The last three features have been all about expensive stuff, so I thought it’d be a nice change of pace to go dumpster-diving in the pegs again where all the “common” toys live. Plus, it’s been a little while since I revisited Hasbro’s 3 3/4” Star Wars Black line, so let’s remedy that today! I’m actually doubling up on today’s feature because figures #21 and #22 are designed to go together. Here we’ve got Luke and Yoda from the Jedi training scenes on Dagobah. I think it’s pretty cool that Hasbro has tied these two figures together and released them in the same wave. It reminds me a bit of when they released the four Dagobah themed figures in the Original Trilogy Collection with matching bases and everything. Wow, that takes me back! Anyway, this line has been a total crapshoot of highs and lows, so let’s take a look at this pair and see where they land…

The next wave will feature a redesigned card, so I can see the light at the end of the tunnel where I’ll never have to look at these dreadful packages again. As one would probably expect, there’s quite a big disparity between what’s in the bubbles here. Besides being a normal sized figure, Luke has all sorts of extras packed in with him. Yoda on the other hand… well, even with the backpack and a couple of other accessories he seems really small in that big bubble. It’s a good example of how things often cost out across a wave of figures like this. You get a little more with Luke and a little less with Yoda, but if you’re buying both it all evens out in the end. Or at least that’s the idea. I’m going to start with Yoda because there’s not much to talk about so I might as well just to get him out of the way…

Based on Hasbro’s original pictures I had no interest in this figure at all. The promo pics looked absolutely terrible. However, when I finally saw him swinging on a peg in a store I thought he looked so much better in person. Now that I finally have him in hand I think he’s decidedly mediocre. The head sculpt is actually not too bad, although I think they gave him way too much hair. It looks like someone shaving creamed the back of his head.

The little softgoods robe is OK for what it is. It’s hard enough to do good looking softgoods clothes on regular 3 3/4” figures and Yoda is so tiny I’m not going to pick apart Hasbro’s effort on the robe. It even has a tiny belt to hold it together. I haven’t taken it off of him, but it feels like Yoda is just sporting a straight up five points of articulation. Again, for a figure this size, I’m not going to quibble.

Yoda comes with his tiny cane, which he can sort of hold in one hand, and he comes with a necklace thing, which doesn’t look very film accurate on him, but maybe I’m misremembering. He also comes with the backpack for Luke, which we’ll get to in a bit. Also, where the hell is his pet snake??? I WANT HIS SNAKE!!! Alright, enough about Yoda, let’s move on and talk about Luke and…

OMG, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH HIS ARMS??? Yeah, Luke’s got some tragic arms, but as the old saying goes, the road to tragic arms is paved with good intentions… or something like that. That’s certainly the case here. Hasbro wanted to give us a Luke figure with super poseable, double-hinged elbows and even swappable hands. The result is this set of crazy arms. It’s not just me is it? They do look nuts, don’t they? Well, not only do they look really weird to me, but the left arm on my figure keeps popping out at the bicep swivel. They’re also loose as all hell. This wasn’t necessary, Hasbro. It’s an experiment that went horribly wrong.

It’s really tough to overlook those arms, but pretending we can for a moment, the rest of the figure isn’t too bad. I think the head sculpt is competent, but he’s definitely not dirty enough. He’s got some green smudge on his shirt, but he should be dirtied up more to accurately replicate the scene in the film. It’s also awkward that Luke has so much great articulation in his arms, but the ball joints in his knees allow for so little movement. He can’t even kneel down on one knee. And look at those crazy hip joints with the flesh tone hinges showing through his pants. C’mon, Hasbro… you’re not even trying anymore.

Luke comes with a removable gun belt with a holster that can fit his blaster. Check out how unbelieveably large his blaster is. It’s ridiculous. He also comes with a lightsaber hilt and a lit lightsaber. The weird thing about that is the hilt is pegged, but there’s nowhere to peg it onto the figure. He does have this weird thing on his belt that looks like it’s supposed to hold something, but it doesn’t, so… FAIL! His extra hands are flat out and are useful if you want to have him trying to lift his X-Wing or move some rocks around with The Force.

