Aug 4 2015

Star Wars Black: IG-88 by Hasbro

So many figures to cover, so much unfinished business. I decided to go with Star Wars Black today, as I’m down to the last figure in this most recent wave of Hasbro’s 6-inch Star Wars series and I saved my most anticipated figure of the assortment for last… It’s everyone’s favorite assassin droid bounty hunter who’s head moonlights as a bar fixture in Mos Eisely. The one… the only… IG-88!

Behold.. packaging! It’s a souless black box that holds my figure and saves Hasbro a lot of money that they would otherwise have to spend paying artists to make an attractive, presentable box. But at least they pass the savings on to us. Well, not really. It’s still a twenty dollar figure. Er, this is awkward. Let’s just open him up and check him out.

Right off the bat, I’m going to say that this figure is a totally mixed bag for me. The sculpt is pretty good, albeit maybe a bit soft. It shows all the little bits and bobs from the on-screen prop, but it still kind of just looks like an up-scaled 3 3/4″ figure. One thing that I do think is particularly cool is that it actually has the holes in the head and I think this is the first time we’ve seen that accurately reproduced in an IG-88 action figure. The bandolier strap is a separate piece, but it pegs into his shoulder to keep it straight and it does include a functional scabbard on the back for his vibro axe. Yes sir, in terms of sculpt there is a lot to love here.

What’s not to love is right in line with my biggest fears about this figure and that’s that he would turn out a mushy, soft plastic mess and that is sadly pretty close to what happened. His thin arms and legs are bendy plastic, which doesn’t effect the arms much, but it’s terrible for the legs. It takes a ton of fussing to get him to stand as straight as he can, and that ain’t saying much. It’s tough to tell if that’s just because the soft plastic is warped or if one leg is a smidge longer than the other. Either way, it’s annoying and getting him to stay upright without a figure stand can be frustrating.

For a design that is basically a stick figure, IG-88 features some impressive and fun articulation, and here’s where he gains back a lot of my favor. The arms rotate at the shoulders and have lateral movement there as well. There are also rotating hinges in the elbows, which are hidden so well, I didn’t think it was even there at first. The legs feature a standard t-crotch at the hips, hinges in the knees and ankles, and swivels in the thighs and ankles. He can swivel high up in the chest and has an ab-crunch, as well as a rotating neck. He’s a tough cookie to get standing, but I’m certainly happy with the poses he can pull off. The wires also seem to have enough slack to allow for a decent range of movement.

IG comes with three weapons: A blaster, a rifle and a vibro-blade. I already mentioned the scabbard on his back can hold the vibro-blade, but it can also hold either one of the weapons. Pegs on the wrists allow IG-88 to “hold” his guns in those static claws and it works extremely well. How the hell do you get him to hold his blade? I have no idea. I pretty much just sits on his back for show.

I was going to beef about his size, especially when I remember the old Kenner figure to be so tall. But then looking at some pictures of the Bounty Hunters in Empire Strikes Back made me think IG-88 wasn’t so tall after all so I guess the scale works well enough.

Forming an opinion on this guy was a veritable roller coaster ride. The sculpt is solid enough, I love the articulation, the weapons are cool, I only wish he were stable enough to stand straight. What saves the figure is the cool dynamic poses you can put him in, which look fine and distract me from the fact that he leans to the side when not in action. I own the Vintage Collection version of this figure, which has comparable articulation, but it’s still carded, so I find it quite the novelty to have an IG-88 that can actually do stuff.

Jul 28 2015

Star Wars Black: Princess Leia in Boushh Disguise by Hasbro

I’m working to get caught up on a lot of figures lying around here before new stuff starts piling up on top of it and I need to call in an archaeologist to dig my way out. And so, today I’m jumping back to the last wave of Hasbro’s 6-inch Black series. I started this wave a week or so ago with a look at Commander Cody, today we’ll check out the second Princess Leia figure in this series and it’s her in the Boushh disguise from Return of the Jedi.

