line seems to be getting most of the focus, with a handful of new characters being added with each assortment. Of course, until the movie’s actually released, we won’t know which characters are actually major parts of the film and which ones are background scenery. So, let’s take the gamble and see what we got, starting with one of the brand new droids, PZ-4C0.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

PZ4CO2“PZ-4C0 is a constant fixture in Resistance base control rooms, offering tactical data and communications support during important operations.” So, there’s your background on this character. Check out that epic tale. Anyway, PZ-4C0 was released as part of the second round of basic 3 ¾ inch The Force Awakens figures. She’s part of the second assortment of the “Jungle” sub-set of figures. She stands about 4 inches tall and has 5 points of articulation. PZ has an all-new sculpt, based on her design from the movie. The design is a tweaking of the basic protocol droid design introduced with C-3PO, with a slightly more alien set of proportions. I don’t know that it’s a perfect design; the functionality of the neck joint is definitely a bit impaired; but, it’s pretty visually interesting, and definitely fits in well with the other designs we’ve seen so far. The quality of the sculpt is actually pretty good. The armored parts are more smooth, and they have a nice symmetrical balance to them, and the circuitry bits are well detailed and add a lot of depth to the figure. PZ’s color scheme is definitely another unique aspect of the figure. The main blue color is a nice change of pace, and the painted accents and scuffs are all pretty cleanly done, so that’s cool. PZ-4C0 includes no character specific accessories, but she does include two pieces for the weird build-a-thingy. These are a set of rocket attachments, and they can be placed on her legs, which makes for a sort of a nifty look.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Whilst on a trip to visit my family in NC, I stopped by the nearby Wal-Mart, which just so happened to have a few of the latest Force Awakens figures, PZ included. I had actually seen shots of PZ online and thought she had a pretty neat design, so I was pretty excited to find the figure in-hand. She’s actually a pretty fun little figure, and one of my favorites of the smaller-scale TFA figures I’ve picked up.

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#0748: Darth Vader

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

DARTH VADER

STAR WARS HERO MASHERS

VaderMasher1

So, hey, there’s like a Star Wars movie or something coming out this year. Did you guys hear about that? With a new Star Wars movie come new merchandising opportunities. That’s why Star Wars is showing up on everything, from kitchen timers to cans of soup. And of course, it wouldn’t be Star Wars merchandise without a healthy helping of toys. Hasbro, the masters of all Star Wars toys, have decided to add the Star Wars characters to their recently launched Hero Mashers brand. They’re starting things off easy, only tackling the pre-Force Awakens characters right now. Let’s have a look at the baddest dude to come out of the Star Wars universe, Darth Vader!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

VaderMasher2Vader is part of the first assortment of Star Wars Hero Mashers. There are three different “levels” of Mashers and he’s one of the basic figures, which seems fair enough. The figure is 6 inches tall and has 18 points of articulation. Unlike previous Mashers figures I’ve looked at, Vader’s shoulder joints are just simple cut joints, rather than the usual disc and pin style joint. The downside is that the joints look virtually the same aesthetically, but these are just lacking a whole range of movement, which is a bummer. And, judging by the Ant-Man figure I recently picked up, this appears to be something that’s happening across all the Mashers lines, which kinda sucks. Structurally, Vader’s very similar to just about every other Mashers figure. He takes the traditional Vader design and tweaks it to fit the line’s style a bit more, so he’s a fair bit chunkier and much more angular. It’s actually a look that works pretty well for Vader. Following the established Mashers gimmick, Vader can be disassembled at his neck, elbows, and knees, and his parts are completely interchangeable with all the other Mashers figures. I noticed that his pieces seemed to swap out a bit easier than previous Mashers, which is nice. Plus, they weren’t so loose as to ruin his integrity as a proper action figure, either, which is also nice. His cape and skirt are both separate add-on pieces; the cape plugs into place, but the skirt just sort of balances on his hips, which can be a bit frustrating. The paint on Vader is pretty simple, but effective. He’s got a few details for his various armor bits, but he’s mostly just black. Fortunately, the black has a multitude of different finishes, which helps to bring a bit of visual flair to the figure. Vader’s one accessory is his signature lightsaber, which has had its proportions tweaked to match him.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After passing on the Star Wars Mashers for a few weeks, I finally broke down and got this guy at Target. For whatever reason, he just spoke to me. I don’t know. I do think that he’s the best Mashers figure I’ve gotten. His design just translated very well. Don’t know that I’ll pick up any more characters, but this guy was fun!

