Apr 2 2014

Star Wars Black: Imperial Stormtrooper by Hasbro

Let me lay my cards on the table right now. I have nothing bad to say about this figure. Discounting Han, who is the infamous repeat from the last wave, this Stormtrooper is certainly the best of what Wave 3 has to offer. So let me use this space to just bitch about Hasbro’s case Wave 3 case assortment. So far the 6-inch Black figures have been one per case. That is to say, each wave makes up its own little case of four figures. I thought that was a great idea up until now when Hasbro decides to fill a vacant slot with a repeat. Having only three new figures for Wave 3 was the perfect opportunity to pack two Stormtroopers into the case and make every fan happy. Hasbro, by your own admission this is a collector’s line. Collectors army build. How are you not seeing this? Everybody wants multiples of this guy. That’s why he’s selling for $45 on Amazon right now. Why am I pitching this fit here? Because I love this figure and I’d really like to get a couple more of them, that’s why. Ok, the rant’s over, let’s look at the figure…

There’s the Stormtrooper in his package and much like the Sasquatch or the Jersey Devil, this is not something you’re likely to see in the wild. I dare say your average Imperial Stormtrooper has a better chance of hitting something he’s aiming at than me finding this figure in the toy aisles. In fact, if you’ve ever seen this hanging on a peg count yourself among the blessed. It’s like an angel kissed your cheek. Sadly, it’ll never happen to me. The Walmarts here don’t even carry the line. The Targets are choked with X-Wing Luke’s and R2’s and the nearest TRU is an hour away and even if they weren’t I’d bet they’re charging Ebay prices. No, I got my lone Stormy in a case I ordered online. I had to choke down a mediocre Prequel Obi-Wan and a second Han Solo. And it was still a better deal than buying a single Stormtrooper online. I know, I said the rant was over, but I’ve got nothing new to say about the packaging, so I meandered.

Ah, gorgeous! Hasbro did a wonderful job on the Sandtrooper and they did it again here. A lot of knee-jerk reactions to this figure suggested it was just a straight repaint of the previous grimy trooper. I hate scrutinizing subtle differences between figures, but you don’t have to have a sharp eye to see some of the differences in the armor. The two most obvious changes are the resculpted left knee and lower abdomen. Minor changes? Maybe, but let’s give credit where it’s due. I also happen to love that Hasbro kept the peg hole in the back so you could have him wear the backpack from the Sandtrooper for the rarely seen pre-deployment Tatooine Trooper. You can have him sitting in the dropship chatting with his squad mates. “I hear it’s hot down there… you think it’s hot down there?” “Maybe. As long as there isn’t any sand. I hate sand. It gets everywhere.”

Articulation is exactly what we saw on the Sandtrooper, which isn’t a bad thing at all. The neck, shoulders, hips, wrists, and ankles are all ball jointed. The arms have swivels in the biceps and double-hinges in the elbows. The legs have swivels at the hips and double hinges in the knees. The torso also features a ball joint with a solid range of movement. Yes, the sculpted armor still restricts some of the range of movement, but I have to imagine that would be the case with the actual dudes in armor.

The Stormtrooper comes with two weapons. First you get his E-11 Blaster, which is the same piece that came with the Sandy. This figure, however, does have a functional holster on his belt to store the weapon, which is awesome. The other weapon is a rifle, which is different from the longer, thinner one we got with the Sandtrooper. He can hold both of them really well.

I suppose it’s a good thing when all I can do is bitch about distribution. I was jonesing for this Stormtrooper the moment the 6-inch Black line was announced and now that I have him he’s proven to be all that I wanted him to be. The armor looks great, he’s loads of fun to play with, and the only bad thing about him is that he doesn’t have a couple of friends to hang out with. I reckon when 6-inch Vader does finally get released, I’ll be willing to pony up a premium to get just one more of these guys so that I can have them flanking him on the shelf. On the other hand, Hasbro answered the call about complaints over collectors not being able to find some of the recent Marvel Legends figures. That particular wave of figures will be re-released, so maybe they’ll get the message here as well.

Mar 28 2014

Star Wars Black: Luke Skywalker (Bespin Fatigues) by Hasbro

Ok, time for another crack at Star Wars Black Wave 3. Han Solo is a repeat and Prequel Obi-Wan wasn’t really my bag. That cuts us down to just two more figures making this assortment a far cry from the line’s first two outings. Ah, but today we’re checking out one that I was actually looking forward to… It’s another Luke Skywalker, and that’s not a bad thing!

I’m pretty much done saying anything constructive about the 6-inch Black packaging because it’s all been said already. I like it, but now that I know the packages will be changing, I’m not keeping them anymore. This stuff takes up space and space is something I don’t have in great abundance. I will point out my one gripe about the line and that’s Hasbro’s unwillingness to define anything more about the character beyond his or her name. Oh, great it’s Luke Skywalker. But didn’t we get Luke Skywalker? Well, that was X-Wing Luke and this is Bespin Luke. Well why don’t you put that on the goddamn package? Seriously, Hasbro, you’ve built this line on character variants and the fact that I have to insert my own clarifier up there in the title of this post is really aggravating me.

Straight away I think Hasbro did a nice job with this sculpt. A dude in tan fatigues isn’t exactly the most exciting concept to work from, but that didn’t stop these guys from giving it their all. In fact, there are two things in particular that stand out on this figure. The first is the sculpted detail in the fatigues. They’re rumpled in all the right places, there are seams for the pockets, and if you look closely enough you can even see the texturing of the fabric. Next up, the paint wash works quite well. I’ve gone on record so many times in the past about how Hasbro doing paint washes is sort of akin to turning a 6-year old loose in the kitchen to make a Chicken Kiev, it never works and someone is bound to get hurt. But in this case I think it enhances the figure. Maybe it’s a bit too dirty, but I still dig the way it looks.

