Tag Archives: rogue one

Nov 13 2024

Star Wars Vintage Collection (Rogue One): Antoc Merrick’s X-Wing Fighter by Hasbro

What’s this? Star Wars content? Yeah, the Star Wars reviews are getting few and far between, with this being only the fourth this year. Indeed, the only reason I’m sneaking this one in is because I’ve been packing away parts of my collection to move next year and I wanted to put this one in the spotlight before it gets sealed away for a few months. And I make it no secret that Rogue One is my favorite Star Wars film, just nudging out Empire Strikes Back by a bit, and I’m always down to showcase some Rogue One toys. So let’s pour one out for the late Antoc Merrick, Hero of Scarif and his brave little droid, which I’ll take a look at here too.

No doubt about it, The Vintage Collection does a nice job with its presentation with a not so subtle nod to the vintage Kenner packaging. Heck, you even get the Kenner logo! Both front and back panels show the toy and some figures in what they like to call a fantasy setting and boy do these always make me want to buy the toys and play with them. Why didn’t R2-SHW make it onto the box photo? Was he not out yet? Not sure, but Antoc is the only figure in the box and I picked up his R2 unit separately, but at the same time I bought the X-Wing. The noble starfighter does require some assembly, but it seems like it’s able to be taken apart again and stored in the box. That’s always a big plus for me!

And here are the carded figures. I was happy to see that Antoc came carded in the box. No, these are not collector friendly, but I opened both figures a while ago and was still able to get them back into the bubbles for this shot, so it is possible to have your cake and eat it too if you are careful. I love the card art for both figures, but Antoc’s is especially great, with his heroic pose, helmet in hand, and the X-Wing in the background, waiting for him to climb on board and fly his final mission. By God the battle over Scarif is so damn great! I think it rivals the Death Star II battle in Return of the Jedi, and that’s saying something! Let’s take a look at the figures first…

I’m guessing Antoc’s body is largely a repaint of an X-Wing Luke or another pilot figure, but the fact that I don’t know for sure shows how few Vintage Collection figures I buy. The blue-green suit is certainly distinctive, along with the tan gauntlets. The white vest, grey flight harness, and boots are all pretty standard. I’m not a fan of the weird jointing in the hips, but they get the job done. Otherwise the articulation consists of a lot of rotating hinges and he’s pretty fun to play with. The head sculpt is excellent, especially for this scale, while the printing on the helmet is absolutely superb, as is the yellow tinted visor. Alas, it does feel a tad too big for his head. Antoc also comes wtih a DH-17 Rebel blaster, which is a nice bonus, although I do wish these flight suits had holsters. Either way, I love this weapon design and it even has some silver paint hits.

R2-SHW is your standard R2 Unit with a red body and black paneling to the dome. You also get some silver paint work on some of his panels, which is OK, but maybe a tad sloppy in a few areas. He’s obviously another repurposed figure, and while I like the sculpt a lot, I think this is a case where the extras almost spoil the figure for me, namely the sensor scope and articulator arm. The sensor scope raises when you push the third leg in, but in order to do it you have to have the dome centered. You can pull it out but then there’s a missing panel up there. The articulator arm is ambitious for a figure this size, but the panel does not stay closed, so I’m not a fan. He also has hole in the top of his dome, which I’m going to guess was for the drink-serving arms on a previous Jabba Palace R2-D2 release. Not a terrible figure, but I think this is a case where less would have been more.

And since we’re on the subject of repurposing, yes the X-Wing is a repaint of the Luke Skywalker X-Wing, which I have, but have never gotten around to opening. It’s also already been packed away, so I can’t do a comparison. Reusing the toy is a no-brainer, and I sure don’t fault Hasbro for doing it, but it does result in some quibbles that are carried over from that first release. But there’s plenty of great stuff here too! Most notable is the size, as this is actually the first 3 3/4-inch scale X-Wing that I’ve held that wasn’t based on the original Kenner release. How crazy is that? And as wonderful a toy as that and the Power of the Force 2 releases were, it’s really cool to finally hold an X-Wing toy that approaches the correct size for this scale. It’s so satisfyingly big, and yet not too big to stop me from having fun whooshing it around the room and making attack runs on my Imperial Coffee Table.

The detail here is very nice, both in the sculpt and in the paint. The body is an off-white with lots of grime and carbon scoring to give it that wonderful used-future look. I particularly love the weathering applied to the blue squadron colors and the darkened scorched around the engines. Weathering can be tricky and can often come across as heavy handed, but I think they did a great job with it here. This ship looks like it’s been through some stuff, which makes it all the more sad that it didn’t survive the Battle of Scarif.

The X-Wing can rest on its three retractable landing gear. The front one is concealed behind a flip down hatch, while the two rear simply fold down from open compartments. Alas, the rear skids have a habit of folding back up at the drop of a hat, so stability is a big issue, at least it is on mine. You can sort of feel them trying to lock into place, but it’s very soft and just doesn’t work. Still, if you rest it on a surface carefully and don’t jostle it, it should be fine.

You also get a concealed proton torpedo launcher under the boom. The launcher is painted metallic grey and includes a white missile. I’ll also mention here how much I appreciate that all the screw holes are located on the fighter’s undercarriage. It would have been better if they were plugged, but at least they aren’t conspicuous.

The cockpit is very detailed and the console can be removed to make it easier to fit the figure in place. It even has an articulated targeting computer! I really dig the smoked clear plastic on the canopy, which lets you still catch a glimpse of the figure inside and looks better than if it were just transparent. Meanwhile, the droid slot fits the R2 unit perfectly. They really should have ejection units on these things, so at least the Astromech can escape before the fighter blows up. That would have actually made for a pretty fun play feature. Oh, and I do wish that Hasbro could have tossed in the boarding ladder. I know they released one in a previous set and it’s not like it would have broken the bank to bundle it in here.

Of course, the wings do articulate, and there’s a lever on the back of the X-Wing to lock the S-Foils into attack position. You push it down to open the wings and slide it to the right to lock them in place. And here’s where another flaw from the original release carries over, as the mechanism that holds them apart isn’t the strongest and they can be a little floppy. I’ve found that holding the ship by the main fuselage gives them the widest spread and it looks decent, but I would have liked to see them separate just a little farther. But it’s still a beautiful sight for the last thing a TIE Pilot will ever see!

I want to say the retail on Antoc and his X-Wing was around $100 back when it was released. I picked it up off of Amazon with a coupon and I think that brought it down to around $80. It’s a big, satisfying toy that looks absolutely fantastic and is a lot of fun to play with. Of course, Hasbro could have been a pal and threw in R2-SHW as well, but he cost me another $16. Normally, I would have had no intention on double-dipping on a toy like this, what with already owning Luke’s X-Wing, but I adore this movie and I adore the battle at the end, so this was pretty much a must-have for my collection. Plus, it gives my TIE Striker a Rebel ship to chase around. And I’ll admit, it’s cool to actually get excited and enthusiastic over a Star Wars toy again.

