#2755: Bo-Katan Kryze

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with All Time Toys, Bo-Katan Kryze, Hasbro, Star Wars, The Black Series, The Mandalorian April 30, 2021

BO-KATAN KRYZE

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“A gifted warrior, Bo-Katan Kryze is a legendary Mandalorian. She refused to align with the Empire’s occupation of Mandalore.”

One of the very short list of characters who have pulled the trifecta of Clone Wars, Rebels, and The Mandalorian appearances (while still remaining absent from the movies proper), is Katee Sackoff’s Bo-Katan Kryze. Despite being a rather prominent character across three different Star Wars series, Bo-Katan has, up until recently, been without any action figure coverage. I suppose an argument could be made that it’s because she’s just the worst, but that’s, admittedly, not a universal opinion. Also, not my opinion, really, though I do get the argument. Whatever the case, it’s her appearance on The Mandalorian that finally got her the toy coverage, going straight for the Black Series offering, which I’m taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Bo-Katan Kryze is Figure 10 in the Mandalorian sub-line of Star Wars: The Black Series. She’s the final figure in the latest assortment of the line, as well as the only Mandalorian figure included. She’s patterned specifically on her appearance on the show (or at the very least a very close to final version of the show’s design), but it’s worth noting that her other appearances aren’t terribly far removed from this one, so she can sort of pull triple duty, if you’re looking for her to fill out your Clone Wars or Rebels shelves as well. The figure stands just under 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation. Her articulation is pretty well standard for a modern Star Wars release, which is to say it’s quite good. In particular, I was quite impressed by the range of motion on her hips, especially with that belt and holster set-up there. Her sculpt is an all-new affair, which isn’t too surprising. As I touched on up above, she’s definitely based on her appearance in The Mandalorian‘s second season, but there are some minor design elements that point to her being based the designs for her outfit for the show, rather than the physical prop suit. It’s still very close, though. and it’s more of how the parts all fit together than it is the actual individual parts. Underneath of her removable helmet (complete with articulated range finder; I’m glad that’s become standard) is a fully-formed head sculpt, which sports a rather decent likeness of Katee Sackoff, on the face, at least. The hair’s a different story; it’s styling is slightly off for the show, though it’s possible that owes more to making the helmet sit a bit better than it is an actual misinterpretation of the design from the show. It means that she works better with the helmet on than off, but it’s not a terrible look either way. More so than the sculpt, the paint work on this figure shows some of that not-quite-final source material it was working from; she winds up with generally a more muted color scheme than she had in the show. Her blues should definitely be brighter, and some of the accents should be a little darker. But, as with the sculpt, it’s not like it’s incredibly far off. The base coloring is still there, and she’s even got some decent accenting on the armor, to wear it in a bit. Bo-Katan is packed with her aforementioned helmet, her jetpack, and a pair of matching blaster pistols (borrowed from Sabine). It’s not a ton, but it’s a good match for the character and what she needs.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My re-watch of The Clone Wars and Rebels definitely left me hoping to see Bo-Katan show up in figure form at some juncture. Her re-appearance on The Mandalorian, as frustrating a character as she may have been to some of the viewership, just really pushed it for me. She’s definitely prominent enough to deserve figure treatment, and I definitely dig the character’s design enough to want that figure. The end result is a pretty strong one. She’s not without flaws, but she’s still pretty solid, and I’m glad to have her.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure 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.

#2754: Elite Squad Trooper

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with All Time Toys, Bad Batch, Clone Trooper, Hasbro, Star Wars, The Black Series April 29, 2021

ELITE SQUAD TROOPER

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“After the formation of the Galactic Empire, a small group of highly skilled enlisted recruits is tasked with neutralizing anti-Imperial insurgents throughout the galaxy.”

I see a Trooper and I want to paint it black! No colors anymore, I want them to turn black!

