Tag Archives: star wars

Dec 9 2017

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dec 9 2017

Star Wars “The Force Awakens:” First Order Snowspeeder by Hasbro

What? Did you think it 5-POAPALOOSA was going to be all figures? Nope. If it’s 3 3/4-inch scale and I haven’t reviewed it, then it’s fair game for this weekend. And right now I’m about to open up the First Order Snowspeeder from The Force Awakens! A couple of these speeders were used in a chase sequence on the surface of Starkiller Base, which was never finished and cut from the film. It was, however, included as bonus content on the Blu-Ray release. I gotta be honest, I wasn’t terribly interested in the toy because it wasn’t featured in the actual the film. But when it was re-issued and clearanced for dirt cheap, I couldn’t resist.

The Snowspeeder comes in a fairly large box with some bitchin artwork of it in action and manned by a pair of First Order Snowtroopers. There’s also a window that shows the First Order Snowtrooper Officer that’s included inside. Note that the top strip of this re-issue box is branded for Rogue One and it simply says Star Wars. Inside the box, you get the vehicle, the figure, a bag of parts, and a folded instruction sheet. Assembly is very simple. You just snap in the tops of the seats and the two railings, peg the cannon onto the stand and place it in the vehicle. But before I get to the vehicle, let’s take a quick look at the figure.

As expected, the Snowtrooper Officer shares the exact same sculpt as the regular Snowtrooper, however, there are a few paint variations, mostly confined to his chest armor. The biggest difference here is his orange pauldron, which can be removed by popping off the head, if you’d rather have a regular rank-and-file trooper. He also comes with the same backpack and rifle as his squad-mates. This is a great looking figure, I really dig how glossy the helmets are, and I’m certainly happy to add him to my ranks. Moving on to the Snowspeeder…

Let me start out by saying that I think the design of this thing is very utilitarian and really lacks the iconic charm of the more familiar and fan favorite Star Wars vehicles. I don’t dislike it, but it’s not something that’s going to stick in my imagination like the Snowspeeders from The Empire Strikes Back. I just don’t feel like they poured a lot of love into the design. At the same time, the function over form here makes it look like a pretty credible and realistic vehicle. There’s a lot to like about what Hasbro did with it, but also some things that could have maybe been done better.

The overall sculpt is quite nice and there’s a good amount of detail on display. From the panel lines on the body, and the texturing on the seat cushions, to the molded supply containers stowed in the front of the cabin, there’s a lot of neat stuff to look at here. There’s grating on the floor panels, little hatches and rivets, and front and back of the engines look good.

What works against it is the feel of the plastic and the lack of paint. I don’t think the quality is poor here, it’s a pretty rugged little toy, but the Speeder has a light and insubstantial feel to it, as it basically just a hollow shell. The only moving part on the Speeder is the fold down landing gear, and while I’m not a big fan of play gimmicks, this thing really needed a couple more features. There’s a panel on the back that looks like it was meant to open at one time, but it doesn’t. That would have been neat to be able to store guns and backpacks back there.

I’m not usually a fan of this swirly gray plastic, but it works OK for this craft. Most of the coloring variations on the toy are subtle and achieved by using different colored plastic. The supply containers are teal, the seats are molded in a pale blue, the railings are cast in a paler gray, and some of the components of the hull are cast in a more coppery color. As for actual paint hits, there’s just a little bit of silver and black here and there. I’m not so sure that this is an instance of Hasbro being cheap, but maybe the design just not warranting it. Still, I would have liked some dry brush weathering, insignia, registry numbers, or anything to help it along.

The Snowspeeder is designed to carry two figures, one in the driver seat and one in the passenger seat, and I think it’s scaled very well. Hasbro has a habit of shrinking down vehicles, but in this case, I think they did good. Technically, the figures will sit OK with their backpacks still on, but it works much better if you take them off. One word of caution: There’s a hollow space under the steering column for the driver’s feet. Try not to loose any guns in there, because getting them out again can be a real bitch!

Of course, the passenger can also man the cannon. There’s a peg to hold him in place, but if you clip his hands onto the cannon handles, he should stay put pretty well. The cannon mounts by tucking the base into a slot. It stays in there pretty good, but the post can disconnect from it fairly easily. Of course, the cannon also features a firing missile. And if you want to set up a ground defense, you can remove the cannon and stand from the vehicle and set it up on the ground.