May 13 2024

Star Wars Micro Galaxy Squadron U-Wing Starfighter by Jazwares

Folks, I have officially stopped collecting Star Wars figures. Between the dismal state of the franchise and the emphasis on releasing figures from the new content rather than The Original Trilogy I just have zero interest in any of it anymore. I only reviewed two Black Series figures since the beginning of LAST year, and that pretty much reflects how little I’ve been buying. I still hope to review some of the Hot Toys I picked up last year, but right now the only Star Wars I’m still actively collecting is Jazware’s wonderful Galaxy Squadron line. And even there I’m being pretty selective. I haven’t been picking up any of the Prequel stuff, and passing on a lot of the ground vehicles. Of course, anything from my beloved Rogue One is still on the table, and today I’m checking out the U-Wing Starfighter! Although, frankly I don’t know why they call this thing a starfighter as it’s more of a gunship and troop transport, but whatever!

The ship comes in the same style window-box as the larger ships we’ve seen in the past. As always I dig the use of the snappy foil on the packaging. The included figures come in a tiny little self-contained tray and the toy itself is displayed against an illustrated backdrop. There’s a bit of assembly required here as you have to clip the wings onto the ship. The packaging is collector friendly and the wings are probably removable again, but I didn’t want to try it for fear of stressing the clips. Let’s start with a quick look at the figures!

The ship comes with three figures, which seems to be the standard for this price point. Included are Cassian Andor, Jyn Erso, and K-2SO, so no surprises there. Let’s face it, the figures aren’t the main attraction here, but with that having been said, I’ve been really impressed with the sculpt and paint on the tiny fellas in this line and this trio is no exception. The facial features are solid, and you get some great detail on the costumes like their gun belts and pockets. K2 looks a bit thicker than he should, but that’s fine. There was no way they could have done his spindly limbs in this tiny scale without adding a little bulk. As usual, these figures have four points of articulation, found in the hips and shoulders. I also love the subtle differences in size with Jyn a little shorter than Cassian and K2 towering over both of them.

And here’s the U-Wing with the wings retracted, and let me start by saying that I really love this ship design. It reminds me a bit of the Buck Rogers Thunderfighter only a lot bigger, while the cockpit and rear grill is evocative of the Snowspeeder, and the quad engine mounts recall the X-Wing. And yet, it avoids the trap of looking too kit-bashy as some of these designs can turn out when borrowing from other ships. As always, Jazwares has invested a lot of detail in the sculpt with some deep cut panel lines and tiny grills and access compartments. The bottom of the ship has a transparent panel under the cockpit, reminiscent of those found on Huey Gunships to allow the pilot to see the terrain and landing zone below. You also get two blaster cannons jutting out on the front.

The paintwork includes some blue and yellow trim, which I presume are squadron markings. The rear engines are scorched and blackened from heavy use and there’s dark silver around the engine rings and also behind the cockpit. I think Jazwares is really good at the weathering aspect on these ships too, giving the hull a little bit of that “used future” look that made Star Wars aesthetics so distinctive. It’s definitely not overdone on this ship. If anything maybe it could have used a bit more on the undercarriage, which looks a little too clean.

Each wing folds back manually giving this ship a really impressive presence with a massive wingspan. I’ll confess I don’t fully understand the purpose of the wing articulation on this ship. It makes sense that they would be held in tight when going to hyperspace, so why extend them? I’ve poked around a bit in the lore and the key takeaways were that it uses them extended for atmospheric flight, while having them extended provides better shield coverage. That makes sense, but when the gunship was taking off from Jedha and later deploying troops on Scarif, it still had the wings tucked in, so I don’t know. I’ll just settle for it looks cool with them extended and leave it at that.

The ship opens up in four ways. First, the canopy hinges forward to give access to the cockpit, second the back panel lifts off to expose the passenger cabin, and finally the two side doors slide back to allow troops to deploy as well as allow the mounted laser cannon to be manned and fired. I like how removing the top panel also reveals some inner workings on the top rear of the ship (possibly the reactor?) and that it’s even been painted. Unfortunately, it wasn’t easy for me to get shots of the figures in the interior, because everything is so tiny, but there’s room for two figures in the cockpit, one figure clipped behind the laser cannon, and six more seated in the benches. The cockpit is a little crowded, especially with K2 in there, but it’s mostly an issue with elbow room, as the canopy can still close with plenty of room. The attention to detail inside the ship is very impressive, with textures on the seats, tiny control yokes in the cockpit, and even details on the bulk plates and deck plates.

Finally, you do get four flip-down landing gear to, well… support the ship on landing. One set folds down from under the cockpit area and there’s one located below each of the engine clusters.

I was exceedingly pleased to see this ship get released in this line, because the Hasbro 3 3/4-inch scaled release was a pretty piss-poor effort. Yes, even taking into account it had to be scaled down into what was essentially a one-person fighter, the detail and paintwork on it were just too lazy for me to justify buying it. Here we get to see the ship fleshed out pretty well, thanks to the tiny figures and some great work by Jazwares. The U-Wing was released at the same $29.99 price point as the Imperial Shuttle, and the two do indeed seem quite comparable in value and complexity. It’s a great addition to my fleet, and I’m happy to finally have this ship represented in my collection!

Nov 12 2021

Star Wars “Rogue One” Shoretrooper Squad Leader Sixth-Scale Figure by Hot Toys

I could go on and on, recounting all the things that I love about Rogue One! But today, let’s go with Reason #1,256: New Troopers! The film gave us some brand spanking new Imperial Troops, all of which were conspicuously absent from The Original Trilogy, but I’m sure they’ll get digitally inserted in an upcoming Extra Special Edition. And while the Deathtroopers were probably my favorite additions, the Shoretroopers that were introduced on Scarif are a close second! And here comes Hot Toys to prey on my weaknesses by releasing both a Shoretrooper and the Squad Leader as well. The regular trooper isn’t due to ship until early next year, but the Squad Leader arrived on my front stoop a couple of days ago! Time to hit the beach and kick over some Rebel sandcastles!

Here’s the part of the review where I lament the bland and boring packaging we always get with the Star Wars Hot Toys, so let’s just say I did and be done with it. You’ll note that nowhere on the package is it branded as a Rogue One figure, and maybe that’s because these fellows made an appearance in The Mandalorian. That’s also probably why they’re now being called Shoretroopers, instead of Scarif Stormtroopers. Eh, it’s all marketing in the end. But, it’s worth noting that the official copy on Sideshow’s website makes the link to Rogue One, so that’s good enough for me. Not that it matters, because I’m more or less all in on both Rogue One and Mandalorian Hot Toys.

The Squad Leader shares a similar suit to his rank-and-file underlings. The big difference is the lack of the ammo pouch and hip armor, and the addition of the black cloth kama that hangs down to about his knees, and covers his butt. The Leader also features some coloring to his upper armor, with light blue on the tops of his shoulders and a light blue bar running across the top of his chest. He’s also got a white band on his left shoulder, and a red bicep guard on his right arm with three yellow bars. Otherwise, his armor is a sandy tan color with some pretty heavy and convincing weathering effects. The paint on this guy is just great, and it’s backed up by some excellent detail, particularly in the shallow backpack unit.

