Tag Archives: star wars

Apr 13 2017

Star Wars “The Force Awakens:” Finn 1:6 Scale Figure by Hot Toys

Nope, no Transformers Thursday this week. Sorry. I was hoping to get a little MP-36 action going today, but he was not in the budget this week. Probably not next week. Maybe I’ll get lucky and nab one in at the end of April or perhaps the prospects of the ridiculous orange plug will piss me off enough that I can save my money. For now, I happened to be re-organizing my sixth-scale shelves to make room for some new arrivals last week when it dawned on me that I had yet to review a couple of my Hot Toys figures from The Force Awakens. Let’s remedy that today by checking out Big Deal himself,  Finn!

I’ve already looked at Hot Toys Rey and BB-8 and the packaging here is very similar. Finn was available on his own or boxed with the First Order Riot Stormtrooper, which is the route I went. Other than this bigger box, I don’t think there was any real difference between the two releases of Finn. And don’t worry, I’ll be looking at the Riot Trooper on his own in the next week or so. But let me take a moment to declare what a testament it is to how much I loved the new characters in The Force Awakens, that I’m buying them as Hot Toys and not The Original Trilogy characters. Truth be told, the main reason is that collecting the OT Hot Toys is too big a plunge for me to take. First I’d be spending $220 on Luke Skywalker and next thing I know, I’m 20 figures deep and making five $60 Flex Pays on a Hot Toys Power Droid and wondering what happened. The smaller cast of The Force Awakens seems a lot more manageable. Especially since WE STILL HAVEN’T EVEN SEEN A HINT THAT POE DAMERON IS EVER COMING OUT. What? Oh yeah, let’s have a look at Finn…

In case you’ve never met a Resistance fighter before, this is what they look like. Well, some of them. Others look different. But this is most definitely FN-2187, better known to his new pals as Finn. As a character, I found Finn to be instantly likable and this figure captures him beautifully. It is, however, a pretty simple figure, especially once I discarded the nearly useless extra, which I’ll get to in a bit. Finn sports a pretty standard pair of space trousers, a t-shirt and, of course, Poe’s Resistance jacket.

And yes, Poe’s trusty jacket is easily the star of this otherwise pedestrian outfit. It’s a splendidly crafted garment with some immaculate stitching and it hits all the right points of the real thing. Some of those high points include the reinforced patch on the front of the right shoulder and the ribbed stripes that run down the outside of each sleeve. The material is a very pliable and a convincing substitute for leather. One of the other great things about this outfit is how it isn’t at all restrictive and there are no super delicate pieces, like buttons that can fall off. While a lot of Hot Toys sacrifice pose-ability for tightly crafted costumes, Finn feels like an honest-to-goodness action figure and he’s loads of fun to play around with.

I can remember some early reactions to this figure and people picking on the likeness. Honestly, I don’t know what there is to complain about. To me, this looks spot-on to actor John Boyega and features the usual crazy level of realistic detail both in sculpt and some sterling paintwork. The expression is fairly neutral, which I think is always the way to go unless we’re getting an extra head. The eyes have that eerie “I’m alive” look to them, and the sculpted hair looks fantastic. I think this one is a total home-run. I’ll also toss in here the fact that Finn comes with Hot Toys’ usual assortment of extra hands. These include fists, saber holding hands, gun holding hands, and relaxed hands.

Let’s kick off the accessories with mention of the electronic lightsaber, so we can never speak of it again. Yes, this is where my appreciation of the figure takes a momentary dive. This saber hilt is actually an integral part of a replacement arm, which has to be swapped out and doing so is an unbelievable pain in the ass. I did it once when I first got the figure and I’ll never do it again. Nope, not even for this review. Because of the sleeve, it’s impossible to see what you’re doing, and I’d say it probably took me a good twenty minutes to finally get it in there. It was a whole ordeal during which, I was constantly afraid that I was going to mess up the outfit or break the figure’s arm. Yes, it looks mighty pretty when it’s all lit up, but it’s still not worth the risk to me. And, I have to ask, is it really necessary to integrate the electronics into the whole arm? Couldn’t they have done it in just a hand? I mean, I have a pretty damn small LED on my key-ring that could have easily lit this saber up. Just saying…

Well, since the lit saber and arm is not my cup of tea, I’m happy to say Finn also comes with a regular lightsaber that can share the blade with the electronic one. This saber is the exact same accessory that came with Rey and it’s still a beautiful piece. The hilt is intricately detailed and the translucent blue blade just pegs right into the hilt. It may seem odd to include the saber with both Rey and Finn, but in fairness, this set is intended to recreate Finn’s battle with the Riot Stormtrooper on Takodana, and I can’t say as I mind having an extra.

Next up, Finn comes with the rather distinctive blaster that he borrowed off of Han Solo. I remember not being terribly fond of this design and back when I reviewed the 6-inch Black Finn, I actually speculated that it wouldn’t even appear in the movie. Boy, was I wrong, actually on both counts, because this weapon design has grown on me a lot. I like the clear piece on the end of the “scope” and the barrel kind of reminds me of the Rebel DH-17 Blaster just a bit. The weapon does not feature any moving parts, but it does come with a pretty cool carry strap.

And speaking of carrying things, how about a big bag of bombs? It’s the explosive payload that Finn toted to The Starkiller Base in order to blow the place up. This could have just as easily been an accessory included with the Han Solo figure, since he and Chewie were the ones planting the things, but I’m glad they gave Finn some more stuff. The satchel includes a retaining strap that pegs together at the buckle and there’s a mesh side so you can see what’s in it when it’s full. It’s also a pretty big bag, as you could probably fit twice as many bombs in it as comes with the set.

And lastly, Finn comes with a stand that features The Resistance logo as well as a name plate. It’s the same style of stand that came with Rey, complete with a crotch cradle on an adjustable post to keep Finn standing proud.