There’s the packaging and I’ve got nothing new to say about it, so let me take this time to ponder what the hell is going through Hasbro’s collective head with character selection these days. OK, maybe not character selection per say, but rather the versions they’re choosing for Princess Leia. She’s cropped up twice now in this series and both are from the beginning of Return of the Jedi. The fact that we haven’t seen a New Hope version of her yet is just criminal. Not only is that version of the character the most iconic to me, but I also think it’s some of her best moments in the saga: All on her own, fighting against Vader to safeguard the plans that she knows will put an end to the Empire. All I want is her white outfit, a couple of hair buns and that bitchin’ long barreled pistol, is that so wrong? Hot Toys gets it. That’s why that’s the first version their doing of Leia. And have you seen that figure? It’s gorgeous! What? Oh yeah, back to Hasbro’s Boushh Leia…

By now you all should know my take on this line. I have a litmus test that begs the question, is this figure better served by being in the larger scale? I’ll come back to that in a bit, but let me start out by saying that I think this is a very solid figure. All the regular points that I touch upon in my features, like the sculpt and paint look fine. Indeed, there’s some lovely little touches like the gold paint on the cartridges on her shoulder strap, the Ubese lettering on her backpack and the softgoods half cape that hangs down her back, which both Ubese and Mandalorians seem to love so much. These are all solid efforts.

I’m torn on the portrait. On the one hand, Leia sports a pretty face and some well sculpted hair. On the other hand, I don’t see any Carrie Fisher in there at all. The Slave Leia figure’s likeness wasn’t a hit either, but I think there was a bit more resemblance there than here. The paint is also rather off. The brown from her hair line splotches unevenly on her skin, the lipstick doesn’t really match her lips at all and the eyes, while not totally wonky, aren’t terribly precise either. None of this is a huge deal for me as I will likely keep the helmet on her all the time, just like I did with my Kenner figure when I was a kid.

And the helmet is indeed a nice piece of work. Not only do you get a lot of great sculpted detail, which is not always the case on these softer plastic removable helmet pieces, but some really nice weathering paint. It fits on the figure very well too. It’s also perfect for that Breen custom I’ve always wanted to do.

The articulation features a nice range of points, only slightly marred by the sculpted robes. 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 have rotating hinges as well as lateral rockers. The rockers are nice, but with the restrictive plastic skirt, it’s tough to get a wide stance to use them. There’s a waist swivel hidden under her belt, a ball joint in the torso, and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed.

Boushh-Leia comes with four accessories. You get her removable helmet, a removable backpack, a thermal detonator and her staff-gun thingy. Seriously, what is this thing? If it’s a rifle how the hell does she hold it with no stock or trigger? Is it some kind of staff weapon cattle prod? I’ve been pondering this question since I was a kid. The detonator is a tiny ball of plastic that can peg onto her belt or be held in her hand. Yes, Vader couldn’t get a peg for his lightsaber hilt, but goddammit if we’re not going to let Boushh put her bomb on her belt! As tiny as the detonator is, Hasbro still managed to get some silver paint onto it.

Scale continues to be an issue with this line. Just look at the difference between these two Leias. It’s even worse than the discrepancy we saw between regular Han and Hoth Han. This is a $20 collector line, why is it so hard to get the scale right on these figures from wave to wave?

But, getting back to my original point, because here’s an instance where Hasbro has released this version of the character in both the 6-inch and 3 3/4-inch Black lines almost at the exact same time. I don’t own the smaller scale version, although I may pick it up for the purposes of comparison, but the pictures that I’ve seen tell me that the smaller scale version is every bit as good. Softgoods cape? Check. Removable helmet? Pleeeease… the original Kenner figure had that! Articulation? A few changes there, like the smaller figure appears to have rotating hinges in the knees as opposed to double hinges, but let’s just say comparable articulation.

And so once again I ask myself, is the point of this line just to sell us up-scaled versions of these characters? Or is it to deliver us versions better than what we could get in the smaller scale? It’s increasingly obvious that the answer is the former. Now, you could argue that’s a credit to how good Hasbro has become at making the smaller scale figures, but I would argue it just devalues these 6-inch figures as a collector line. And yet here I am… still buying them. And maybe it’s not fair to unload all of this on this particular figure. It’s been the case all along and I’ll reiterate that I think this is a solid figure. Maybe It’s time to just accept that these are more or less up-scaled figures and not dwell on this stuff so much in the future.

Jul 14 2015

Star Wars Black: Commander Cody by Hasbro

A new wave of Star Wars Black hit my doorstep this week. This time the assortment is comprised of all new releases (IG-88, Leia as Boushh, and Commander Cody), but the case breakout included two Codys. It’s a real shame that Hasbro has been getting away from the original concept of delivering four new figures in each wave, but they’ve become real inconsistant on that point now, causing me to buy these guys individually and pay a couple of extra dollars for each. Cody is actually the one figure in this wave I’m least interested in, but I’m a little pressed for time today so I thought I’d knock him out.

The packaging is still great at showing off the figure, but from an art design standpoint it’s totally utilitarian. Why is there so much text on the box? We’re now up to four different languages and the left panel, where some companies put the name and an image of the figure, is just clogged up with disclaimers and copyright bullshit. They’ve even removed the useless character quote from the back. Oh well. I don’t keep these packages anyway, so let’s shred it open and get Cody out.

