I didn’t think I’d be seeing another Star Wars Black figure until the next full Wave arrives, but thanks to Toys R Us I have a little something to tide me over via their Exclusive Snowtrooper Officer. I was a little pissed off when I first saw this figure revealed and I mistook it as news that the regular First Order Snowtrooper was going to be a TRU Exclusive. Afterall, sometimes those are impossible for me to get hold of. I settled down a lot when I saw it was just the Officer variant and as it turned out I had no difficulty getting it off their website anyway.

The box is right in line with what we saw in the first wave of 6-inch Force Awakens figures. It’s tweaked from the original 6-inch Black line with a larger piece of monochrome character art and a nice red background, which makes the figure pop in the package a little more. Both side panels now tell what the figure is, which was one of my gripes about the older style boxes. The red panel, however, does not designate a number for this figure, presumably because it’s an Exclusive. And speaking of Exclusives, the box does have the silver “R” sticker on the window identifying it as such.

Think you’re safe from the First Order just because it’s chilly where you live? Think again! Much like The Empire, TFO has specially bundled up troops to invade your icy world and oppress you. I’ll confess, I don’t like the design of these guys as much as the classic Imperial version, but I do still like it a lot. The biggest similarity is the kama, but in this case it looks like it’s evolved more into a trench coat and I ain’t hating it. I do, however, wish they had sprung for some soft goods because the plastic kama does impede the leg articulation quite a bit. But more on that later.

I dig the helmet design a lot. It’s nearly featureless design, little gas mask nubs and creepy, almost non-existantly narrow eye slit conspire to create a rather disturbingly blank visage. To me, the more impersonal you can make a soldier the scarier he is and these guys are quite a bit scary.

Since this is an Officer, the figure does include the rank-defining pauldron on the right shoulder and in this case it’s red. Ah, I bet Hasbro is thanking their lucky stars for the original Sandtrooper Pauldron that has since given them the ability to sell variant figures with very little effort. I presume the piece is removable, but my figure’s noggin is on there pretty good and I didn’t want to risk pulling it off and breaking the neck post. The backpack, on the other hand, is easily removed. It comes separate from the figure in the package and simply pegs right into the back. Obviously the bulk of the figure is white, although Hasbro did mix up that white to use a nice glossy coat on the armored parts and a matte for the cloth. It’s subtle, but nonetheless appreciated. A little black paint here and there and the big red pauldron are the only other real coloring to be found. Still, what’s here is pretty tidy.

Articulation is serviceable, but there aren’t an over abundance of points. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists, but sadly no bicep swivels. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, but that plastic kama restricts them quite a bit. The knees are double hinged, there are swivels in the thighs and the ankles feature rotating hinges and lateral rockers. The torso features a ball joint, which is cleverly masked under the chest armor and the neck also is ball jointed. Even with all that being said, the figure feels rather limited. Not to make excuses, but I imagine that might be fairly accurate for a soldier all bundled up in arctic gear.

Besides the backpack, the Snowtrooper Officer includes his rifle, which is not only a very nice sculpt, complete with scope and extended stock, but also features some lovely white and silver painted accents. His right hand is sculpted to hold it, complete with trigger finger that fits in the guard.

This guy really doesn’t hold many surprises, but I do like him a lot. A little cloth would have gone a long way to improve the range of leg movement and reinforce that this is a premium line for collectors, but there I go again setting my expectations for 6-inch Black a little too high. Still, I don’t want to go out bitching about what is a rather nice figure. I’m very glad to have been able to find him and I’ll look forward to scooping up a pair of the regular Snowtroopers when they make their appearance.

Here we are at the fourth and final day of Force Awakens Week and I’m wrapping up my look at this initial assortment of 6-inch Black with the sexy new Stormtrooper armor of Episode 7. Yes, I am aware that Chewbacca was included in this assortment, but I opted out on him as I already have the previous Black Series release. If anyone out there got him and wants to chime in on whether he’s any different, please be my guest!

Once again, there’s the newly redesigned packaging for the series and I’m still totally digging it. You get a little blurb about the new First Order Stormtroopers on the back of the box, but no answer to the one question I want to know: Can they shoot straight? When the film was first revealed, it never even occurred to me that anyone would try something so bold as to redesign the iconic Stormy armor and yet we soon got a shot of the helmet and it was love at first sight for me.

Probably the most fun thing for me about getting this figure in hand, at least initially, was having the ability to scrutinize the new armor with the old. I was expecting more similarities, and in turn some parts sharing between the figures, but everything here appears to be brand new. And if I were to pick the one thing that impresses me most about this guy it would be the lovely sheen on the armor. The regular 6-inch Black Stormtrooper is an excellent figure, but the armor isn’t shiny enough for me. Put the two figures together and you can see a huge difference and that really drives home the concept of old and new.