I like this vehicle, but I don’t love it. It’s kind of fun in a very simple way, and it looks great when it’s decked out with a couple of Snow-Stormies. At the same time, it feels kind of rushed and unfinished, or maybe like a Playmates vehicle from a franchise far less prominent than Star Wars. Keep in mind, I picked up the Snowspeeder for eight bucks and at that price it was worth the figure alone. But the original MSRP of this thing was $30. THIRTY DOLLARS!?! That feels outrageous to me for what you’re getting and if I had paid that I would have been pretty pissed off.

Dec 9 2017

Star Wars “The Last Jedi:” Luke Skywalker, Jedi Training Rey, C-3PO, General Hux, and Kylo Ren by Hasbro

Star Wars 3 3/4-inch Weekend is cruises onward. This is the third installment of what I’ve decided to call 5-POA’PALOOZA, I’m on my second pot of coffee and feeling one with The Force and maybe a little jittery from all the caffeine. Tired of Rogue One stuff? Ok, we’ll take a breather. For now, let’s fast forward to five more figures in the initial assortment from The Last Jedi.

As will be the case for a few of these 5-POAPALOOSA Reviews, I opened these figures a while ago, so I cribbed these official packaged shots from Amazon, which is only fair because that’s where I bought them. I’m also pretty sure I’ve paid for at least one of their warehouses, so it’s about time they paid me back a little. Anyway, I really dig this package design. It’s white and clean and some of the character art is wonderful. Look at that picture of 3P0! I think that’s borrowed from some vintage art, because I remember obsessing over a very similar piece of art when I was young. Also, I finally had some time to play around with that Force Link thing, which they were demoing at Target a few weekends back. Can’t say I’ll be buying one anytime soon. And with that ringing endorsement… Let’s start with Luke Skywalker!

It was both cool and frustrating, how difficult it was for me to find this figure on the pegs. Cool because I love that the figure is so popular, frustrating because he shouldn’t be that hard for kids to find. I eventually gave up and bought him online with the rest of these. This is a very simple figure of Luke as we saw him at the end of The Force Awakens. He’s in his light colored robes and cloak and I think it’s just fabulous. The head sculpt and paint are particularly solid, I love that they added gray to his beard with some halftone printing. There’s even some detail in his tiny mechanical right hand.

The plastic cloak fits the figure quite well by just resting on the shoulders. It comes off easily to reveal all the little details sculpted into Luke’s outfit. Again, for a simple outfit, they did some nice texturing to the fabric and some different shadings. The belt has a silver buckle, a sculpted pouch, and a tiny hook for the lightsaber hilt that he does not come with! In fact, the only thing he comes with is his robe. I’ve got nothing else to say, except I love him! Next up… Rey!

Rey sports her somewhat new-looking costume. Actually it strikes me as mostly the same as her Jakku costume, only gray instead of tan. I’m glad I didn’t pop for the Hot Toys figure of her outfit from the end of The Force Awakens, because it doesn’t look like she’ll be wearing it much. I do, however, have the 3 3/4-inch version and maybe we’ll see that before this weekend is over. Anyway… The sculpt here is very well done, with a number of different textures and details on display. The paint on her costume could have been a little tighter in some places, but it’s not bad. I do think the likeness is a big improvement over that initial release of Rey from The Force Awakens. I realize that’s a back-handed compliment, but I don’t think this one is too bad. Unlike Luke, some of Rey’s costume is cast in softer plastic and layered onto the figure itself and some of her hip articulation is hindered by that. But then if you’re after good articulation, these figures aren’t for you, anyway.

Also unlike Luke, who came with bupkis, Rey comes with three accessories: Her staff, her pistol, and Luke’s lightsaber. The pistol fits into the holster on her right hip, and I can’t show it to you because I lost it, goddammit! In my defense, it was very small and I recall being pretty drunk when I opened these. Then again, I think I may have lost the same gun for each of my 3 3/4-inch Rey figures. The staff is similar to what we’ve seen before, with a plastic shoulder strap. It is a new sculpt, but I’m guessing it’s supposed to be the same staff.

The lightsaber has some nice detail in the hilt, and it does have a ring, so theoretically you could hang it on Luke’s belt, but the blade is not removable, so in practice you can’t. All in all, I think this version of Rey is decent, but probably not the star of this show. This version of Rey was also released as a two-pack with the Praetorian Guard. Will we be seeing those this weekend? Maybe! Next up… Goldenrod!

I actually never picked up the 5-POA C-3PO from The Force Awakens, so this is my first figure of him in this scale in quite a while. I’m not sure if this is that same mold or not, but I will say it’s a fantastic little sculpt, the proportions are great, no details are missed, and the coloring is superb. Even the paintwork on the wires in his exposed midsection is super clean and precise. It’s nice to see he got his gold arm back. Or did he have that at the end of The Force Awakens? I think he did. It must be time to watch that one again!