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#0726: Captain Rex

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

CAPTAIN REX

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

CapRex1

If there’s one upside to the Star Wars prequels, it’s the fact that they allowed for the creation of both of the Clone Wars animated series.  They managed to do impossible things like not suck and be something other than the absolute worst, which the prequels never really got down. The second of the two shows had a heavy focus on the Clone Troopers themselves, and changed them from a faceless legion to a collection of actual characters. One of the central clones in the show was Clone Captain Rex, who ended up becoming one of the show’s most popular characters. He got several figures during the actual Clone Wars toylines, and just before the shift to the Force Awakens stuff, he even made his way into the smaller scale The Black Series line.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

CapRex2Captain Rex was figure #09 in the 2014 series of the 3 ¾ inch Star Wars: The Black Series figures. He was part of the second assortment of figures released that year (the same assortment that gave us Commander Doom, for those interested). The figure is a little over 3 ¾ inches in height and has 24 points of articulation. Rex is based on his design from towards the end of the show, after several improvements had been made to his armor. Unlike other Clone Troopers from the show, Rex never got a full Phase II style helmet, instead opting to stick with a slightly modified Phase I helmet. It’s kind of one of his more unique features, and it’s showcased here. Like Doom, Rex’s figure takes his design from the show and realizes it a bit, so that it can fit in with the other figures from this line. His sculpt does this translation pretty well, retaining most of his defining traits from his show design, while also brining him in line with the “real-life” Clone Troopers. The figure uses the same basic body as the one we saw on Doom. It’s less articulated than I’d like, but it’s a decent sculpt, so I can’t complain too much. He gets a unique helmet, shoulder piece, and “skirt” piece with holsters. The new parts are nice, sharp sculpts, and the helmet in particular has some fantastic fine detail work. Hasbro’s weak link is and always shall be its paint apps. It’s not to say they aren’t trying, mind you. Rex has some phenomenal work. The weird blue eyebrow things on his helmet are really sharp and the 163 (yes, I counted them all) tally marks placed all around his armor are a really cool touch. So, what’s the problem? It’s the base color work again. The areas around the holsters are definitely the worst offenders, with tons of overspray and slop, but all of the base work is pretty darn sloppy, which kind of ruins all the effort that was put into the finer detail work. Rex is packed with a pair of blaster pistols. They’re a bit hard to get into his holsters, but he holds them well enough. Like Doom, the accessories feel a bit light for a figure in the higher-priced line. It couldn’t be that hard to throw in a large blaster or something.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Rex here was the second of the two pre-Force Awakens figures I found during my Force Friday travels. I couldn’t pass on Doom, but I didn’t need Rex. Of course, I was with Super Awesome Girlfriend at the time, and she absolutely refuses to let me put a figure back, no matter how many times I say I don’t need it. So, she bought him for me. I can’t say Rex was a figure I was desperately searching for or anything, but I did like the character on the show, and I thought this figure looked pretty cool. I’m glad to have him, because, paint issues aside, he’s actually a pretty great little figure.