Despite just getting Luke two waves ago, Hasbro delivered a brand new headsculpt for this figure and I appreciate that a lot. Gone is the younger and rounder face from A New Hope and in its place is the harsher and gaunter look that resulted from the Hamill’s terrible car accident. When the first pictures were released I jibed that the portrait looked more like Peter Dinklage than Hamill. I still think there’s a resemblance to little Lord Tyrion, but there’s definitely some Hamill in there too. I’m not quite as impressed with this likeness as I am with the X-Wing Luke, but it still works fine for me.

Running down the articulation, you get a swivel in the waist and a neck with both a hinge and a ball joint. The arms are ball jointed at the shoulders and elbows and the wrists have swivels and hinges. The wrist hinges, however, are really oddly positioned on this figure, placing them more on the side of the hand and it makes useful positioning of his hands rather difficult. The legs are ball jointed at the hips and double-hinged at the knees. There are swivels in the thighs and the ankles feature both hinges and rockers. The joints are nice and tight and he is definitely a fun figure to pose.

Luke’s weapons include his DL-44 blaster and his lightsaber. These are the same weapons that we saw with the X-Wing Luke, which is totally appropriate and both are excellent pieces. The blaster fits snugly into a holster that is very similar to the one used for the Han Solo figure, right down to the working retaining strap. The lightsaber has a removable blade and uses the same style hook and loop to attach to the belt as seen on the X-Wing Luke. I definitely prefer the method of pegging the hilt into the belt. This way makes it stick out too far and looks rather awkward.

While I would prefer Hasbro concentrate on getting out different characters as opposed to revisiting the same ones so soon, I can’t argue with the importance of adding a Bespin Luke to the collection early on. Some might argue that this one should have been in the first wave since there are no X-Wings for Pilot Luke to sit in, but truth be told I dig that Pilot Luke so much I’m happy we got him too. While Bespin Luke may not be a masterpiece, he is undoubtedly a good, solid figure and he’s a welcome treat compared to the rather lackluster Obi-Wan I looked at last time. That leaves just one figure left in this wave, and I saved the best for last. Next week, we’ll check out the Stormtrooper!

Mar 18 2014

Star Wars Black: Obi-Wan Kenobi (Prequels) by Hasbro

The third wave of Hasbro’s 6-inch Star Wars Black figures has arrived on my doorstep without much breathing room between this one and the last wave. But then again, this isn’t a complete wave anyway. No, this case consisted of three new figures and the Han Solo from Wave 2. It’s annoying, because my best chance of getting these at a decent price has been to buy them by the case. While I might have a chance of picking up Obi-Wan and Luke at a good price a la carte, I’d have to shell out about $40 online to buy a single of the Stormtrooper. And that means having to suck it up and take the good with the bad. God forbid Hasbro pack two Stormtroopers into the case instead of the extra Han, right? Anyway, let’s kick things off with Obi-Wan Kenobi.

There’s the packaging. I still dig it a lot, but according to what we saw at Toy Fair, the boxes are going to be changing to a new deco in a couple of waves. That’s fine by me because having two types of boxes for the line will aggravate my OCD something fierce and that means I don’t have to save the packaging anymore. The box simply states this is Obi-Wan Kenobi, but as we can see it’s Obi-Wan from the Prequels. Someone better versed in The Star Wars might be able to tell you whether he’s from Episode 2 or Episode 3, but I’m fine just considering him Prequel Obi-Wan. Some may be surprised that I bought him, as I’ve sworn to be really picky with this line and mostly stick to Original Trilogy figures. Nonetheless, one of the few things I liked about the Prequels was the way they portrayed young Obi-Wan so I didn’t mind so much getting him with the case.

The sculpt here is not terrible, but it’s definitely got some issues. The plastic robes look way too bulky, particularly in the waist and shoulders, and the effect is exasperated by the head, which looks tiny by comparison. I get that the robes are supposed to be poofy and flowing, but instead it just makes Obi-Wan look like he needs to drop a few pounds. Interestingly enough, the figure uses some actual softgoods for the robes below the belt. On the one hand, it helps to not restrict the hip articulation, but it also begs the question, why not use this for all the robes? A slimmer buck with this kind of fabric over it might have worked better. Maybe? Well, maybe not, but I doubt it could have looked much worse. I mean, just look at the arms. It’s tough to sculpt arms with droopy sleeves and have them look right in multiple poses. These seem like problems that should have been left behind in the 3 3/4″ line.

The head sculpt taken on its own isn’t too bad. There’s definitely a likeness in the portrait and I would have no problem identifying who it’s supposed to be if someone just handed me the head. The fact that it looks disproportionate to the body is more a problem with the heft of the buck than the size of the head. I think the sculptors did a particularly nice job with the hair and the paint is certainly passable. I’ll concede we’ve seen better head sculpts in this line, but the likeness is the least of this figure’s problems.

The articulation is about right for what we’ve been seeing in this line. The arms feature ball joints in the shoulders and elbows, while the wrists have swivels and hinges. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double hinges in the knees, swivels in the thighs, and both hinges and rockers in the ankles. The neck is both ball jointed and hinged and the waist appears to be ball jointed, but really only works as a swivel. The only real issue I have with the articulation are the hips. They have a weird amount of play in them. It’s like their loose, but only to a certain degree. It doesn’t affect the figure’s ability to stand, but it you hold the figure by the torso and shake him they wobble all over the place.

