Tag Archives: The Black Series

#2522: Obi-Wan Kenobi – Jedi Knight

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

OBI-WAN KENOBI — JEDI KNIGHT

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Obi-Wan Kenobi became a general in the Army of the Republic as the Clone Wars continued, having many adventures with Anakin Skywalker.”

Obi-Wan’s definitely been the best treated of the Prequel characters when it comes to The Black Series.  It’s fair, because he’s probably the best of the core prequel characters, anyway, so I can’t argue with it.  But it’s certainly still noteworthy, because he’s so far the only character to get his primary look from all three of the films, as well as getting one from Clone Wars.  That’s certainly something of an accomplishment, don’t you think?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Obi-Wan is figure 111 in the Black Series line-up.  He’s the penultimate figure in the final red-box assortment, and unlike yesterday’s figure, he’s unquestionably Attack of the Clones based.  Yes, we finally have a Black Series release that can confuse your very religious Grandmother!  Unexpected bonus!  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  The vast majority of this figure’s sculpt is shared with the Phantom Menace version of the character.  I was a pretty big fan of the sculpt the first time around, and I think it’s honestly one of the best Jedi sculpts the line’s put out.  I know others have issues with how the hip joints work, but I personally think they have a solid range, and in general, the figure’s posability is top-not.  He gets an all-new head sculpt to adjust him to his Episode 2 appearance, and it sports another really strong McGreggor likeness, matching both the Ep 1 and Clone Wars versions in terms of quality.  The only slight nit to the quality is the somewhat obvious join between the hair piece and the head.  It’s not terrible, and it’s better on some figures than others.  Ultimately, it’s just the price of doing business this way.  It’s probably better than a solid head would have turned out.  Overall, definitely a strong offering.  In terms of paint work, Obi-Wan is about what you’d expect from the line at this point.  He’s got the face print, the base color work on the robes, and a little bit of accent work on the hair to bring out the details.  Not a bad set-up.  Obi-Wan’s only accessory this time around is his lightsaber.  It’s not a bad piece, but it’s a shame they couldn’t also give him a robe, or maybe an alternate soaked head from Kamino, possibly even his pilot head gear.  It does feel rather light as-is.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t initially on-board for any Obi-Wan apart from the Episode 1 version, but the unexpected Clone Wars variant kind of broke that dam down.  While I didn’t outright want this figure, after snagging the rest of the assortment, I wasn’t exactly going to pass on him.  While he’s maybe not my favorite Obi-Wan design, he’s the best Obi-Wan figure to come out of The Black Series so far.  I wouldn’t mind seeing the RotS version get a re-do using this set-up as well.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this guy for review.  If you’re looking for Black Series, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2521: Plo Koon

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

PLO KOON

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“A Kel Dor from Dorin, Plo Koon was among the wisest members of the Jedi Order, respected for his level-headed analysis of events and unflappable calm.”