If you picked up the 6-inch Black Clone Trooper then a lot of this figure should be familiar to you. He uses a repaint and slight resculpt of that body. The orange trim and unit markings go a long way to making him distinctive, and he’s also got some matte gray paint on his belt and midriff. The resculpted parts on the body consist of a new backpack, an armband, and a rubbery antenna like thing coming off his left shoulder armor. He also has a rank bar on his chest. All in all, this is a decent enough body sculpt. My biggest nitpick would be that they still haven’t opted to paint the pins in the elbow joints to match the black part of the inner suit. It seems like that should probably be something a $20 collector figure would watch out for.

The helmet is all new and it seems to be a pretty good fit for Cody. I’m one of those weirdos who prefers the Phase I armor over this more Stormtrooper-like style, but it still works for me. Cody’s modified helmet features the visor and the antenna, setting him apart from the rest of the cannon fodder. I do think they did a pretty nice job with the paint on the helmet. The blue paint on the side vents is extremely clean and I like the little flame effects on the induction filters. There’s also some decent weathering to the gray stripe on top.

Articulation is the same as we got with the regular Clone Trooper, which is to say pretty good. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, double hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the biceps. The legs are ball jointed at the hips and ankles, have double hinged elbows, and swivels at the thighs. His torso is ball jointed just below the armor plate and his neck is ball jointed too. The armor doesn’t really interfere with his poseability and I like that you can actually get him to aim down the barrel of his rifle. Not bad!

Speaking of rifles, Cody comes with the same two weapons as the regular Phase I Clone Trooper. You get the standard pistol and the large rifle, both cast in the same black plastic. It’s always kind of bothered me that these guys don’t have holsters for their pistols like the Stormtroopers do. Or even shoulder straps on those rifles.

I try to be very selective about the Prequel figures I buy because I tend to like those movies even less with each passing year. I can’t even begin to count how many 3 3/4″ Prequel figures I sold off during my Great Star Wars Purge of about five years ago. Nonetheless, I kind of dig Cody here. He’s a solid enough figure and I suppose if I’m going to own one of the Clone officers, it might as well be Cody. On the other hand, if I apply the old FFZ Test to him and ask, “does this figure really benefit in any way from being done in the 6-inch scale?” I’d have to say no. I’m pretty sure Hasbro has done just as good a job with Cody in the 3 3/4″ scale, but I suppose that says as much about how good some of their smaller figures have become then anything else. I suppose a next a regular Phase 3 Clone Trooper is inevitable and yeah, I’ll probably pick one of those up too.

Jun 9 2015

Star Wars Black: Deluxe Han Solo and Tauntaun by Hasbro

The first Wave of Deluxe figures from Hasbro’s Star Wars Black line was 50-50 for me. I loved the Scout Trooper on Speeder Bike, but was not so crazy about Jabba. The third and fourth releases in this size assortment are both Hoth themed, giving us Han Solo and a Tauntaun, which I’m looking at today, and Luke Skywalker and a Wampa, which oddly enough doesn’t seem to be included as part of the assortment, so I guess these are shipping separately, two per case. Hoth tends to be one of my favorite scenes of the movies as far as toys are concerned, so I was naturally pretty excited to get this set.

The box is more or less identical to the style and deco used for the last two Deluxes. It’s black and bland and boring, but it does a nice job of showing off the toy inside. I don’t mind it, because it doesn’t make me feel bad about ripping it open and throwing it away. But hey, I always thought Tauntaun was spelled Taun Taun. As in two words. Maybe that was just me. Let’s start with the Han figure.

Han comes all bundled up for cold weather in his blue parka. Yes, BLUE! Just like it should be! Now, I’m not going to join in the age old nerd debate over what color it really was, nor do I care. Kenner made it blue and that’s what I’ve always gone by. I spent a hell of a lot more time playing with that action figure than Han had screen time wearing the outfit, so that’s the color that is burned into my brain. I like the way the outfit is executed, with the vest-style portion sculpted onto buck and the sculpted arm-sleeves. The lower part of the parka is soft plastic and attached under where the belt sits, so it all looks like one jacket, even though it’s a composite. The sculpted detail throughout the costume is quite good. The parka is textured and has the quilted pattern on the shoulders, which also appears on the knees.