It’s a pretty well-established thing that you can make anything in Star Wars better by, as The Who said, painting it black. Well, it mostly applies to troopers, I guess, but there’s a lot of those, so that’s a high percentage of Star Wars things. While mostly an excuse to sell some more toys, the concept of painting a trooper black has also found its way into the Star Wars ‘verse proper, with all sorts of different rationales behind it. In the case of the Clone Troopers, the latest excuse for them being all dark and monochromatic comes in the form of the Elite Squad Troopers, who will be playing some sort of role in the upcoming Bad Batch show, though specifically what, we don’t know quite yet. It does mean we’ve got the toy, though, which is good an excuse as any to trot out the Clone Trooper molds in swanky all-black.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Elite Squad Trooper is figure 03 in the Bad Batch sub-set of Black Series, and is the third and final of the three Bad Batch-related figure in the most recent assortment of the line. The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation. This guy is completely built out of re-used parts, though, in contrast to how things may look at first glance, they’re not all from the new Kamino Trooper mold. He uses that figure’s upper half, combined with the legs of the previous Clone Trooper body. It’s…different? I’m admittedly not sure why exactly they’ve made the change here. The range of motion was certainly better on the newer legs; the old ones are rather restricted in the ankles and hips. The only thing I can think of is that there were concerns of long-term durability with the construction of the new knee pads. I suppose there’s also potentially some aesthetic benefits to the older legs, but I’m not entirely sure it’s worth the trade-off, if I’m honest. I mean, it’s still generally better than just using the whole older Clone Trooper body; at least this one can more properly hold his weapons. In another instance of looks being deceiving, the paint work isn’t just a straight all-black set-up. In addition to the green visor, it’s also worth noting that the armor proper isn’t straight black, but rather more of a slate color, while the body suit is a straight black. It’s a subtle, but well done contrast, which also keeps him from being too visually bland. This guy’s packed with one single accessory, the DC-15A blaster. It’s a shame he just gets the one, since prior clones have gotten both the 15A and 15S versions. I’m guessing this might be a show-accuracy sort of thing, but it still makes the figure feel a little light, especially since he’s all repaint.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

An all-black repaint of any new trooper mold is effectively a given, so I was sort of expecting this one to crop up at some point, though I wasn’t expecting it quite this quickly. The mixed mold is a little weird, especially this soon after establishing the new body, and I wish they weren’t cutting accessories, but I will admit this figure is really slick looking. Sometimes, I’m just very easy to please, and this is one of those times.

#2753: Crosshair

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with All Time Toys, Bad Batch, Crosshair, Hasbro, Star Wars, The Black Series April 28, 2021

CROSSHAIR

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“The Bad Batch, technically known as Clone Force 99, is the result of Kaminoan experiments to create specialist clone commandos. Crosshair is the team sniper who displays superior accuracy.”