Another nice bonus is that articulation isn’t as important with 3PO because he isn’t all that agile in the films. I barely even miss it here. I honestly didn’t expect to be this blown away by a 5-POA 3P0 figure, but if you’re in the market for one, this is a great one to get. I actually like it loads better than the allegedly premium Vintage Collection release, and I’ll just go ahead and say that it’s my favorite version of Goldenrod in this scale. Moving on to the bad guys, cue the Imperial March… here comes General Hux!

The Hux figure from The Force Awakens was pretty good, but this one is better! The most obvious difference is that he’s not wearing his officer’s cap and the likeness is far superior. This is a damn fine head sculpt for this scale. He’s wearing the same uniform with black trench coat, but this time Hasbro took a different approach with it, but sculpting the coat out of soft plastic and sculpting sleeves on the arms. This is the method they used for the 6-inch Black Series figure and it looks fantastic on this little guy. On the downside, you probably won’t be able to get him seated in any vehicles, because of the coat.

Hux comes with a blaster pistol, but sadly no holster to store it in. That was a gripe I had with TFA version too. Where does he keep that thing when he’s making those spittle-spewing speeches? He also comes with a mouse droid. I’m sure this guy is recycled, but I’m not sure if I own the previous release or not, so I’m happy to have this one. OK, that’s four figures down and one to go. Let’s wrap it up with a look at the biggest asshole in Star Wars history…

Kylo Ren is back and apparently now that he’s murdered his loving father in cold blood, he doesn’t have to hide behind a mask any more! His outfit has changed a little. He’s traded in his longer black robes for something more like a tunic. It has the same overall texture as the original Kylo figure, and the same sculpted belt. In addition to losing his mask, he’s done away with his hood and now has a cape that he wears on his shoulders and it’s easy to take off for when he needs to throw down. The cape looks great from the front, but it gives him a hunchback look from the back. I think the likeness here is pretty good for this scale. They did a nice job accentuating his scar, although it doesn’t have the creepy metal mesh, it’s just a red line. Still, neat though.

In addition to his cape, Kylo comes with his wicked and now very iconic lightsaber. He can hold it in either hand. Before I wrap this up, let’s take a look at the new versions of three of these figures with their counterparts from The Force Awakens.

Like I said earlier, Rey’s likeness on TLJ figure may not be a masterpiece, but she’s a huge improvement over the first TFA release. I think the Hux is a huge improvement from head to toe. Both Kylo Ren figures are pretty solid, but I’m surprised at how bad ass he looks without the helmet. I’m going to enjoy that in The Last Jedi.

The last time I visited with The Last Jedi 3 3/4-inch line I was notably impressed, and that impression remains with these figures. I guess I can understand collectors dismissing these out of hand because of the limited articulation, but these are all very solid sculpts and great looking figures. 5-POA or not, the appeal is clearly still here for me, and I’m looking forward to grabbing up more of these! For now, I’m going to splash some cold water in my face and be back in a little bit and get back to Rogue One!

Dec 9 2017

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dec 9 2017

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nov 28 2017

Star Wars Black: First Order Stormtrooper (Amazon Exclusive) by Hasbro

While I’m saving my pile of 3 3/4-inch Star Wars toys for the week leading up to Episode Eight, I’m still trying to get through the rest of this stuff beforehand. And that’s not an easy feat, because it keeps rolling in. Today’s release reminded me how surprised I was to see that Hasbro didn’t reissue the First Order Stormtrooper as part of the 6-inch Black Series figures for The Last Jedi. Nope, instead we got a regular Stormtrooper and the Stormtrooper Executioner, which was OK, but nothing really special. Yes, there’s still plenty of time, but maybe it had something to do with Amazon offering this pretty cool exclusive version with a whole bunch of extra gear.

Behold, the Amazon Exclusive First Order Stormtrooper and his snazzy packaging! The box features a bowed front with pictures of three different flavors of Stormtroopers: Regular, Riot Control, and Heavy Gunner. Based on the size of the box, you might be inclined to believe that all three are in here, but nope. You get one Stormtrooper and all the gear to make any of the three you want. The back of the package features another piece of monochrome art with a closer look at everyone’s favorite space-faring thugs. The graphics are actually on a sleeve, which lifts off to reveal…

Some windows, which feature a very familiar Imperial pattern, and a First Order emblem. These are actually folded flaps secured by velcro, which open to reveal the figure on his tray, flanked by all his goodies. I don’t tend to save the packaging for my Black Series figures, but I think I’ll make an exception here. It looks so nice, it’s totally collector friendly, and it’ll give me a place to keep all this stuff. Let’s start off by looking at the regular Stormtrooper.