Finn is available by himself for $205, which is a decent value for a Hot Toys figure, as they usually start in the $220 range these days. I picked up mine in the two-pack with the Riot Trooper for $360, so if you want to split the two figures evenly down the mdidle that makes Finn $180 and that’s even sweeter. Although, it’s worth mentioning that as I write this Sideshow has thrown up the “Low Stock” warning on his product page. I’ll concede that Finn’s a somewhat basic figure, especially if you’re like me and choose to ignore the electronic saber gimmick, but I can’t say as there’s anything really missing from his collection of extras. Not to mention he is a damn solid figure in his own right, with a nicely tailored costume and a superb likeness. And all kidding aside, I really am shocked that we haven’t seen or heard anything about a Hot Toys Poe, because him in his X-Wing pilot suit would be a wonderful way to round out my Rey, Finn, and BB-8 display.

Apr 4 2017

Star Wars Black (Rogue One): Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malbus by Hasbro

Rogue One hits Blu-Ray today, and I’ve already been down to Wally-Mart to mingle with some scary people and pick up my copy. Even after seeing this flick four times in the theater, I was still anxious to get it on home release and see it again. It seemed only appropriate that I also spend today opening up Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malbus from the Star Wars Black 6-inch series. Let’s check them out!

This was a weird pair of releases in that Hasbro just seemed to tuck them into a mostly recycled wave. Now, like Marvel Legends, I tend to buy my Black Series figures by the case, because there’s always one or two that are hard to find. I really didn’t want to do that here, because it meant getting doubles of figures I didn’t want. Luckily there were a few online retailers that offered them up as a pair for just a couple of bucks over the usual retail and I was able to get them with no fuss and no muss. I’m still more than a little miffed that we didn’t get a Bodhi Rook or Saw Gerrera in the 6-inch line to finish out the Rogue One team, but I am really happy we got this pair. For a movie that a lot of people complain has no heart, Rogue One managed to pack a lot of soul into these two characters.  Let’s start with Chirrut…

I really like Chirrut’s costume and I’m really thankful that they didn’t just give him some boring brown Jedi-inspired robes. What we got is a great look for a “space monk” and it fits in perfectly with the Star Wars Universe. Hasbro took the opportunity to give us some soft goods robes, but as usual mixed it up with sculpted plastic as well. I think the effect here is overall pretty good, but I get a big disconnect between the plastic on top and the robe on the bottom. It looks more like he’s wearing a skirt, whereas the actual costume extended up to his shoulder. On the other hand, the cloth doesn’t impede the range of motion in the legs, which is a welcome treat. The articulation here is pretty standards stuff for the line and he’s loads of fun to pose and play with.

The robes that hang off his back are molded as part of the cross strap, and I don’t think they really look like part of the overall garment, but I know what they were going for here, so I can at least see it for what it’s supposed to be. I do like the two cloth straps that hang off of him. These can be positioned to give him some sense of momentum when posing him in action scenes. It may sound like I’m nitpicking the costume here a lot, but let’s face it, this wasn’t a terribly easy costume to do in this scale. Hasbro made some compromises and in the end I think it looks good and doesn’t interfere with the fun of playing with the figure, so I’ll call it a win. But is there really anything here that they couldn’t have done in a Vintage Collection style 3 3/4-inch figure? Nah.

The head sculpt is passable, but it’s exceptionally soft. I think it’s a decent likeness, which I can easily recognize in the context of the costume, but probably wouldn’t as just a head. As is often the case with this line. a competent paint job would probably go a long way. There’s a big disconnect between the sculpted eyebrows and what’s painted there. This feels more like passable 3 3/4-inch scale work than it does 6-inch scale work, but if that’s not something I was willing to accept at this point, I wouldn’t still be buying this line.

Chirrut comes with two accessories: His staff and a rifle. I was initially tempted to say that the staff feels too small for him, but after looking at some pictures of him in the film, as well as the upcoming Hot Toys release, I think it’s pretty close.  There’s also a fairly good amount of sculpting and paint work for what is essentially just a big stick. The wood is textured and there’s a grip and a reinforced tip.

The rifle is a strange piece indeed. When deployed it reminds me a bit of Chewie’s bowcaster. It feels a little cheap and flimsy, but in fairness it’s a very thin weapon and it has several points of articulation, from the rotation in the center to the two hinged arms. Toss in some paint apps, and I’d say Hasbro did the best they could with this weapon in this scale. I do wish it had a shoulder strap on it so Chirrut could wear it across his back. I’ll probably just tie a piece of string to it. Moving on to Baze…

Baze, the heavy gunner of the team is an all around nice piece of work. His overalls are sculpted with plenty of rumples, stitching, and pockets. It’s a little soft, but overall pretty good. The armor pieces feature some nice weathering and appear to be additional pieces laid onto the buck, which make them a lot more convincing. The belt and pouches are also separate pieces attached to the buck and there’s some great detail in the chest piece. Articulation is just as good as Chirrut as far as the actual points go, but Baze’s chunky buck makes his range of motion a little more limited, particularly in the upper legs.

From the back, Baze has a rather large slot for his backpack. It’s unsightly, yes, but I’d rather have it there with the option of being able to take off the pack, than have the pack permanently attached. I suppose they could have gone with actual working straps, but that seems to be asking a lot from this line. Still, the 5-POA, 3 3/4-inch Rey figure from The Force Awakens had a backpack with actual straps and all. Just saying…

The head sculpt here is actually pretty damn good and with some better paint it probably could have been phenomenal. Either way, I would have no troubles recognizing this likeness with or without the context of the body.

The backpack, which is the laser gun equivalent of an ammo drum tabs right in and features some great paint and sculpted details as well as a sculpted sash that hangs off the back. I haven’t looked into the tech behind this thing, but I’d like to think that it’s just a giant generator needed to power his repeater blaster. The cable tabs into the bottom of the drum and the other end goes into the blaster where an ammo magazine would be if it were a conventional rifle.

The cable has a good amount of flex in it, but it does sometimes impede the poses I’d like him to do. Add to that the fact that the drum on his back makes him pretty back-heavy and very prone to toppling backwards. I don’t want to beat up on Baze that badly, because he’s a great looking figure and still pretty fun, but he’s at his best when he’s just standing there beside his buddy Chirrut with his rifle at the ready.