#0719: Clone Commander Doom

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

CLONE COMMANDER DOOM

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

CommanderDoom1

DOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!! Yes it’s DOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!! So, hey, you know one cool thing about Disney owning both Marvel and Star Wars AND Hasbro holding the toy licenses for both of those properties? They can do cool combo stuff, like today’s focus, Clone Commander Doom, who began his life as a minor, cool little reference character, who I’m sure no one ever thought would get an actual figure with that name. But, here he is! Isn’t that cool?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

CommanderDoom2Commander Doom was released in the second series of the 2014 round of the 3 ¾ inch Star Wars: The Black Series figures. Did you get all that? Should I repeat it? Yeah, Hasbro’s release schemes are just a tad confusing. Commander Doom here is based on his appearance in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode “The Unknown,” where his animation model was based on Dr. Doom, the Marvel Comics character. One has to wonder if Commander Doom has some sort of rivalry with Clone Commander Fantastic; that would be nifty. The figure stands just over 3 ¾ inches tall and has 24 points of articulation. Sadly, it seems that Hasbro’s cutting back on the articulation of the smaller-scale Black Series stuff again. Doom loses both the ball jointed hips and the mid-torso joint of prior Clone Troopers, which is a bit of a bummer to say the least. It might be hard to tell under that non-standard paintjob, but Doom’s armor is mostly standard issue stuff. He’s wearing a modified form of the Phase II trooper armor, with a visor/antenna added to his helmet (in a similar fashion to Commander Cody) and a battle “skirt” thing, which has holsters for his blasters. It’s worth noting that, while Doom hails from an animated show, this figure has been sculpted to fit in with the more realistic figures that make up the rest of the line. With that in mind, Doom’s sculpt does a pretty good job of taking his design from the show and translating it into “real life.” The sculpt is a little softer than I’d like in some areas, but it’s nicely handled overall. I’m still not 100% sold on the look of the wrist joints, but that’s a minor issue, and the movement they provide is certainly enough to warrant their inclusion. Now, this is a Hasbro figure, which means that, no matter how good the sculpt may be, the paint is likely to be a letdown. While I certainly wouldn’t say this figure has the worst paint I’ve ever seen on a Hasbro figure, he’s still got more than a few occurrences of bleed over and slop. Also, his arms and legs are just molded in a slight off-white, as opposed to being grey due to scuffs and dirt, which robs him just a bit of his uniqueness. Aside from those issues, I will say Doom’s a pretty vibrant figure, especially for a Star Wars figure, and I enjoy how the various customizations to his armor have been carried out. Doom is packed with a pair of blaster pistols, which can be held or stored in his holsters. This feels a little light, especially for the higher Black Series price.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I was out looking for new stuff on Force Friday (and also visiting Super Awesome Girlfriend for the weekend), one of the Walmarts I stopped by happened to have some of the pre-Force Awakens Black Series figures in stock, this guy included. I had actually been hoping to find this guy ever since I stumbled upon the pictures of his prototype online, so I was pretty happy about stumbling across him. Doom has his share of issues, but he definitely stands out from the rest of my Star Wars figures, and he’s a shout out to one of the best characters in comics to boot!

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#0696: Kylo Ren

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

KYLO REN

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

KyloTBS1

Okay guys, just one more day of The Force Awakens stuff (for now, anyways). So far, all the Black Series figures I’ve looked at have been repeats of characters I had in 3 ¾ inch scale. Today’s review changes that up. This time, I’ll be looking at the movie’s main antagonist (at least, as far as we know), Kylo Ren. He’s menacing, masked, in all black, and has a red lightsaber; clearly a Star Wars villain. Let’s see how he turned out.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