One of the consistently agreed upon not terrible things of the prequel trilogy, even back when they were new and fans were rabid about hating them, were the background Jedi characters.  Sure, they didn’t get to do much, and they weren’t all the best, but there were some really cool concepts and designs there.  The creators of Clone Wars, who were charged with actually injecting some likability into the prequel concepts and characters agreed, and those background guys got some serious love.  Chief among them was today’s focus, Plo Koon, who got quite a few prominent appearances during the run of the series, and has subsequently become quite a fan favorite.  And now he’s got a Black Series figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Plo Koon is figure 109 in the Black Series line-up.  He joins the previously reviewed Anakin and Battle Droid in what is the final assortment of the red-boxed Black Series incarnation, which is *kind of* Attack of the Clones-themed.  I say “kind of” because, well, this guy is the figure that sort of breaks the rule, for reasons I’ll get into as I go through the review.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  This assortment is heavy on the re-used parts, and Plo is no exception.  He gets a new head, neck, and hands, but is otherwise a re-use of the Mace Windu figure from early 2019.  I didn’t get that figure personally, so I hadn’t yet gotten to mess with it.  It’s a strong sculpt, and is a good early sign of the improved articulation that came into The Black Series in the last year.  The new head and hands are really nice pieces, which do a fantastic job of capturing how the character looks in the films.  The head in particular is a really wonderful piece of work with so much detailing and depth to the sculpt.  Ultimately, the details on Plo’s robes aren’t quite a perfect match to what he’s wearing in the films, since Plo was sporting a few less layers than Mace, but it’s not terribly far off from a sculpt perspective, and it’s at least a pretty nice starting point.  Also, the average consumer is less likely to notice the re-use/inaccuracies anyway, since the cloth cloak that the figure comes wearing isn’t really designed for removal, being sewn shut at the top.  Of course, if you’re a bit adventurous, you can remove it by popping off Plo’s head and taking it off that way, which I’d call a plus, because I don’t really think it’s one of Hasbro’s better cloth pieces.  The downside of taking it off is that it reveals something that I’ll touch on in the paint section.   Here we are in the paint section.  So, the head and hands look great, and Hasbro’s done some awesome work there.  Kudos and all that.  The problem with the paint/coloring?  The upper robes.  Plo has been seen a number of times without this cloak, and he’s pretty much always seen with a very dark brown set of robes.  That’s what he’s got in AotC, RotS, and Clone Wars.  This figure goes down the path set by the Power of the Jedi and Sideshow figures, depicting Plo in a lighter set of robes, which are presumably the ones under his long robe in Phantom Menace.  It’s not awful, but it doesn’t seem to read the right way for the character, and only further emphasizes the inaccuracies of the sculpt.  It also doesn’t match up with the otherwise AotC-theming of the rest of the assortment.  Definitely an odd choice.  Plo is packed with his lightsaber, which seems a sensible choice.  It’s a pretty solid recreation of his blade from the movies.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I really like Plo Koon as a character, and have dug him ever since getting the old Saga figure.  I was definitely on board with him getting a Black Series release, and I was happy to see him shown off.  Getting him in-hand was something of an experience, because I was really excited, then rather let-down, and then built back up to enjoying him again.  He’s ultimately a good figure, but certainly a flawed one.  I wish that Hasbro would have at least given him the proper coloring, if they couldn’t actually afford the new sculpting needed.  As it stands, he’s fun, but in the back of my mind I’m sort of waiting to see another release.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this guy for review.  If you’re looking for Black Series, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2520: Luke Skywalker & Yoda – Jedi Training

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

LUKE SKYWALKER & YODA

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“At the urging of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda agreed to instruct Luke Skywalker, developing his Jedi abilities.”

Since introducing the concept of a Deluxe line of figures into The Black Series, it’s felt to a degree that each release has sort of reinvented the wheel to work within this new price point.  Greivous was a slightly larger and more intricate figure, the Heavy Mando has one really large accessory, and the probe droid was just an entirely different style of figure.  Now, we’re just going for some sort of a two-pack set-up.  Really, I can’t complain too much, because it means I’m getting one of my favorite set-ups, Jedi Training Luke and Yoda!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Jedi Training Luke and Yoda are entry D4 in the Black Series line-up, signifying that their the fourth non-exclusive Deluxe item.  They mark the second deluxe this year, following up the Imperial Probe, and effectively close off the 40th Anniversary sub-set that figure kicked off.

LUKE

Luke’s Dagobah training gear is really just a dressed-down version of his main gear from Empire, but is still a pretty notable look.  It didn’t come to the toy world until the ’90s, but its had a few releases since then, including this one.  This figure is actually available two ways right out of the gate.  There’s this deluxe release, and then there’s a vintage carded one with just Luke and some paired down accessories.  It’s kind of an odd choice on Hasbro’s part, and feels like it’s splitting demand right off the bat, but time will tell how it does.  The figure stands just under 6 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  To date, he’s Hasbro’s most posable version of Luke in the Black Series line-up, and I can definitely get behind that.  It puts him far more on par with the likes of Bespin Han than his prior, slightly stiffer variants were.  Really, the differences between this and Bespin Luke are pretty much night and day.  This Luke does seem a bit smaller when compared to prior versions, but he actually fits in better with some of the more recent figures than those older ones.  Hamill’s not a huge guy, and the build on this figure really feels about right.  The quality of the sculpt is pretty top notch, with a very realistic set of proportions, well-worked in articulation, and probably the best Hamill likeness we’ve gotten from Black Series.  It’s worth noting, however, that the hair placement seems to be rather off on a lot of copies of the figure, which can rather hinder the likeness. I picked myself the best out of a sample size of four, which worked out pretty well for me, but your mileage may vary.  The paint work on Luke is pretty solidly handled.  He’s got the now standard printed face, which works out quite nicely for the sculpt, and he’s also got some great accent work on both the hair and on the clothes, which offer up some additional depth to the sculpted details.  Both releases of Luke get his lightsaber and blaster (which are the same as previous releases), but the deluxe release also adds in a spare set of hands and the bag for carrying Yoda.  The hands are cool in theory, as they’re meant to let him do his handstand, but the arms are just a touch too loose on my figure to actually keep him standing up.  Oh well.