Obi-Wan comes with only one accessory… his lightsaber. As we saw with X-Wing Luke, the blade can be detached and the hilt can be worn on the belt. This time, however, the hilt gets pegged into the hole on Obi-Wan’s belt and it fits quite nicely. I wish Hasbro had gone this route with Luke’s lightsabers, rather than using the hook, as this method holds the hilt more securely and looks better. But with just the one lightsaber, this figure feels really light in the accessories department. A softgoods cloak would have gone a long way to round out the package. Hell, we used to get those with the 3 ¾” Vintage Collection Jedi. Actually, screw that, we got a softgoods cloak for Jedi Luke… from Kenner… in the 80s! And if not a cloak, then how about some bits of Clone armor? Anything to help justify the $20 would have been nice.

For a line that has impressed me very nearly consistently from day one, Obi-Wan is certainly a disappointing release. The goal of the 6-inch Black series should be to give us superior sculpts and articulation, but I honestly think young Obi-Wan has been done better in the smaller scales. The real shame here is that I’m pretty sure we’ll see this buck again and again. I’m sure Hasbro is already fitting it for a Mace Windu head. It’s ironic, but in the end I feel worse about having to choke down this figure in this wave than I do picking up a second Han. At least the Han figure is excellent and I can display him with his different belt, hands, and weapon. The same can’t be said for Obi-Meh-Kenobi.

Jan 29 2014

Star Wars Black: Han Solo by Hasbro

Well, it sure took me a while, but today I’m finally wrapping up my look at Wave 2 of Hasbro’s Star Wars Black 6-inch series. In this case, I’m starting and ending with my two favorite figures in the wave. As amazing as Boba Fett is, I think Han here is an equally fantastic figure. But enough with the introductions… boring conversation anyway… let’s dive right in! Yup, Han comes in the same black window box we’ve been seeing since Wave 1. With a collection of seven of these figures (don’t forget I skipped Maul!) I’m still keeping these in their collector friendly boxes on one of my bookshelves. As the collection grows, I may eventually have to deep six the packaging in favor of a tote or possibly give them their own shelf, but for now the boxes work great to display the figure as well as give me someplace to store the extra bits. And in the case of Han, there are indeed a fair number of extra bits. Han comes wearing his Stormtrooper belt, but we’re starting out with just the regular base figure. Obviously, this is “A New Hope” Han, which straightaway makes me a happy camper. I’m looking forward to completing an “The Original 12” in this line and Han brings me one step closer to that. But besides that, I really think Hasbro needs to be focusing on the most iconic characters from the Original Trilogy and once again Han fits that bill perfectly. He comes sculpted in his original smugglers outfit, complete with rumpled shirt, soft plastic vest, and high boots. You also get a choice of belts to change him from Cantina dwelling Han to Death Star escape Han, but we’ll get to those in a moment. First, let’s talk likeness… Harrison Ford must be a tough actor to sculpt correctly because companies have been trying it for decades and few ever seem to get it quite right. Hasbro has had their wins and opps in the 3 ¾” scale, but even companies like Sideshow and Hot Toys have had their issues getting it just right on far more expensive figures. I can still remember having to pass on Hot Toys’ Indiana Jones, a figure I desperately wanted. In the end I couldn’t justify spending the money because the likeness just wasn’t where it needed to be for a figure in that price range. With all that having been said, I think the portrait on Black’s Han Solo is pretty solid for the scale and price range. A lot depends on which way you’re looking at him. It’s like all of the key features are in place, but at some angles it doesn’t always add up to Ford’s likeness. It’s not bad, though, and I’m pretty content with it. In terms of articulation, Han comes equipped with all the poseability I need in my outer space action hero. You get ball joints in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, and hips. The knees are double-hinged and the ankles are both hinged and have lateral rockers. There’s a ball joint in the chest that is really far down and close to his waist, and yet still provides a good degree of movement for the torso. Lastly, the neck is ball jointed and includes an extra hinge. And that brings us to the accessories. With two belts, two weapons, and an extra pair of hands, you get almost all you need to create Han at various points along “A New Hope.” Let’s start with his smuggler’s belt. Y’all know by now that I have a fetish for working holsters with my figures and this belt is a thing of beauty. It’s a bit tough to get on, as you need to point Han’s toe pretty sharply and work the thigh strap up his leg. The belt itself fastens with a peg in the back and there’s an extra strap that secures his pistol in place with another peg. It looks absolutely fantastic on the figure. My only concern is that the soft plastic is rather thin at some points and I worry a bit about it’s durability over time. Han is a repack in Wave 3 and I may wind up getting a case assortment just to have a spare Han in case the belt malfunctions.

Along with the belt Han comes with his trusty and iconic DL-44 Heavy Blaster. It’s a great looking piece and it fits perfectly in his right hand as well as in the holster. There’s not a lot else to say about it, other than I couldn’t stop taking pictures of him with it out and ready for action!

Next up is the Stormtrooper belt, which comes with a functional holster for the E-11 Blaster. This belt is a lot simpler than his smuggler’s rig, but certainly no less welcome. It fastens with a simple peg and the Blaster fits perfectly into the holster on the back. The Blaster itself is just one sculpted piece, which is odd since the 3 3/4″ Star Wars Black Stormtrooper got one with an articulated stock. Still, I’d rather have one solid good looking piece than a wobbly one with soft moving parts, so I’m cool with that. The only thing left to mention are the extra hands, which are sculpted with Han’s fingerless gloves. I won’t scoff at extra hands, but I doubt I’ll ever even bother to put them on the figure.

Ultimately Han Solo here is exactly what I hoped this line would be, and he nudges out Boba Fett as my favorite SWB figure released so far. The figure definitely benefits from the scale change and you get a lot of cool gear and even the ability to create your own subtle variant. Han and Boba make for some nice bookends for what was a pretty solid wave for Star Wars Black. If Hasbro can keep populating waves with figures like Boba Fett, Han, and Greedo, they’ll get no complaints from me. Had Hasbro gone with “A New Hope” Leia over Slave Leia, this assortment would have been a perfect home run for me, but even that Leia was decent enough, and a triple play is nothing to sneeze at. And now that I’m current on the 6-inch Black series, next week I can start swinging back to the 3 ¾” Black figures that I have yet to open.

