I know, I know. Yesterday was May the 4th aka Star Wars Day, but I really wanted to wrap up my Age of Ultron Trifecta. I’m making up for it today with a long overdue revisiting of Hasbro’s 6-inch Black line. Man, it feels like forever since the last time I checked out a figure from this series, and it has been a while: Back in January when I featured the Tie Fighter pilot, to be exact. Some of that has to do with me skipping a few figures along the way, particularly the Yoda and one of the colored Clone Troopers. Even this current wave wasn’t a complete buy-in for me. I can’t even remember exactly what four figures comprised the case, but the only two I picked up were Bossk and Han Solo in Stormtrooper Disguise. I decided to go with Bossk first because… well, it’s Bossk and it was really never a contest. Sorry Han, we’ll check you out next time.

I’ve got nothing new to say about the packaging, so let me just take this opportunity to say how happy I am that Hasbro started getting into the Bounty Hunters early on with this series. Yeah, we’re still waiting on some staples of the line and there are plenty of characters (or versions of characters) that we should probably be getting before a one-line-wonder like Bossk. On the other hand, anything that brings me closer to a complete set of 6-inch Bounty Hunters makes me happy. Oh yes, kids, 6-inch Dengar better damn well be coming! Anyway, I like Bossk and I always have. If for no other reason, it just tickles me that his outfit is a reused costume from the 1968 Doctor Who story “The Wheel in Space!” That’s just rad!

It’s probably most appropriate to start with the costume because it’s also one of the greatest opportunities this figure has going to the 6-inch format. Sure, Hasbro has managed to cram an impressive amount of detail into some of the flight suits on the 3 3/4″ figures, but the larger scale breeds better opportunities for attention to detail and I think they took good advantage of it with this figure. Bossk’s flight suit is quite complex and that’s certainly reflected here. I don’t pretend to know what all this stuff does, but all the straps and cables, and hoses hanging off of our Saurian friend here looks great. Bossk features that same type of harness that we saw with X-Wing PIlot Luke. It’s a soft plastic rig that connects to the belt and loops around his thighs. It’s all also connected to the hose that runs into his vest. You also get a hose running out of the front of his suit, runs around to the back and connects into his vest, probably to help circulate his lizard juices. The mostly yellow jumpsuit is sculpted to look like its bunched up around his knees and he has those familiar silver bands of cylinders running around his legs. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve grown to accept Bossk’s outfit as iconic and this figure nails it quite well.

The exposed lizard parts are also very nicely detailed with sculpted scales and the claws on his fingers and toes. Ah, but it’s the head sculpt that really drives the beauty of this figure home. It looks fantastic and the inclusion of an articulated jaw was a somewhat risky and bold choice. Truth be told, it doesn’t open all that wide, but I think that’s what makes it such a neat little touch. And surprisingly, the added articulation doesn’t detract from the quality of the portrait at all, so I think it was a worthy addition.

The paint on this figure is mostly good. There are some black spots on my figure’s arms, which looks like rubbing of the paint, or possibly transfer from some of the black applications. Aside from that, the detail work around the silver fixtures of the costume is all quite well done and the wash looks pretty good. They also picked the perfect shade of slightly washed out yellow plastic for the jumpsuit. If I had one major complaint it would be that the painted eyes on my Bossk are all googly. Ugh, come on Hasbro, you come so close and then you blow it with the little stuff. Ah well, I suspect I’ll be able to fix that by filling them in a little more with a sharpie, but it’s something I shouldn’t have to be doing on a twenty dollar collectible figure.

He may have stood there on the deck and did nothing in the movie, but Bossk’s figure still features all the articulation I’ve come to expect from this line. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, have swivels at the thighs and below the knees, and the ankles feature hinges and some generous lateral rockers. There’s a ball joint in the torso, but it really doesn’t offer a whole lot of movement, the neck, however is both hinged and ball jointed and I’ve already mentioned that sweet hinged jaw. Most of this articulation is as good as it sounds, with the one stand out being the elbows. The way the arms are sculpted doen’t give Bossk a lot of range of motion there.

Bossk comes with one accessory and that’s his laser rifle. It comes complete with shoulder strap and while it’s a fairly simple sculpt, it looks good and his left hand is sculpted in just the right way so that he can grip it comfortably and hold onto it securely. On the downside, because of the limited elbow articulation, I can’t get him to hold it both hands very convincingly.

Yes, the 6-inch Black line continues to have its ups and downs, but releases like Bossk pull me in and remind me why I’m collecting this line. He’s a great figure, with just a few little issues here and there, that ultimately makes me all the more excited for the up and coming IG-88 release and I sincerely hope the rest of the Bounty Hunter scum are going to be turning up in the next year or so. Now if we could just get Hasbro to stop repacking figures from the previous wave into the new ones, I could finally go back to buying cases and not having to get individuals or pairs of figures from scalpers.