YODA

Yoda’s gotten four prior releases in The Black Series, including one just this year in the first series of the 40th Anniversary carded figures, all of which were built on the same body as the very first Black Series figure.  That’s a figure that is, at best, a less than stellar offering, and while some of that can be attributed to paint (because boy was that a mess), there’s a heck of a lot of it that was linked to it just having a poor underlying body underneath of that cloth robe.  So, for this latest take on Yoda, Hasbro’s opted to throw everything out and just sort of start from scratch.  Best call, really.  The figure stands just over two inches tall and he has 22 points of articulation.  Pretty much, the first thing that you’ll notice when comparing this figure to his predecessor is how much smaller he is…well, overall.  The heads are pretty much the same size, and honestly pretty much identical in terms of sculpting.  It’s the body that’s much smaller, and much like Luke, that’s ultimately more accurate to the source material.  He also actually gets proper articulation in his legs this time, which is a huge plus in my book, and keeps the single joints in the arms instead of double, meaning his arms aren’t nearly as long this time.  Unlike the last time around, the robe’s not really designed for removal, since the belt is all one solid piece with no clasp on it.  I suppose you could take the robe off if you were really determined, but I’m really not.  Another area of major improvement between Yoda releases is on the paint front.  The original figure hit during one of the worst periods for the line in terms of paint quality, and as such looked pretty bad, with only the bare minimum of detailing, and some really poor quality application at that.  The Archive and 40th re-issues fixed the paint, but this all new version takes it even further, and gives us by far the most “life-like” (as much as a toy of a puppet can be that) version yet.  I also appreciate that they actually painted his flute this time around, as it makes the whole package look just a bit better.  The last Yoda got an okay selection of accessories, and this one’s technically got less, but they work a bit better.  He still has the cane, but he loses the snake and the light saber for a second head with his eyes closed, like when he’s lifting the X-Wing out of the water.  I really don’t miss the lightsaber, since it’s not OT anyway, and the snake was a pretty minor vintage throwback.  The new head is actually a pretty useful piece, so I’m glad to have it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Power of the Force Dagobah Luke was my first Star Wars figure, so I’ve got a soft spot for the design.  I was absolutely thrilled when this set was shown off, and I’ve been patiently awaiting its release.  I even held off grabbing the single carded Luke, because I knew this one was coming, and I wanted the whole deluxe set-up.  Luke’s not a standard design, but he’s the best Luke Hasbro’s released in this line.  The Yoda is also the best Yoda, but it’s really not even a close race on that.  He’s just demonstrably better than the prior release on every front.  This is definitely one of my favorite releases from The Black Series this year, and that’s saying a lot, because it’s been a really good year.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this set for review.  If you’re looking for Black Series, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2519: Snowspeeder (w/ Dak Ralter)

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

SNOWSPEEDER (w/ DAK RALTER)

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“While stationed on Hoth, the Rebel Alliance modified T-47 airspeeders to become snowspeeders. The snowspeeder was a two-man vessel, with a pilot and rear-facing tailgunner.”

The larger scale of Star Wars: The Black Series may be good for the quality of the actual figures, but the one slight downside of it is the relative difficulties of getting accompanying vehicles on the market.  Hasbro first dipped their toes in the pool of vehicles with the smaller-scale speeder bike, which went pretty well.  They then jumped all-in with the Force Awakens TIE Fighter, which went maybe not quite as well.  The then returned to smaller vehicles with a Landspeeder, which seemed to okay again.  Now they’re trying that slightly larger vehicle thing again, this time with a Snowspeeder, just in time to tie in with Empire‘s 40th Anniversary celebration.  And I’m taking a look at that bad boy today!