The portrait isn’t terrible, but I think the likeness is only recognizable to me because of the iconic outfit. I don’t see Gentle Giant’s name on the packages anymore, so I’m guessing that partnership has ended. I’ll concede that the likness should be better in a Collector’s line produced at this scale, but at the same time, I’m not really taking issue with what we got. It’s OK. I do like that they took the time to sculpt the scar that Ford has on his chin, but then I think they usually get that bit right. The head has the hat sculpted onto it, but the hood is it’s own piece that can be taken off completely. It tends to ride off the shoulders if I don’t keep pushing it down and the split up the back is a little unsightly. The goggles are also removable and in fact come separate in the box. They look great warn up on the cap with the hood on and look fine worn around the neck. They don’t look so great when placed on Han’s face. I think Hasbro should have made these out of clear plastic and painted the rims and strap as the painted green lens doesn’t look terribly convincing.

Articulation is right in line with what we’ve been seeing in this series. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders and elbows. We usually get the same in the wrists, but in this case you just get swivels at the ends of the gloves.The lack of swivels in the biceps is a tad disappointing. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, have swivels in the thighs, and the ankles have both hinges and lateral rockers. There’s a ball joint at the waist and both a ball joint and hinge in the neck.

Han comes with the same gun belt used for the first Han release, which means it is removable and it does feature a functional holster for his blaster. It never occurred to me that he used the same belt in the movie, but I guess it makes sense. I also really dig this belt a lot. It wears well on the figure and the holster with retraining strap is great. The gun is the same DL-44 blaster that came with the original Han figure. It’s still a decent looking gun and he can hold it in either hand.

You also get his binoculars, which is a nice try, but not a very useful accessory. He can wear them around his neck, but they pop out pretty far. I tend to prefer to put them over his shoulder. They seem way over-sized and will likely wind up in my Tote of Forgotten Accessories. The scanning unit would have been a much better accessory.

I do have one major bone to pick with this figure and that’s the scale. If you stand Hoth Han next to regular Han, he’s considerably taller, which is absolutely ridiculous. Hasbro has had problems with scale in this line before, one which we’ll see more of when Leia in Boushh disguise ships, and I find it to be a sloppy and unacceptable oversight in this type of collector line. Fortunately, my Han will probably spend most of the time astride his steed, so it won’t be as noticeable. Which brings us to…

…the Tauntaun! And I have some real mixed feeling about this guy, mainly because he really does feel like an up-scaled version of a smaller toy. Although even that statement is somewhat generous because the Vintage Collection Tauntaun looks to be a far more complex sculpt than this guy. But that’s just me going by pictures, because I don’t have that figure in my collection. I think my biggest issue with this new and larger version lies in the body. The fur looks too smooth and plastic and there isn’t a lot of depth to the sculpt. It’s a nice, big impressive piece, but I think Hasbro could have done a better job with the paint and fur.

The rest of what’s here is pretty good. I like the head sculpt a lot, especially the sculpted detail in the horns and the painted detail on the eyes and mouth. The saddle is nicely done as well, complete with detailed gear. It pegs into the body of the beast, so it is removable. The stirrups are designed to work well with the figure and Han can sit in the saddle in a convincing manner, even if his butt doesn’t want to go all the way into the seat.

Tauntaun’s articulation includes hind legs which rotate at the body and have rotating hinges at the ankles. The front legs rotate at the body and the neck is ball jointed, but mostly just moves side to side. Oddly enough, there’s no hinge in the jaw. Hey, Hasbro… why does Bossk get a hinged jaw and not this big guy? The articulation feels lacking, but then when you compare this piece to the Speeder Bike or even to Jabba, both at the same price point, I’m not sure it’s fair to complain.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m disappointed in this set, but then I have learned to temper my expectations from this line. It’s a solid release, not a bad value at the price point considering how big the Tauntaun is, but there’s certainly opportunity for improvement, especially when you can argue that both figures have been done at least as well in the smaller 3 3/4″ scale. The truth is, I’m still excited to get the Luke and Wampa set and if Hasbro wanted to get us a 6-inch Scale Probe Droid and throw a snowy-repaint Chewy in there, I’d happily buy that too.

May 15 2015

Star Wars Black: Han Solo in Stormtrooper Disguise by Hasbro

Last week I checked out Bossk from Hasbro’s most recent wave of 6-inch Star Wars Black. It was one of those annoying half-waves that was bogged down by two repacks from the previous wave, in this case Chewbacca and the Tie Pilot. Both of those were excellent figures, but I’ve already got them, and if I decide I want another Tie Pilot there’s been one languishing on the shelf of the Walgreens around the corner for weeks now. Nope, all that’s left for me here is the Han Solo in Stormtrooper Disguise, and I suspect that’s barely even a new figure. Let’s take a look.