Jan 21 2014

Star Wars Black: Princess Leia (Slave Outfit) by Hasbro

I’ve looked at Greedo and The Fett, and now it’s on to the third figure in Wave 2 of the Star Wars Back 6-inch line, today we’re looking at Slave Leia. As most have already pointed out, this was a really strange choice for such an early wave and certainly a peculiar choice to be the first version of Leia released in this line. I was certainly hoping for a Tantive IV version of her and I’m still really looking forward to that figure. It could be that Hasbro was betting that sci-fi’s favorite pin-up girl would be irresistible to Star Wars fans and collectors. Whatever the reason, we have Princess Leia making her debut in the 6-inch scale showing a lot of plastic skin… let’s take a look!

Here’s the packaging and there’s not much new to say. Leia comes on her tray with her two staff weapons beside her. The back panel has a monochrome image of her kicking ass and taking names on top of Jabba’s sail barge. As always, the packaging is totally collector friendly and I appreciate how compact these boxes are. I still have all my SWB figures stored in them and I’m considering hanging them on a wall in the back of one of my Toy Closets.

And here she is out of the package. I’ve watched and read a few tepid reviews of this figure before getting mine, so I was rather worried about what to expect. Even the Vintage Collection 3 ¾” Slave Leia wasn’t what I would call a homerun. Would the larger scale accentuate the problems or give Hasbro’s sculptors more room to work their magic? In the end, I think it’s a little of both. Let’s start with the portrait…

Hasbro has had their history of flubs when it comes to female head sculpts. You need only look at their recent 3 ¾” Mara Jade for an example of that. Oh, wait, I haven’t gotten around to reviewing her yet, so forget I said that. Is this a great likeness of Carrie Fisher? Nope. Can I see her in there somewhere? Yeah. It looks as much like any of the hundreds of “Slave Leias” you might see at a Comic Con than the genuine article. On the other hand, I was expecting f’ugly, and this sculpt certainly isn’t that, although I’ll admit it does not photograph well at all. The face is attractive and the crisp paintwork, particularly on the eyes, helps to sell it. The hair is very well sculpted and the soft ponytail is executed flawlessly. She has her ubiquitous neck chain, which is cast in soft plastic and can be removed by popping off her head. All in all there’s room for improvement, but there’s also a lot for me to like here.

The same can be said for Leia’s body. It’s tough to do a figure showing this much skin and still feature an acceptable amount of articulation. By using ball joints in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists, Hasbro kept the ugly jointing down to minimum. They also managed to conceal her torso ball joint just under the bikini top. Even the double hinges in the knees and swivels in the thighs aren’t that off-putting. The proportions are also nicely done. Naturally there’s not a lot to her costume, but the boots and bikini look good and I applaud the use of softgoods for the skirt. Hasbro opted to cast the bulk of the figure in flesh tone plastic, which was a gamble. On the one hand it tends to come out looking waxy, but painted flesh tones often come away looking dirty. Here the compromise paid off because the skin tone looks good and they did a nice job matching the painted face to the rest of the body.

Leia comes with two weapons, which was honestly something of a surprise for me. I knew she was coming with the force-pike, but I didn’t know about the other one. The force-pike is one of my favorite weapons of the Star Wars Universe, which is a ridiculous thing to admit, but it probably stems from the Sarlaac execution being my favorite scene from any of the movies. I’m sure I’ve gone on and on about it in my various Skiff Guard figure reviews, so I’ll just leave it at that. I have absolutely no idea what the other thing is supposed to be. Is it some kind of rifle? I’ve been getting those things with Skiff Guard figures for decades now and they still leave me bewildered. I’m sure I’ve gone off about that issue in the past as well.

In the end, Slave Leia was a pleasant surprise. Based on early reactions I expected her to be a pretty poor offering, but I think she turned out quite good. I’ll concede that she is still the weakest of all the 6-inch offerings so far, but that says more about how exceptional this line has been than it does about the flaws of this figure. I’m willing to forgive the slightly unsightly jointing because, well there’s just no way around that unless you’re going to cover the figure with a rubber skin and we all know that wasn’t going to happen in this scale and price point. The head sculpt could have been better, but it could have been a lot worse too. I suspect, she’ll be an odd-figure-out for a while as I don’t see a lot of Return of the Jedi figures coming out in the line anytime soon, although Hasbro has been hinting about a 6-inch scale Jabba the Hutt, which would make this figure a very nice companion piece what would be a mighty epic display.

Jan 15 2014

Star Wars Black: Greedo by Hasbro

I’m moving my way through Wave 2 of 6-inch Star Wars Black and our next stop is Greedo. I was a little surprised to see this character turn up so soon, but I’m all but guaranteed to buy any of the Original Trilogy characters that Hasbro deems worthy of this format. I was already pretty excited to get him, and the fact that he came in the same wave as “A New Hope” Han Solo definitely bumped up my interest even more. It also made me wish I had a 6-inch scale Cantina booth. Anyway, I was tempted to look at both Han and Greedo in the same feature, but I’ll have plenty to say about Han when he gets his turn, and as it turns out once I got Greedo out of the package, I thought was deserving of his own feature too.