The Bad Batch is, admittedly, a team primarily built out of action movie team archetypes. Hunter’s the team’s leader guy, specializing in…uhh…leading? So, he’s got that role covered. But where would the team be without some sort of of dark loner guy who keeps to himself and snipes from afar? Fear not, they’ve got Crosshair for this role. He’s dark! He’s a loner! He snipes! What more could you want? Hopefully it’s action figures, because that’s what we’ve got here.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Crosshair is the second figure in the Bad Batch-sub-line of Star Wars: The Black Series‘s Phase IV run. He’s another figure in the fourth assortment of the line, and the second of the three Bad Batch figures included therein. The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation. Crosshair’s articulation scheme is the same as Hunter’s, largely because he’s built from a bunch of the same parts. It’s sensible, since they do have a lot of the same elements in the show, and, unsurprisingly, have the same build. He does get a new head, helmet, shoulder pads, upper torso, and bandolier/belt overlay pieces in order to set him apart, as well as ditching Hunter’s more character-specific under-arm knife (though there’s still a hole in his forearm where the sheath plugged in on Hunter). Hunter’s sculpt was pretty decent, but I like Crosshair’s even more; I think it’s partially just that his design translates to toy form a little bit better, but it also feels like they had just a little more fun putting him together. His new upper torso gets its own slightly tweaked wear and tear, and his un-helmeted head has that slightly Clint Eastwood-ian look that goes well with the character. His hair’s been slightly changed up in the transition to a more real-world set up, presumably because his animation style hair just looked a bit too silly on a real face. The helmet again sits nicely atop the head, but unlike with Hunter, I do find myself actively preferring the helmeted appearance on this one. His helmet’s even got a moving range-finder, which is definitely cool. Crosshair’s paint work is pretty much on par with Hunter’s. It’s not bad from a basic stand point (although he’s missing his little painted crosshair over his helmet’s visor, which is a shame), but it does lack in the way of weathering or any major accenting. It would definitely help these sculpts to stand out a little bit more. As it stands, he still looks okay, but it’s not much to write home about. Crosshair’s accessory selection is pretty solid, as he gets his own back pack, his sniper rifle, and a small blaster pistol. Unlike Hunter, he’s actually got storage for all of his weaponry, with the rifle breaking into two pieces for stowage on his back, and the blaster fitting into the holster on his belt. Definitely a nice set-up.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Hunter’s kind of the blandest member of the Batch, so while he was pretty cool, he lacks a lot of that flair that the others have. Crosshair is our first real taste of that more individualized set-up, and I think it does the figure a lot of favors. From a purely technical standpoint, both figures are well executed, but Crosshair’s definitely a little more fun, and certainly my favorite of the two. I look forward to seeing the show, and I certainly look forward to getting the rest of the Batch.

#2752: Hunter

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with All Time Toys, Bad Batch, Clone Trooper, Hasbro, Hunter, Star Wars, The Black Series April 27, 2021

HUNTER

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“The Bad Batch, technically known as Clone Force 99, is the result of Kaminoan experiments to create specialist clone commandos. Hunter, their leader, is a strong and stoic soldier.”

The Bad Batch, an elite squat of slightly defective clones, made their first appearance in what was originally one of a handful of unfinished episodes of The Clone Wars following its <second> cancellation. When Disney+ renewed the show for one last season, the Batch’s introductory episode was expanded into the full planned arc, and the characters were well received enough to gain a further follow-up, this time in the form of their own dedicated series, which will be premiering next week for May 4th. In an effort to tie-in, Hasbro’s doing the whole squad in Black Series form. I’m starting things off, appropriately, with the team’s leader, ~~Dutch~~ Hunter!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hunter is the first figure in the Bad Batch-based sub-set of Black Series Phase IV, and is part of the fourth Black Series assortment since the re-work. He’s the first of the three Bad Batch figures in this particular round. The figure stands just over 6 inches all and he has 27 points of articulation. Hunter’s articulation scheme is very much the same as that of the recently re-vamped Clone Trooper figure, which is rather fitting, and also a solid basis for articulation, since that figure moved pretty well. His sculpt is largely a new piece (though a fair bit of it is shared with his assortment-mate Crosshair), but he does share his feet with the standard Clone trooper. Otherwise, it’s new, and it’s pretty strong. I did notice that his armor design does stay a little closer to the animation styling that other Clone Wars clones, but with no real-word-equivalent armor design for him, I guess that’s kind of a little more expected. There are at least some extra smaller details added throughout the armor, in order to make it a little more lived-in, so he’s got some scratches and such worked in. The design is a little stubborn in figure form in a few spots, especially on the shoulders, I found. That said, I do think it’s generally a nice piece, and I was impressed by how the removable helmet worked out in particular. Given Hunter’s longer hair, I was expecting it to be a much tighter fit, and for the helmet to end up making him look a lot more bobble-headed than it does. I think I do still slightly prefer him un-helmeted, but both ways work out alright. Hunter’s paint work isn’t bad, but it’s a bit of a mix, really. The underlying face has the printing technique, which looks good, and the customized look on his helmet is impressive, but it does feel like he’d be a little more impressive with some additional accenting to bring out the sculpted details. As it is, it still looks okay, but it could be better. Hunter is packed with his customized larger blaster, as well as one of the standard smaller blasters, a knife, and a back pack. It’s a shame that there’s no storage for either blaster, but it’s a minor complaint. Getting extras is always cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Bad Batch are a cool enough concept, and certainly one that seemed to be begging for toys. I’m glad they finally got something, and Hunter’s a good starting point for the line. He pretty much gives a slight taste of all of the elements we’ll see with the others from the squad. The paint detailing could maybe stepped up a notch, but otherwise he’s a pretty solid offering, and on par with the new Troopers they’ve been putting out recently.