Han comes packaged with his helmet off, which is no big surprise as it allows you to tell the difference between Han and the real Stormtroopers. This figure was a no brainer for Hasbro as it allowed them to kitbash a release on the cheap and in all honesty, it’s not a bad score for us collectors. Yeah, I was one of those idiots who immediately tried to do a head swap between the Stormy and Han when I first got them only to find Hasbro was too smart for me and that the ball joints weren’t the same size, thus preventing fans from easily making this figure on their own and now having to shell out an extra Andy Jackson.

And yes, as expected, this is a straight repack of the Stormtrooper body with the head from the Han Solo release. The only modification Hasbro had to do was make the heads fit by adding a longer neck post with a smaller ball joint and putting a “turtleneck” ring around it. I’m not throwing that up as a criticism, there was no reason for any changes as the Stormtrooper body is excellent. It’s easily one of my favorite things to come out of this line. So, yeah, Hasbro… milk that puppy for all its worth! The only differences I can see on my figure come from the paint. The soles of Han’s boots aren’t painted gray like the regular Stormy’s, but they are still painted around the edges. Also, the bottom of Han’s crotch is left white, where it’s painted black on the Stomtrooper. I know, riveting stuff, right?

While the head is the same sculpt as the regular Han Solo release, this one looks a little better and I mostly attribute that to normal variations in paint. Some people have had issue with the likeness here, but I really don’t. It’s certainly not spot on, but if Hot Toys can’t get Harrison Ford right on their $250 12-inch figure Indiana Jones figure, I think this is pretty solid for a $20 6-incher. As for the helmet, I expected it to be a trainwreck because it’s sculpted out of softer plastic, but it holds its own compared to the regular Stormy head. There are a few issues with the paint, like the black on his chin is a little off to the side, but I would imagine that’s not exemplary of all figures, some may do better and some worse. It fits on the figure beautifully, which is no small feat considering Han’s copious 70’s coif, and it won’t come off unless you pull it off.

Obviously, the articulation here is identical to the regular Stormtrooper, so rather than go through it all again, I’ll just refer you back to that review.

In addition to his Stormy helmet, Han comes with the same E-11 Blaster that came with the regular Stormtrooper. It’s still an amazing sculpt, fits into the holster, and this time around Hasbro actually painted the chamber on the receiver. Why is that even there? Is that where you load more lasers into it? Maybe it’s where the battery goes? Or, maybe it’s because the prop was made out of a Sterling machine gun.

So, some may cry foul at this release being a quick and easy cash grab on Hasbro’s part, but I think it’s a worthwhile addition. The “Stormtrooper Disguise” figure is almost as old as the Star Wars action figure line itself, first appearing in the Power of the Force rebranding that came after Return of the Jedi. Although if my memory is serving me well, I think Luke was the only one that got the figure treatment back then. Besides, if you don’t want the Han, just slap that helmet on him and you’ve got yourself another Stormtrooper! I do think Hasbro did us collectors a diservice by including this one in a wave that was already half full of repacks, but that’s only because I rely on buying the case packs in order to get all the figures at a reasonable price. When I need to buy partial packs or individual releases, I usually get hit for more money and that was certainly the case with Bossk and Han here.

May 5 2015

Star Wars Black: Bossk by Hasbro

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jan 20 2015

Star Wars Black: Tie Fighter Pilot by Hasbro

The 6-inch line of Star Wars Black has been with us now for about a year and a half and it’s been a pretty bumpy ride. I think it started really strong and while we continue to get some really solid figures out of the line, there are a number of releases that haven’t been all they could (or should) have been. Case in point, the most recent Wave of four figures has put me off enough that I was willing to pay a premium for the one figure I really wanted and take a pass on the other two (one of them is another repack from a previous Wave). So, let’s check out the Imperial Tie Fighter Pilot.

There he is in what’s become the new standard box for the line. It’s black, it’s minimalist, it shows off the figure pretty well, and I have no regrets about shredding it to get to the goods inside. And if you read the back, they actually attributed a quote to this guy, “Look Out!” I’m not sure if it was intended, but it got a chuckle out of me nonetheless. I remember way back in 2013 a lot of people questioning the point of an X-Wing Pilot Luke in this line when there will likely never be an X-Wing for him to pilot (ironic, since I think that is one of the best figures in the line so far). Funny enough, I haven’t heard the same grousing about the release of a Tie Fighter Pilot. People just seem to love their Imperials, and I don’t blame them.