There aren’t a lot of surprises here, and despite a few minor differences in paint, he appears to be the same figure we’ve been getting all along. That’s not a bad thing, because this was always a pretty solid release. The plastic has a nice shiny finish to it, although the black paint could have been sharper in a few areas. I’m still surprised how I’ve taken to this design since it was first revealed. My first knee jerk reaction was that Disney shouldn’t have messed with such an iconic design, but it’s really grown on me over the last few years.

Articulation is identical to what we saw with previous First Order Stormies. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double hinged knees, swivels at the tops of the thighs, and the ankles feature both hinges and lateral rockers. The torso has a ball joint under the chest armor and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed. I have no real issues with the points here, except for the elbows, where the sculpt doesn’t allow for enough of a bend. Some double hinges would have been nice there, but Hasbro seems to save those for the Marvel Legends and not the Black Series. I can’t imagine why, but I wish they would reconsider.

He comes with the same blaster and pistol that we saw with the regular release of this figure for The Force Awakens. Both weapons have a tab on the side, which can plug into the slot on his leg for storage. They’re both great sculpts and feature white and black decos to match the armor, and with a little silver trim on the scope. Before we move on to the rest of the gear, here’s a quick picture of him alongside the regular release Stormtrooper and the Riot Control Stormtrooper.

Which one is which? Don’t ask me. I’ve already mixed them all up. The biggest difference in the paint that I can see is on the belt. There’s a black dash painted on the box that is second to the left on two of them, but third to the left on the other. Let’s move on to the accessories and start by kitting him out as the Riot Control Stormtrooper

This guy, made famous in The Force Awakens by FN-2199, is equipped with his electrified baton and riot shield. The shield is basically the same one that came with the Riot Control Stormtrooper that was packed with Poe Dameron in his Resistance jacket. It features two soft straps, one to go around the forearm and the other can be grasped in the Stormie’s hand. It can take a little work to get him to hold it right, but once it’s in position it looks great. The baton, on the other hand is a new sculpt and where the previous one was just a static piece, this one has articulated tongs that can be turned around to make it look like it’s activated. I was pleasantly surprised that they produced an entirely new piece for this set. Now let’s go for the Heavy Gunner!

Oh boy, do I love the way this guy looks. The equipment includes a heavy artillery vest, which fastens around his torso and fits the figure perfectly. There’s also an ammo pouch, which you can clip to the vest, and a backpack that plugs into a peg on the back of the vest’s straps. Of course, he isn’t a Heavy Gunner without a big gun, so you also get his Mega-Blaster.

This is a pretty damn big gun with the same white and black deco as the smaller weapons. It also has a hinged grab-bar on the side. I love the look of this thing, but I do wish he could hold it better. His right hand seems to be sculpted pretty well for it, but it’s so bulky that it’s hard to get it into the crook of his arm. It also doesn’t help that the figure doesn’t have a lot of range of motion in those elbows. Now, I’m not saying he can’t hold it. I’ve been able to get some pretty good poses of him ready for action, but it isn’t as comfy a fit as I would have liked. Fortunately, he really doesn’t have to hold it…

Because it comes with this mount and stability bar, both of which peg into the bottom of the weapon. OK, so if we’re to assume the Hot Toys version is accurate, the stand is actually supposed to fold up under the gun when it’s not in use, but I can forgive Hasbro for going this route for the 6-inch figure.

You also get one final piece of equipment, and that’s a pair of binoculars. These are surprisingly nice, with a very detailed sculpt and a hinge that lets them fold up in the middle. Unfortunately, it’s pretty tough to get him to hold them like he’s using them.

If you can’t tell, I’m very pleased with this set. I’m always happy to add another Stormtrooper to my collection, and the versatility that comes with swapping out all this gear makes this figure a lot of fun. It’s even more fun if you already own a few First Order Stormies to borrow some of the gear. The Amazon Exclusive Stormtrooper retails at about $35. I’m OK with that price, but if you break it down the extra $15 seems a little steep, even with all these accessories in the package. At least you do get some nice premium packaging to store it all in and to date, this is the only way to get a Heavy Gunner Stormtrooper in the 6-inch Scale.

Nov 21 2017

Star Wars Toybox: Rey by Disney

In case you missed it, Disney has introduced a new line of articulated action figures based on the character designs from the now defunct Disney Infinity video game. I loved Infinity, and holy crap, did I blow a lot of time and money on it! Even with the online features shut off, I’m still afraid to fire it up again, or I’ll lose myself in that damn Toybox creating levels or just wandering around as any one of those dozens of damn figures I bought. Well, last week I looked at Thor from the Marvel Toybox and today I’m checking out Rey from Star Wars.