While I have some nitpicks here and there, I think Chirrut and Baze turned out to be pretty good figures, especially when considered within my tempered expectations of the 6-inch Black Series. They each have their strong points and when taken as a pair they compliment each other beautifully. They also make for a fantastic display with the other members of the Rogue One team. Yes, I’m still upset over the Bohdi-shaped hole in my display. I thought Rook was a great character, and came the closest to having something resembling a fully fleshed out arc. It was great to see him going from reluctant spy to full-blown self-sacrificing hero.

Mar 14 2017

Star Wars Black Series (Knights of the Old Republic): Darth Revan by Hasbro

Ah, Knights of the Old Republic! It was a pivotal experience in my long history of gaming. I don’t think I can properly quantify how many hours I put into it and I loved every second of every play-through. In fact, I remember my knee-jerk reaction to playing Mass Effect for the first time was that it was just KotoR with all the Star Wars elements boiled away. Back in 2003, I would have spent all my disposable income on KotoR toys. If only Hasbro had pushed the marketing of this game like they did with Shadows of the Empire. I wanted a dedicated line. I wanted figures of all the characters, I wanted the Ebon Hawk scaled for the figures. I wanted an electronic HK-47 that I could carry around and complain about people to. And I got nothing… NOTHING!!! Well… almost nothing.

If i recall correctly, we owe this 6-inch Black Series release to a fan poll.  Now, in fairness we did get a few 3 3/4-inch figures from KotoR scattered about over the years and we even got Revan in the 30th Anniversary Collection line. But that was like five years too late and at a time when I was clearing out most of my Star Wars collection because one day I woke up and gazed in horror at all the Prequel crap that I bought. When I think about it, I should be a lot more excited to have this figure in hand than I am, but I’ll swing back to the reasons for that at the end.

Revan’s design always felt just a little too derivative of Vader to me. Granted, the mask was necessary due to complications of his true identity, but the black cape and robes struck me as a wee bit lazy. We need a new villain, just put a mask and black robes on him. So, why do I give Kylo Ren a pass? Because imitating Vader was the whole motivation of that character. Now, with all that having been said, I still think Revan is a cool looking character and this figure does a nice job with the design. The sculpted gold pieces of his armor and that giant ring in the center of his gut contrast nicely with the use of the soft goods. And in the end, I think it’s the mix of sculpted plastic cloth and real cloth that represents this figures greatest strengths and weaknesses.

For starters, the cape looks fantastic. It’s very thin and light material that rests naturally on the figure and works well with the tattered and frayed edges. The use of cloth on the inner robes looks fine too, and I have no problem with the use of the sculpted plastic cloth over it. Maybe the red sash would have looked good as cloth, but I won’t quibble over it. Also, the sculpted cloth on the sleeves is a no brainer. Nope, from the neck down, I’ve got only love for this guy and the decisions Hasbro made when making him.

Above the neck, however, is a different story. My main gripe is with the decision to use a sculpted plastic hood and having it molded as part of the shoulders. It looks fine, but it really hurts the figure’s pose-ability. Yes, his head will turn in there, but it looks odd when turned too far to the left or right because the hood is blocking so much of his face. I think a cloth hood would have looked great on him and it could have been pulled out of the way to accommodate the head turning. But if Hasbro was dead set on going plastic, they should have made the hood a separate piece that could turn with the head. Apart from that, I think the helmet looks great. The mix of red and silver paint really makes the figure pop and the weathering, well it’s a little heavy handed, but it’s not bad. The rest of the articulation is standard stuff for the Black Series, at least on paper, but in practice, Revan just isn’t as fun to play with as he could have been.

Darth Revan comes with his two lightsabers, and I’ve got to be honest, as much as I played this game, I didn’t even remember him having two until I went back and looked at some of the art from the game. The designs on these hilts are really cool, particularly the one with the purple blade. And yes, both blades can be removed easily by simply un-pegging them. Sadly, there’s nowhere on his person that you can hang the hilts.

Even with my issues over the hood, I like this figure a lot and I’m happy to have him, even if probably doesn’t sound like it from this review. The problem is that getting Revan is dredging up all the same disappointment I had long ago when we didn’t get a dedicated KotoR line. Don’t get me wrong, with entire forests of printed Star Wars canon being wiped away with the stroke of a Mickey Mouse pen, I’m happy to see that KotoR is being acknowledged and therefore is presumably still canon. But the proper way to do this would have been an entire wave. Six figures… Revan, Malak, Bastila, Mission, HK-47, and whoever the hell you want for the last slot. I’d take T3-M4, just because I dig that design, but I suppose you could throw Carth or Zaalbar in there instead. I mean, if Hasbro can stack their waves of Legends with Comic Book designs, surely they could spit out a wave of KotoR figures. Now would have been the perfect time too, because Hasbro is drumming up support for The Last Jedi and needs peg fillers. Man, just thinking about that assortment of figures is killing me.

Feb 28 2017

Star Wars Black: Princess Leia (A New Hope) by Hasbro

One of the things that’s had me most excited about the 6-inch Black Series was getting all of the original 12 vintage figures in this new format. Well, Hasbro showed off the remaining releases at Toy Fair last week and collectors who are willing to double dip will even be able to get them on vintage style cardbacks. They look great, but I don’t have the money or space to buy all these figures again just so I can tear them open or hang them on the wall. As it is, I already have totes full of the carded Vintage Collection 3 3/4-inch figures that I hardly ever see. Anywho, with the original version of Princess Leia now in my collection, my 6-inch heroes from A New Hope are complete and all I’m waiting on is the Jawa, Death Squad Commander, and Tusken Raider to complete the Twelve… pretty cool!

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This figure has had its share of controversy as many Princess Leia figures have had to suffer ever since the day Power of the Force 2 unleashed the dreaded “Monkey-Face Leia” on our collections. It’s safe to say that some of the early shots of this one didn’t look so good. I made a decision that, once in hand, if I thought this this one sucked really bad, I wasn’t going to review it out of respect to the late Carrie Fisher. The fact that you’re reading this means that wasn’t the case. Now, I’m not going to tell you she’s fantastic, but… well, let’s just go ahead and dive in.