As for the armor itself, the suit falls somewhere in between the full armor of a regular Stormtrooper and the abbreviated armor of the Scout Troopers. The Shoretrooper enjoys the extra protection of lower leg and forearm armor, but the rest offers more or less the same protection as the Scout has. As usual, the figure is comprised of an undersuit with the plastic armor pieces worn on top and held on either by elastic straps or friction. Above the waist, the body suit is black, but the exposed trousers are brown. About the only thing I don’t much like on this fella is are the boots, which strike me as looking more like brown loafers than combat boots. But, they are still accurate to the design, so it’s hard to fault the figure.

The helmet is also an excellent sculpt and the paint is once again on point. Hell, no matter where you look, the paint just sells this figure so well. You get scoring and abrasions, and just general soiling. It looks like this guy has seen more than his share of action. All it’s really missing is some dried seagull poop! The helmet design is obviously influenced by the Scout Trooper helmet, but the angular plates over the cheeks make it look quite distinctive, as does the reinforced blast shield, which rests above the visor on the forehead. It’s a shame that the blast shield isn’t articulated here, as it would have been cool to be able to drop it down over the visor. But to quote a certain farmboy, then they couldn’t even see… so how are they supposed to fight? I do feel like the neck is a little too long and thin, but that’s mostly only noticeable to me when the figure is viewed from the back.

Rank may have its privileges, but unfortunately it doesn’t mean the Squad Leader gets a lot of extra stuff. Indeed, a lack of extras seems to be a continued sticking point for me and these Imperial Troopers. In this case you get three pairs of hands: Relaxed, Fists, and Gun-toting… plus you get the gun for those hands to tote. Oh, but what a magnificent gun it is! Sure, the E-11 Blaster is iconic as all hell, but this E-22 reciprocating double-barrel blaster rifle is one sexy piece of ordinance. It’s a much beefier and far more intimidating weapon than the ones carried by their vanilla Stormtrooper cousins, and this is an absolutely beautiful sculpt. There are no articulated or removable parts on the weapon, but it does come with a shoulder strap, and features some very nice weathering.

What’s our last stop on every Hot Toys review? You got it! The Stand! In this case it’s the usual rectangle with a silver name plate on the front. You get an illustrated sticker that can be placed onto the base, or you can omit it in favor of what looks more like the deck plate of an Imperial Star Destroyer. There’s also an optional piece to give the base an angled front that is flush with the name plate. As with the packaging, the name plate does not have any Rogue One branding, but rather just says Star Wars and Shoretrooper Squad Leader. The stand consists of your standard adjustable crotch-cradle, which works well with the figure.

I love this figure! He’s a great addition to my Sixth-Scale Imperial Troops, and you bet your beskar that I already have the regular Shoretrooper on pre-order. In addition to the great sculpt, tailoring, and paint, there’s very little in the outfit to hinder his articulation, making him a lot more fun to play with than the more restrictive suited Hot Toys. But I will admit that the price is really catching up with these guys. $230 just seems high for a figure that comes with so little in the way of extras, and doesn’t have an actual portrait. I consider the likeness and portrait to be a huge part of a Hot Toys figure’s budget, and when they’re just doing a helmet, it seems like that should save on the cost a bit. Plus, I think this armor is mostly the same as the Assault Tank Commander, so they’re already getting multiple uses out of it. I seem to recall the last two Hot Toys Stormtroopers I bought were around $200-220, and I think this figure should have shipped around $10 to $15 less than it did. But what the hell, they still got me to buy it, so I guess they know what they’re doing.

Nov 15 2018

Star Wars (Rogue One): Imperial Combat Assault Tank by Hasbro

I make it no secret that Rogue One is my favorite of all the modern Star Wars flicks. Hell, if you take away the nostalgia boost from A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, it may even be my favorite of all time. But that still didn’t get me to shell out $80 for Hasbro’s Assault Tank because, well… it seemed like an awful lot of money. But Amazon had a Deal of the Day on this baby last week, reducing it to $48 and even then I thought good and hard before finally giving in. Was it worth it? Let’s open it up and find out!

Behold the faux vintage packaging! The old style silver border and the Kenner logo really punches me in the nostalgia button and makes for a very handsome bit of presentation. I also really miss the days when they used to just let pictures of the toy and a bunch of figures do the talking. And because it’s a fully enclosed box, it’s also collector friendly, so I won’t feel tempted to throw it out. Also notice that they finally stopped calling this thing a Hover Tank? Apparently, it was originally supposed to hover in the film, but that got nixed for the final production and I guess the toy companies never got the memo. This resulted in “Hover Tank” appearing on the packaging of the LEGO set and the pilot figure. I kind of wish they kept the name on this package, though. It would have been another cool mistake for the ages, along the lines of the whole 4-LOM/Zuckuss mix-up. Anyway… The tank comes out of the box with very little assembly required, and it can indeed go back in the box, which is always a big plus for me when it comes to this vintage packaging. All you have to do to get the tank ready for action is load up the cargo containers on the back and plug in the guns on the sides. There are no stickers to apply either.

Here she is ready to patrol the streets of your neighborhood and haul away all of your Kyber crystals. The TX-225A “Occupier” Tank doubles as both an armed cargo carrier or troop transport. I’m starting out with it set up first as the former, with the three cargo containers loaded up in the back. My first impression out of the box is that this toy has a real nice heft to it, which hasn’t been the case with most of Hasbro’s vehicles these days. Many of them have had a hollow and cheap plastic feel, but this tank feels solid. It’s a decent size, but not impressively large. I’ll talk about scale again when we load some figures onto it. Beyond that, I’m not sure what to talk about first, the sculpt or the paint, because both stand out right away as being exceptional. Let’s go with the paint first…

It’s all about the weathering, folks. Hasbro dry-brushed the hell out of this thing, giving it tons of wear and tear and making it feel right at home in the used-future of the Star Wars Universe. It’s one of the things most missing from a lot of Hasbro’s vehicles these days, they come out of the box with little to no paint apps and looking all bright and shiny. It tends suck a lot of the character out right out of the designs. Nearly every edge on this tank is painted to look like the finish is scraped down to the bare metal. There are blotches of wear and tear scattered around the body, there are abrasions near the hatches to show frequent use, and even the overall paint job looks like it’s been blasted by Jedha’s harsh climate. This is exactly the kind of personality and craftsmanship that we don’t usually see on Hasbro’s Star Wars vehicles, and it really sets this one apart as being a collector’s piece. It looks like a workhorse that’s been patrolling the streets of the Holy City of that desert moon for years. I love it!

As for the sculpt, there’s some wonderful detail work on the hull that reminds me of some of the old WWII tank models I used to build with my father when I was a kid. You get mesh grating, straps, hatches, panel lines, bolts, and compartments on the sides, just to name some of the highlights. There aren’t any play gimmicks here, just some cool practical features. The vehicle rolls along on two real working rubber treads, which I personally dig a lot more than a hover tank any day! There are double-barreled cannon mounted on each side of the driver compartment and these can swivel 180-degrees to lay down destructive fire in front, above, or behind. You also get a double-barreled cannon peeking out the bottom front section, which can swivel left and right.