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

The Snowspeeder is part of Hasbro’s Empire Strikes Back 40th Anniversary subset of The Black Series.  As of right now, it’s the only vehicle of the year.  It also seems to have ditched the numbering scheme that was started with the TIE Fighter in 2015, which I suppose is appropriate given that the whole line is ditching the numbering set-up.  While the last few Star Wars vehicles I’ve grabbed from Hasbro have had some necessary assembly right out of the box, the Snowspeeder just needs the front guns clipped into place, making it a much simpler set-up.  The Snowspeeder measures 18 by 15, and while it doesn’t have quite the footprint and height of the TIE Fighter, it’s still quite a sizable piece, and appears to be properly scaled to the figures to boot (a big deal, since that almost never happens with anything larger than the smaller speeders).  You’ve got an easy time getting both figures into the cockpit, which is really the most important thing.  The detailing on the sculpt is all pretty darn solid.  The aforementioned cockpit is fully detailed inside, with fully formed seating, seat belts, and controls for the two occupants.  The exterior’s about what you expect for a Star Wars ship, with a lot of clean plates and such.  The drag fins can be lifted and extended, as seen in the film, and I really like how they work, so as to not cause any accidental damage when used.  There are additional fins on the lower rear of the ship, obviously for steering purposes.  There is also a removable panel on the ship’s right wing, exposing some of the inner workings beneath it, I guess for maintenance purposes?  Or perhaps even a bit of battle-damage in a pinch.  It’s a cool touch regardless.  There are a few other details hiding in the ship’s standard mode.  It’s got some landing gear, which works in pretty much the same way as the gear on the Vintage Collection X-Wing.  Also hiding is the ship’s tow-line, which they use to take down the AT-ATs.  It can be pulled from the back, and then you pop open a hatch on the underside of the ship to pull it back in.  It’s not very mechanically impressive or anything, but it also won’t be prone to breakage over time, so I can kind of see Hasbro’s angle on this one.  The paint work on the speeder is pretty solidly handled, with not only the base level details, but also simulated wear and tear, as well as smaller insignias and the like.  It looks quite cool.  The accent color scheme feels off in my mind, because I always think of those stripes being orange, but that’s prior toys coloring my view, I guess.  The Snowspeeder is packed with the grapple that Luke uses to get up to the AT-AT he takes down, as well as what I can only assume is supposed to be a grenade or something.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

“Dak Ralter, an eager young rebel pilot assigned to Hoth’s Echo Base, Dak served as Luke Skywalker’s tailgunner during the Battle of Hoth but was killed by Imperial fire that struck the back of the snowspeeder”

Luke’s ill-fated gunner Dak hasn’t been quite as privy to action figures as other characters, but is nevertheless an essential piece of any proper Snowspeeder set-up.  Without Dak, who’s gonna get shot in the face and get stepped on by a big robot camel take on the whole Empire himself?  Dak stands 6 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  Dak’s largely a re-use of the Snowspeeder gear Luke that was just single released.  It’s a sensible option, given that it’s a uniform, and Luke and Dak are supposed to be roughly the same height and build.  It also means that Dak makes use of a really solid sculpt that’s a lot of fun.  The one main change-up is, unsurprisingly, the new headsculpt.  He’s still got the insulating cap like Luke, though I feel it makes a bit more sense here.  The face looks to be a respectable recreation of Jon Morton’s likeness as seen in the film.  The paintwork for Dak is pretty much the same as Luke’s, albeit with the expected change to the face and to the insignias on the helmet.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Snowspeeders are one of my favorite OT vehicles, and I’m always down for a good toy version.  After the soft performance of the TIE fighter, I wasn’t really expecting to see the Snowspeeder show up in Black Series form.  I was definitely happy to see it crop up with this year’s Toy Fair showings, and was even more excited when Dak was shown alongside it.  Definitely one of the items from this anniversary collection that I was most anticipating.  It’s a fun piece to be sure, and I think has a little more intrigue to it that the TIE Fighter.  Hopefully others feel the same way.  Is it wrong for me to want an alternate color scheme speeder with a Wedge and Janson?  That’s not entirely crazy, right?

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this whole thing for review.  If you’re looking for Black Series, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2495: Battle Droid – Geonosis

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

BATTLE DROID — GEONOSIS

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Rather than use flesh-and-blood warriors, the Separatists prefer mindlessly loyal soldiers that are easily controlled. Battle droids are dim-witted and no match for clone troopers or Jedi, but they weren’t designed to be smart – they were designed to overwhelm Republic civilians through sheer numbers, something they do very effectively.”