I’ve always loved the designs of these guys because they look so sinister. The Tie Pilot features a sculpted black flight suit with all the appropriate stitching and rumples. The breathing apparatus mounted to the front of his vest includes two flexible tubes that run into his mask, which resembles a Stormtrooper wearing a flight helmet. I think Hasbro did a great job on the helmet sculpt. It looks spot-on perfect to me. The tubes are removable from the helmet, but thankfully don’t pop out too easily when I’m posing him. The detailing on the life support panel is well done and features some very clean paintwork.

Speaking of paintwork, there isn’t much more of it to be found on this guy, which is understandable. He’s black on black on black. You do get the silver Imperial emblems tampo’d on his helmet and shoulders and a silver belt buckle. There’s also a keypad on his left forearm. I can detect a bit of difference in the black plastic with the boots and gauntlets and helmet being a bit more glossy than the suit itself, but it’s a very subtle difference.

Tie Pilot features a functional holster on his left hip to hold his only accessory: An E-11 Blaster. It seems to be the same weapon that was bundled with the Stormtroopers. The blaster fits nicely in the holster and he can also wield it in either hand.

For a guy who spends most of his time sitting in a cockpit, this figure sports some mighty fine articulation. The arms feature 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 feature both hinges and lateral rockers. There’s a ball joint in the neck and a swivel in the waist. It feels like he’s got some torso articulation, possibly being blocked by the vest.

Besides being a genuinely solid figure, the release of the Tie Pilot makes it all but certain we’ll be seeing a 6-inch AT-AT Driver at some point down the road. You know, to go with that 6-inch scale AT-AT we’ll be getting. I jest, but I’m actually looking forward to the inevitable repaint and remold of this guy because like a lot of people, I just love my Imperials! Alas, I had to plunk down $25 for this guy, which is pretty steep, but when I consider the alternative of paying for a mediocre Yoda and Clone Trooper and suck down a second Prequel Obi-Wan, it’s a price I can live with.

Dec 8 2014

Star Wars Black: Imperial Sandtrooper (Black Paldron) by Hasbro

Alrighty Toyhounds, last week was a rough one for me, but I’m back in the saddle and ready to start churning out the daily content again. Today’s agenda? Some unfinished business… namely the final figure in the most recent wave of Hasbro’s Star Wars 6-inch Black line. Yup, it’s a second version of the Sandtrooper we got way back in the first wave. Sure, some may balk at the fact that this is just a repack of that first Sandtrooper with the paldron painted black, but I’m pretty OK with variants of troop builders, especially when you consider that the next upcoming wave features a straight repack of that terrible Prequel Obi-Wan figure. Anyway, this is a good figure for me to ease myself back into the swing of things because I’ve already looked at the original HERE, and I’m just going to do some comparisons, rather than a full write-up.

But first… there he is in the package. We’ve now seen the slightly tweaked packaging for a full wave now so it isn’t really new anymore. The tray inside is packed with extras. I remember seeing the original Wave 1 Sandtrooper and thinking how great it was that Hasbro was going to be accessorizing the hell out of these 6-inch figures. Yeah, that hasn’t really been the case since. Anyway, there are some clear rubber bands to deal with, otherwise the Sandtrooper is fairly easy to get out and the box is collector friendly.

This new release features the exact same sculpt as the previous Sandtrooper, and it should once again be noted that there are a few differences between this mold and the regular flavor Stormtrooper. It’s a fantastic sculpt and while the articulation does run at odds with the armor in a few places, it’s still a fun figure to play around with. The weathering is different between the two figures, which certainly makes it look more credible when displaying the figures side by side. Orange Paldron Trooper has a lot more of it, although my Black Paldron Trooper has a black dot on his helmet.

The backpacks are identical in both sculpt and paint. You get the same ammo pouch that slings over the left shoulder and the backpack pegs right into the back of the figure. Damn, those things look heavy.

Weapons include the standard E-11 Blaster. Sadly there’s still no holster for it like there is with the regular Stormtroopers. I won’t complain too much about that because it might be that the Sandtroopers didn’t have them? I’m sure someone can enlighten me on that one.

Next, you get the same bipod rifle that came with the original Sandtrooper. I like the paint job on this a lot. It has a nice weathered metal look to it.

Lastly, you get the chunkier rifle with the shoulder strap. Yeah, I’m using official Star Wars weapon nomenclature there! This is probably my favorite of the weapons as it slings onto the shoulder quite well and it just looks more intimidating than the leaner rifle.

And so, this variant Sandtrooper holds no surprises. He was a great figure the first time around and he’s still just as good here. I tend to prefer the orange paldron version, just because that’s the one prominently in view in “A New Hope” when they stop Luke and Obi-Wan at the checkpoint, but I wouldn’t be picky about getting another black paldron figure if I come across him in the wild. I have three regular 6-inch Stormtroopers and that seems like a good number to shoot for.