There’s a hatch on top that can be removed to allow engine access. The side hatch actually looks like it could open too, but that’s just part of the sculpt. Hasbro even coughed up a lick of paint for some of the components in there. The hatches locks in flush with the body of the vehicle and it actually takes a bit of work to get it open.

Two additional hatches are there for personnel. One allows the driver to pop his head out and see, while the one behind it accommodates the tank commander. These are basically cannon-fodder hatches, or if my old war movie knowledge is applicable, perfect for lobbing grenades into.

The entire plate over the driver compartment is also removable to give you access and also to see how much incredible work Hasbro put into it.  There isn’t an inch of this interior that isn’t packed with detail. There’s grating on the floor, wires and controls on the walls, a shifter lever, control yokes at each seat and a little sticker showing some gauges on the dashboard. If you get all the way in there, you can see a hatch behind the driver’s seat that leads into the back. It doesn’t open, but for a moment, I thought it did.

Also, check out how much detail is sculpted into the inside of the removable hatch! There’s a fan and ventilation system and I love how the filter compartments are sculpted underneath where the vents are on the outside of the panel. This kind of stuff is just so damn cool.

The three cargo containers simply lay in the bed of the tank, but they stay put quite well and are easy to lift out. Removing them allows you to slide the flooring to each side, revealing an area with foot pegs, turning the tank into a troop transport. There are eight pegs in there. We’ll load it up with some troops in a little bit. But first…

Here’s where things get really mind-blowing. One of the cargo containers actually opens and you can remove three of the storage cylinders. I didn’t read a lot about this tank before I bought it and I certainly wasn’t expecting that. That goes double for the fact that you can open each of the three canisters…

…and slide out the Kyber crystals. OK, sure the interiors are made of super soft, gummy plastic. And they don’t really look like anything. But come on, I’d still say that’s going above and beyond! These are the kinds of features that I love in toys. Forget about the electronics and the spring loaded gimmicks. Just give me stuff like this! OK, so we’ve seen all the tank has to offer, let’s take her for a spin with some figures.

For this review, I’m using all 5-POA Rogue One figures. I haven’t been buying many of the 3.75-inch Vintage Collection stuff, and besides, 5-POA is the only way many of the Rogue One figures have been released anyway. These figures fit perfectly in the tank’s driver compartment. The driver seat is raised so that his head will poke out the top of the tank, and I had no trouble replacing the hatch with a Stormtrooper in the co-pilot seat. I’ll likely end up picking up a few of the Vintage Collection Tank Driver, because the 5-POA one is only available as part of the Jedha 4-pack, and he’s the only troop builder in that set.

With the cargo containers removed and the floor plates slid back, the tank will comfortably transport six Stormtroopers in the back. Keep in mind that the foot pegs do not work all that well with the 5-POA figures, nor are they positioned all that well to hold the figures this way. Still, I really dig this as a troop transport and if I dig out a couple of my super-articulated Stormies, I could add a few sitting on the tailgate.

As far as scale is concerned, the tank is definitely a bit undersized, but not by too much. Most of the stills from Rogue One that I consulted show the top of the tank at about the same height as the Stormtroopers escorting it on foot. In the case of the figures, they stand a smidge taller. Personally, I think the figures look fine riding on it, but when they’re walking alongside, it’s when I can see that the vehicle needed to be a bit bigger. It’s not a deal-breaker for me, especially when you consider how many Star Wars vehicles have been down-sized to make the toys work. Although I suppose there’s a case to be made that Hasbro could have scaled this thing properly without breaking the bank, and for $80, they probably should have.

In the end, this is a very, VERY nice toy. The quality and attention to detail feels more in line with the work Hasbro put into the heavy hitters like the huge Millennium Falcon and AT-AT Walkers. Hell, when it comes to the paintwork, I’d say it’s better. And yet I’m still torn on the sense of value here. As nice as it is, my gut reaction tells me that the original MSRP of $80 is WAY too high for this. But then I look at the prices of some of Hasbro’s other recent vehicle releases. Both Kylo Ren’s Silencer from The Last Jedi and the TIE Striker from Rogue One retailed for $50, which is a lot, although granted both of those came with pack-in figures. So grading on the scale of Hasbro’s other ship prices, maybe this one isn’t so bad, but I knew I was never forking over $80 for this. At $48 I’m glad I picked it up, but even at that price, I feel like it should have included a pack-in of the Tank Commander figure.

Jan 2 2018

FigureFan’s Favorites 2017, Part 1

Welcome, Toyhounds, to the first part of my Favorites from 2017 and I’m not really here. In fact, I’m probably out on my patio smoking a cigar and getting caught up on my stack of comics. If you’re confused about why you’re reading some kind of canned bullshit and not an actual review, I’ll refer you back to yesterday’s post where I explain everything. If you’re up to speed, then we’re going to dive right in to my first five favorite additions to my collection from 2017. These are in no particular order, so let’s go…

DC “Designer Series” Frank Cho Wonder Woman Sixth-Scale Statue by DC Collectibles: There was never any doubt that I’d have a statue from DC Collectibles on my Favorites list this year, because I picked up some great ones. But which one to choose? I waited a long time to get a version of Adam Hughes Wonder Woman in my collection and she turned out great. Likewise both the Babs Tarr Batgirl and the Deluxe Harley Quinn Bombshell were superb releases. In the end, I went with Frank Cho’s Wonder Woman because it’s just such a wonderful representation of the character, and it is executed flawlessly. I love the costume design, the paintwork is nearly perfect, and I really dig the materials DCC is using for flesh tones on these pieces. Cho’s Wonder Woman is not only my favorite DC Statue pick up in 2017, she may very well be my favorite statue of all my collection.

Transformers “Titans Return” Jumpstarters by Hasbro: This is only the second item on my list, and I’m already cheating by giving one slot to two figures. But that’s OK, because I couldn’t break up the Titans Return Jumpstarters by showing preferential treatment to one and ignore the other. If I wanted to really cheat, I could have taken up a lot more spots on my Favorites List just from Titans Return alone, so getting me down to just two was quite the achievement of willpower. It’s no secret that I loved this line, and there were a lot of figures that could have landed on this list, but in the end I had to go with Topspin and Twin Twist as my favorites. Not only are these great figures, not only are they superb updates to their G1 toys, but the fact that we got official Jumpstarters from Hasbro still boggles my mind. These are so good, that I ended up selling off my far more expensive third party Jumpstarters.

Ghostbusters Firehouse by Playmobil: If you had told me a few years ago that we’d be getting a Ghostbusters Firehouse playset in 2017, I’d have called you a raving lunatic and poked out one of your eyes as a lesson not to f*ck with me. And yet here it is! What’s even more baffling is the fact that it came from Playmobil. Now, I may be a little biased, because PlaymoSpace and Playmobil Pirates were my jam growing up, but even if I wasn’t already sold on the brand, I probably would have jumped at this. With their track record for going nuts on parts and accessories, and their easy to customize figure buck, Playmobil turned out to be the perfect fit in this otherwise unthinkable union. Yes, I could have just as easily listed the Ecto-1 here, but c’mon… this is the freaking Firehouse! And Playmobil did a beautiful job with it. It’s almost a pity this set didn’t come out closer to Christmas, because it would have been a perfect review for Christmas Morning!