KyloTBS2Kylo Ren is figure #03 in the Force Awakens-themed re-launch of Hasbro’s Star Wars: The Black Series. The figure is just over 6 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation. The range of motion on his joints is pretty decent overall, but not perfect. His neck joint is really the worst part, as it does nothing outside of a basic side-to-side movement, putting him behind even the limited 3 ¾ inch figures in that respect. Kylo’s look is a mix of sculpted plastic and soft goods items (i.e. fabric). The base of his cloak and his hood are handled via fabric, which tailored decently enough for something this scale. It’s, at the very least, better handled than what we saw on The Black Series’ Darth Vader. That said, it encounters a lot of the issues common to using cloth at a smaller scale. Getting it to hold a consistent look, especially when it comes to the hood, is virtually impossible. It just kind of sits however it feels. The seams are also quite present, especially at the front of the torso, where, going by what I’ve seen of the costume online, there shouldn’t be an immediately obvious break in the fabric. That’s annoying. The rest of the costume is handled via the sculpt. The sculpted parts generally look much nicer, though, I can’t help but feel that he looks, as a whole, much less intimidating than he should. It’s minor stuff, really. His head seems just a bit too big, his shoulders a bit too scrawny, and his belt a bit too high up. Plus, he’s got just the slightest bit of a hunch, making him look not unlike an elderly man. From a detail standpoint, the details that are visible look pretty on point and well handled, so he’s got that going for him. Paint is mostly absent from Kylo, given the cloth robe that covers most of his body. He does have some nice silver detailing on his helmet, which makes it pop out from the hood just a bit, as well as a slightly shinier finish on his boots, for those that like looking at their figures’ feet. Kylo includes his distinctive cross guard styled lightsaber. It’s pretty well handled, and all three beams are connected, allowing for easy removal from the hilt.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Kylo was picked up alongside the Stormtrooper as one of the first items I got during my second go at the whole Force Friday bit. He wasn’t really at the top of my list, but he was there, so I figured I might as well grab him. Gotta be honest, this figure doesn’t do a whole lot for me. I didn’t like the cloth goods on Vader and I like them even less here. I understand that Hasbro didn’t want the robes to be restricting, but if you’re going to do cloth goods, you have to commit all the way, and not half-ass it. With a little more care, Kylo could have been the best figure in this lineup. As is? He’s by far the weakest of the bunch, which is a shame. Maybe the Kmart exclusive version will turn out better.

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#0695: First Order Stormtrooper

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

FIRST ORDER STORMTROOPER

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

TrooperFOTBS1

Stormtroopers are really the backbone of the Star Wars universe. None of them even get a name in the Original Trilogy, and they’re certainly never in focus, but they’re always there, with a near-limitless supply of them for the heroes to plow through. The original Troopers also have one of the best, most distinctive designs of the franchise, meaning all the faceless goons that followed had quite a bit to live up to. The Battle Droids proved rather disappointing in this respect, and the Sequel Trilogy seems to be playing things safe by bringing the Stormtroopers back, albeit with a slightly tweaked design. The new Stormtrooper has been one of the hottest “characters” when it comes to new merchandise, no doubt due to consumers also playing things safe, just in case the new movie isn’t quite what everyone wants. Today, I’ll be looking at the Black Series version of the design.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

TrooperFOTBS2The First Order Stormtrooper saw two different ways of release. The figure was first offered as a SDCC exclusive item, which proved quite difficult to obtain. This was then followed up with a release in the main Star Wars: The Black Series line, where the figure is #04 in the Force Awakens-inspired relaunch of the line. No points for guessing which release I got. The figure is a little over 6 inches tall and has 24 points of articulation. The articulation on this figure is just a bit frustrating. While some areas, such as the torso joint and the ankles, have a great range of motion and are very easy to maneuver, other joints, notably the elbows and wrists, are very stiff and limited. The end result is a figure that is mostly pretty fun to mess with, but one that certainly could have been just a bit better. The FO Stormtrooper is yet another new sculpt, and he’s a pretty good match for what we’ve seen of the design. The details on this figure are a fair bit sharper than those on the smaller scale trooper (like the one included with the Assault Walker). The armored parts are still smooth and very rounded, so the level of detail there hasn’t changed much, but the underlying bodysuit is full of quite a bit of folds and patterned texturing, which gives the figure a nice bit of “pop.” Paint-wise, the figure is pretty good, but far from perfect. Generally speaking, the figure is molded in white with black details painted on. Most of the application is pretty good, but my personal figure has a bit of a smudge on the forehead of the helmet, which is pretty annoying. Also, the belt should be the same color as the rest of the armor, but it’s actually a very light grey, most likely due to it being white paint on black plastic. Dark paint over light, guys, dark paint over light. The FO Stormtrooper is packed with a basic Stormtrooper blaster, as well as a smaller blaster pistol. The guns can both be held in the figure’s hands or either of them can be clipped into the “holster” on the right thigh. They’re pretty cool, but they could both use some better paintwork.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I really like the new Stormtrooper design. It’s nice and sleek and it just looks pretty cool. And I like to have toys of things I really like (heck, I collect toys of things I don’t particularly like!). So, I really, really tried to get the SDCC preview version of this figure when it went up on Hasbro’s site after the con. I actually managed to get one on my cart, but it was gone before I could check out. That meant I was waiting for the regular release. On Force Friday, the First Order Stormtrooper was the number one item on my list. As previously noted, the Black Series figures were a no-show at my local TRU, so no luck there. Fortunately, the trooper ended up being one of the two remaining Black Series figures at my second stop, Target. Yay! The figure has a few minor flaws here and there, especially when it comes to articulation, but I’m really happy I found one. Definitely a cool figure!