The next wave of Star Wars Black consists of a Clone Commander, Yoda, a Tie Fighter Pilot, and a repack of that awful Prequel Obi-Wan figure. I’d be perfectly fine getting the three new figures, but I’ve decided that there’s no way in hell I’m going to reward Hasbro’s practice of forcing collectors to buy a double of a terrible figure for the convenience of getting the rest of the wave without having to hunt for it. So, I’ll likely wind up paying a premium for the Tie Fighter Pilot, maybe picking up Yoda when he goes on clearance, and the Clone Commander can go to hell.

Nov 25 2014

Star Wars Black: Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight) by Hasbro

We all know that Luke Skywalker is an important character in the Star Wars Universe. Hell, he was certainly arguably the most important character until Lucas retconned Vader into that position. But it still feels like Hasbro is really over-pimping the hell out of Luke in the 6-inch Black line. The series of figures is still relatively young and yet here I am looking at the third version of the character and we’ve already seen pictures of the fourth (Hoth) Luke arriving soon in the next Deluxe Wave. I get it, Hasbro, but how about spacing out the Lukes and getting us a Lando? Or maybe a Princess Leia with her clothes on? The glut of Lukes is kind of getting out of hand, especially in the absense of so many other important characters, or even not so important characters that I’d still like to get figures of. Now, with all that having been said, I do have to admit that this version of “Jedi Luke” makes for a nice companion figure to the “Return of the Jedi” Vader that also shipped in this wave. Let’s take a look at Luke #3…

The package is a little worse for wear because I left it on the floor and the cat tried to open it. Actually it turned out that he just wanted the box to play with and not the figure inside. Well, there’s no accounting for taste. Anyway, the window box is exactly what we’ve seen for the last couple of figures in the wave. It’s a black box with a black tray and a mostly black figure inside and it’s called Black… that’s a lot of black!

So speaking of black, that’s really one of the few things worth mentioning about the figure. His Jedi Knight outfit is almost void of any notable detail apart from some sculpted wrinkles and seams. Seriously, this is one of the most nondescript figures I’ve seen in a while. To help things along, Hasbro included a removable piece for his tunic, which can be replaced with another piece that makes it look as if his flap is folded down.

I call it the Captain Kirk “Wrath of Khan” look. All it’s missing is a bloody handprint. I guess the extra tunic part is a nice touch, but you know what would have also been a nice touch? A FREAKING SOFT GOODS JEDI ROBE!!! Even the god damn original Kenner 3 3/4” version of this figure came with that! Seriously, there’s no excuse for leaving it out this time. I’m beginning to think we may not even see one with the “A New Hope” Obi-Wan when he comes out.

The head sculpt is OK, but it’s not great. It’s very gaunt and sickly looking, so maybe this is supposed to be Luke after he got the shit zapped out of him by Palpatine. The likeness is sort of there, they certainly got the chin dimple right, but it strikes me more as a caricature than anything else. It’s definitely my least favorite of all three Luke portraits in this line. In fact, I think the X-Wing Luke is the best, so I’d argue they’ve been getting progressively worse. Seems like it should be the other way around.

Anyway, the only other thing worth mentioning about Luke’s outfit is it has a separate belt with a hook that you can hang the lightsaber hilt on. Hey, at least that’s better than Darth Vader got. In fact, all the Luke figures in this line so far have had ways to carry the hilts on their belts, so that’s cool. Naturally the blade can come out of the hilt and Luke’s articulation allows him to wield the saber in both hands.

Speaking of articulation, Luke’s poseability is right in line with what we’ve been seeing all along. 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 have hinges and lateral rockers. There is also a ball joint just above the waist and the neck has both a ball joint and a hinge. Luke is a pretty fun figure to pose and I’m happy to report no soft or mushy joints.

So, how does Jedi Luke fare against my 6-inch Black Litmus Test? He fails, because there’s virtually nothing about this figure that couldn’t have or hasn’t been done better in the smaller 3 3/4” scale. The lack of a soft goods Jedi robe is frankly inexcusable, especially for a figure that required so little sculpting and paintwork. Plus, I don’t see why Luke’s head sculpts are getting worse and not better. Both Luke and Vader are both similar in that they are not bad figures, just decidedly average. They strike me as missed opportunities and fine examples of how this 6-inch Black series continues to be wildly inconsistent.