#2751: Asajj Ventress

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with All Time Toys, Asajj Ventress, Clone Wars, Hasbro, Star Wars, The Black Series April 26, 2021

ASAJJ VENTRESS

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“An assassin trained in the ways of the dark side by Count Dooku, Asajj Ventress yearned to be considered a true Sith, but such status wasn’t allowed under the Sith’s Rule of Two.”

One of the notable carry overs between both the 2D and 3D Clone Wars was Dooku’s ill-fated apprentice, Asajj Ventress. While she didn’t make the jump to the movies the way her follow-up Grievous did, Ventress nevertheless became quite an important piece to Clone Wars’ overall story when it was expanded upon for the 3D series. Just don’t talk about the fact that she kind of just disappears because the episodes that were supposed to close out her story were never produced. That just seems rude. Ventress has been in a pretty good spot when it comes to toys since the very beginning, with a handful of both animation and realistically-styled figures going back to the days of her 2D appearances, but she’s just now finally make her way into Black Series, with a figure I’m taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Asajj Ventress is figure 07 in the Clone Wars-portion of Star Wars: The Black Series’s latest incarnation. She heads up the fourth assortment since the re-launch, and is the only directly Clone Wars-inspired figure in this particular set. Asajj is based on her initial appearance from the 3D show, when she was still serving as Dooku’s apprentice. It’s definitely her most tried and true design, and probably the most distinctive of her looks, really. The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation. The articulation scheme on this figure is generally fairly decent, though it does feel a little more restricted in a few spots than other more recent figures. The skirt is certainly a piece of that, though it’s not too terrible in that regard. The tabard at the front is really the biggest issue for the legs. Also, somewhat oddly, they’ve opted to give both of her wrist joints a side-to-side joint, rather than forward and back, which, to me, feels like it would be the more natural motion given her style of lightsaber. But, it’s not exactly a new thing for people to not understand how Ventress and Dooku should be be properly using their sabers, so I guess I shouldn’t be too shocked at this point. Otherwise, Asajj’s sculpt, which is all new to her, is a pretty nice piece of work. She ranks very highly on the list of translations from animation style to realistic. She maintains the overall likeness of the character, but still looks like a really person. The detailing on her outfit is pretty sharp, with the best work definitely going into the wraps on her arms and mid-section. The construction on the skirt works pretty much the same as the smaller Clone Wars version; the bulk of it’s cloth, with the belt and tabard being plastic. I quite like the cloth they’ve picked for the skirt itself; it hangs well, at the sheen looks quite slick in photos. Asajj’s paint work is pretty solid work overall. The face uses the printing tech that’s become the norm for the line, which works well here. The rest of the detail work is fairly clean, and she doesn’t seem to be lacking any notable coverage. Asajj is packed with her two curved-handled lightsabers, which she can hold (slightly incorrectly), or keep on her belt. They can also be combined into one thing, which is kinda awkward, but also is accurate, so good on them for keeping that detail. Just the two sabers does feel maybe a bit light, but I don’t know what else you could giver her, really.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ventress is one of those characters that really grew on me as Clone Wars progressed, and after my re-watch of the show in the last two years with Super Awesome Wife, she was definitely one of the characters I was hoping to see show up in Black Series. I was certainly glad to see her announced, and the final figure’s an overall pretty nice product. I wish the wrists worked better for her, but otherwise I do quite like the figure.