Another thing that struck me straightaway is the new armor looks and feels a tad bulkier. There’s more definition between the armor plates and some of the exposed black undersuit, particularly in the inner thighs. Somehow I just think this new guy is a little more convincing as a guy in armor.
Obviously there isn’t a whole lot of paint variety on this figure. What’s here is mostly good. There’s a little slop here and there and some even black lines, but most of that is just enhanced by the camera’s merciless eye and I find it barely noticeable with the figure in hand.

Articulation is a little different than what we saw in the original Stormtrooper. The arms have rotating hinges at the shoulders, and there’s enough clearance in that socket so that the shoulder armor doesn’t become an issue. The bicep swivels are gone, but the elbows are now rotating hinges instead of double hinges. The wrists are also on rotating hinges. The legs include ball jointed hips, swivels in the thighs, and double hinges in the knees. The ankles have both hinges and lateral rockers. There’s a very generious ball joint in the torso and a ball joint in the neck. I presume the head is removable, but mine is on there pretty good, and I’m not going to force it until I get at least one more.

Weapons include a rifle and a pistol sidearm. The rifle looks like the natural evolution of the E-11 Blaster. It’s somewhat similar, but with a more pronounced scope on top and some white added to the deco. The pistol also sports some white paint and almost looks like an adorable super-deformed AR-15. There’s a tab slot on his right thigh and either weapon can be pegged there when not in use.

I’ll confess that this new Stormtrooper was my most anticipated figure of this assortment and I’m happy to say he didn’t disappoint. The plastic feels great, the joints are all strong and serviceable and he just looks outstanding. There are definitely going to be at least two more of these guys in my future and I’m looking forward to the variant armors like the Flametrooper and Snowtroopers. To be honest, if he wasn’t so hard to find in the wake of Force Friday, I’d probably have a squad of First Order Troopers already.

Naturally, you can expect to see more Force Awakens toys here in the weeks ahead. I’m on board for all the 6-inch Black figures and already have the second wave pre-ordered. I would have picked up some of the 3 3/4″ figures, but they appear to be in short supply, which is rather interesting to me since collectors were so down on the 5POA style. Could it be? Perhaps kids are actually getting those figures? Wouldn’t that be something!

It’s day two of Force Awakens Week and today I’m checking out the second figure of the 6-inch Black line, or should I say figures, plural, because Rey also comes with that damn volleyball that everybody seems to be so smitten with, BB-8.

I just talked about the packaging yesterday, so I’m not going to dwell on it, other then say again that I love the changes they’ve made to the deco. The blurb on the back doesn’t give us a lot more insight into who Rey is, although I’m going to assume she bumps into Finn and gets swept up in the adventure.

Rey comes clad in her garb native to the desert planet of Jakku. I like the fact that we’re revisiting a desert world because by now that’s just a big part of Star Wars imagery. I’m also glad it isn’t Tatoooine again, because I think that planet has been overused enough and risks making Star Wars too parochial in its scope. Hasbro went for all plastic here, rather then adding softgoods. While I’ve bemoaned the lack of softgoods robes in the past, I think they made the right choice here and overall I think Rey’s desert wraps looks quite good. The layers are convincing and you get to see a little leg between the bottom of her robes and the her little boots. She’s also sporting a satchel on the side of her belt.

I’m sure I’m not alone when I admit that I happen to think Daisy Ridley is just aggressively cute. She also happens to look especially captivating in some of those stills from the trailer. She’s got an amazing range exhibited by her intense presence in the trailers to seeing her exuberant smile in the behind the scenes clips. Can Hasbro possibly capture all that attractiveness in the portrait of a 6-inch scale figure? No, of course not. It was never going to happen. Now, I will say that I’ve seen some really good examples of this noggin and some bad ones and I probably got a middle of the road example. I’ll also say that this is a figure that looks better in person. The rouge on her cheeks isn’t as apparent and her eyes are better defined. There’s a decent determined expression there, a little bit of likeness and at least the paint on mine is pretty clean and straight. The three ponytails are pretty wild, but I don’t suspect they’ll replace the Leia Buns in the annals of iconic sci-fi hair style. Whatever the case, I wouldn’t call this a great portrait, but I suppose it could have been worse. Just ask Carrie Fischer about that.

Rey’s articulation is decent on paper, but runs into some classic issues vis-a-vis those sculpted robes. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists, and all is fine and dandy there. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have rotating hinges in the knees, and both hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles. There’s a ball joint at the waist and the neck has both a ball joint and the hinge. You’ve probably guessed the problem here, the hips don’t have a lot of movement and that’s a shame. I can’t quite get her into a running pose, but maybe a trot.

As far as accessories go, Rey comes with a staff thing, which may be a gun or a stun rod or some other spacey thing. Then again, it may just be a pole. There’s some nice detail sculpted in there along with painted wraps and a sling. Oh yeah, there’s one more accessory…

This thing, BB-8! This ridiculous ball of cute has really taken people by storm and if my Twitter feed is any indication, the various plastic versions of this goofball are the better selling pieces of Star Wars tat. I wasn’t a fan when I first saw him, but he’s growing on me and I’m reserving final judgement until I see him in action.