Nov 15 2014

Star Wars Black: Darth Vader (Return of the Jedi) by Hasbro

Alrighty, It’s Saturday and I’m running into overtime, but I promised to end this week with another Star Wars Black figure and so here we are to take a look at Darth Vader. Obviously, the Dark Lord of the Sith was on a lot of collectors’ 6-inch scale want lists and Hasbro didn’t take too long to deliver him. However, they did go the somewhat controversial route of giving us a Return of the Jedi version with a removable mask. Was it a good call or will I be crying for a do-over? Let’s find out together!

There’s Vader in his box. As noted last time, Hasbro has done some tweaking to the SWB packaging, but it’s mostly just cosmetic. You still get a collector friendly window box that is happy standing on the shelf or hanging on the peg. To be honest, Vader doesn’t look all that impressive in his box, but I think that’s because he’s kind of all smooshed in there.

With Lord Vader out of the box and properly fluffed, I’m digging him a little more. The first thing that strikes me about the figure is how well the soft goods are executed. I remember back when the line was first announced the use of soft goods was one of the selling points for me. How’s that been working out so far? Not so great. We didn’t even get proper Jedi cloaks with Obi-Wan or Anakin… just skirts. Vader here, features a cloth inner garment, which wraps around his torso, flows under his belt and forms a skirt plus a nice flowing cape. The cape secured around the neck with an actual chain and also secured to the shoulder armor. The soft goods are far from perfect, but it is pretty much the selling point for me with this figure. Maybe it’s just because I’m so desperate to see mixed media used in this line to some advantage.

The sculpted detail on the rest of the figure’s body is fairly good. The suit has that great quilted leather texture and I dig the way the shoulder piece looks. Plus… oh, hell… I can’t do this anymore. How many Darth Vader figures have I owned over the years? I don’t even have a large Star Wars collection any longer and I’d still bet I have two dozen. The body sculpt here is passable, but is it better than some of the better 3 3/4” Vader’s. Not really. Regular readers should know my litmus test with the 6-inch Black line by now. Is the figure improved by the larger scale? Again, not really. The truth is there’s nothing here about the sculpt that really stands out as anything we haven’t seen before, but it’s certainly good work. Let’s move on to the portrait.

So, when I heard Hasbro was going with a removable helmet, I expected a soft and squishy train wreck of a sculpt. We did not get that, but there’s still something seriously off about it and I can’t quite put my finger on it. Granted, I’m not a Vader helmet expert and I can’t tell you all the little differences between the costumes. The red eyes are certainly off putting, because whatever the truth is about the costume, they always looked black on screen to me. Overall, I was expecting worse, but that doesn’t make it particularly great either.

Pop off the helmet and you get Anakin unmasked. Here again, I’m going to throw out a “meh.” It’s not bad, it’s not great, it just is. I think the sculpt on the face is actually pretty decent but it’s let down by the paint job. I’m particularly put off by the cartoony look of his eyes. What I do think is fairly impressive is the work they put into the little controls and doo-dads on the tray in front of his mouth.

Generally speaking, I don’t require a lot of articulation out of my Vader figures, but this guy features some competent poseability. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists, but alas no bicep swivels. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have swivels in the thighs, double hinges in the knees, hinges in the ankles and we even get some lateral rockers in those ankles too! There’s a ball joint in the waist and a ball joint in the neck. On the downside, those hip joints are pretty loose and sometimes Vader can’t support his own weight when doing those wider stances.

Vader comes with his lightsaber and the blade is detachable so you can go for a lit or unlit look. The problem? There’s no way to attach the hilt to his belt. Seriously, Hasbro? How hard is it to put a peg and a peg hole on the figure? This kind of oversight really pisses me off, especially when they’ve released three Luke figures and all of them have had a lightsaber hilt that could attach to the belt. Grrr…

Armed with the knowledge that Hasbro went for the removable mask, I was expecting this figure to be pretty damn terrible. Now that it’s in hand, I wouldn’t call it terrible, but rather pretty average. I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that going for the removable helmet on the first Vader in the line shows poor judgement on Hasbro’s part. Granted, I’m not sure if my issues with the helmet are caused by the fact that it’s removable or if this is the sculpt Hasbro would have went with otherwise, but either way it isn’t all it could have been and that really sums up the figure as a whole. It’s far from the worst figure we’ve got in the line, but a character as important as Vader deserved better than this. Still, it certainly won’t be the last Vader we get in this line, so better luck next time, Hasbro!

FigureFan Zero

Action Figure Reviews, Toys & Collectibles…

Tag Archives: star wars black

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Star Wars Black: Imperial Sandtrooper (Black Paldron) by Hasbro

Star Wars Black: Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight) by Hasbro

Star Wars Black: Darth Vader (Return of the Jedi) by Hasbro

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