Speaking of packaging… here it is again: The Star Wars Black window box. I still love it, but I’ve got nothing new to say, so instead let me just take a moment to wax nostalgic about this guy. Greedo action figures and I go way back. I got my first one as part of the Kenner’s cardboard Creature Cantina set and I’m pretty sure I got a single carded version of him one Christmas because my parents bought a whole set of the figures that were at the store. Once “Empire Strikes Back” came out and bounty hunters were all the rage, I used my two Greedos as twin bounty hunters piling on in the search for Han. Later, I would use him as one of Jabba’s crooked accountants who embezzled money and was seeking asylum with the Rebel Alliance. I was a weird kid. I’m sure I’ve owned just about every subsequent version of him after that, including three or four of the POFT2 Greedos because there seemed to almost always be one of those thrown into every lot of Star Wars figures I ever bought off of Ebay. Hell, I bet if I dug through enough totes, I could still find one of those carded.

And so, behold 6-inch Greedo. The first thing that strikes me about this figure is that Hasbro didn’t half-ass him. The sculpt is quite striking and detailed, whether you’re talking about the rumpling in his outfit, the lines of stitching in his vest, or the intricate little bumps on his Rodian head. The vest is made of soft plastic and is removable. He also sports a separate gun belt with a low slung functional holster on his right hip. The pastel colors of Greedo’s outfit appear to be pretty accurate, although the Cantina was so poorly lit it’s hard to tell for sure. I’ll give Hasbro the benefit of the doubt here. Everything here is just beautifully done, but if I had to find something to pick at, I’d say that Greedo’s vest could have used some weathering.

The portrait is absolutely brilliant. The Rodians are among my favorite Star Wars aliens and this 6-inch scale really does him Greedo justice. Are the eyes the right color? Again, it’s hard to tell because of the Cantina lighting, but they look fine to me. The familiar contours of the Rodian face are superbly represented here and it’s all the tiny little bumps and bristles that really makes this guy stand out for me. This is a head sculpt that really benefits from the up-scaling of the line.

Greedo’s articulation features all the goodies I’ve come to expect from this line. The arms are ball jointed at the shoulders and feature hinges and swivels in both the elbows and wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have swivels in the thighs, and double hinges in the knees. The ankles feature ball joints as well as lateral rockers. The torso has a ball joint just above the waist and the neck is both ball jointed and hinged. There’s plenty of useful articulation here making Greedo a damn fun figure to fiddle about with.

You get one accessory with Greedo and as you might have guessed it’s the pistol that he used to not shoot first. It’s a little snub nosed gun with a metallic finish. He can hold it comfortably in his right hand and naturally it fits in the holster.

Even after opening a wave and a half, it still feels weird (in a good way!) to have these figures in this scale. That’s especially true for Greedo because, despite the fact that he actually had lines in the movie, we’re coming close to dabbling in back bench character selection. Not that I mind, because like I said… I freaking love Greedo and I freaking love this figure. Plus, every slot that’s filled by a minor Original Trilogy character over a major Prequel character makes my heart swell with happiness.

Jan 6 2014

Star Wars Black: Boba Fett by Hasbro

All the Holiday nonsense is finally over and I’m thrilled to be back in the saddle for a brand new year. While I’ll still be pretty busy with work for the next couple of weeks, my schedule has loosened up enough so that I can start digging into some of the figures I’ve been holding off on during the crazier times of last month. I’ve been itching to open up Wave 2 of Star Wars Black ever since they landed on my stoop last month and now I’ve finally got some time to relax for a moment and do just that. Today, I’m kicking it off with a full-on six inches of rock hard Fett. LET’S DO THIS!!!

After a few weeks of seeing the SWB deco misused on the smaller carded (and mostly shitty) figures, it’s nice to see it again used on the more appropriate collector style window boxes. Wave 1 left me with a real love for this packaging and I’m still displaying those figures packaged for the time being. Needless to say these boxes are totally collector friendly and are just the right size to show off the figure without taking up too much room. Boba is displayed in his tray with his weapons and jetpack spread out beside him. The back of the package has a monochrome shot of Boba talking to Vader and Lando. Man, I can’t wait until Vader and Lando get the 6-inch treatment! Ok, enough about the packaging, it’s time to whip out my Boba.

Ok, so… WOW! We actually have a 6-inch Boba Fett figure from Hasbro. It’s still taking time for this to properly sink in. Boba Fett is a character that has seen some pretty exceptional 3 ¾” figures over the years, so I had little doubt that his 6-inch treatment would be amazing. And you know what? It is. Yes, when you consider the scale upgrade there are a few missed opportunities here, and I’ll point those out, but it’s important to remember that Hasbro is still working within the confines of a $20 retail budget. There was certainly a give and take with 6-inch Fett’s design, but I think the end result balanced out quite well!

With that having been said, I think the first thing that strikes me about this guy is the intricacy of the sculpt. The jumpsuit is beautifully rumpled in all the right places and the armor plating is pretty convincing as separate pieces even though they are part of the same sculpt.The pouches all look great and even he even has the tiny sculpted tools peeking out of the pockets on his pants. The waist belt is a separate piece but it blends seemlessly with the figure. It has pouches and a functional holster for his pistol. I’ll get to the pistol in a bit, but suffice it to say it was a cool surprise. I love functional holsters on my figures so getting one incorporated into a Boba Fett figure really rings my bell. I’m also very pleased with the detailing on his left arm bracer where you can see his dart as well as the keypad. I’m not fanatical with my knowlege of Fett’s design and I’m sure the hardcore could pick apart all kinds of little details on this guy, but he certainly does just fine by me.

Following hot on the heels of the beautiful sculpt is the deco. I’m not just talking about the coloring of the armor, but rather the weathering. Fett’s armor is dinged and scraped in all the right places and the dry brush abrasions look fantastic. Finally, the whole deco is punctuated with some great tampos like the Mandalorean symbol on his shoulder to the insignia on his chest armor. The figure fits beautifully into the “used future” design that makes the Original Trilogy Star Wars Universe such an interesting place to me.