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#0695: Rey (Jakku)

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

REY (JAKKU)

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

ReyTBS1

Alright, here’s part 2 of The Black Series figures from The Force Awakens. Today is another repeat character, Rey, but I do also get to look at a new character in a roundabout sort of way with that highly sought after little droid BB-8, who serves as Rey’s pack-mate. Hasbro seems to want to avoid the issues that arose with packing Leia and R2-D2 solo earlier in The Black Series. For the purposes of this review, I’ll be treating Rey as the main figure and BB-8 as an accessory, given his size.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

ReyTBS2Rey is figure #02 in the first series of the Force Awakens re-launch of Star Wars: The Black Series. The figure is a little under 6 inches in height and has 27 points of articulation. Rey is listed as being based on her “Jakku” look, though it doesn’t look like this design is any different from the “Starkiller Base” look in the 3 ¾ inch line. Maybe her having BB-8 is what makes it her Jakku look? I honestly don’t know. Anyway, Rey gets her own all-new sculpt. In general, I like this sculpt a lot more than the 3 ¾ inch one. Right off the bat, she’s less frail, which looks more accurate to Daisy Ridley in the role, from what I’ve seen. The detailing on the clothing is also far more consistent here, with the higher level of detail and texturing continuing past the top half of the figure. The lower portion of her “robes” is an add-on piece this time, allowing for a more normal set of hip joints without compromising the look of the figure. The head sculpt features a much better likeness of Ridley, though her hair feels a bit too neat and tidy. Well, it’s time for the one area that consistently gives Hasbro trouble: paint. To be fair, Rey’s really not that bad, compared to other figures from The Black Series. What’s there is mostly pretty clean, and I was happy to see a return to a painted flesh tone for the face. However, the hairline is pretty uneven, and the face paint seems just a little too thick. Also, the slight red of the cheeks is not as slight as they were aiming for, which makes it look like Rey’s putting her makeup on a bit too heavily. She honestly just looks too clean; all the shots we’ve seen so far show her sufficiently covered in dirt and grime, and the figure doesn’t really reflect that. Rey includes her signature staff, which is very nicely detailed, and the previously mentioned BB-8. BB-8 has a two-piece ball joint on his head, which allows for some variation of how the head is lined up in regards to the “ball” that is the body. BB-8 has a very nicely, evenly handled sculpt, and has a paintjob that really brings out the details of the sculpt. The paint is certainly more satisfying than what we saw on Series 1’s R2-D2. The droid is a little hard to get properly oriented, so a stand would have been appreciated, but you can get him standing if you put a little work in.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like Finn, Rey was picked up from Walmart, my third Force Friday stop. This was actually one of the figures I was most hoping to get, due in no small part to the included BB-8. Rey’s definitely one of my favorites of the stuff I’ve picked up so far. I do sort of wish we’d gotten an extra masked head for her, but BB-8 means I can’t really say she’s under-accessorized. BB-8 is pretty fun himself, though I can certainly see why this one wasn’t packaged solo. All in all, a very nice pair here. The rest of the line has a bit to live up to.

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