Tag Archives: mandalorian

Mar 17 2023

Star Wars “The Mandalorian:” Slave-1 (#75312) by LEGO

Yeah, that’s right, the box may say Boba Fett’s Starship, but it’ll always be Slave-1 to me. Fight the power!!! Since I’ve been on a LEGO kick this year, I thought I’d take a break from the LEGO City Space stuff and switch over to The Mandalorian. These have been the only Star Wars sets I’ve been buying, not because the others don’t look good, but I have to try to set limitations where LEGO is concerned or I’ll be broke. I saw this set the last time I was at Target and the price seemed right, so let’s see what we got!

The set is a tad bigger than any I’ve built in a while, weighing in at 593 pieces, which come in four numbered bags. BUT… For some reason it only comes with one big instruction manual, whereas the last bunch I assembled had a booklet for each bag. Now, I’m not saying that has anything to do with anything, but I did find this build to be a little more challenging than any other recent LEGO experiences. So, I gotta call foul on that 9+ rating. I’m more than five times that age, and I had to backtrack a few times to see what went wrong. Needless to say, this was a pretty dense build with some neat stuff going on, and there were a few times where I honestly didn’t know why I was building something. I love that, because it creates a real gee-whiz moment when you place it on the model and see what’s going on. Anyway, in addition to Slave-1, the set builds two Minifigs, a Carbonite Prisoner, and a Transport Sled. As always, let’s start with the Minifigs!

The figs are Boba Fett and Mando, and these are pretty straightforward. Boba has his jetpack and Mando has a cape. Both have articulated range finders on their helmets, Boba comes with a blaster carbine, Mando has his spear, and there’s an extra blaster pistol if you want to give it to Mando. Only Boba comes with a jetpack, but Mando comes with a cape. Boba has a printed face, so you can display him with his helmet off if you want, whereas Mando just has a blank head under there, which feels kind of cheap. I know he rarely takes that bucket off his head, but he has in the show, so I think we should have had a printed face on there. But, it’s no biggie. I am particularly happy to have the Beskar Armor Mando, since the one I have that came with the AT-ST set is in his original armor. I also have to give props to the beautiful printing that makes up Boba Fett’s armor. It’s crisp and colorful and looks fantastic.

The Carbonite Prisoner is just a slab with a vent piece on the bottom and a sticker of a Gamorrean Guard. It’s OK, but the slab is really thin, which seems doubly out of place for a portly Gamorrean.

Here’s “Prisoners-With-Jobs-1” all assembled and looking pretty cool. So straightaway, if the size and cost of this set didn’t tip you off, don’t come into this one expecting a full scale model of Slave-1. It’s a substantial build, but as you can see, it’s scaled down a bit when compared to the Minifigs. The build is completely solid, which means the back doesn’t open up or anything beyond there being a sliding ramp with a slot to stow the Carbonite slab. And that’s fine, given it’s size. The fact that it is a solid build means the ship is pretty hefty and takes to being handled well. I ran into some difficulties assembling the side pieces, but I’m going to chalk that up to the way it was illustrated in the booklet and the few drinkys I had while building. As for aesthetics, I think it’s a good looking model, but I have two nitpicks. The canopy is a little flimsy the way it closes up and obviously doesn’t seal shut, and the guns on the tail boom are rather oversized. Neither are deal-breakers for me, especially given the size of the set.

There’s only room for one Minifig in the cockpit, and as you may have guessed, there’s no gyroscope articulation to the pilot seat. As a result, the Minifig is designed to sit in it as if it’s always in flight. There is, however, articulation in the wing stabilizers, and these will remain horizontal to the ground as the ship is maneuvered, just like the old Kenner toy, and that’s pretty cool. There are two cannon that fire red studs, and there’s a flip out handle hidden in the undercarriage to hold while you’re whooshing it around the room.

The Transport Sled is designed to move Slave-1 along the ground, but it can also be used to transport the Carbonite Prisoner, and it even doubles as a stand for displaying the ship at an angle, which is a really nice bonus.

Considering I recently paid a little extra for a pair of discontinued LEGO sets, this one actually felt like a decent deal at $40. Well, at least it felt like a decent deal by LEGO standards. Despite a few frustrations, I found the build to be very satisfying and while the ship is definitely scaled down, I think I’ll be content with it as my sole LEGO representation of Slave-1 in my collection. Especially since the bigger Slave-1 runs for hundreds of dollars. If you’re hankering to build something while you’re watching the next episode of Mando, and you want another cool little Star Wars ship for your LEGO shelves, you could do a lot worse than this one!