I was hoping there would be some payoff when putting the two figures together, but that’s just not the case. The softgoods backpack is too big and it looks downright awkward on Luke. That belt buckle is freaking huge! It looks like he’s gearing up to jump out of a plane. Remember those Original Trilogy Collection Dagobah figures I mentioned? Well, they did the whole Yoda backpack thing a lot better than this. In fact, let’s do a quick comparison.

The headsculpt has improved a bit, but I like the mud smeared all over the OTC Luke. I also think the backpack looks much better on the older figures. Of course, it’s worth mentioning that you pull apart and plug his top half into it so it is a cheat.

As for the Yodas. Man, that OTC Yoda creeps me the f’ck out! I don’t know what it is about it’s head, but I don’t want to look at it anymore. I think I’ll bury him in the back yard. I do like the articulation on the older figure better. The ball joints in the shoulders and swivels in the elbows are pretty cool, even if there is no articulation from the waist down.

So, this pair was on clearance for five bucks each at an online retailer where I was buying some other figures and I tossed them into the cart. The Yoda is passable, I suppose, if only because I don’t have many versions of him and the softgoods robe tugs on the nostalgia I have for the vintage Kenner Yoda. But even still, I can’t recommend either of these on any meaningful level. In the end they’re just another example of what a wildly inconsistent line this has been. I don’t think I’ve been this disappointed with Star Wars figures since the days of that pre-posed “Attack of the Clones” garbage.

I can’t believe I’m back to doing a Star Wars feature a week, but for good or for ill it certainly seems like something I’m collecting again. Last week I checked out the excellent Snowtrooper Commander and today I’m going to keep the Hoth snowball rolling with a look at Toryn Farr, th communications officer at Echo Base. It’s unbelievable but true, Toryn is proof that there are still characters out there that have yet to get the action figure treatment. It’s nice to see Toryn finally honored with a figure, but at this point if you’re a Star Wars character and your first figure is being released after Bespin Ice Cream Maker Guy, you should probably take it as a slap in the face.

There’s the packaging. I still think it’s crap. I think the next wave is the one scheduled for a redesign in which we get a diecut card in the form of a Tie Fighter Pilot. I’ve got some things to say about that, but I’ll wait until the packaging comes across my desk first. Anyway, Toryn looks a bit lost in that big bubble and since her two accessories are black, I can barely make them out. But, screw this whole package design, let’s get her out of there…

I expected Toryn to be a quick and dirty recycle of the Hoth Princess Leia that we got a little while ago in the Vintage Collection line and I was partially right. The body is lifted directly from that Leia and given a slightly darker wash. Oddly enough the hands are both new and the jacket, while very similar in the pattern has a higher collar and a different rank insignia thingy on the left of the chest. I’m not going to pop in the movie and check to see how similar the two outfits were on screen, so just off the cuff let me say that I don’t have a problem with the reuse here. It makes sense that they would both be wearing some kind of standard issue fatigues and the fact that Hasbro bothered to make her a new vest is good enough for me. The new head sculpt is pretty good, especially considering Hasbro’s track record with the ladies. Toryn is sporting some rather intense cheekbones but all in all I think it’s a pretty attractive portrait and a fairly good likeness.

Since the body is shared with VC Hoth Leia, Toryn features the same mixed bag of old and new articulation. You get ball joints in the shoulders, elbows, knees, and neck. That’s all good, but then we scale back with a simple swivel waist and the old T-crotch for the hips. The complete lack of any articulation in the ankles is curious, but considering the character, I don’t know that it’s a critical omission.

Toryn comes with two accessories, a rebel blaster and a set of headphones. I lost the blaster that came with my Hoth Leia so chances are Toryn’s weapon is going to her. I’m cool with Toryn just sitting around taking calls on her headset. “Hi, you’ve reached Echo Base. We’re under Imperial attack right now and cannot take your call. Please leave a message after the beep.” Not to belittle her job, she did give the firing order to disable a Command Star Destroyer. That’s pretty badass!

I like this figure a lot and I think it’s plenty cool that Hasbro is still finding characters to produce. I can’t say as I’ve sat around pining for the day that Toryn Farr joined my collection, but then every additional Hoth figure I pick up gets me just a little more motivated to go out to Michaels, get a crap ton of styrofoam, and build an Echo Base playset. I’m also always happy to see another female character get the action figure treatment, particularly when they’re just in a supporting role.