#2706: Mace Windu

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with All Time Toys, Hasbro, Mace Windu, Samuel L Jackson, Star Wars, The Black Series March 12, 2021

MACE WINDU

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“A grim Jedi Master with an amethyst-bladed lightsaber, Mace Windu was the champion of the Jedi Order, with little tolerance for the failings of the Senate, the arguments of politicians, or the opinions of rebellious Jedi.”

Mace Windu was one of the few not-hold-over-from-the-original-trilogy characters of the prequels to be of notable prominence, not just in one of the three films, but in the whole trilogy, even before Clone Wars came along and fleshed the others out a bit. As such, he was also decently covered in the area of toys. It came as a slight surprise when it took as long as it did for him to make his way into The Black Series, but he finally did, and I’m taking a look at that figure today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mace Windu was an early 2019 release for The Black Series, released as part of the same assortment that included Padmé and Dryden Vos. He was figure #82, placing him right between Padmé and the standard Battle Droid. The Jedi all kept the same basic looks through the prequels, but Mace was even more consistent than the others. This one serves as coverage for both his Episode II and III looks, since they were more or less the same. The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation. I’ve actually looked at most of Mace’s parts previously, when they were re-used for Plo Koon. It was a good sculpt then, and it’s a good sculpt now. It’s well constructed, and the articulation is quite nicely implemented. He’s got all the range and motion of the newer Black Series offerings, so he’s a lot of fun to pose. Obviously, the head and hands are different, so as to be more Mace-appropriate. The head’s got a pretty darn solid Samuel L Jackson likeness, and probably one of the better likenesses from the line. In general, the likenesses in this assortment were really strong, as I thought Dryden was up there as well. Also, I dig that the hands aren’t just two basic gripping poses; the left hand’s gesture pose has a lot of possible posing range to it. Mace’s paint work is all pretty straight forward stuff. The head has the face printing, which looks quite nice on this particular sculpt. The robes and such are all basic work, but they’re up to snuff. No noticeable slop or bleed over, so that’s good. Mace is packed with his lightsaber and a removable cloth robe. The saber is nice, but I was a little bummed that he couldn’t hang it from his belt. The cloak’s about on par with the majority of the other cloth goods from the line, which is to say it’s not amazing, but it’s not terrible either. It’s certainly better than the one that came with Plo.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I discussed in my review of Padmé, this assortment was the last one before All Time was carrying the line, so I missed out on most of them at retail. I wanted a Mace to be sure, but just never had the opportunity to get my hands on him. Fortunately, Hasbro did another production run on him and a handful of other figures, and they’ve just started to show up. Mace is a really good figure, and certainly one of the line’s best Jedi figures.

#2705: Clone Commander Fox

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with All Time Toys, Clone Trooper, Clone Wars, Commander Fox, Hasbro, Star Wars, The Black Series March 11, 2021

CLONE COMMANDER FOX

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Commander Fox led the Coruscant Guard, an elite clone trooper unit assigned to serve as peace-keepers on the Galactic Republic capital.”