As for his figure, this thing is remarkably well done. All the detail in the body and head is actually sculpted in and the paint, especially on the head, features a great weathered look. The head can turn and it’s posted on a ball joint, so you can shift it any direction. The whole figure is weighted so that if you’re patient you can get it to sit in a number of different… um, poses, by adjusting the head as a counterbalance. I guess the real question is, why did we get him with Rey and not with Poe Dameron?

I expected Rey to be a total dud, but I’m actually fairly pleased with this figure. It’s a bummer about the hip articulation being limited, and there’s plenty of room for improvement in the likeness, but overall she’s still better than I expected. I guess, there’s something to be said for low expectations. I’m hoping we get her in other outfits… assuming she wears others in the film. BB-8, on the other hand is just a little plastic ball of cute. And with the hero portion of this assortment wrapped up, I’ll say that I’m excited to get Poe in hand and I’m still hoping for a geriatric Han Solo. Tomorrow, we turn to The Dark Side and take a look at Kylo Ren!

Folks, we’re a little more than three months away from a brand new Star Wars movie and we already have action figures on the shelves! I’m very happy to see that Hasbro is continuing the 6-inch Black Series with characters from The Force Awakens, because it’s really the only Star Wars merch that I’m collecting with any gusto. Today I’m looking at the very first figure in the series and new film protagonist, Finn. But first, let’s check out some brand new package design!

I’ve made no bones about it, I’m not a big fan of the Star Wars Black packaging. It’s serviceable, but really boring. This new stuff, on the other hand, is pretty snazzy. Sure, the box is still mostly black, but adds a red side panel with the figure’s name and number to spice things up a bit. The diagonal cut on the front with the character art is nice and the red background really makes things pop. You also get a good look at the figure inside, and in this case, I’m looking at a gun that is sadly being warped by the way it’s been fitted into the tray.

We get a little blurb about Finn on the back of the box, but not much in the way of reveals. I think it’s safe to assume that he is a First Order Stormtrooper who sees the light and joins the Resistance. Or maybe not. But, if that proves to be true, I think it would be pretty cool. Either way, I’m looking forward to seeing what John Boyega has in store for us.

As the package tells us, this is Finn from the part of the film that will take place on the desert planet of Jakku. He’s wearing a black shirt and trousers, which… maybe could be the undergarment one would wear while wearing Stormtrooper armor? Mmm? Maybe? Wow, it’s going to be fun to re-read these speculative reviews after the movie has come out. Apart from that he’s got a jacket on that at first I thought might look a lot like Luke’s Yavin Celebration jacket, but on closer inspection… nope, not really. I was just reaching on that one. I will, however, note that we’ve already seen images of fellow protagonist and Resistance pilot, Poe Dameron wearing this same style jacket.

The sculpting on the outfit is very nicely done. The shirt is textured and you get plenty of wrinkles and stitching on the pants. The jacket is the usual vest with sculpted sleeves and in this case the illusion works very well. Detail on the jacket is a little soft, but you still get plenty going on there with rumples, pockets, a red shoulder pad, and some sort of badge or insignia bar on the left breast.

The portrait is a fairly good likeness, although a bit soft. I was a little concerned about the pictures, which showed the eyes painted to always be looking up. They are indeed like that, but it doesn’t bother me so much with the figure in hand. Finn has a pretty serious expression, which matches what we’ve seen in the trailer. I think this is going to be a pretty intense character. I’ve seen enough pictures to presume that I will be able to pop off this noggin and pop it onto a First Order Stormtrooper. I guess I’ll know for sure in a few days when I open up the Stormy. Otherwise, you don’t get a whole lot of paint on this figure, rather mostly colored plastic. There’s a light tan spray on his boots and pants cuffs to suggest he’s been tromping around in the sand.

Finn’s articulation is similar to what we’ve been seeing in this line. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, and have swivels in the thighs. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. There’s a ball joint in the torso and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed. All the joints on this guy feel great and they move like butter right out of the package. They’re also strong enough to hold him in a number of action poses.

Finn comes with one accessory, his gun, and frankly I don’t know what to make of this thing. It’s oversized in a kind of goofy Power of the Force 2 kind of way. The silver cone barrel reminds me a bit of the blasters used by the Rebels in A New Hope, but otherwise it doesn’t strike me as a very Star Wars-y weapon. It’s also almost the exact same color as his coat and I’ll be surprised if the gun is actually in the film and if it turns out to be this color. It feels like that was just the plastic they were already using so they kept it. It has a black paint wash, but still matches his jacket pretty closely. And yes, it did warp a bit in the package giving it a slightly droopy barrel.

For a line that has been all over the place in terms of quality, I have to say that Finn here is one of the better releases. He sports a solid sculpt and great articulation, and apart from some issues with the gun, I’ve got zero complaints. He may not be terribly exciting right now, as he’s just a guy we don’t know wearing a coat, but that’ll all change in three short months. Tomorrow, the speculation continues with a look at Rey and BB-8!