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For starters, there’s very little sculpted detail visible on this figure, and that’s because of her softgoods outfit. Gown? Is that the right word? Maybe? I’m going to call it a gown. From the neck down all you can really see are her hands and boots, and the belt which cinches the gown to the figure. And yes, the belt and gown are both removable and she has a fully painted white outfit and boots underneath. The gown is easily my favorite part of this figure. I’m glad they didn’t go for a complete sculpt here. The fabric fits the figure very well, the stitching is pretty good with just a few stray threads here and there, and there are some areas, like the neck collar, where it’s actually quite impressive. The material is very thin and it’s slit a bit up the sides to not interfere with articulation too badly.

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They also included the hood, which is another check I’ll add to this figure’s plus column. It doesn’t fit flush with her back when it’s down, but that’s to be expected with the lack of weight that an outfit in this scale exhibits. Overall, I think it looks better down than Obi-Wan’s hood does.

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And then there’s the portrait. So, I was expecting the worst and I don’t think that’s what I got. No, it’s not very good either. At some point I’m sure there was some Carrie Fisher in there, but I think most of it got lost in the transition from prototype to final product. And the fact that it got the bare bones minimum effort when it came to the paint doesn’t help either. My guess is this will be another Black Series figure that someone paints up really nice and shows that it could have worked in the right hands, but clearly those hands aren’t working in Hasbro’s factories. I’d say that this portrait might have been acceptable on a 3 3/4-inch figure, but not so much in a 6-inch “collector’s line.” I seem to say that a lot when reviewing these figures. On a more positive note, I think the hair sculpt is pretty good.

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The underlying articulation is right in line with what we’ve seen from many 6-inch Black Series figures. I couldn’t quite get her to hunch down to R2’s level to feed him the Death Star Plans, but I was able to fake it by getting her down on one knee.

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Leia comes with two accessories and they’re both guns! And why not? Princess Leia is an ass kicker. The first thing we see her do is take out a Stormtrooper with this first weapon. Yes, it’s her “Defender” sporting blaster, which she carried on the Tantive IV right before getting captured. This design is one of my favorite weapons in the film.

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Hasbro also threw in an E-11 Stormtrooper blaster, which she used later on during the escape from The Death Star. We’ve seen plenty of these guns released in the Black Series, but I’m always happy to get another! Now, before wrapping up there’s just one more thing to look at, and that’s scale. Consistency of scale has been a challenge with this line, and Princess Leia is one of the biggest (literally) examples of that.

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Here are all the 6-inch Black Series Leias together. Back when I looked at Leia in the Boushh disguise I was notably irked about how badly they flubbed the scale on that figure. She’s a giant compared to the original Slave Leia release. Here we can see that they reined things in a bit and scaled this figure almost perfectly with her bikini-clad counterpart. Sure it just makes Boushh Leia look all the more freakishly tall, but at least they didn’t compound the error by doing it again. Which likeness do you think is the best? Granted, none of them are ideal, but I think I’d go with Slave Leia followed by this one.

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It’s never a ringing endorsement to have to say a figure could have been worse, but that’s what I’m thinking here. The truth is, given my ever deflating expectations for the 6-inch Black Series, I found this version of Princess Leia to be perfectly passable, and yes that’s intended as a left-handed compliment. From the neck down, I’m extremely happy with the way she turned out and I think this is some of the best use of softgoods that the line has seen to date. And while the portrait is far from being on point, I don’t think it’s all that much worse than some of the other likenesses we’ve had here. Indeed, comparing it to some of the larger and far more expensive Princess Leia releases in the past sort of puts things in a better perspective. Word is that the re-issue in the vintage-style packaging got a face lift, both in paint and sculpt, and the prospect of that might tempt me to try my luck with another.

Feb 17 2017

Star Wars Black: Obi-Wan Kenobi (A New Hope) by Hasbro

Sorry, folks. No DC Friday this week. I’ve still got a whole case of 6-inch Star Wars Black figures to go through and I need to start chipping away at them before more arrive. So today I’m opening a figure that I am pretty excited about finally getting. It’s Obi-Wan Kenobi from Episode IV: A New Hope!

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Obi-Wan got something of a pre-release back at last year’s SDCC with some snazzy packaging and exclusive extra bits. The regular retail packaging offers no surprises, it’s just the same old stuff. It’s collector friendly and the side panel features the figure’s name and number. I have only saved the boxes for a handful of these figures and alas, Obi-Wan’s box is destined for the bin. You’ll note that the figure comes packaged with his cloak on, but I’m going to start with it off.

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Sculpted robes often pose problems in terms of a figure’s overlook and articulation, but here I think Hasbro did a reasonably nice job on both counts. There’s a good amount of detail in the outfit itself including lots of folds and wrinkles. There’s also a very subtle texturing to drive home the appearance of cloth. The belt sculpted belt features the pouch on his right hip and a hook to hang his lightsaber hilt. Unfortunately, the blade doesn’t seem to want to come out of my lightsaber hilt, so that hook isn’t doing me a lot of good.

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Loose sleeves like these are particularly tricky for sculptors because they should look considerably different whether the character has his arms at his sides or raised in an action pose. Here, Hasbro went for a compromise by putting the wrists right in the middle. They look fine with the arms down, but rather unnatural with the arms up. I guess I’m OK with this, as I doubt I’ll be displaying him in an action pose. I do really like how the wrists are set fairly deep into the sleeve, as it makes the plastic garment more convincing.

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I think the portrait here is passable in general and maybe better than average for this line. It really varies wildly based on the angle, distance and lighting. And yes, that’s a left-handed compliment. I would have liked the detail to be a little sharper and the paint is the same sub-par stuff we’ve been seeing for the bulk of these releases. I’d argue that the likeness is certainly there, but is this really much better than they could do in a 3 3/4-inch figure? I don’t think so. In the case of this figure, let’s just say the closer in you get, the less it works, but I guess I’m fairly satisfied.

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As for articulation, there’s certainly a good amount of it here. By Episode IV, Obi-Wan’s days of somersaulting ridiculously all over the place were over (thank God!), so I’m not requiring a whole lot from this figure. His arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double hinges in the knees, and swivels in the thighs. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. There’s a ball joint in the waist and both a hinge and ball joint in the neck. Below the belt, the plastic robes are slit up the sides so as not to completely hinder the leg movement.