Since the Stormtroopers were off limits due to timelines and continuity and all that jazz, the Prequel Trilogy had to come up with its own form of armies of troops for the bad guys to throw our heroes’ way.  Taking advantage of being able to do designs and concepts not as easily allowed by the technology of filmmaking in the early ’80s, Lucas and company introduced the Trade Federation’s Battle Droid army, who became the backbone of the separatist forces for the next three films (and Clone Wars, of course), all while some how becoming more comically slapstick in their mannerisms with each subsequent appearance.  At this point, it really wouldn’t be that far-fetched for them to come out with a rendition of “who’s on first?”  Whatever the case, they were absent from The Black Series for a good bit, but finally joined the line early last year.  Of course, the assortment they were a part of was kind of unbalanced in its distribution, so Hasbro opted to give us another chance at the mold, this time with a tweaked color scheme.  Yay for me!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Battle Droid (Geonosis) is figure 108 in the Black Series line-up.  He’s the third Battle Droid we’ve gotten, following the tan Episode 1 version and the Gaming Greats heavy gunner.  All three of them are the same mold, which is sensible, since the core droid design didn’t change throughout the three prequel films.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  Battle Droid figures historically have a lot of trouble matching the movement of the droids in the films.  Given that the joints are right there in the design, it’s a shame that they almost never articulate them.  However, this figure addresses that, and actually manages to articulate most of the built-in joints, making this by far the most Battle Droid put out by Hasbro.  The hip joints are slightly limited, and a few of the smaller joints were stuck on mine right out of the box, but he’s overall really posable, and a lot more steady on his feet than prior Battle Droids I’ve messed with.  Most impressively, he can actually properly fold up like the droids do in the movie, which is pretty cool.  The sculpt is also a pretty spot-on recreation of the designs seen in the movie, with all of the detail work being nice and crisp, sharp, and clean.  He’s quite a sleek-looking figure.  The colors are where this figure differentiates himself from the prior releases.  This one uses the Geonosis coloring, so he’s all red to match the rather amber terrain of the planet.  I’ve always been kind of partial to this coloring, so I’m happy to see it represented here.  The paint work gives him some wear and tear, so that he looks like a proper “battle” Droid.  He’s armed with the standard E-5 blaster, and also includes both a backpack, and the streamlined antenna pack, to allow for some distinction of ranks within the set-up.  It would have been cool to also get a C-3PO head to swap out, but perhaps they’ll just make the heads swappable when they make the inevitable AotC 3PO.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was tempted by the tan release of this figure last year, but never saw him in person, and didn’t feel majorly inclined to track him down after the fact.  Once I knew this one was coming, I officially switched over to just wanting him, because I like this color set better.  Now that I’ve finally gotten to mess with this mold, I can definitely see why people like it so much.  I’m sure Hasbro’s already planning to do a few more rank variants with it, and I can see myself picking some of those up to be sure.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this guy for review.  If you’re looking for Black Series, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2494: Anakin Skywalker – Padawan

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

ANAKIN SKYWALKER — PADAWAN

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“A hero of the Clone Wars, Anakin was caring and compassionate, but also had a fear of loss that would prove to be his downfall”