With all of the new Archive releases covered (or substituted for the earlier release, as was the case for Cody), I guess I’ll fill this week out with a couple of older releases that I have on hand. The photo at the end of yesterday’s review may have cued some readers into the fact that I have Clone Commander Fox, but I have not yet reviewed Clone Commander Fox, so I guess I might as well get on that. How about this here Commander Fox figure?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Clone Commander Fox was a shared retailed exclusive Black Series release from 2019. Technically, he was a GameStop/Thinkgeek exclusive, but he was also offered up through Big Bad Toy Store, so he was rather thoroughly distributed. Fox’s design follows the trend for all of the Clone Commanders’ designs so far, going for his Phase II design. The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation. Fox is built on the standard Clone Trooper body, for better or for worse. That’s overall a good thing, but it does mean that he’s got some slight issues regarding range of motion on his joints, as well as the lack of a trigger finger on his left hand, for the purposes of dual wielding. He’s got the adjusted belt with the holsters like we saw on Wolffe and Rex, along with a cloth kama piece to match. The kama still seems a little short, no doubt due to using the same pattern as the other two. Fox gets a new helmet piece, which is rather similar to Cody’s but lacks a couple of Cody’s specific details. The standard portions of the helmet match up in style with Cody’s helmet, indicating that they at least started from a common point. The visor, which is a separate piece on both, is a notably softer plastic here, which causes it to be slightly warped on my copy of the figure. It’s not terribly so, but it’s noticeable. Fox’s paint work is pretty nicely handled. The base work is pretty clean, and the predominantly red coloring helps him stand out. There’s a lot of fun detail work going on, with some notable wear and tear on his armor. It gives him a realistic vibe, which works pretty well. Fox is armed with a DC-15A long rifle and a pair of DC-17 pistols.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve pretty much thrown in the towel on resisting getting any of the Clone Commanders, so I knew I wanted Fox as soon as he was shown off. That being said, it being Fox, I wasn’t in a major rush or anything. I actually wound up picking him up from an All Time trade-in, back before I even got yesterday’s Cody figure. I just kept putting off reviewing him because, you know, life, and all. But, I figured, with Cody finally getting reviewed, I might as well clear out all of the Clone reviews on deck. Fox isn’t the most impressive of the Clones, but he’s got a distinctive look, and now I’ve got a red one, so that’s cool.

#2704: Clone Commander Cody

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with Clone Trooper, Commander Cody, Hasbro, I blame Max, Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars, The Black Series March 10, 2021

CLONE COMMANDER CODY

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“A natural and practical leader in the clone army, Clone Commander Cody was a good fit for General Kenobi, to whom he was particularly loyal.”

While they’ve stepped it up a little bit in the last few years, when The Black Series launched, the prequel component was pretty light. In the first three years of the line, there were only seven prequel figures, four of them being Clone variants of some form or another. Just prior to wrapping up the line’s second incarnation, just before the re-branding for The Force Awakens, they put out their first actually named clone, Commander Cody, who was in an otherwise OT-based assortment. He was easy to overlook at the time, but as we’ve gotten more and more of the other Clone Commanders, he’s become rather a desired entry in the line. Thankfully, he just got a re-release as part of the Archive line-up. Not that I’m reviewing that release here, but I’ll get to that later. Onto the figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Before being re-issued in the third assortment of The Black Series Archive, Commander Cody was originally released in early 2015, as #14 in the Blue Line incarnation of The Black Series, heading off the final assortment of that incarnation (alongside the previously reviewed Leia as Boushh and IG-88). The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and has 29 points of articulation. Cody is built on the the original Clone Trooper body. He got a new head, upper torso, shoulder pads, and upper right arm in order to replicate Cody’s more personalized armor elements. The original Clone body does show its age these days, but it was still quite good for the time, and it’s certainly not terrible. Cody’s new shoulder pads even address the issue with the standard body by giving him a slightly better clearance, and thereby a better range of motion on those particular joints. The Cody-specific parts are all really nicely sculpted, and have quite a lot of deep detail work. His armor shows some more wear and tear than the rest of the Clones, which is appropriate for the character. By far my favorite piece is the head, which manages to be a nicer, sharper recreation of the Phase II helmet than the standard one that later followed, with deeper detailing, and a far better range of motion on the neck joint than the regular helmet as well. Cody’s paint work is pretty solid; while the pre-TFA stuff had some issues with paintwork, there was a real reversal on this final assortment before the switch-over. Cody followed that set up, and actually has some decent work. The orange stripes on his main armor have some nice simulated wear, and the knee pads have some cool accenting to make them look dirty and messed up. The white sections of the armor could perhaps use some slight accenting to bring out some of the sculpted damage, but accenting on white can be very tricky, so it’s probably for the best that it was just left out. Cody is packed with both the DC-15 and DC15A blasters, which have become the norm for the Clones. Interestingly, his helmet isn’t removable like some of the later Clone Commanders, despite Cody rather prominently taking off his helmet in his film appearance. Ultimately, it’s probably for the best, however, since it means that this figure doesn’t have the older style paint on the head to contend with.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I passed on this guy when he was new because I was far more focussed on the other two figures in the set, and I was still trying to hold to my no prequels rule. However, once Hasbro really started getting into the other Clone Commanders, I definitely regretting passing on him more and more. Back over the summer, All Time had this guy come in with a whole Black Series collection, and I was interested, but the Archive was not yet announced, and that meant he was at the peak of his after market value. That was outside my price range, so I passed, albeit somewhat disappointedly. Max was evidently having none of that, and decided to be far to nice to me, and got me this guy anyway. Sure, the Archive release is out now, but that doesn’t make how I got this one any less special, nor does it change the fact that I had him for a good six months before there was another opportunity. Whichever release you get, this guy is really cool, and I’m glad to have him to round out the set.