As you can no doubt tell, the packaging goes for utility over flash. The only real artwork is the character portrait on the side panel insert. Otherwise, it’s just a big bubble on a boring card that lets you see the figure you’re buying. Rey is #2. in the Star Wars Toybox series, I think #1 is Kylo Ren, but don’t worry, even though I’m doing them out of order, I’ll get to them all eventually. The packaging is not at all collector friendly, but there’s really no reason I’d want to keep it anyway, so let me shred this thing to pieces and we’ll have a look at Rey.

Like her Infinity counterpart, this figure features Rey in her Jakku outfit from The Force Awakens. I think they did a wonderful job capturing the Infinity style, while also embellishing it a bit for the larger scale and incorporating the articulation. To keep with the animated style, the sculpted detail is kept to a minimum, while still producing a great looking figure. The belt and outer layer of the robes are cast in a separate piece of softer plastic and worn over the figure, which gives her outfit some extra depth. Other sculpted detail includes the arm wraps, the pouch worn on the back of her hip and some simple boots. The coloring is mostly found in the plastic, although there is some paintwork as well. For the most part the paint application is neatly done, although there’s a little bit of slop between the flesh tones of her legs and the brown of her boots.

The head sculpt is also pretty damn close to her Infinity counterpart, a lot closer in this case than Thor was to his. Her hair includes the sculpted triple-buns and the paint applications for her eyes, eyebrows, and lips are all sharp and precise. She looks both adorable and fierce at the same time.

The articulation includes rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, and knees. She has ball jointed hips and hinges in the ankles. There’s a swivel in the waist and a ball joint in the neck. While the points are all the same, the range of motion feels a little bit better here than on Thor, because the sculpt here isn’t as much of a hindrance. Although, the loop that her robes make under the belt on her left hip does get in the way of that leg a bit. Even with some restrictions, she’s a hell of a lot of fun to play with.

Rey comes with Luke’s lightsaber with the blade permanently ignited. Her right hand is designed to hold it, while her left hand is sculpted for Force casting. I like the lightsaber a lot, but I’ll confess to being a bit disappointed that she didn’t come with her staff as well. It doesn’t seem like it would have been that big a deal to sculpt one for her, and since she uses a lot less plastic than Thor, it probably should have costed out at this price point. But then what the hell do i know?

As with Thor, Rey sells for $12.99 and appears to be exclusive to the Disney Store and their website. Thor sold me on the Marvel Toybox line instantly, and now Rey has done the same for this Star Wars Toybox series. I just wish they had more figures to show. The only other figures for the Star Wars Toybox right now are Kylo Ren and a First Order Stormtrooper. It feels like we needed Finn in there to even things out. Nonetheless, I’ll be grabbing more of these, so they’ll all be turning up here eventually.

Nov 10 2017

Star Wars Black: 40th Anniversary Legacy Pack with Darth Vader by Hasbro

In case you missed it, 2017 is the 40th Anniversary of A New Hope, and Hasbro did the bulk of its celebrating through the 6-inch Black Series. Not only did we finally the last of Kenner’s “Original Twelve” figures in the 6-inch format, but Hasbro also released all of them on vintage-style cards. The entire thing culminated in the release of a new Darth Vader bundled with a recreation of the Kenner Early Bird Kit display stage. Let’s start off with the packaging and the figure, and then we’ll take a look at the stage.

The set comes in an elongated box with some artwork similar to that old Kenner kit. There’s also a window that shows the carded Darth Vader figure inside. The stage itself is pictured on the front along with a silver foil 40th Anniversary shield, and the Kenner logo in the bottom right hand corner. It’s kind of an oddball presentation that borders on ugly, but it’s all part of recreating the charm of one of the craziest ideas in action figure history. But more on that in a bit. Let’s look at Vader first…

The carded figure is right in line with the rest of the 40th Anniversary releases, so if you are keeping these mint-on-card, he’ll display with the rest of them perfectly. Then again, if you’re doing that, you really don’t need the stage. Hasbro really just wants you to buy two of each of these, only not really, because they did a piss-poor job of distributing them. If you’re area is like mine, you’d be lucky to find one complete set, let alone two. But I’ll settle down now, because I can fell the anger flowing through me.