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The softgoods cloak fits the figure very well and it looks great on him with the exception of the hood, which doesn’t fit close to the back when its down. That’s understandable, as at this scale there’s no weight to the fabric to let gravity do its job. If I futz with it enough, I can get it to look acceptable. I may look into using a small pin to keep it under control. It does, however,  look pretty great with the hood up over his head. You can also pull it further down over his head to hide his face for when he needs to scare off Tusken Raiders. The stitching is neat and I can’t imagine that I’ll be displaying the figure without this on most of the time. This is exactly the sort of thing that was sorely missing from the Jedi Knight Luke figure a few waves back.

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I’ve already mentioned the lightsaber accessory and how my blade doesn’t want to detach. Otherwise, this is a pretty great little piece and the sculpt and paintwork on the hilt are both exceptionally good. In fact, I’d say this is arguably the best looking lightsaber hilt this line has produced.

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In the end, Obi-Wan turned out to be a pretty solid figure. He represents the usual ups and downs that characterize most of these 6-inch Black Series releases. The sculpt is overall pretty good, the cloth robe is a great, albeit in this case essential, addition, and if Hasbro could just invest a little more in the paint quality on these figures, they could really raise the bar a couple of notches.

Feb 1 2017

Star Wars Black: AT-AT Driver by Hasbro

I’m pressed for time today, but I also wanted to dig into the newest wave of Star Wars 6-inch Black Series figures, so I’m going with the one figure in this assortment that I have the least to say about: The AT-AT Driver! Of course, that shouldn’t be mistaken for a general lack of affection for this guy.

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Somewhere along the way, I fell into the misconception that AT-AT Drivers were just repainted TIE Pilots. It’s an easy mistake to make, although with how long I’ve been collecting Star Wars figures, you’d think I would have known better. Indeed, playing around with this figure really made me appreciate how different the two designs are and in some cases, they are oddly different. For example, the AT-AT Driver has the leg harness that we see on most of the Rebel Pilot flight suits. Why does the AT-AT Driver have those, but the TIE Pilot doesn’t? Shouldn’t it be the other way around? These aren’t questions I can answer here, so let’s just check out the damn figure.

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Wow, he’s fantastic! Well, except for one glaring problem he’s fantastic, but I’ll get to that in a bit. I’ve always been partial to this design, although to be honest the pair that I had as a kid rarely left my Kenner AT-AT’s head. And the pair of modern 3 3/4-inchers that I now own rarely ever leave Hasbro’s Super AT-AT’s head. Well, here’s one that I’ll be able to display on his own, because obviously there ain’t no 6-inch Super AT-AT to put him in and let’s be honest, it’s never coming. Although, a properly scaled cockpit would be cool!

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The sculpt here is excellent. You get all kinds of rumples, stitching, pockets, and texturing in the underlying jumpsuit. The boots are nice and chunky, the gauntlets look great, and the shoulder armor is cast in soft and pliable plastic so as not to impede the articulation. I would have liked more of a matte finish for the suit, but Hasbro went for bare plastic, which has a glossy sheen to it.

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I really dig the attention to detail on the control box. The sculpt is so sharp and the paint is neat and carefully applied. Same goes for the box on his back. The hoses run from the box to the cylinders on the back of the helmet and are flexible enough to allow the head to move unhindered.

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Besides the control box on the chest, it’s always been the helmet on these guys that I loved the most, and Hasbro went all out recreating it for this figure and he’d be just about perfect if it wasn’t for that majorly droopy Imperial Insignia on the right side of his helmet. Dammit, Hasbro! You were so close here and you blew it on an easy one! To be fair, that emblem droop doesn’t bother me nearly as much as I thought it would, but it’s still going to make me hunt down another one of these.

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The articulation is as good as we get with the regular troopers. You get rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, and hips. The knees are double hinged, there are swivel cuts in the thighs, and the ankles have both hinges and lateral rockers. There’s a ball joint buried in the chest and another under the helmet. And while this guy is probably used to just sitting down and driving his AT-AT you can get some nice poses out of him. Toss in the E-11 Blaster that he comes with and he’s ready for action. It would have been cool to get an homage to the rifle that came with the vintage figure too, but oh well!

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Don’t let my brevity today fool you into thinking I don’t totally dig this figure, because I sure do. Is it really any better than Hasbro has done in the 3 3/4-inch scale? Probably not. But, Hasbro hit all the right points on this guy, save for one damn sloppy emblem placement, and I’m very happy to have him joining my 6-inch scaled Imperial Forces. Even though he’s got nothing to drive, he’s an important figure that I can finally check off my Black Series want list. Now to go hunt down a better one…

Dec 20 2016

Star Wars Black (Rogue One): Scarif Stormtrooper by Hasbro

After a weekend of avoiding all of humanity for fear of spoilers, I finally got to see Rogue One yesterday morning and that evening, I got all the gushing out of my system with a bonus feature. But even a day after seeing the movie, all I wanted to do was play with more Rogue One toys. Lucky for me a couple of Scarif Stormtroopers showed up at my door just a few days before and were waiting to be opened.

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Damn these trooper exclusives! First it was the TRU getting the Hovertank Pilot and now it’s Walmart getting the Scarif Stormtrooper. Why make a troop builder an exclusive and the Squad Leader a wide release? It made a whole lot more sense when they made the Snowtrooper Sergeant from The Force Awakens an exclusive and the regular a wide release. In this case, however, I was lucky enough to pick up a couple of these from Wally World’s Website and didn’t have to pay scalpers on the wretched hive of scum and villainy known as Ebay. Anyway, I was hoping to get the Squad Leader by now so I could look at the two together, but as luck would have it I’m still hunting him. I’ve got nothing to say about the box, other than these figures are not numbered because they are exclusives.

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Damn, I love the look of these guys! But, I’ll confess I didn’t even realize that this armor shares so much with the Hovertank Pilot until toy blogger extraordinaire, Carnitas Fever, pointed out in the comments. Yeah, I’m pretty terrible at noticing details like that, which is probably why Hasbro can get away with selling me so many repaints. Nonetheless, the torso, arms, legs is the same mold used for the pilots with some variations in paint. It’s movie accurate, and it doesn’t make me enjoy these any less, but it’s still worth pointing out. Not to mention the fact that this was an excellent sculpt to begin with. You still get some nice ribbed textures in the bodysuit, beautiful contours in the chest armor, and some sharp details in the leg armor.