Epic Marvel Quarter Scale Deadpool by NECA: I’ve been trying to stay away from NECA’s Quarter Scale figures. They’re amazing figures and very reasonably priced, but I really don’t have the space for them. Nonetheless, there are some releases that are no-brainers, and when they first revealed Deadpool, I knew I had to make an exception. And I’m glad I did! This figure truly lives up to the name Epic. The sculpt is phenomenal, the accessory count is over-the-top, and despite being such a big figure, he is loads of fun to play with. NECA absolutely surpassed themselves with this figure and it is some of the best work I’ve seen out of anyone all year long.

Star Wars Rogue One TIE Striker by Hasbro: I’m probably as surprised as you are to see this on the list, but this toy just impressed the hell out of me. I wasn’t expecting much, and I didn’t even buy it until it hit deep clearance. Star Wars vehicles aren’t what they used to be, but this one feels like it belongs among the best of them. Sure, I could have done without the Nerf gimmick, but apart from that this is a quality toy and a cool design from what has become one of my favorite Star Wars movies of all time.

And that’s it for my First Five Favorites of 2017. Come on back tomorrow and I’ll wrap up my list of the good stuff!

Dec 10 2017

Star Wars Rogue One: TIE Striker by Hasbro

I’ve got one more vehicle to squeeze in today and if you haven’t sensed an overpowering theme of Rogue One this weekend, then surprise… it’s from Rogue One. What can I say, other then I loved this movie and picked up a lot of the toys, not least of all this spiffy new TIE Fighter. And it felt good, because poor reviews and high prices kept me away from the X-Wing and TIE Fighter from The Force Awakens. Suffice it to say, I’ve been jonesing for a new iconic starfighter and I was hoping this was going to be it!

The TIE Striker comes in a mostly enclosed box with a little window to show off the included TIE Fighter pilot figure. You get some exciting artwork on the front showing the ship in action and plenty of pictures of the actual toy on the back. And if you didn’t notice the Nerf logo, then you should be prepared, as this is indeed one of them Nerf Ships. I actually get a kick out of the way they incorporate the Nerf gimmick into the artwork and manage to still make it look cool. The toy does require a bit of assembly, including snapping the bottom piece onto the hull and locking both wings into their sockets. And while the box is technically collector friendly, once together this ship is not really designed to come apart again, and it sure isn’t going back into the box. Let’s start with a quick look at the figure.

I’m tempted to just say, if you’ve seen one TIE Pilot then you’ve seen them all, but I don’t want to dismiss this figure so quickly, because it is extremely well done. The sculpt is crisp and detailed, especially the helmet and the control box. You also get some nice texturing and rumpling to the flight suit. Obviously, he’s mostly black, but you do get a mix of matte black for the suit and glossy black for the boots, gloves, helmet, and vest pieces. The paint is overall very good, particularly on the chest box and the belt. The only place this figure disappoints is that the Imperial insignia on his helmet are not even. I had a similar issue with my 6-inch Black Series AT-AT Driver and it’s pretty damn frustrating. Doubly so here, because the figure came with a vehicle, so it isn’t as easy to just pick up another one on card.

The TIE Pilot does come with a standard E-11 Blaster. He can hold it in either hand, but there’s no holster for him to put it in. That’s all I have to say about this guy. If it weren’t for the insignia slip up, he’d be absolutely perfect. Moving on to the ship itself..

The TIE Strikers are experimental fighters designed to specialize in atmospheric operations and feature two wing configurations to make them more effective at their job. The above position shows the fighter with its wings locked into the regular flight mode. I have to say that straight out of the box, I was impressed and surprised with the quality of this toy. Having handled Hasbro’s fighters from The Force Awakens and experiencing the X-Wing’s tiny size and floppy guns, and the First Order TIE Fighter’s easily warped panels, I wasn’t expecting anything decent here. As it turns out, this is TIE Fighter that can hang with the best of them. The ship has a great heft to it, and measuring at 17-inches long, it probably isn’t perfectly scaled to the 3 3/4-inch figures, but it still feels satisfyingly large. If you know what it’s like to swoosh around Hasbro’s TIE Interceptor, then you’ll have a good idea what to expect with this baby in hand.

As for the sculpt and detail, you get plenty of panel lines, hatches, vents, and other bits and bobbins scattered about the hull. The wing panels feature that familiar black textured grill pattern seen on the other Hasbro TIE fighters. The wing panels do have a little flex to them, but not enough for them to warp easily, and mine came straight right out of the box. Now, if I were going to be storing this thing in a tote for a while, I’d take some precautions to make sure they lay flat, but otherwise, I don’t have any worries about wing warping. The front canopy is clear plastic with a sculpted framework.

When the wings are locked in the cruising position, all you have to do is flick the switch on the back to spring them down into the attack position. Yes, if you want to put them back up you have to do it manually.

The bottom of the craft has sculpted points to make contact with the ground, so the TIE Striker can be displayed in a landed position with the wings up or down.

Despite the elongated, pill-shaped body of the hull, there’s only room for one figure in the cockpit, and I’m pretty sure these were also one-seaters in the film. The cockpit features a lot of great detail in the sculpt, including the chair and all the instruments and controls flanking the pilot on both sides. It seems like there should be a control stick or steering column or something in there, but what we got still looks pretty damn good.

The cockpit offers plenty of room for the figure to fit in there comfortably. That may seem like a silly thing to have to point out, but I remember some of the ships from The Force Awakens had issues fitting the figures inside, and we’ll also see the same issue on at least one of The Last Jedi ships when I get around to reviewing it.  You also get a little notch on the top of the cockpit hatch to store the pilot’s gun. OK, I’ve put it off long enough… let’s flip this baby upside down and talk about Nerf!

In theory, I think the concept of putting firing Nerf darts on the ships is a noble one. It definitely adds play value, and I can see it adding a lot of fun to the dynamic of swooshing these around the room and dog-fighting with another Nerf equipped fighter. But my cardinal rule of toy gimmicks has always been that the gimmick shouldn’t be a detriment to the toy itself. Easy enough… make the Nerf guns detachable, right? Well, Hasbro didn’t do that. Now with all that having been said, the Nerf gimmick does not really spoil this toy for me at all.

The Nerf cannon doesn’t look too out of place on the TIE Striker, and I can just write it off as being the Proton Bomb Launcher that’s supposed to be equipped on these fighters. Of course, you also get clips on the bottom of the wings to hold additional Nerf darts. These are a little more of an eye sore, but they still look like they could be the normal type of bomb payload you would see on a real aircraft. I actually think they look better with the Nerf darts in them acting as Proton Bombs. Would I rather they left this out? Yup. But I’m not going to let it ruin what is an otherwise lovely toy.