When I first heard about this figure, I assumed it was going to be a quick-and-dirty apology figure for the Return of the Jedi version we got boxed a little while back. I figured they’d slap on a new head and he’d be done. I was surprised to learn that a lot of new work went into him. Now, I’m not one of those *air quotes* “Vader Experts,” but I do know that there were some significant changes to the suit between ANH and RotJ. The most obvious was the inner robe running over the shoulder armor in the original suit and it does here as well. The rest of the changes include a fully re-sculpted upper torso, with a bigger chest box, and a new belt with bigger and different control boxes there as well. The legs appear to be the same, but the boots on this one are more of a matte finish.  One point where this version takes a step back is in the cape. The RotJ release is an all around nicer tailored garment. This one is is thinner and it came out of the package a little wrinkled. Also, the cape’s chain is gone. So, from the neck down, I wouldn’t say this figure is better, but just different, and appropriately so.

Now, the helmet sculpt is a huge improvement over the previous release, and I’m not talking about changes to the costume. The RotJ version made obvious sacrifices to have a removable helmet, resulting in that giant, sad-eyed Vader look. This new helmet sculpt is pretty damn tight and also features more of a matte finish. I don’t know that I would say it’s perfect, but it’s a good looking sculpt and I’m very happy with the way it turned out.

Another big change is the new left hand, which features Vader doing the force choke throat pinch. It can also be used as a pointing finger. I love it.

The last notable difference that I can see is the inclusion of a belt hook for his light saber. It irked me to no end that the RotJ version didn’t have a way for Vader to wear his saber. This feature also required a brand new saber hilt sculpt with the ring on it. Sadly, this one doesn’t work so well. I can’t really get it to stay in place and even in the above picture he’s really holding it there.

I don’t have much else to say, except this is the Vader figure we should have had first. It’s fantastic, and when you consider how many goddamn Darth Vader figures I’ve had over the years in all different scales and price points, I’m surprised at how much fun I’ve had playing around with this one.  Let’s move on to the stage…

The stage requires assembly, and the parts come in four baggies, and includes a folded cardboard backdrop and a sticker for the top of the frame. Assembly is quick and easy and I was happy to see that the set can easily be broken down again for storage. Before I cobble this thing together, a little explanation of what this thing is may be in order for you younger folk out there. In Christmas of 1977, Kenner was unprepared for the popularity of Star Wars and the demand for the action figures. Their rather creative solution was to offer an Early Bird Kit, which included vouchers, which could be mailed in for four figures, to be delivered when supply could catch up to demand.  The kit also included membership in the Star Wars Fan Club, and a cardboard display stand. This set mimics that general idea, while also making it a little more substantial by adding a plastic frame to the backdrop, and a plastic stage to put the figures on.

There are two backdrop graphics to choose from. One has the vintage-style artwork of each of the characters, suggesting where to place the figures on the stand. The flip-side has some nice vintage-style art of an X-Wing and Tie-Fighter battling it out in orbit of The Death Star. Overall, this is a pretty nice stage, but I wish they had added more pieces to help lock the cardboard into place. As it is, there are just two little swing down pieces in the corners. There are, however, clearly holes in the frame for two more in the sides, and possibly two at the top, but those pieces aren’t in the box. I guess Hasbro cheaped out on those. It also would have been nice if they could have packaged it so the cardboard didn’t need to be folded, although the creases really aren’t that bad. I suppose some of these nitpicks give the piece a certain vintage charm that reflects back to the original Early Bird release, but I’m sure that wasn’t intentional.

Here it is loaded up with the Black Series “Original Twelve,” and using the character art backdrop as a guide. I expected it to be a lot more cramped than it is, but with three figures on each of the four sections, it’s not too bad, so long as you’re going for fairly static 5-POA style poses. I’m not a huge fan of the way the characters are laid out. For example, I would rather have R2 and 3PO together, but I still think that this is the way I’ll go for display purposes. It is worth mentioning that I had mixed results with the foot pegs. Most of them work OK, but 3PO’s would not go in at all and the Tusken Raider’s doesn’t hold him up too well.

If you’re willing to use a little shelf real estate in front of the stand, you can also fit everyone together in more dynamic poses, and I think this looks pretty good too. This set originally retailed for $40, so you figure twenty for Vader and twenty for the stage. The Vader figure is worth it, no question. The stage is worth having, but I’m not sure I can see twenty dollars in there. With that having been said, this set was deeply discounted at some Walmarts, but of course the ones in my area weren’t among them. I picked up my set off Amazon for $25 and it’s price continues to fluctuate. I could definitely see myself picking up one more at the same price to display some more figures. It wouldn’t be a bad idea for Hasbro to release packs of just the base pieces, maybe as an exclusive to their website. Just toss four or five of them in a bag. I’d be all over that.