Now that I’m all caught up on the Black 6-inch line, I can start picking away at some more of the 3 3/4” figures waiting to be opened. This time it’s the newly released Snowtrooper Commander and I had a lot of trepidation over buying this one. The Stormtrooper and Biker Scouts that Hasbro released in this line were not all that great and so when this guy turned up at HasbroToyShop, I was hesitant to order a full squad without having him in hand first. I wound up ordering a couple along with some other figures and hoped for the best. Well, those hopes paid off because this is a really fantastic figure! Let’s check him out…

At some point in the near future, Hasbro will be re-branding the packaging on this 3 3/4” line. I don’t know that it will be much better, but I doubt it could be worse. The only good thing I have to say is that the white Snowtrooper stands out nicely against that hideous black card. Also, it’s worth noting that this is a Snowtrooper Commander! It’s been a long time since Star Wars was my number one nerd attraction, so I have no idea what the differences would be between a Commander and a regular old Snowtrooper who is likely to get shot in the face or torn apart by Wampas while storming Echo Base. That having been said, I’ll just be considering these guys my run-of-the-mill cannon fodder variety Snowtrooper.

And here he is out of the package and ready for action. I gotta say, I love this figure! I don’t know how much of this fella is new and how much is recycled. The only other recent Snowtrooper I own in this scale is from the VOTC line and that one is still carded and packed away in a storage tote. I’m pretty sure the pistol holster on his kama is new, and maybe that’s supposed to be one of the things that sets him apart as a Commander. Star Wars collectors feel free to weigh in and tell me how ignorant I am!

The sculpting on this figure is fantastic and it really drives home why I love this design so much. It goes beyond my general love of all things Hoth. I think it’s the hood that just makes these guys all the more creepy and sinister looking than your regular Stormtroopers. Also, and I’m not sure there’s any film evidence to back this up, but I always got the impression that these guys were just better in combat than the Stormies from warmer climes. The chest armor is part of the figure buck, but it’s executed well enough that I could have believed it was layered onto the figure. The shoulders are also designed so that the hinges don’t muck up the aesthetics of the armor like it did with the Stormtrooper and Biker Scout. Everything about this figure shows care and forethought and, at the same time, beautifully showcases all the bad decisions Hasbro made with those other two figures.

There’s obviously not a lot of paintwork here, but what there is of it is crisp and clean and so much better than the hack job they did on the recent Stormtrooper release. Look at his backpack and you’ll see two tiny hits of gold paint… there’s no other gold anywhere else on the figure. They busted out that color exclusively for those two little bits. That’s so cool!

The articulation here is pretty solid with my one gripe being the continued use of that pesky T-crotch, which in this case is less of an issue because the plastic kama inhibits the leg articulation quite a bit. Otherwise, it’s all good. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and elbows and swivels in the wrists. You also get rotating hinges in the knees and ankles, a ball joint in the lower torso and again in the neck.

Snowy Commander comes with two weapons. First you get a little pistol, which looks a bit too much like Han’s blaster for my liking, but who am I to scoff at an extra pistol, eh? It also fits snugly into the holster. The other weapon is the newer version of the E-11 Blaster that includes the folding stock. It still impresses me that Hasbro was able to do that on such a small scaled weapon. Sure, it tends to fall apart at the hinges, but I’m impressed nonetheless.

And so the 3 3/4” Black line continues to be a total grab bag of wonderful surprises mixed with crap. Buying this line is like reaching blindly into your bag of Halloween candy and hoping to pull out an Almond Joy and not a handfull of razor blades. This figure is every bit as polished as the Stormtrooper and Biker Scout were sloppy and shameful. As you can see, I quickly picked up a couple more and I’m hoping that a simple squad of four will be enough to satisfy me. But if I ever see another one of these guys hanging on a peg in the wild, I doubt I’ll be able to walk by without tossing him in my cart. And if Hasbro can upscale this guy and give him a softgoods kama and a few more tweaks, I’ll be really happy to get him in the 6-inch scale too!