I seem to recall the TIE Striker originally retailed around $40-50. That seemed like crazy money, especially in light of how disappointing The Force Awakens fighters were. Now that I have it in hand, I can at least say it feels like it’s in the right ballpark, because I don’t think the TIE Interceptor was much cheaper back when it was released, and the two are quite comparable in size and quality. And whether you like it or not, you have to figure that the Nerf gimmick is upping the price a bit as well. Granted, I picked up this baby on Amazon for $16, so my sense of value is going to be a hell of a lot more favorable. The bottom line, this toy feels like a return to the quality of the good old days, and it deserves a place on the shelf with some of the better fighters that Hasbro put out over the years.

And that’s going to wrap up this 5-POA Star Wars Weekend. It felt good to get a chance to pull out all of these figures and toys and finally give them their due here on FFZ. Granted, I didn’t get to cover everything I wanted to, so I may very well be extending this thing into next weekend, but on a much smaller scale as I pick up the odds and ends that I still want to look at. But for now, I’m wiped and I still have to do a couple write ups for tomorrow’s Marvel Monday, so I’ll see y’all tomorrow.

Dec 10 2017

Star Wars Rogue One: Rebel Commando Pao Vs. Imperial Death Trooper 

Hey, it’s YOU! Welcome back to installment number who-the-hell-knows of my 5-POA Star Wars celebration weekend. Did you know The Last Jedi comes out at the end of the week? Did you know I’m getting pumped by doing a gazillion 3 3/4-inch Star Wars figure reviews this weekend because I’m batshit crazy and I love the Star War? This time I’m stopping by with a quickie look at this two pack that pits Rebel Commando Pao against the Imperial Death Trooper! And remember, if you’re getting tired of this shit, just think how I feel, because I’m writing it!

Here’s the Rogue One packaging We’ve seen it a bunch of times this weekend and as always it has some awesome artwork. These two-packs will always have a special place in my heart and… OH MY GOD, I’M SO TIRED! Let’s just rip this box open and check out the figures.

Pao is my Boba Fett of the Rogue One film, and by that I mean he did very little, but it was love at first sight when I first saw him screaming with that huge mouth in one of the promo clips. Not only is he one of the stand-out aliens of the film, He was also one of the brave Rebels who volunteered to go on the suicide mission to Scarif and try to get the plans to the Death Star. No doubt he deserved a figure, and he got a pretty damn great one. The detail on this fellow is absolutely superb. He’s got all kinds of cool gear sculpted onto him, including equipment on his belt, what look like rockets on his wrist bracers, and there’s plenty of wonderful little flourishes sculpted into his fatigues and his vest. You also get some nice little paint touches on the figure, including the silver belt buckle and the yellow striping on his arm missiles.

And holy shit… that articulated jaw! How crazy is it that we’ve seen two figures with articulated jaws this weekend? With Admiral Raddus it was just a neat gimmick, but for Pao, it was practically essential. Opening his mouth wide and screaming is his signature move. I’ll also take this time to remind you that this is an articulated jaw on what is otherwise a 5-POA figure. Elbows and knees? Pffft! Who needs em? Hinge in the jaw? YASSS! The head sculpt is pretty amazing and includes that rather distinctive tanker-style hood that he wears.

Pao comes with a removable backpack, which looks a lot like the ones the Rebel troops wore on Endor in Return of the Jedi. It’s sculpted to look like its wrapped in cloth coverings with some components sticking out. I’m assuming this is some kind of equipment, like a radio or something as it features an antenna coming up off the side. He also comes with a pretty cool rifle with a scope, and what looks like a compressed air cartridge mounted under the barrel. I love this figure so much and as soon as Star Wars Weekend is over, I’ve got to start writing my Pao FanFic about how he survived the destruction of Scarif, BECAUSE HE DID!!! OK, let’s move on to the Death Trooper!

With all the time I spent gushing about Pao, it’s probably for the better that I don’t have a lot to say about the Death Trooper. Oh, he’s not a bad figure at all, but how much is there really to say about him? He reminds me of the First Order TIE Pilot that I looked at ages ago. A solid figure, a fine sculpt, but he’s mostly sculpted black plastic and not a lot else. In this case the Death Trooper features some silver paint hits on his belt buckle, his shoulders, and what I assume is a range finder. He also has those two eerie lights on his helmet painted green, and they pop very nicely against all that black plastic.

The Death Trooper comes with his blaster carbine. But sometimes a blaster isn’t enough to get the job done and you need something with a little more firepower. That’s where this thing comes in handy…

Oh YEAH! Forget about the fact that there’s enough plastic here so that Hasbro could have tossed two Death Troopers into the box if they left this behemoth out, because billions of dollars worth of research into toy science tells us that “The Kids” love improbably large missile launchers. This beast sits on the Death Troopers shoulders and has two hand held launcher grips. There’s a respectable amount of sculpted detail on this weapon and some silver dry brushing too. Pressing the left or right sides of the button on the back fires either one of the green day-glo missiles. Smash em both and they’ll fire in unison. This thing is straight out of those ridiculous old Deluxe Power of the Force 2 figures and I kind of love it.

This is another great Versus Pack, and as usual the only thing I can complain about is that packing a specific character with an army builder isn’t very economical to collectors. But with that having been said, the Death Trooper did get a single carded release as well, so you could still buff your armies that way. This one may lack the sheer awe of the excellent Moroff Vs. Scarif Squad Leader set, but thanks to Pao, I think this one is currently my favorite of the Rogue One Versus packs. You know the drill. I’ll see you back here in an hour or so for more Star Wars Weekend.

Dec 9 2017

Star Wars Rogue One: Galen Erso, Jyn Erso (Imperial Infiltrator), and Admiral Raddus by Hasbro

Congratulations! If you’ve stayed with me this long then you’re a real trooper. Unless you’re just finding this review at random and then you’ve missed out on watching a grown man grinding himself down to a weeping nub from reviewing too many action figures in a very short period of time. And this show is just getting started. Right now, I’m going back to Rogue One with an assortment of figures that I didn’t pick up until the very tail end of the line. Actually, Rogue One figures were mostly off the pegs by the time I got around to getting this trio.

Here are the packaged shots, which I borrowed from Hasbro’s official images because I opened these a while ago. Note Jyn’s image has her helmet on in the package, but she actually came with the helmet beside her on the tray. Otherwise, there’s not much else to say about the cards, so let’s jump right in and start with Galen Erso…

For a while it looked like we weren’t going to get a figure of Galen at all, but I’m glad Hasbro delivered in the end. I’m not so happy that the figure isn’t that good. Granted, I didn’t expect him to be the most exciting figure around, what with him just being an older guy in an variant Imperial uniform. The tunic is fairly familiar, but it’s colored teal around the shoulders, perhaps signifying he’s in the Engineering Corps? The belt is standard Imperial issue and he has a patch on his shoulder that is unfamiliar to me. The head sculpt might be halfway decent with a better paint job, but it looks like the work of a bad custom job. What a shame!

Galen comes with a pistol, although he has nowhere to store it. I don’t recall him actually having a sidearm in the film, nor would I expect Krennic to allow him one, but I’ll never scoff at getting an extra accessory.