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In terms of sculpting, the biggest differences come in the belt, which is not only completely different, but also features some hip plates, as well as a magazine pouch slung low and off toward the right hip. These are all cool additions that look great, but they do inhibit the hip articulation a bit, which is unfortunate.

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Of course, these troopers also get a completely different helmet. The extra armor on this helmet’s forehead (blast shield?) is similar, but the down-swept cheek plates are a lot more prominent on this guy. The visor and mouth piece are very reminiscent of the Imperial Scout Troopers. I’m not sure how all these differences specializes them to patrol the beaches, but it’s definitely a cool look and let’s be honest, that’s what’s important.

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Like the Hovertank Pilot, the armor here is weathered but much more, and that’s another thing I love about these guys. They look like they’ve been in the thick of battle. There’s mud and grime present and the armor itself is yellowed. It’s a great contrast to the pristine white armor of the regular Stormtroopers. You also get red and yellow paintwork on the right upper arm, almost like an armband, and a white stripe on the left shoulders. I’m guessing these are regimental markings. If I had a copy of the Visual Dictionary, I probably wouldn’t have to guess.

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Because the body is essentially the same as the Hovertank Pilot, the articulation here is identical. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, with swivels in the thighs and double hinges in the knees. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. There’s a swivel in the waist and a ball joint just under the chest. His neck has both a ball joint and a hinge.

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The Scarif Troopers come with their trusty E-11 Blasters. They’re very nice sculpts and they even feature some silver dry brushing to make it look like the finish is worn. My only complaint here is that he doesn’t have a holster or any way to clip it onto his belt or leg.

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I found so much to love in Rogue One, but among my favorite things was getting to see the Imperial Forces in action once again. In fact, I love how the film handled it. They didn’t replace my beloved Stormtroopers, but rather just augmented their forces with some brand new types of soldiers for me to buy action figures of. The Scarif armor is definitely my favorite of all the new Troop armor on display in this flick and after drooling over the design for a while, it was great to finally see them in action on the big screen.

Dec 19 2016

Star Wars Titanium Series (Rogue One): Imperial Cargo Shuttle by Hasbro

I just got back from seeing Rogue One and I really wanted to talk about it. But FFZ is a toy blog and not a movie blog, so I needed a thinly veiled excuse to discuss it. One quick trip to Target on the way home netted me exactly what I was looking for. The Titanium Series Imperial Cargo Shuttle, so let’s talk about this cool little ship and not in any way use this Feature as a means to interject some random thoughts about the movie!

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The ship comes in a little window box that closely matches the packaging used for the Star Wars Black 6-inch series and includes some schematic-style line drawings of the ship. The side panel also denotes that this is #31 in the series…. holy crap, there have been 31 of these ships released??? The packaging is collector friendly and fairly attractive, although mine looks like it was beat to hell in the stockroom or kicked around the floor by kids. Honestly, I think going with a window box for these feels a little pretentious on Hasbro’s parts and I prefer the cards and bubbles that Mattel uses for their Hot Wheels ships.

So, how about that Rogue One, eh? I had mixed expectations going in. On the one hand the trailers have gotten me pumped more and more with each new glimpse. On the other hand, I’ve read some tempered reactions to it. Some people were saying it was too dry and didn’t feel like Star Wars. Now, I will freely admit that it lacked a little of the heart and soul of The Force Awakens, but I didn’t find it dry at all, and indeed I felt it to be extremely Star Wars-y. In fact, I thought it felt more like Star Wars to me than anything we’ve had since The Original Trilogy. I loved The Force Awakens, but in tone that movie felt more like Return of the Jedi. It tackled some heavy themes, had some dire scenes, but it was also rather jokey and lighthearted at times. But that was appropriate, since it was a sequel to ROTJ.

Rogue One felt more like A New Hope to me, which is good seeing as how it leads directly up to that film. It had that grittier feel and everything from the sets and the ships and the tech all looked seamless to me. It delivered some amazing battles between the Rebellion and the Empire, which, Battle of Hoth not withstanding, is something that I’ve always wanted to see more of in a series called Star Wars. It was great to see the Imperial Forces in action and there was a lovely variety to the engagements. It also felt pretty damn epic, spanning a lot more locations than I had expected. What’s that? Oh, right… the toy review!

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Imperial Cargo Shuttle SW-0608 is arguably one of the most important ships in the Star Wars universe, as it’s used to ferry the team of Rebel commandos to steal the plans for the infamous Death Star. It’s got some similarities to the Imperial Lambda Class Shuttle design, with the hull elongated, the main dorsal fin removed, and an extra set of articulated wings.

One of the coolest things about Rogue One was that it answers that age old gripe about why the hell the Death Star would have such a stupid design flaw. Alas, I can’t talk about that any more without going into spoiler territory. As much as I was anticipating this movie, I thought the story itself would be the least interesting thing about it, but there were some genuinely cool little twists and turns that kept me interested, even though I had an idea in my head about how it would play out and naturally what the outcome would be. Whoops… back to the review…

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As some of you may know, I’ve been going with Mattel’s Hot Wheels line for my tiny Star Wars ships, so this is my first foray into Hasbro’s Titaniums, or at least since the line came back. At heart this feels a lot like the Hot Wheels line. The hull is made of die-cast metal and the wings are plastic. There’s a decent amount of detail to the sculpt, mostly in the form of panel lines. You get some different shades of gray to the paneling and there’s a little weathering as well.

I’ve read a couple reviews that accused the Rogue One of not having memorable characters. I’d take issue with that. None of these characters had the same instant appeal to me as Rey, Finn or my man-crush Poe, but I did find that the movie did a fine job of fleshing out a fair number of them. I really liked Director Krennic. He was a lot more developed than I expected him to be. I thought Jyn and her father were well done also. On the flip side, I would have liked to know a little more about Cassian Andor. I liked him a lot, but I felt they could have explored his backstory a bit more. Let’s check back in on the review…

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The wings on the shuttle are articulated. I’ve come to expect that from the Hot Wheels line as well, but here, Hasbro goes that little extra inch and gives the ship a couple more bells and whistles. You get an opening boarding ramp under the cockpit and four teeny tiny sets of landing gear. I actually had to dig each one out with a razor blade because they’re so damn tiny. Impressive!