Okay, so we were looking at some figures from Empire, the second installment in the Original Trilogy, which everyone loves.  Now, let’s jump forward (or is it backward?) to Attack of the Clones, the second installment of the Prequel Trilogy that most people don’t love.  I’m with most people on this one.  Delving back into my archive of old reviews tells me that the only other Anakin Skywalker figure I’ve reviewed here was back in May of 2014, and was another version of him from Attack of the Clones.  So, let’s do more of that, I guess?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Anakin Skywalker (Padawan) is figure 110 in the Black Series line-up.  He’s from the latest assortment of the main line, which is an entirely AotC-based line-up.  It’s also the last line-up before the line ditches the overall numbering scheme and goes to more themed subsets starting in the fall.  Gotta say, ending the longest running incarnation of this line with an all Attack of the Clones assortment is a pretty baller move.  Go for it, Hasbro.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 23 points of articulation.  A lot of this figure’s parts are shared with the Revenge of the Sith version of the character, released way back in Series 4 of the original Black Series incarnation.  Remember in my Luke review on Tuesday, when I mentioned how nice it was to get an all-new sculpt for the Snowspeeder gear, even though they might have been able to try for some re-use?  Well, that feels somewhat relevant here.  Anakin’s look in the two films isn’t terribly different, so on one hand, some re-use is sensible.  However, it has the side effect of putting this guy on a base body that’s from 2014, which, from both a sculpting and an articulation stand point, puts him rather behind the times.  The torso in particular is rather boxy, and the movement on the elbows, waist, and knees is quite limited, especially when compared to more recent offerings.  He does at least get a new head, right forearm, and belt, which help to change him up a bit from the prior release.  The head is probably the strongest piece, and manages to give us a solid rendition of Hayden Christiansen.  It’s certainly an amazing improvement over any of the prior versions of him we’ve gotten, especially when it comes to his AotC appearance.  They definitely got that broody facial expression down.  The only slight issue with mine is that he’s got a bit of flashing on the right side of his jaw.  The new forearm is really just meant to mirror the left side, since this is a pre-robo arm Anakin.  It’s a real shame they didn’t take the opportunity to make it more easily removed at the elbow, to simulate some battle damage.  Of course, they also left Bespin Luke without an easily removed hand, so maybe they’re just really banking for potential variants down the line.  In terms of paint, this figure tries, but has one major issue, which is that his neck and face just don’t match.  Sadly, this is the potential problem you face when you’re painting one and molding the other in the appropriate color.  More recent figures have been using the double ball joint set up so that the neck is separate from the torso, allowing it to also be molded in the appropriate color, but no such luck here with this older mold.  At least the face printing looks pretty good.  In terms of extras, Anakin’s pretty light.  He gets his lightsaber…and that’s it.  It’s not even a really great mold, since the hilt feels somewhat oversized.  I’d really liked to have seen an alternate arm with his robot hand, or a robe, or even his green loaner saber from the end of the movie, so that we could properly set up the duel with Dooku (I had to steal one from Grievous to set up the shot at the end of the review).  Given that the figure whose mold he’s using most of included an extra head in addition to the lightsaber, this feels like a real missed opportunity.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I feel the need at this point to say that not only has my “no prequels” rule with this line been broken, it’s been poisoned, shot, stabbed, clubbed and finally drowned.  Very Rasputinian, if I do say so myself.  I’m really just all in at this point, honestly.  It helps a little that I already had Dooku, and also that I’m becoming increasingly in touch with the nostalgic twinge I have for Attack of the Clones, especially when it comes to toys.  This guy’s got his flaws, and in some ways feels a touch phoned in, but as a whole, he’s still a very enjoyable figure, and I’m hoping I can manage to snag Obi-Wan to go with him soon.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this guy for review.  If you’re looking for Black Series, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2493: R2-D2 – Dagobah

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

R2-D2 — DAGOBAH

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

Can you believe that in the 133 Black Series reviews I’ve written, I haven’t yet looked at R2-D2?  That’s crazy, right?  Well, okay, not really, since I got my Series 1 figure a couple of months before starting the site, and obviously didn’t pick up the subsequent re-release for the 40th line.  They finally opted to actually do a slight variant to the character, so I can totally justify buying another figure, and I have the drive to actually review the mold.  Yay!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

R2-D2 (Dagobah) is another figure from Series 2 of the Empire Strikes Back 40th Anniversary sub-line of The Black Series line.  He’s the last “new” figure in the assortment, but as I touched on above, new is sort of relative here, since he’s just a repaint of the first R2.  He’s a little under 3 1/4 inches tall and has 10 points of articulation.  The movement is a little different on this figure.  He’s got fairly typical joints at the top of the legs and at the “ankles”, as well as an opening door on each side of his front, each with an articulated arm inside.  The head turns as well, but it’s connected to an action feature that drops his third leg down.  It’s surprisingly gimmicky for this line, and makes posing the head a little tricky, since getting it set just right can be a little counter intuitive.  I think leaving the feature out may have ultimately been better, but I suppose it’s not the worst concept.  Otherwise, the sculpt is a pretty impressive representation of R2.  It’s a solid rendition, and pretty sharply detailed.  The main selling point on this release, of course, is the paint, which this time around replicates R2 after he falls into the swamp after landing on Dagobah.  He’s pretty sufficiently grimy and gross.  My only gripe with it is that the third leg doesn’t get fully painted, so it’s slightly jarring when extended.  That said, I don’t believe R2 has the third leg out while on Dagobah, so I guess it’s technically accurate this way.  I think the grime helps to showcase the strengths of the sculpt a little better than the original release’s paint, so I definitely dig it.  The original R2 had quite an accessory assortment, covering attachments from six movies.  This one’s not quite as impressive, getting only the periscope attachment from the first release.  It’s not a huge surprise, given it’s the one we see him use in the movie, and this is supposed to be a specifically Empire-based and all.  You can still remove all of the panels and swap them with the accessories from the prior release as well, but he does end up feeling a touch light given that he still holds the same price tag as the original release.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I’ve picked up more versions of the core OT cast in The Black Series, I’ve arrived at the point of having multiple displays with them from each film.  However, I still only had the one R2, and at the going rate for the standard, I certainly wasn’t picking up a second.  Fortunately, this guy came along and solved that problem for me.  He’s a little light on the accessories front, but I like the new paint job for sure.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this guy for review.  If you’re looking for Black Series, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2492: Luke Skywalker – Snowspeeder

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

LUKE SKYWALKER — SNOWSPEEDER

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“During the Battle of Hoth, Luke Skywalker led the Rebel defense against the Empire’s ground forces, giving the Alliance time to evacuate the planet.”