#2703: Han Solo – Hoth

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with All Time Toys, Han Solo, Hasbro, Star Wars, The Black Series, The Empire Strikes Back March 9, 2021

HAN SOLO — HOTH

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES ARCHIVE (HASBRO)

“Han stuck with the Rebel Alliance and helped establish its new base on the ice planet Hoth. After Luke didn’t return from a routine sweep of the planet surface, Han headed out alone into the frigid cold to find him.”

Luke wasn’t the only one to get the deluxe Hoth cold-gear treatment for The Black Series in 2015, and he’s likewise not the only one to get the Archive treatment in 2021. Both times around, Luke was accompanied by his good buddy Han, in his own set of cold-weather gear. And I’m taking a look at that Han figure today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Han is another figure in the third assortment of Star Wars: The Black Series Archive. Like Luke, he too was originally released in a deluxe set in 2015, where he was originally packaged alongside a Tauntaun. Unlike Luke, he’s one one release between these two; the figure got a head swap and was packed with Hoth Leia for a two-pack in 2018. The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 25 points of articulation. Han’s articulation scheme is rather similar to Luke’s, being a rather archaic offering compared to other figures. The mid-torso joint works a bit better on this guy than on Luke, at least, but otherwise, it’s pretty much the same, right down to the cut joints for the wrists. Han’s sculpt is a straight re-use again. It’s not the worst sculpt, but it’s far from one of Hasbro’s best. The actual body’s not bad; the details are a bit sharper than Luke’s, and the proportions aren’t quite as off. The real issues have to do with the head. Firstly, like a number of the Han heads, it sits too high on the neck joint. The actual head is actually made up of three separate pieces, for the head/hat, the hood, and the goggles. This is accurate to the film, and gives the sculpt some extra depth, but introduces its own set of problems. The main head is rather under-scaled when compared to the rest of the body, presumably to compensate for all of the other parts. The face has an okay likeness of Ford, at least. The hood and goggles are decent pieces in their own right, but in the case of the hood, designing it to be removable costs the aesthetics a bit. There’s a rather noticeable seam on the back of the hood where it’s designed for removing, and due to the head sitting as high on the neck as it does, it doesn’t actually sit flush with the rest of the coat. Since it’s, you know, supposed to be the same garment, and all, that’s kind of a big deal. With careful posing, it doesn’t look quite as bad, but it’s still off from every angle no matter what. It all winds up being a rather silly venture anyway, since there’s no reason to actually remove the hood, since it’s not a look that’s ever seen in the movie, and it really just ends up looking goofy. Without an alternate head, or a hood piece pulled down, there’s no practical reason for the hood to be a removable piece. He’d be better off with the hood permanently attached. The figure’s paint work is a notable change-up from the original release. In addition to getting the face printing to differentiate him from the original release, this figure also takes the opportunity to correct the jacket’s color from the blue of the original release to the proper brown. The 2018 release made this change too, but this is the first time we’ve gotten the hood in the right color. Han is packed with his usual blaster pistol. It’s a little light, but it’s consistent with what he originally had (minus the Tauntaun, of course).