Some of the more deliberate call backs to the other movies felt forced. The person Jyn bumped into on Jedha was potentially cringe-worthy, but in the end, I found them to be fun and didn’t mind them. In fact, the only thing that put me off a little was how different Vader sounded. That really took me out of those scenes. I appreciate that Jones is a lot older now, but I’m pretty sure I’ve heard him portrayed by other actors in games where he sounded more like Vader than he did here. Considering some of the digital lengths they went to bring back other characters, it seems like they could have cleaned up Vader’s voice a bit and had it sound more like it used to. 

Very minor gripes aside, I came out of Rogue One pretty pumped to see it again. I thought it was a great and unexpectedly epic piece of work. It was definitely a different direction from the regular Saga, but at the same time it felt like pure, distilled and concentrated Star Wars to me and I loved it for that. Where The Force Awakens felt very small and compact, this one was a far more expansive trip through the Star Wars Universe. I can see myself going back a few times before it leaves the theaters and this is one movie that I already can’t wait to own on Blu-Ray.

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As for my little Imperial Shuttle… It may not be the most exciting ship design around. In fact, it really does feel like a computer model that was kit-bashed for an Expanded Universe video game. But, after seeing the movie, I found that I really wanted a representation of this intrepid little ship in my collection and this seemed to be the only way to go. I’m somewhat impressed with my first Titanium purchase and I might even pick up a few more of these to compare them with my growing Hot Wheels fleet. At the very least, I’m happy to see that the two lines go fairly well together.

Dec 13 2016

Star Wars Black (The Force Awakens): C-3PO by Hasbro

So far, I’ve been OK with the bizarre relationship that Hasbro and Walgreens have forged over exclusives. In fact, most of them have been figures that I could live without so I haven’t really been hunting many of them. The one exception would be Marvel Legends Namor, and I was able to get him off the website easy-peasy. But now all bets are off. Because Original Trilogy C-3PO is a Walgreens Exclusive while the red-armed version from The Force Awakens is the wide release. And the very fact that I’m taking a look at TFA 3PO today means that I’m still hunting the exclusive one and stuck with the consolation prize. Not cool, Hasbro. Not cool.

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3PO comes in what is now the standard Black Series window box, with the figure’s number (in this case #29) on the side panel. These packages aren’t branded specifically to any movie, but this version is called “Resistance Base” 3PO and the blurb on the back calls out his continued service to General Leia. All that and… oh, yeah the red arm is all you get to designate that he’s from Episode 7. I have to say, I was pretty impressed with this figure just seeing him in the box, so I’m anxious to get him out and see if that impression holds.

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The first thing I have to say is that I really dig the gold finish on him. 3PO’s coloring is hard to get right. Do you go clean? Do you go dirty? Do you vac-metal him? Here we have a relatively clean finish, but somewhere between matte and reflective gold. It’s kind of a satin look. I think he was a lot more shiny in TFA, but even with that having been said, I really like the gold paint Hasbro used here. It looks rich and metallic and it’s just beautiful. And best of all, you don’t have to worry about him chipping or scratching. Indeed, the coloring here reminds me a lot of the paint my dad and I used when we built the MPC 3PO model kit when I was a wee lad.

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The sculpt and proportions on this droid look really good as well. I’m sure fanatics who have scrutinized the costumes can point out all the differences, but he hits nearly all the right points for me. If I had one complaint in the sculpt and paint department, it would be the left arm. The sculpt looks a little softer, and I suspect that’s due to the different type of plastic used and the fact that it’s unpainted. I think it also looks a lot more obvious that the left arm is static with no elbow joint and it looks a little weird, but I’ll come back to my outrage over the articulation in a bit.

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As a quick interlude… I should stress here that the red arm in TFA didn’t bother me like it did some. It did seem like a long way to go for a quick one-off joke (although I’ll confess that scene did make me laugh), but 3PO wasn’t a major player in the film so I didn’t really care. It makes sense that people would swap out damaged parts on their droids all the time and those parts wouldn’t always match. It’s like seeing a red Camaro drive by with a black bumper waiting to be painted. And, yes I know that Marvel explained the arm in one of their comics. Anyway, I’m certainly not opposed to having a TFA accurate version of 3PO, but not at the cost of being able to easily find the regular one.

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Like the coloring, 3PO’s head is also something that can be tricky to get right. Here, I think they did an admirable job. There are still certain angles where it looks better than others, but all in all I’m quite pleased with it. I especially like how they painted the tiny starbursts in the eyes to replicate the lights on the costume. I do wish they had blackened out the inside of his “mouth,” but that’s something that I can do fairly easy with a marker.

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3PO’s exposed midriff, for lack of a better term, looks pretty good as well. The underlying covering is sculpted with a ribbed pattern and the wires are all sculpted and painted as well. The paint could be a little neater in some areas, but it works for me.

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Alas, the articulation is this figure’s biggest downfall and that’s mainly because he’s completely missing elbow joints. I didn’t know that going in and I could hardly believe it when I got him out of the box. I mean, I was legitimately flummoxed. I’m sure there are all sorts of reasons why Hasbro didn’t do it. Maybe the joints would look weird. Most likely, it was too hard to make it work with the pistons at this scale. But you know what? Hasbro released a 3 3/4-inch 3PO back in 2010 that had elbow joints so why not here? Granted, that one didn’t have the pistons at all, but frankly I would have rather had the articulation. Besides, NECA managed to put working pistons on the legs of their RoboCop figure and he wasn’t much larger than 3PO. All I’m saying is that I was really shocked at the lack of articulation in 3PO’s arms, but the more I played with the figure, the less it bothered me.

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So what did we get? The shoulders are ball jointed, and the shoulder cups are separate pieces, which swivel at the shoulder and that’s pretty cool. The wrists are on rotating hinges. The legs feature ball joints at the hips, swivels in the thighs, which are concealed under the plates, and hinges in the knees. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. Yes… we got a 3PO with no elbows but lateral rockers in the ankles. That makes sense! There’s a ball joint inside the chest and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed.