With no shortage of costume changes in A New Hope, Luke Skywalker kept his impressive wardrobe going for Empire, with not only a new standard get-up and some cold weather gear (because everyone was doing it), but also an upgraded version of his pilot gear from the first movie.  The differences aren’t huge, but they’re certainly more than enough to qualify for another figure, and in fact they have for about 20 years now.  We got Luke’s first pilot gear way back at the beginning of Hasbro’s Black Series line, but now we’re finally getting the tweaked version as well.  Let’s have a look at how that turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke Skywalker (Snowspeeder) is the second figure in assortment two of the Empire Strikes Back 40th Anniversary sub-line of The Black Series.  Like yesterday’s Rebel Soldier, he’s an all-new offering, and also like that figure, he’s already slotted for release in the main line later this year.  Luke is just shy of 6 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  This version of Luke is sporting an all-new sculpt, which is quite nice, because Hasbro certainly had some room to phone things in and try to re-use parts of the X-Wing pilot sculpt.  It wouldn’t be as accurate, nor would it make for as good a figure, so I’m glad they went the way they did.  He also continues the trend of the butterfly shoulders, which is great when it comes to lightsaber posing.  I definitely enjoy this thing becoming a regular feature.  I have one notable issue with this sculpt, and ultimately, it comes down more to personal preference than to anything truly wrong.  Under the figure’s removable helmet, he’s sporting an insulating cap over his head.  This is accurate to the updated uniform, and we see a number of the other snowspeeder pilots wearing them when their helmets are removed.  Luke, however, we only see with all of the head gear either on or off.  So, while this is *technically* accurate to the costume design, the figure sans helmet isn’t actually accurate to anything we see in the movie.  I would have liked to get him without the cap, but I guess I’ll just have to make due swapping his head with the Dagobah Luke once I get my hands on that (actually, I really wouldn’t be opposed to a Dagobah landing Luke without the cap and gloves.  That’d be a cool variant).  As it stands, with the helmet, he looks pitch-perfect, and that’s really the way most people will be displaying him anyway.  Luke’s paint work is all pretty solid.  The base work is all pretty clean, and he’s using the face printing, so that looks pretty good.  The eye on my figure is slightly off-set, but not terribly so.  Luke is packed with his lightsaber.  He doesn’t get the grapple he uses in the scene against the AT-AT, but fear not, it comes with the Snowspeeder.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I definitely dig the Snowspeeder gear and the whole Snowspeeder set-up in general, so I was pretty happy when this guy was shown off, and even happier to hear he was getting an all-new sculpt.  Though he may not look like much new or exciting outwardly, he’s got a lot to offer, and improves on the already pretty solid X-Wing Luke.  Now, can we get a Wedge to match, or is that too soon?

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this guy for review.  If you’re looking for Black Series, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2463: Luke Skywalker – Bespin

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

LUKE SKYWALKER — BESPIN

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Luke battles Darth Vader on a narrow platform in Cloud City and rejects Vader’s urging to turn to the Dark Side and rule the galaxy with him.”

40 years and some change ago, in this galaxy, right here, the second Star Wars movie, The Empire Strikes Back, hit theaters.  As Hasbro likes to use pretty much every five-year milestone as grounds for celebration, that means that this year we’re getting a bunch of throw-back Empire stuff in toy form.  Things kicked off with the Probe Droid, and, following in A New Hope‘s footsteps, there’s also a vintage-style-carded line of Black Series figures.  The first assortment was mostly re-hash, but I’m taking a look at the most unique of the bunch today with another go at Bespin Luke!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke Skywalker (Bespin) is one of the five figures that makes up the first series of the Empire Strikes Back 40th Anniversary sub-line of Black Series figures.  The other four, Bespin Han, Hoth Leia, Yoda, and the AT-AT Driver are all straight re-cards of prior releases, so you’d be forgiven for thinking that was the case with Luke as well.  He’s a lot of re-use, to be fair, with everything below the neck being re-used from the very first Black Series Bespin Luke.  Like that figure, this one stands just shy of 6 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  Black Series articulation hadn’t really gotten to be what it is now in 2014, when this mold first hit, so he’s admittedly a little bit archaic in terms of movement.  The elbows sit a little low on the arms, the range on the hips is quite restricted, and he’s got the up/down joint on both of his wrists, which is a little odd for posing.  All that said, it’s still a pretty nice looking sculpt, so I can’t totally dis the re-use.  He gets an all-new head, which updates him to the more modern style of separate pieces for the face and hair.  The original Bespin head was probably the weakest of the initial Luke head sculpts in terms of a Hamill likeness, so another go at it isn’t the worst.  This new sculpt is…different?  I hesitate to say better, but I also wouldn’t say worse.  In some ways, it’s a better match, but in others it’s more off, and in particular it seems a bit too large proportionally.  The new head is matched by a new paint scheme, which uses the face printing, thereby making him a little more lifelike.  I definitely like that, but I’m not quite as down for how stripped down the paint on his fatigues has become.  The wash on the original was one of the best parts of the figure, but this one loses a lot of that, and the details on the outfit subsequently become easier to miss.  This figure is packed with the same extras as the last version: a lightsaber and a blaster pistol.  They’re as good here as anywhere else.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