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Han’s original release was the same deal as Luke, being more difficult to find, lower quality, and just a bit too expensive at the time. I did *almost* get one during Amazon’s first Prime Day, when he went on sale, for something silly like $5 off, but, again, it was hard to make it worth my time. I mostly snagged him because I was getting Luke. Honestly, he’s not as good as the already rather mediocre Luke figure. The hood and head is a huge issue, and in general, he’s just not a terribly fun figure to mess with.

#2702: Luke Skywalker – Hoth

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with All Time Toys, Hasbro, Luke Skywalker, Star Wars, The Black Series, The Empire Strikes Back March 8, 2021

LUKE SKYWALKER — HOTH

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES ARCHIVE (HASBRO)

“While on patrol, Luke and his tauntaun are attacked by a vicious wampa. The creature hangs Luke upside-down in its cave, but Luke uses the Force to escape.”

Luke has been no stranger to variants in Star Wars: The Black Series. As a rather major character in the franchise, I guess that’s pretty fitting. His major variants largely hit earlier in the line’s run, generally a good deal before the rest of the others in their matching attire. That has a tendency to drive the prices of said matching looks up a bit. Fortunately, with the introduction of the Archive sub-line, Hasbro’s got an okay way of getting them back out on the market. One of the more notable looks that gone without a follow-up was Luke’s cold weather gear from Hoth, which is the Luke variant for the latest round of Archive figures.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke is from the third assortment of The Black Series Archive, re-releasing a figure that was originally put out in 2015, packaged alongside the Wampa in the deluxe portion of the Blue Line iteration of the brand. The figure stands about 5 3/4 inches tall and he has 25 points of articulation. Luke’s articulation scheme is rather on the archaic side compared to newer offerings. The range on a lot of the joints is far more restricted, and they tend to break up the sculpt a lot more than on recent figures. The arms in particular suffer from both a lack of proper elbow movement, and from a curious lack of anything beyond cut joints for the wrists, which is just unheard of for the line. A lot of this is due to the figure’s nature, beign built out of parts that are over five years old at this point. Moreover, Luke is unfortunately from the line when it was kind of at is lowest, before Hasbro really found their footing again. It’s rough to say the least. The actual sculpting work’s not awful, at least. Luke’s seen here post-wampa attach, so his goggles are missing, and he’s got some sculpted scarring on his face. The face has a pretty decent likeness of Hamill, especially for earlier in the line. The detail work on the gear is passable, though a touch softer than more recent releases tend to be. His head scarf is a cloth piece this way, which works better from a posing stand point, though it does wind up looking a bit flat and devoid of detail. Luke’s paint work is generally pretty basic. It could probably stand to have a little extra accent work, to bring out some of the sculpted details a little better, bit everything important is there. There’s some slop on the edges of a few spots. The belt buckle’s slightly misaligned and the skin tone of the the neck doesn’t quite cover the whole area it’s supposed to. Luke gets the face print set-up in place of the original paint scheme, which is in some ways better, but not quite as hefty an improvement as it usually is. Notably, it misses out on the blood detailing for the scarring, which was on the prior release. Additionally, the eyes just don’t look quite right. At first, I thought I just got a misaligned copy, but all of the ones I looked at were the same, so it looks to be line-wide. It looks alright from a distance, but up close it looks weird. In terms of pack-ins, Luke is obviously without the Wampa he was originally packed with, but he gets the lightsaber and blaster from the prior release. The blaster’s pretty decent, but the lightsaber is of a notably lower quality than other versions; the hilt is molded in silver rather than painted, and the whole thing is a softer plastic than usual, causing the blade to pop out a lot easier.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Luke’s original release marked the period when the line was hardest to fine and generally at its lowest quality, which made it rather hard to stay invested at the time. That, coupled with the higher Deluxe price point had me steer clear of this guy the first time around. With all of the other Hoth figures as of late, I’d been hoping for an update or something. Here’s an “or something”, I guess. Given the era of the line this sculpt comes from, it’s about what I’d expected. The articulation’s not ideal, and the sculpt could probably stand to be a little sharper. In general, he just feels sort of half-formed. The new paint does a little bit to dress him up, but ultimately, it feels out of place in the modern line.