Mar 15 2023

Star Wars “The Mandalorian:” Life-Size Grogu Figure by Sideshow

Sideshow ran a whole lot of good deals back around Christmas time, which is pretty dangerous for me. It’s a bad time of the year, and it doesn’t take much to make me dive into retail therapy to stave off holiday depression. One of those deals was Sideshow’s own life-size version of Grogu, which is probably one of the most expensive impulse buys I’ve ever made. Was it worth it? Well, let’s find out…

Baby Yoda comes in an enormous fully enclosed box with some nice wrap-around artwork from the show. I’m guessing this was released before the big name reveal, so the box refers to him merely as The Child, which Disney seemed to like better than Baby Yoda. The figure comes out of the box pretty much ready for display. You just have to peg him onto his base and pop his favorite shifter-knob into his right hand. While Grogu is pretty tiny on the show, a life-size version still puts him at just under 17-inches, which means he’s considerably bigger than Sideshow’s Sixth-Scale figures, which are about as big as my photo staging area can go. So give me a couple of minute to improvise something bigger and we’ll check him out!

Well, isn’t he just adorable! This little bugger comes clad in his fabric frock with a wooly-type material used for the collar and sleeve cuffs. It’s got that rough and shoddy tailoring like it does on the show, which makes me wonder why Mando hasn’t invested a little of that Beskar in a proper onesie. While Grogu is advertised as a figure, it would be more accurate to call him a statue, as the only articulation here is in the neck, and even that only allows for a little bit of tweaking. Hot Toys did put out a proper life-size Grogu figure with more articulation, and while I don’t own that figure, I will make a few comparison comments based on pictures that I’ve seen. The pose is about as simple as things get, with his arms more or less down at as his sides and his head looking upward. It’s perfectly in tune with what Grogu is usually doing in the show, so no complaints there. It is worth mentioning, that this is a piece that is best displayed below eye level, so he can be looking up at you.

Because Grogu’s frock covers most of him, the only real sculpt and paint are invested in the portrait and hands. In terms of sculpt, I think the head is spot on. The wide-eyed expression is designed to tug at heart strings and sell toys, and it definitely succeeds at both. The eyes are simply stunning, with a lot of complexity behind those lenses if you get up and personal. The downturned mouth suggests he was just chastised for eating lizard people’s babies. There’s a nice compromise between smooth skin and rumples and light creases, and the top of the head is graced with a field of white peach-fuzz hair, which is strangely satisfying to pet. The Hot Toys version had a little part in the lips to show some teeth, which is definitely a more complex sculpt, but I think I prefer the closed lips on this one for being a little less creepy.

A lot has been made about the rosy cheeks, and I can confirm that it looks a lot more obvious under studio lights than it does on display under normal lighting. Even the official Sideshow shots don’t really show you what you’re getting and that’s to the figure’s discredit. I’ve even seen people do comparisons between the actual prop and this portrait to show that the paint here is pretty much spot on to the physical prop, but a bit at variance as to how it looks on screen. Personally, I’m happy with the way the paint came out on this one, but I think the Hot Toys version comes a little closer, at least in the pictures. Whether that’s the case in hand, I can’t really say since I’ll never be able to make that direct comparison. I do think the ears on the Sideshow figure are painted better, as the Hot Toys’ version looks a little too glossy and fake to me.

The only accessory here is the shifter knob, which attaches to the right hand via a pretty strong magnet. This is a simple silver painted sphere with a blue stripe across the middle. It’s a nice touch, but it kind of gets lost in all the fabric when on display. It’s almost looks like Grogu is trying to hide that he has it.

If you’re wondering how much sculpt and paint is going on under that frock, it’s just the hands and feet. The fully realized feet are a nice feature, since you really can’t see them at all under the cloak when the figure is on display.

The base looks like it’s intended to be the deck of a ship, possibly the Razor Crest, and it looks good, but the cloak does cover most of the surface. Unlike most Sideshow statues, which use a metal rod to attach the figure, this has a simple foot peg, which is pretty charming, as it looks just like the kind of foot pegs used on playsets for the old Kenner Star Wars figures. I also like that the peg is on the base and not on the figure, so you can stand Grogu wherever you want without using the base. Either way, it does a good job of securing the figure, while making it easy to pick him up and put him back on it again.

The bottom of the base is fully illustrated with some colorful, stylized artwork. it always impresses me when Sideshow does this, as it will almost never be seen, but it adds a bit of value to the piece. The base does state that the figure is a Limited Edition, but it’s not hand numbered like the Premium Formats, and there’s no statement of limitation anywhere on the box or base, nor could I find one on the website.