A re-issue of this guy’s been pretty much inevitable, given how hard to find the original had become, as well as the original hitting during one of the weakest periods of the line.  There were definitely improvements to be made, and while this figure makes some of them (namely the better paint on the face/hair), it’s really a trade-off.  This should have been an actual improvement, but it’s instead more or less an equivalent product.  It’s a shame, because I was kind of hoping we might get a more deluxe update on this guy, with extra parts to replicate more of the beating he takes during his Bespin duel.  Perhaps such a release could still happen later.

Luke was purchased from my friends at All Time Toys.  If you’re looking for Black Series, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2435: The Child

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

THE CHILD

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

The Mandalorian was a pretty huge hit right out of the gate, but pretty much everything else about the show pales in comparison to the Baby Yoda phenomenon.  Kept a well-guarded secret by those involved in the show, “The Child” (as he was officially dubbed by Disney) was immediately met with pretty much universal approval, and an insane demand for all the merchandise imaginable.  Of course, part of keeping Baby Yoda such a well-guarded secret was not letting any of the licensors even know the character existed until after the first episode had dropped, meaning there was a bit of a gap between his appearance on the show an any merch.  Fortunately, things have turned around pretty darn quickly on that front.  There are a lot of options right out of the gate, but I’m kicking things off with a look at Hasbro’s Black Series offering.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Child is a one-off Black Series release, which started hitting retail right at the beginning of May.  He’s using the packaging style introduced in 2018 with the Porg two-pack, but he’s at a slightly higher price point.  The figure is incredibly small, and indeed a lot smaller than many people expected.  However, at just over an inch tall, he’s pretty much exactly the size he should be to go with the rest of The Black Series line.  He’s better articulated than you might expect, with 7 points of articulation.  That includes ball joints at the neck, shoulders, and ankles (yes, he’s got a fully detailed pair of feet that no one’s ever going to see).  His range is rather limited overall, especially on the shoulders.  I was, however, quite pleased with the mobility on the neck joint, which allows for a good deal of expressiveness to his posing.  The sculpt is rather well detailed for the size, with the head exhibiting the best work.  The likeness to the puppet from the show is pretty spot-on, especially in the face.  The paintwork on this figure is fairly light.  The construction of the figure is such that most of the color work is done via straight molded coloring.  There’s a little bit of work on his face and ears, which is up to par with the current standard for the main line, so no complaints there.  Baby Yoda’s got a fun selection of cool extras, including the frog-like creature it eats after the Mando finds it, the bowl of broth he carries during Mando and Cara’s face-off in Chapter 4, and the knob from Mando’s ship that he gives to Baby Yoda as a toy.  There’s also a clear box to keep all of the extras in, so that you don’t lose them.  I definitely appreciate that, and they’ll be staying in that box pretty much exclusively for my display.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I will fully admit to being drawn in by the Baby Yoda craze, and his inclusion in The Mandalorian was definitely one of my favorite parts of the show.  I definitely wanted him for my Black Series collection, in what ever capacity Hasbro chose to deliver.  It’s hard to say that this guy’s really a full-fledged figure in his own right, but he’s a pretty fantastic companion to the rest of the Mando stuff they’ve put out so far.  He’s a fun little package.

I picked up this little guy from my friends at All Time Toys.  He’s currently sold out, but they’ve still got a bunch of other Black Series, and other cool toys both old and new, so please check out their website and their eBay Store.