Hasbro packed some really useful articulation into this figure. The head is both ball jointed and hinged, so you get a nice wide range of motion there. His arms feature ball joints in the shoulders, elbows and wrists, and he has swivel cuts in the biceps. His legs are ball jointed at the hips and double hinged at the knees. His ankles feature hinges and rockers. Lastly, Fett is ball jointed at the waist, just above the belt. It’s a well hidden joint that lets him swivel as well as giving him a little range of forward and backward motion in the torso. Nicely done!

Is Fett perfect? Nope. And here’s where that give and take comes in. The wookie braids are a little chunky and unconvincing. It seems like they should have been fashioned from softgoods like the cape. At the very least one of them shouldn’t have been left the same color plastic as his jumpsuit. I know what they’re supposed to be, but they look like they’re tacked on like an afterthought. I’ll also throw out there that it would have been cool if his rangefinder had been hinged. Sure, it looks fine as it is, but that seems like it would have been a good opportunity going from the 3 ¾” to the 6-inch scale. Finally, while the double joints in the knees are welcome, taking advantage of them makes the figure’s legs look unnatural, especially the way the knee caps just float. None of these nitpicks seriously detract from the figure, but since Boba Fett has had some truly excellent 3 ¾” figures, I think it’s worth pointing out some areas for improvement on this 6-incher.

Boba comes with three accessories. First off, you get his trusty jetpack, which pegs into his back. It’s just a solid molded piece of plastic that pegs into a hole on his back. There are sculpted straps to make it look like it’s held on with a harness. I suppose you could argue that Hasbro could have done a little more with it, particularly in this scale. It doesn’t fire a rocket and the little thrusters aren’t articulated, but it looks fine and I’m very happy that it is removable. Somewhere in the delusion center of my brain I am reasoning out that Hasbro made it removable to accommodate the 6-inch scale Slave-1 which is surely coming any day now. Right? RIGHT??? Ok, maybe not.

Next up is the pistol. Again, this was a total surprise for me because I don’t ever recall any previous Boba Fett (and I’ve owned most of them) coming with a pistol. Did he even use one? Is it one of his dad’s? I really don’t know, but I’m not going to turn my nose up at a pistol with a functional holster. It’s a simple enough piece, but he looks damn cool holding it and when I see my Boba Fett quick-drawing his pistol and wearing the poncho-like cape, I can’t help but get a wonderful “Man With No Name” vibe off of him from the Sergio Leone westerns.

Lastly is Fett’s iconinc carbine. It’s made of bendy plastic which helps get the stock positioned into the crook of his arm. You can also just about get his trigger finger into the trigger guard. The carbine has some exceptionally cool weathering and I like the sculpted detail in the stock, but the barrel doesn’t seem quite right. It seems like it should be thicker, at least that’s based on the prop replicas that I’ve seen.

This Boba Fett was a hotly anticipated figure for me and now that I have finally opened him I can confidently say he’s a great piece. Yes, some might argue (myself included) that Hasbro could have done more with him to take advantage of the scale change, but I keep reminding myself that this is not a $50 Figma or an $75 Play Arts figure. For a $20 figure off the peg at Target or Walmart, he’s just a great figure and pretty hard for me to put down. Boba will definitely be spending some quality time on my desk before getting relegated to the display shelf in the other room. It’s worth noting that he’s the very first figure I’m looking at in 2014 and I can already tell he’s going to be a strong contender for my Favorites list at the end of the year. Even if you aren’t collecting this line, Boba Fett is the first release that I would recommend people pick up as a stand-alone figure. After all, you can never have too many Fetts.

Aug 30 2013

Star Wars Black: Imperial Sandtrooper by Hasbro

It’s my third outing for Hasbro’s new Star Wars Black 6-inch figure line. This will also be my last feature for the first wave, because I’m not buying Darth Maul. If I go back on that, I’ll have a contest where the lucky random winner will be flown to my hometown, spend the night in a fine hotel, and get to kick me square in the balls in front of all of the Youtubes. But don’t get excited, because that’s just not going to happen. Anyway, I saved the figure that I was looking forward to the most for last: The Sandtrooper!

There’s the artsy-fartsy collector packaging. I still dig it a lot, but once again, I would have appreciated either some character art or the name of the figure on the side of the box for easy reference. It’s totally collector friendly, so Mr. Sandtrooper can get packed away for storage when you’re done playing with him, or when you want to rotate something else out onto the display shelf. Some collectors I know were questioning why a Sandtrooper in the first wave? Why not a regular Stormtrooper? Well, much like the decision to go with X-Wing pilot Luke, I just find this one to be a more exciting choice. Besides, the extra equipment better shows off what Hasbro can do with this scale. Of course, if you want a regular Stormtrooper, all of this guy’s gear is removable, so let’s start off with the base figure.

Yup, stripped down you get a basic Stormy. Granted, he’s a dirty boy who hasn’t washed his armor in a while, but I’m sure there are plenty of planets where this guy would look at home trudging through swamps or other filth in search of Rebel holdouts. The sculpt is excellent, but it doesn’t pull too many surprises. I have no doubt that some Star Wars ~~nutjobs~~ dedicated enthusiasts could pick apart problems with this sculpt, but that ain’t me. I think it looks great. Maybe the helmet is too big? But seriously, it looks fine to me. Oh, and before you get any bright ideas about a head-swap to make your own Luke in Stormtrooper disguise, forget about it. The ball joint for this guy is way too big to make the swap work.

The articulation here is quite good, but the sculpting on some of the armor pieces does its share to inhibit some movement. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, hips, wrists, and ankles. The arms feature swivels in the biceps and double hinged elbows. The legs have swivels at the hips and double hinges in the knees. The torso also features a ball joint with a solid range of movement. I’m quite happy with what this guy can do, even with some restrictions at the hips because of the armor pieces.