Sideshow’s Grogu retails for $375 and at the time I’m publishing this review it’s still available to buy. I got him at $100 off and threw in $60 worth of reward points to knock it down to $215. That still makes it a pretty expensive impulse buy, but I was surprised at how delighted I was when he showed up and I got him out of the box. The Hot Toys version is probably the more desirable as it does have articulation and some might argue the better paint, but it’s also a lot more expensive, so I’m pretty satisfied with this guy on my shelf. One of my biggest pipe dreams has been to one day own a life-size Star Wars character, preferably R2 or 3PO, but I just haven’t been drunk enough to pull the trigger yet. At least now I can say I have one. As of now, Grogu is standing right by the light switch in my TV room, and I get to give him a pat on the head each night as I shut out the lights to go to bed.

Feb 25 2022

Star Wars Vintage Collection (The Mandalorian): Beskar Armor Mandalorian and The Child by Hasbro

Well, I said I’d be back on Friday and here I am! I’m really pressed for time and I’m still trying to sort out a new photo studio, so I’m shooting guerilla style and not terribly happy with the results. After getting used to the same setup for a decade, it’s been tough adjusting, but I’m working on it. And the show must go on, so here we go! I’ve been strictly a carded collector of the Vintage Collection Mandalorian figures, but I bought doubles of Mando and The Child to open for my Razor Crest, because I didn’t want to open the ones that came with it. I don’t think I realized at the time that the Razor Crest Mando figure wasn’t carded, but let’s tear these open anyway and have a look! And YES! I do hope to get around to that look at the Razor Crest eventually!

I do love me some Vintage Collection cards, which is why I don’t buy all the TVC releases. I just can’t bring myself to open these unless I have doubles. Right now I’m only collecting The Mandalorian and Rogue One releases, so that helps a bit. These cards look great, and The Mandalorian title surrounded by the Star Wars silver border just looks perfect! Let’s start with Mando himself!

This is Mando after he got all blinged out with the mostly new Beskar armor and I have to say the detail in this little guy is pretty damn impressive. You get sculpted wrinkles in the jumpsuit and the armor pieces have a convincing depth to them that looks like they are actually being worn on top, even though they are all just part of the body sculpt. The silver paint here looks nice, and I dig the worn orange splatter and dull gray used for the old right thigh piece. He’s got weapon cartridges around his leg and on his shoulder strap, and a working holster for his pistol!

The cape is cast in plastic, but it still works well with the peg that attaches the rifle to his back. The rifle should be angled more across his back, but I found it works better almost straight up and down. The Razor Crest version has an actual soft goods cape, and we’ll see how that turned out when I check out that figure with the ship. Admittedly, the articulation on this smaller figure is a lot less satisfying than handling a Black Series version. The hips don’t have a lot of range of motion, and there’s a terrible pull on the left thigh swivel leaving an unsightly gap. Still, all in all I dig him.

I don’t have a whole lot to say about the helmet. It looks good and the paint is sharp as long as you don’t get in too close. Again, the quality of the silver they used here looks great and has just enough sheen to it. I also love the detail on the shoulder sigil.

The rifle is a solid sculpt, and the paint is pretty impressive for such a small accessory. Hasbro doesn’t always invest this level of paint operations on the 6-inch accessories, so this sure ain’t bad! Mando’s gun hand is mainly intended for the pistol, but with a little work, I was able to get it to work with the rifle.

The pistol fits snugly in the holster as well as in Mando’s right gun hand. There isn’t a lot to say about this accessory, other than it’s painted silver and has a pretty soft sculpt, but is certainly passable.

Finally, you get the jetpack, which is designed to peg into the back in a slot that is off-set to accommodate the cape. It stays on well, but I feel it works best without the cape. It doesn’t seem like a good idea to combine a jetpack and a cape anyway. You’re just asking to set yourself on fire! Let’s move on to Grogu!

OK, so this little guy doesn’t look like much when you punch in close like this, but it’s such an unbelievably tiny figure, that I have to give Hasbro props for doing such a nice job on him. He certainly looks a lot better in hand with the naked eye. And he actually has three points of articulation, with the arms ball jointed at the shoulders and the neck ball jointed as well. The arms do, however, pull out fairly easily and if they happen to hit the floor, they are so tiny it could be difficult to find them again. My only real complaint here is that they painted whites in his eyes, when they should really be all black.

The hover pram is also a nice little piece of kit. It has a clear plastic stand to create the hovering effect, and the blanket inside is sculpted with tiny rumples and even some sharp texturing. You also get a removable cover if you want to close it all the way up. Grogu fits in it quite well and looks great in there.

I don’t review a whole lot of 4-inch figures these days, so it’s fun to go back to them every now and again. To be honest, the only reason I collect any of these is either to keep them carded or to stock a specific vehicle or playset. I find that I just get a lot more enjoyment out of the 6-inch versions these days. They’re easier to handle, more fun to pose, and they tend to allow for more detail and better paint apps. With all that having been said, these two are pretty cool little figures, and I’ll work them into one of my displays somewhere.