And speaking of extra accessories… Oh, look! It’s another zipline! We’re going to see at least three of these before the weekend is over. What’s crazy is that this is entirely different than the one that came with Cassian Andor. I can’t believe that Hasbro is actually creating different versions of these for different figures! The fact that Galen comes with one also makes me believe that there were even more deleted zipline scenes in Rogue One than I had originally imagined. Like maybe Galen didn’t die on that landing platform. Maybe he ziplined to safety! I guess we’ll never know.

Oh yeah, Galen also comes with this rather large mouse droid. Yup, it’s the same one we just saw with General Hux from The Last Jedi. I’m guessing at this point Hasbro was just tossing whatever they could in there to make a scientist figure more attractive to the kids. I’m surprised they didn’t make the mouse droid actually fire the zipline. If you can’t tell, Galen is a little disappointing, but in the end, I’m still glad to have him in the collection.  Moving on to his daughter…

This is Jyn in her Imperial Ground Crew disguise while infiltrating the Scarif Base. And as you might expect, this is the exact same figure as the regular Ground Crew figure, only with Jyn’s head popped on top of it. She also comes with a soft plastic removable helmet, which fits really well and looks good. If you passed on the Ground Crew figure, this is a nice pick up, because she really can double as either figure. It’s also a pretty damn nice sculpt.

Jyn comes with the same batons as the regular Ground Crew figure as well and she can hold these in her hands or they can store on the slots in her back. I couldn’t remember whether they were supposed to store with handles up or down, so I may have them in wrong. I suppose I could have checked a shot from the film, BUT GIVE ME A BREAK I HAVE A LOT OF GOD DAMN FIGURES TO REVIEW THIS WEEKEND!!!

And lastly, she comes with this ridiculously large missile launcher, which she can’t even hold without putting her on a stand. It’s a great looking sculpt and a cool design, and I may wind up giving it to one of my 6-inch figures. It did come with a purple blast effect missile, which shot into the other room the moment I took it out of the package. Normally, I’d go look for it, but I’m in the middle of a review marathon here. I like this figure a lot, but that’s not surprising, since I liked the Ground Crew figures enough to buy a couple of them. I really wish we got this version of Jyn in the 6-inch Black Series. It’s hard to believe that Hasbro passed on doing a 6-inch scale version, but Hasbro did it in Sixth-Scale. Craziness! Next up… Admiral Raddus!

Yes, I saved the best of this trio for last. I’m never going to turn down a chance to pick up a member of the Mon Calamari brass, and this is such a great little figure! I love his short and stocky build. It makes him look like an old warhorse. I picture him walking the battle lines like a fishy version of Rommel, barking orders to the troops! The uniform features some wonderful detail, including ribbed sections behind the knees, behind the biceps, and on the shoulders. But the real draw of this figure is the superb head sculpt, and the fact that the jaw is hinged, bringing him to a whopping SIX points of articulation. Want to hear something even crazier? This won’t be the last time we see a hinged jaw on a 3 3/4-inch figure this weekend! What are the odds of that, eh?

Raddus comes with a pretty beefy blaster pistol, but for when the shit really hits the fan, he also has this giant rifle that shoots a bolt of hot flaming death out of it! Like Jyn, Raddus also can’t hold his missile launcher without putting him on a stand.

All three of these figures are fairly solid releases, but Galen easily comes out on the bottom thanks mostly to some terrible sloppy paint on his head. I like Jyn because she harkens back to some of the past Kenner figures we got of our heroes in disguises. But Raddus is the star of this show, and the fact that he got such an excellent figure in this scale almost makes up for the fact that he didn’t get the 6-inch Black Series treatment.

Dec 9 2017

Star Wars Rogue One: Jedha Revolt 4-Pack by Hasbro

Welcome back to 5-POA’PALOOSA, a name I came up with because “Star Wars Three-and-three-quarter Weekend” just doesn’t roll off the tongue.  I’ve got more Rogue One coming at you, this time with the Jedha Revolt 4-Pack, which offers up a trio of 3 3/4-inch Exclusives, two of which were bewilderingly never released in the 6-inch Black Series.

You know I love the packaging on the two-packs, well this is just like two of those stuck together. It’s collector friendly, a big window shows off all the figures, and you get some lovely character art in the bottom right corner. The set includes… Saw Gerrara, Edrio Two Tubes, Jyn Erso in her Jedha outfit, and an Imperial Hovertank Pilot. This set kind of feels like they just needed to toss all the remaining releases into one box so that they could get on with promoting The Last Jedi. Let’s start with Saw!

Wow, this is a pretty ambitious sculpt for this scale and price point! Saw’s suit was pretty complex on screen and Hasbro did a damn fine job recreating it here for the 3 3/4-inch line. He’s got his various breather hoses, the robotic right leg, old man sandal, and I really dig the cape, that looks a bit like he re-purposed it from an old flag. When I first got this figure in hand, I must have spent a good five minutes just turning it over and checking out all the nice work they did on the sculpting and paint. Even the likeness is solid, and here was Hasbro’s big chance to actually paint a wonky eye on purpose! Sorry, Forest, I love you, man!

Saw comes with two accessories, his walking staff and his pistol. The staff is actually useful, because Saw can be a bit difficult to keep standing without it. The pistol features a cool and unique design, fits into a holster on his right hip, and he can hold it in his right hand. The staff can be held in either hand. Next up… Sergeant Jyn Erso!

I didn’t really get a good look at this set when I bought it, and I just assumed Jyn would be a repack figure that was thrown in just to fill out the set and so Hasbro could get some money back, but then I remembered the single carded release featured her Eadu outfit. I’m like 99% certain this figure is exclusive to this set, but someone please correct me if I’m wrong. [Edit: I’ll correct myself! Yes, this figure did get a single carded release… carry on!] In any case, this is a simpler sculpt than the Eadu one, but I think this is the better Jyn figure, mainly because the likeness is better. She comes with the sculpted head wrap on, but you can take it off without even popping the head.

In addition to the head wrap, Jyn comes with her blaster pistol, which fits into the holster on her right hip, and she can hold it pretty well in either hand. If you’re in the market for a 5-POA Jyn Erso figure, I think this is the one to get. Next… Edrio Two-Tubes!

Edrio was one of the aliens that seemed to get featured a lot before Rogue One hit theaters. I assumed he was just going to be another Constable Zuvio, but at least Edrio had some screen time and a few lines. I think he would have made a damn cool 6-inch Black Series figure, but this smaller scale consolation prize isn’t too shabby. Hasbro invested all the usual rumples and wrinkles into the sculpted outfit here and the grimy paint-wash is really well done. And while his name would suggest otherwise, he actually has three tubes, two coming off his face, and one running from the control box into his belt. The chest box is rather reminiscent of the ones worn by the various fighter pilots. Also, the paint and sculpt on his deep set eyes is particularly creepy. I love this figure!

Mr. Two-Tubes comes with his rather unique looking rifle. which is very long, very thin, and rather fragile. I gut a stress mark on mine just from having him hold it near the muzzle. And because it’s so long, and Edrio is just a 5-POA figure, he tends to look better holding it like a walking stick, than he does holding it like he’s about to fire it. On to our final stop… The Hovertank Pilot!