Just a heads up, Marvel content is taking over FFZ all of next week. So if that’s not your cup of tea, I’ll apologize in advance, but I’ve got some stuff on my pile that I’d like to get to sooner rather than later. Things will return to normal the following week, and I’m trying to get some time to bring back Anime Saturday at least once in November.

Nov 8 2017

Star Wars Black: Jawa by Hasbro

I’m still trying to push through some extra content on Wednesdays for fear that I’ll be AWOL toward for the last week of the month when the crazy times arrive. Today I’m doubling up on some long overdue business with Hasbro’s Black Series. Now, if you’ve haven’t been keeping up, you should know that I’ve been peppering my last few Star Wars Black Series reviews with some of my vitriol about today’s figure, so let’s recap! 1) The Jawa never should have debuted on the 40th Anniversary vintage-style card. It made the demand too great and the distribution of that series seemed far worse than the regular boxed releases, at least in my area. 2) This should have been a two-pack, because I couldn’t see what Hasbro could possibly do to make a Jawa worth $20. That’s the reason I skipped Black Series Yoda. With that out of the way, here’s hoping the actual figure will be good enough to make up for it all. Spoiler… It isn’t.

Here he is on the card and it is a beautiful presentation! These over-sized vintage-style cards are fantastic sights to behold. If they were more readily available, if I was a focused Star Wars collector, and if I had the wall space, I could have seen myself relenting and buying a set to display in package. But that’s not me, and I’m in this for the loose figures themselves, so as pretty as it is, this package is going to be torn apart… right now.

Out of the box and standing on the shelf, this Jawa looks pretty good. The robes are sculpted quite nicely, complete with a fabric texture and frayed edges around the sleeves and bottoms. Even the bandoleer straps look great and he has the holster for his ion rifle, which I’ll come back to in a bit. On the downside, the sculpted robes negate his leg articulation. There are little slits up the sides, but they do nothing to help matters. There’s a sculpted seam running up the middle, which if sliced, might give him some better range of motion, but I’m not going to attempt that until I get another one of these little bastards. Also, I’m not a big fan of the sandy paint spray on the bottoms of the robes.

So, an obvious quibble here is that there are no softgoods and I think that was a big missed opportunity. Granted, they might not have looked as good as the sculpted robes, but considering this little guy is already way overpriced, put it in there and let us decide whether or not to use it. The Kenner cloth robed Jawa could be displayed with it or without it, and I’d argue it looked pretty good with its tiny cloak. If it works in that scale, there are no excuses for not trying it in this scale. You’re charging $20 for this little figure, Hasbro, you should have been throwing everything you could in here to give us a sense of value for the dollar. Hell, when you released these little fellas in the 3.75-inch scale, you usually tossed in a droid with them or released them as a two-pack.

Counting out the leg articulation (I’m not even going to bother, because it’s pointless), this little fellow still has rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists, as well as a ball joint in the waist and neck. So at least everything above the waist is useful. But even coming up with enough different poses for pictures was difficult. There just isn’t a lot you can do with him.

The Jawa comes with two weapons, I believe both are considered ion blasters: One is a blunderbuss design and the other is attached to a battery pack. I’ve always loved these weapons and Hasbro did a particularly nice job recreating them here. The one with the battery pack resembles a chibi Lee-Enfield Rifle right down to the little integral magazine and wood stock. It’s permanently attached to the battery pack with a cord and fits into the holster on the back of the belt. Unfortunately, the Jawa’s hands are not really sculpted to work well with either of these weapons. There’s no trigger finger to get through the trigger guard of the battery powered blaster and he can barely even hold them across his chest because the robes limit his arm movement.

For about five bucks less, I’d consider this Jawa a passable figure, but even then he’s got a lot working against him. Half the articulation is useless, no softgoods, and he can’t even really hold his weapons properly. I really like how Hasbro handled the smaller scale Jawas in the Legacy Collection. We actually got a couple different sculpts, and they knew enough to pack them either together or with a droid to make it worth the money. I’m still hoping Hasbro will do something similar with these guys, but as it stands now, I’m afraid this figure was ultimately an overpriced disappointment. And with that, I’m finally finished with my Black Series versions of Kenner’s “Original Twelve.” Unless you count the A New Hope version of Darth Vader, and since I don’t have anything up my sleeve for DC Friday this week, I’ll come back then and check him out, along with the Black Series version of the Kenner “Early Bird Kit” display.