Of course, it takes more than a dirty set of armor to make a Sandtrooper. It takes cool gear and weapons and a burning desire to hump that shit out in the hot sun baked desert looking for some goddamn droids. For starters, you’ve got the pauldron, that piece of orange and black shoulder armor. It has straps that fits around the figure’s neck and under his arm and it’s easily removed or attached by popping his head off. Next up, you’ve got the big backpack, which pegs right into the hole on his back. There’s also an extra ammo pouch on it that hangs down the figure’s left shoulder. It pops up a bit, but you can tuck it under his helmet to make it behave.

Weapons! This dude is lugging more firepower then he knows what to do with. I’m reminded of the line in Firefly: Why are you bringing so many guns, you’ve only got the two arms… or something to that effect. The Sandtrooper comes with his standard E-11 blaster, a longer rifle with a bipod, which unfortunately does not fold down, and a carbine with a shoulder strap. The carbine can be slung nicely over one of his shoulders. Unfortunately, there’s no holster for the blaster. C’mon, Hasbro even the 3 ¾” Stormy had a holster for his blaster!

I had high hopes for this figure and I’m happy to say that Hasbro managed to rise to the occasion. He’s not perfect. I think there are some missed opportunities with the scale change. There’s also nothing much on this guy that hasn’t been done already on the best of the 3 ¾” versions, but I still love the way he turned out. He’s a ridiculously fun figure to play around with and I’ve had him patrolling my desk in various poses since I got him out of the package. And that wraps up my look at Wave 1. I’ve already got Wave 2 on pre-order (yup, this time I’m buying the whole thing) and I can’t wait to have them in my hands as well.

Aug 23 2013

Star Wars Black: R2-D2 by Hasbro

The wait for this 6-inch R2 has been a bumpy ride. Hasbro’s initial images looked great and then we got some final product images, which looked not so great. Further details about the figure’s gimmickry started getting me worried. Now I have R2 in hand and the final result is… decidedly average. He’s honestly better than I thought he was going to be, but I had very low expectations. Let’s take a look at the ups and downs of this little Astromech droid…

We saw the packaging last week with Luke, so there’s not a lot for me to add. I dig it enough that I’ll probably be keeping the figures stored in these boxes, at least until I have enough to set up a display shelf. It’s still hard for me to believe that anyone at Hasbro designed this packaging because it’s so antithetical to mass market toy design. Sure, it’s designed for collectors and not kids, but it’s still odd to see something as subdued as this hanging on a peg in the toy aisles. R2’s attachments are strategically spread out above and beside him to help the little guy fill out the tray. The first thing I had to do when taking R2 out of the package was attach the blue strips to his legs. These each peg into two slots, but mine wouldn’t fit right until I took a razor blade and shaved off some of the mold flashing on the pegs. It’s not a big deal, and they fit perfectly now, but should I really have to do this on a figure that cost $22? I think not.

Starting at the top and working my way down, I have issues with R2’s dome and the biggest one should be obvious: The seam! Unless I’m looking at R2 dead on from the front or back, it’s impossible not to notice this eye sore. I know next to nothing about making toys, but surely there’s a way to manufacture half a sphere in plastic without this kind of seam mucking it up. Second, the paint apps on the dome are overall quite good, but the blue ring around the base of the dome is wobbly, particularly in the front. I don’t want to keep coming back to the price point, but this is a $22 figure and this kind of stuff is unacceptable. The rest of the dome is great. I’m very happy with the way the opening panels on the top close and fit nicely. Yes, you can tell they’re there, but they aren’t as obvious as they could have been.

Things get a lot better as we move down to the body. All the little panel lines are sculpted and look great. I was worried about how the opening panels on the front would look. Early production shots had them rather warped, but on my figure they close up flush with the rest of the body. I’m sure there are plenty of people more familiar with R2’s design than I am, but as far as I’m concerned, this guy looks pretty accurate. The blue paint apps are neat and clean, and while I’m not usually a fan of Hasbro’s attempts at weathering, the work they did on the feet turned out pretty good.

Gimmicks! For better or worse, Hasbro decided to pack this R2 with gimmicks. Some of these work, others do their part to unfortunately mar the figure. Again, let’s start from the top down. R2’s dome has three removable hatches on top. Inside there are slots where you can peg in his sensor device, his periscope, and Luke’s lightsaber. The lightsaber slot is specific to the hilt, but you can put the periscope and sensor into either of the other two. Hasbro could have just as easily only had one hatch to use for the sensor and the periscoe, but I’ll applaud their attempt at accuracy by making them separate. These all work pretty well, and I will admit, I like the idea of being able to display R2 with some of his gizmo’s deployed.

The body features the two opening hatches, each with an arm that folds up. The right door has a computer interface and the left one has a grabber arm. Again, these are cool little features, that don’t harm the toy, apart from the little bumps on the panels to help you open them up. They’re also a lot easier to get out than I suspected they would be.

Next up are those dopey flight-jet things that attach to his arms. Here, you just pull off the side pieces and attach the jets. I hate that these exist and apart from shooting the picture above, I will never use them again. On the bright side, you can just leave them in the package and forget about them. They don’t hurt the figure in any way.

Ok, so here’s the biggie. Hasbro decided to make the third leg deploy by turning R2’s head. It’s the one gimmick that I really wish had been left out. It’s a cute enough gimmick when it was on the smaller R2 figure designed for kids to play with. On the 6-inch collector figure, I think it’s a mistake.