Crazy enough, the one character in this box that had the least screen time is the one of the two that also got a 6-inch Black Series release, but I’m just as happy to have him in this scale too, especially since it looks like we’re actually getting a 3 3/4-inch scale Hovertank at some point down the road.

Hovertank Pilot comes with his carbine. It’s a cool sculpt and has a nice silver wash on it, but there’s not a lot else to say about it.

For as good as it is, this set languished on Amazon at deep discounts for a long while. I think I paid $11 for mine, which makes it worth it just for the Saw or Edrio figures alone, but to be honest, there isn’t a bad figure in this set.  I seem to recall this one releasing fairly late in the game, so maybe a lot of collectors were already done with the Rogue One line. That was my mentality when I passed it over at full price a couple of times. It was already getting tough to find some of the last releases, like Bodhi Rook, at decent prices, and I was ready to give up. Whatever the case, I’m glad I picked it up.

Dec 9 2017

Star Wars Rogue One: Baze Malbus vs Stormtrooper… Plus Chirrut Imwe and Cassian Andor by Hasbro!

With The Last Jedi nearly upon us, I promised myself that I would get caught up on reviewing some of the past 3 3/4-inch Star Wars figures that I have piling up in the back of the closet. Why so many? Because as much as I enjoy them, the 5-POA figures don’t really lend themselves to exciting reviews or exciting pictures, so I usually save them up to do a wave at a time. Then I forget and it gets to me too much to deal with. The only way to go now is to do some speed reviewing! To that end, throughout this weekend, I’ll be dropping a bunch of reviews for the 3 3/4-inch figures that are lying around here. How many is a bunch? As many as I can possibly cobble together without going insane or dying from plastic fume inhalation, so between now and some point this afternoon, I’ll be dropping a new review every hour with some random figures, vehicles, or whatever. Then tomorrow, I’ll do it all over again. You’re going to get some Rebels, you’re going to get some Force Awakens, definitely some Last Jedi, and right now you’re going to get some Rogue One! Let’s get crazy…

I opened some of these backlogged figures a while ago, so I’m not doing packaged shots for all of them, but I will try to get at least one for each grouping or grab some of Hasbro’s official packaged shots. Here’s the delightful, compact window box for the Baze and the Stormtrooper. The box is collector friendly and features some fantastic character art. I love these little sets and I’m happy to see they’re continuing into The Last Jedi line, even if the initial offerings are underwhelming. The other two figures that I’m looking at today: Chirrut and Cassian were both single carded releases, but we all know what that looks like by now, right? I’m not going to cover articulation, because these are all standard 5-POA figures, so you know what you’re getting. Let’s start with Captain Andor…

Cassian features his Eadu outfit, which is the same version we initially got in the 6-inch Black Series line. The heavy blue jacket with the fur-lined hood certainly looks like cold weather gear, but much to my surprise they really never featured that kind of environment in the film. The sculpting here is fantastic for this scale, and I’d even go so far as to say that there isn’t much here that the 6-inch Black Series figure did better. You still get all the sculpted gear on his belt, as well as the little wrinkles and rumples in the jacket and trousers. The paint is very well done, with little hits of silver on the belt buckle and the gear. Even the likeness is probably on par to the 6-inch line, so really the only thing lacking here is the better articulation and the ability to remove the helmet.

Captain Andor comes with his little silver pistol, which he can hold in either hand and use to murder panicking contacts in back alleys when they’re about to compromise his cover. It also fits securely in the sculpted holster on his right hip.

Of course, all of these figures still come with a big gimmicky weapon or accessory. Cassian’s is a zipline and it’s surprisingly cool. The main piece clips onto his arm and the string feeds through the two pulleys. Each end of the string has a grappling hook on the end. I get the feeling that there were a lot of zipline sequences pulled from this movie during edits. Either that or someone at Hasbro just really loves ziplines. Whatever the case, I imagine this accessory is pretty fun for the kids. Next up… Chirrut!

Chirrut Imwe features his sculpted robes, as well as a separate sculpted piece, which fits over his shoulder and includes a cape on the back and whatever that thing is supposed to be on the front. This extra piece gives his outfit a little more depth and complexity for a figure in this smaller scale. If you split his legs, you can see that Hasbro sculpted the legs and the inner details of the robes as well. There’s some ribbed texturing on his left sleeve and he also has the white guard on his left forearm. I think the likeness here is pretty good for this scale and the paint for the eyes and eyebrows is very clean and accurate.

Chirrut comes with his staff, which is sculpted to look like a gnarled old piece of wood. It also has a sculpted cap on the top and a grip, both of which are painted gray. He can hold it in either hand, but the articulation really limits what you can do with it.

Chirrut’s gimmick accessory is this bow-caster type rifle. I think it’s supposed to be the one he used to shoot the TIE Fighter down in the film. This thing looks more like a crossbow, than a rifle, but it’s not too bad as far as these things go. It did come with a red missile and I have no idea where it is. I’ve checked all the cat’s usual stashes. Onward to Baze…

Baze Malbus is part of the two-pack and as such he comes with the most stuff. The basic figure is very well done. He’s got his tan jumpsuit with the red and white armor bits. There’s some nice rumpling and texturing sculpted into the suit, and he has some pouches attached to his belt. The paint here is pretty solid as well and the likeness is fine for this scale. There’s a slot in his back so that you can attach his mega-blaster backpack.

The drum tabs in and secures pretty well. I haven’t had any issues of it popping out on me. It’s neatly painted with a red and silver deco, and it includes a sculpted black sash. The cable from the gun is permanently attached to the bottom of the drum and it’s flexible enough so that you can still move Baze’s arm a bit while he’s holding the weapon. The only issue here is that the drum makes him pretty back heavy. It looks like they tried to account for this by having his legs sculpted sculpted so that he stands with them slightly part. It helps a little, but getting him to stand with the backpack takes some finesse.

And then there’s this thing! Yes, Baze also comes with a big gimmicky missile launcher. These things are almost always terrible, but I have to confess… I love this one!  It attaches to the figure with a pair of shoulder pieces and can fire two missiles. There’s a cable that comes off of it and connects to a hand-held trigger. The cable is made to look like the one on his regular weapon and there’s some especially nice sculpted detail in the launcher itself as well as some silver dry brushing to give it a weathered look near the tubes. It looks like Hasbro really put some love into this thing, plus it really fits Baze’s role as a Heavy Gunner. Our last stop… The Stormtrooper!

There’s not much to say about this guy, other than the Rogue One Stormtrooper sculpt is pretty fantastic and I have a ton of them. This one doesn’t include the extra chest piece that came with the single carded release (which is no great loss), but he does have an orange pauldron. The paint is clean, especially on the helmet, and he comes with a standard E-11 Blaster.

As far as 5-POA figures go, I give all of these high marks. The sculpting on all the figures is well done, the paint is pretty solid, and they all come with the accessories I would expect to get. It seemed like it took a while to get a solid group of the Rogue One Rebels assembled, but Hasbro got us in there in the end, with more to follow. And now I can just sit back and enjoy this collection of characters that are all dead.