Oct 18 2017

Star Wars Black: Death Squad Commander by Hasbro

Hooray for more bonus Wednesday content! Unless five days in a row is more than you can take of my inane toy banter, in which case… Boo! More bonus Wednesday content! The truth is, I really want to get through the last few Black Series versions of the original “Kenner Twelve.” Especially now, because getting the last two have been rather problematic. Again, the Jawa and Death Squad Commander have so far only been released on the 40th Anniversary vintage-style packaging and they never turned up in my area. Eventually, I bit the bullet, paid a couple of bucks extra, and picked up today’s figure online.

As much as I grumble about it, these figures sure do look amazing on the vintage cards. Believe me, if Star Wars was my one and only collecting focus, I would have picked up a set to hang on the wall. And I’m sure it will even gave me a slight pang of regret when I tear this baby open in a few seconds.  Although, I do think Hasbro missed a huge opportunity to release a vintage-style green uniformed version on the 40th Anniversary vintage card and release the black one in a regular box, but what do I knew, eh? Let’s get with the ripping!

Now, I may be biased because I do love me some Imperial figures, but I think this guy turned out great. Granted, there’s nothing terribly complex about him. He’s just a dude with a badass sounding name in a black uniform that pushes buttons all day. I mean, what does the Empire call its accountants? Murder Force Commandos? What’s that? These guys carry out the orders to blow up entire planets and kill billions? OK, fair enough. I guess their name is earned after all.

The sculpted uniform is very well done, complete with the front flap detailed on the tunic, and just a little bit of texturing to show off the material. I particularly love the use of matte black for the uniform and gloss black for the boots and gauntlets. There’s also a crisp silver Imperial emblem stamped on his left shoulder. The wide belt features the large silver plates on the front, which helps to break up all that black, and it includes a functional holster on his right hip. The proportions on the figure are perfect, and he looks very smart and trim in the uniform.

I’ve always thought that this helmet design was pretty cool, although as a kid I somehow never made the connection between this helmet design and Vader’s helmet. I can’t remember when I had that epiphany, but ever since I tend to look at these guys with a sense of wonder. Did they design the helmets as a tribute to Vader? If so, that’s odd, because Vader seemed more like just a right-hand man to Tarkin in the original Star Wars. Were they just both cribbed off of an old Samurai design and there is no in-universe explanation? Am I overthinking this way too much? Whatever the case, they did a really nice job with this helmet, although it does look like it would be really heavy and awkward to wear all day, especially when you spend most of your time at a computer terminal.

The helmet is removable, which I’ll admit I did not see that as a given, so it was a really nice surprise when I got him in hand. It fits the head well and the chin strap does it’s job. The generic head sculpt is also pretty well done, although he still suffers from the same extremely basic paintwork as most of these Black Series portraits. The paint isn’t bad, the eyes are fairly straight and the eyebrows and hairline are clean, but it’s nothing special either. And do I detect a little bit of guilt in that expression for having pushed the button that vaporized Alderaan? Nah, probably not.

The articulation here is pretty good. He features rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists, along with swivels in the biceps. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, with double hinges in the knees, and swivels in the thighs. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. There’s a swivel in the waist and both a hinge and ball joint in the neck. The portion of the tunic that goes below his belt is fairly soft and I was pleased to see that he can easily go into a kneeling position. Alas, he does not have an articulated murder button finger, although the trigger finger on his right hand can work for gesturing or pressing buttons.

Death Squad Commander comes with a BlasTech DH-17 Blaster Pistol, or at least I’m pretty sure that’s what it is. This point confuses me because I generally associate this design with Rebel weapons and I think I would have preferred getting the more Imperial-looking E-11 Blaster with this guy. I seem to recall that’s what the vintage figure came with. I guess they were both made by BlasTech and there’s no reason why Rebels and Imperials wouldn’t use the same model. A friend and I bandied this about a little via texting while I was playing with this guy and he swears Imperials were seen using the weapon in the movies. That’s good enough for me. Either way, it’s a great sculpt of a cool design, and I appreciate the silver paint on the muzzle.

Obviously, I dig this figure a lot and I seriously hope that Hasbro gets around to putting him in a box as a regular release, because I’d definitely pick up a few more. That’s the other thing that pisses me off about the 40th Anniversary line. The only three figures that were new (Tusken Raider, Jawa, and this guy) are all potential troop builders and all very tough to find here. Thankfully, Hasbro has since rectified that with a boxed release of the Tusken Raider and his price has come down quite a lot since, so I’ll likely pick up a few more of those. If the same thing happens here, I’d grab two more of these as well. The Jawa? Well, that’s a whole different story, and I hope to get to checking him out next week.