When all is said and done, R2 is a solid enough figure, but he’s not as spectacular as he could have been. To me, he feels like nothing more than an up-scaled 3 ¾” R2, and that’s a big difference from the “wow factor” that I felt when playing with the SWB Luke figure for the first time. Far be it from me to encourage Hasbro to make collectors double-dip, but I would have been happier had Hasbro delivered a great R2 where they focused more on sculpt and paint and less on gimmicks. Hell, I would have happily traded every gimmick on this figure if to get rid of the ugly seam in the dome. Later, they could have released a more gizmo-laden version, which I could have left on the pegs. I was fairly satisfied with Luke at $22, but this R2 just doesn’t feel as worth it to me. If you’re going to do a collector line, Hasbro, do it and leave the gimmicks for the kids toys.

Aug 17 2013

Star Wars Black: Luke Skywalker (X-Wing Pilot) by Hasbro

It still seems surreal, but Hasbro has finally shipped the first wave of their 6-inch scale Star Wars figures. 6-inch Star Wars figures? Madness! Nonetheless, they’re here and I was mighty damn anxious to get my hands on the first batch. Well, the first batch minus Darth Maul, a character I care nothing about. The rest of the first wave consisted of R2-D2, an Imperial Sandtrooper, and the fellow we’re looking at today: Luke Skywalker as X-Wing Pilot! I know more than a few collectors questioned having X-Wing Pilot Luke as a flagship figure in the new scale, but I was very excited for this figure. To me, iconic Luke has always been him in his X-Wing gear because when I was a kid, I thought it was so freaking cool that this yokel farmboy was getting to suit up and fly a starfighter. The chief appeal of Star Wars to me has always been the blaster fights and starship dogfighting rather than the hocus-pocus Force crap. It’s only natural that Luke suited up and poised on the ladder of his X-Wing was and always has been my favorite image of him. So, when Hasbro announced the new 6-inch line, well… hell yeah, I wanted this version of the character.

The packaging here is so distinctive that I would never in a million years guess it came out of Hasbro. It is very artsy and very much not a mass-market retail action figure package. It’s not flashy and it’s not designed to draw the eyes of sugared-up kids running through the toy aisles. Nope, this is minimalist presentation at its best, which is admittedly cool, but also kind of misses a few opportunities. For example, I would have liked to see the name of the character printed on the side of the box so I can line them up on the shelf and be able to distinguish who is who. I guess you can do that with the other side facing out, but it’s not quite the same. It’s also interesting that nowhere on the package does it say that this is Luke in his X-Wing gear. It just says Luke Skywalker. We’re sure to get a few versions of the character, so it’s odd to me that distinction isn’t made. Anywho, the box is totally collector friendly, with the figure nested into a plastic tray and the accessories off to the side.

With Luke out of the box, I am immediately impressed with this figure. The quality of the plastic feels great, giving the figure a nice heft for his size. The pilot outfit is lovingly sculpted with all the little rumples and stitching and it’s even textured throughout. The ribbed white vest is sculpted as part of the outfit, on top of that is the console worn over his chest. The additional rigging is cast separately in soft plastic and is loose enough so as not to inhibit the articulation too much. Hasbro went with a glossy black for the gloves and boots, which contrasts nicely with the duller orange matte used for the suit itself. There’s a little bit of overspray evident on the white paint, but nothing too bad. Honestly, we’ve seen this suit executed extremely well by Hasbro in the smaller scale, but I’m happy to say it looks just as impressive when blown up to nearly twice that size.

The head sculpt is where Hasbro often stumbles when it comes to this character, but early photos showed promise and with the figure in hand I’m satisfied with the final result. No, it’s not perfect. I’ll concede it’s a little too soft and maybe the paint apps are a little too simple. I’ve seen better work in the Marvel Legends line, but the likeness to Mark Hammill is certainly there and it is admittedly one of the lines first figures, so I’m hoping things can only go up from here.

Luke’s articulation is superb. You get a ball joint and a hinge in the neck, which grants a wonderful range of motion for the head. The arms feature ball joints in the shoulders and hinges and swivels in the elbows and wrists. I thought the lack of bicep swivels would bother me, but the elbow joints make up for the omission quite well. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double hinged knees, swivels in the thighs and at the tops of the boots, and the ankles have hinges and rockers. There is no waist swivel, but there is a ball joint hidden under the vest. Yup, the articulation has been carefully considered and flawlessly executed on this figure. There are no weak or wobbly joints and no soft or flimsy hinges.

Luke comes with three accessories. You get a lightsaber with a detachable blade, his blaster, and his flight helmet. The helmet is a fantastic piece with great weathering, clear yellow tinted visor, and a soft plastic chin strap. It fits well on the figure’s head. The lightsaber hilt seems really oversized, which is probably the only disappointing thing about this figure for me. It is nice, however, that you can pull out the blade and hook the hilt to his belt. The blaster is just perfect and it fits great in Luke’s right hand.

If you can’t tell, I’m absolutely in love with this figure. It surprised me a lot, as these days I’m only a casual Star Wars collector at best. But the 6-inch Black line may be just the thing to get me back in full guns. It’s a refreshing to start out with a clean slate as opposed to wading through the sea of 3 ¾” figures with so many variants of so many characters. The only really questionable thing here is the price. Luke set me back about $23, which is usually a few dollars over what I’m willing to blow on a 6-inch mass market release figure. Nonetheless, I’m happy with the quality Hasbro delivered and if they keep the releases to a reasonable number, I will likely be coming back for more.

FigureFan Zero

Action Figure Reviews, Toys & Collectibles…

Tag Archives: 6-inch black

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Star Wars Black: Luke Skywalker (Bespin Fatigues) by Hasbro

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Star Wars Black: Imperial Sandtrooper by Hasbro

Star Wars Black: R2-D2 by Hasbro

Star Wars Black: Luke Skywalker (X-Wing Pilot) by Hasbro

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