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Having had an R2-D2 since the very first wave of the Black Series, it was really odd to have to wait more than 28 figures later to get 3PO. I’m very glad to finally have him, even if it means I’m still searching for the regular version. Yes, the lack of elbow joints is not ideal, especially on a modern collector figure. It’s something that will always stick in my craw when looking at this figure. On the bright side, everything else here is pretty well done and overall I’m still surprisingly satisfied with him. And hey, we can all thank god that Hasbro didn’t decide to give him removable plates as an homage to Episode 1 3PO like they did on the Vintage Collection version.

Dec 6 2016

Star Wars Rebels: Sabine Wren, The Fifth Brother, and Kanan Jarrus in Stormtrooper Disguise by Hasbro

When I looked at the first wave of Rogue One 3 3/4-inch figures, I excluded the ones that were not part of that movie. Well, today I’m going to swing back and take a look at Sabine and Kanan from that wave as well as The Fifth Brother from a previous The Force Awakens wave. This is going to run surprisingly long, so I’m just going to jump right in!

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God, look how gorgeous and colorful these packages are! What? Only two? Yeah… sometime last week I was drunk and impatient (imagine that!) and I opened Kanan without shooting the package first. But as the great Meatloaf once sang, two out of three ain’t bad, so at least I can showcase Sabine and The Fifth Brother carded. The configuration of the cards and bubble are almost identical between TFA and Rogue One. The artwork features Kylo Ren in the older TFA wave and a Death Trooper in the newer Rogue One wave. Both cards have some kick ass character art and every time I see these figures on the pegs, I’m tempted to get doubles to hang on my wall. Fortunately, I’ve resisted so far. Let’s start with the older release and work our way up.

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As a character, I can’t say I’m a big fan of The Fifth Brother in the TV series, but I’ve been going all in on the Rebels figures, so I had to buy him. Besides, I do like the designs of the Imperial Inquisitors and this figure does a good job of bringing that design and animated style to action figure form. His uniform hits a lot of the same points as the original Inquisitor’s, but it’s still a complete re-design. I really dig the shoulder armor with the Imperial insignia, along with the carved deco on his abdomen. The paint here is excellent. It’s sharp, clean, and the silver really makes the figure pop. If I had to nitpick something here, it’s that the head sculpt is a little on the soft side, but it still works for me.

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The Fifth Brother is a fairly bulky figure too, at least compared to most of the other Rebels characters. It’s possible he’s a little undersized, as he’s only a bit taller than the original Inquisitor. But then I’m used to seeing him beside The Seventh Sister, who is notably shorter, so who knows… this scale could be correct. Either way, he’s a great looking figure and I’m glad I bought him.

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I expected the light saber to be a straight repack from the original Inquisitor’s, but I was pleased to find that it’s an entirely new sculpt and has some very nice paint work on the hilt too!

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Since this guy was released back in The Force Awakens series, he includes one of three build-a-weapon pieces. As a stand alone accessory it looks like some kind of claw gun thing. Yup, that’s what a claw gun thing looks like. It’s designed to combine with the pieces that came with Tasu Leech and Admiral Ackbar. I’ll get around to looking at Tasu eventually. I plan on blitzing a bunch of The Force Awakens figures I still haven’t featured here. Akbar, on the other hand, is crazy hard to find and rather expensive now, so I don’t know that I’ll ever get the chance to add him to my collection. Moving on to Kanan…

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This could have been an easy kit-bash of the older Kanan figure’s head on an older Rebels Stormtrooper’s body, but Hasbro went the extra mile and gave us an entirely new sculpt! He’s notably taller than the Stormtrooper Officer that came packed with Hera a while back. The pauldron is also smaller and there are a few minor differences in the armor details.

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The new head sculpt is excellent. I’ve seen a lot of comments about how much better it is than the regular Kanan figure. I think it’s more a matter of taste. I actually like them both well enough. The removable helmet fits over the head really well and thankfully, you can’t see his pony tail sticking out the back, although that would be pretty funny if it did. Also, you can pop the head off and remove the pauldron if you want Kanan disguised as just a regular Stormtrooper. And no, you cannot swap heads with the original Kanan figure.

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Kanan comes with both his lightsaber and an E11 Blaster.

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Oh yeah, he also comes with this abomination. It’s a gun that shoots a giant blue wheel. Yeah, I got nothing. I was no fan of the build-a-weapon nonsense, but I think some of those were actually better than these gimmicky weapons. Moving on, I’ve saved the best for last…

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A new and updated version of Sabine Wren, this figure is absolutely amazing on so many levels. For starters, it represents her most recent look on the show with the brand new stylized armor and a removable helmet. The sculpt and coloring on this figure are both so sharp that she almost feels like she belongs to a whole different series of figures. Even the tiniest painted flourishes on her armor are all so crisp and clear and you get a beautiful gradient to her hair color in the back. Just gorgeous!

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The helmet is a little over-sized, but that can’t really be helped in a figure in this scale. I’d rather they go a little bigger on the helmet than give her a pin head. Besides, I’ll likely be displaying this figure with the helmet off most of the time, because the portrait is fantastic. Her left arm is even pre-posed so she can hold the helmet tucked into her elbow. Sabine also features her twin pistols and working holsters for them.

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Even Sabine’s gimmicky accessory isn’t that bad. It’s basically a zip-line that she can wear on her right. It’s a tad big for her, but it works a lot better with larger figures like Kanan. If I had this accessory when I was a kid, I’d be playing with it all the time! In fact, my GI Joe and Star Wars figures would all be fighting over it.

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Obviously, I’m a big fan of the Rebels 3 3/4-inch figures. I think the 5-POA style works perfectly with the stylized sculpts and collecting these brings me back to the tail end of Kenner Star Wars when we were getting Droids and Ewoks figures. I’d still argue that Hasbro is missing a huge opportunity by not giving the series a committed line of its own and really pumping out the characters, but at least we’re still getting some figures trickling in from the series. I’d say these three are definitely among the best Rebels figures we’ve had and I hope Hasbro continues to slip a few in every couple of waves. In the meantime, I’m still hunting for the Third Sister Vs Darth Maul two-pack, not to mention a few of the older figures.