DAULTAY DOFINE Stunted SlimeThe Vintage Collection Basic Figures
Item No.: Asst. 37499 No. 37502
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #VC82
Includes: Miter, blaster
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $9.99
Availability: January 2012
Appearances: The Phantom Menace
Bio: Celebrate the legendary Star Wars saga that changed the universe forever! This collection brings to life the incredible story of good versus evil that captured our imagination and took us to a galaxy far, far away. Iconic Star Wars heroes and villains are captured with incredible detail and premium features to commemorate each epic tale in the Star Wars saga. May the Force be with you! (Taken from the figure's packaging. No specific character information.)
Image: Adam Pawlus' Ultarama.
Commentary: If there was a short list of character categories I'd never see again, the Trade Federation would be at the top. But here we are, with a new character Daultay Dofine being done quite nicely. Nute Gunray never got a proper update, or any figure from his Revenge of the Sith outfit, so seeing his sidekick done up as Hasbro's finest example of the species. His removable hat is cool, the face sculpt looks a lot like the mask from the movie, even the cloth blue robes look nice-- and Hasbro gave them some added plastic bits for added definition. I think overall an entirely plastic figure would look better, but the cloth-meets-plastic robes satisfy the needs of mobility and aesthetics, sort of. I don't think it'll make either camp, the "more soft goods" or "more plastic" groups, particularly happy but it does look nice enough.
The articulation is good-- ball-jointed elbows and swivel wrists are nice to have, but ultimately don't add much to how I'm assuming this figure will be used. (1. Packaged, never to be opened. 2. Shelf bait.) As the line goes on, it seems it's less about "what would be fun or exciting?" rather than "OK, so who's left?" Daultay's left, because Nute Gunray and Rune Haako sold slowly enough where it probably didn't make sense to do him until a proper marketing push permitted it. I like the figure, he's a high-quality figure, but he's basically no fun to play with and he's best for standing around, looking good. If you want something fun, keep looking. This isn't a knock against Hasbro, they're doing a bang-up job making new figures that, for all intents and purposes, have transcended the toy aisle and are now merely collectibles for old sci-fi fans.
Collector's Notes: The figure is being phased out somewhat quickly, so he may (or may not) be around long depending on how many Hasbro made. There seems to be little shortage of this wave, but that can (and sometimes does) change overnight. For $5 or so, it's great. Even at $10 you're getting your money's worth. It's just not as exciting as a new Luke or a new alien from a different species. I figure we'll have him around until at least September if not September of next year, just from those first January 2012 shipments.
--Adam Pawlus
3 comments:
I consider Daultay Dofine as the prequel version of the Imperial Dignitary. Can an update to the vintage Dignitary Sim Aloo be that far away?
Where in the country do you live adam? Because every store I go to in Ohio has only the phantom menace wave and NOTHING else since february when the deleted scene wave made a very brief appearance. But from my experience the phantom menace wave is not in short supply. Every other wave is.
I think Sim Aloo will make the cut eventually. If you don't count Ewoks, or specific versions of army-building characters, like rebels, or Bespin guards, I think Sim is probably the last of the vintage figures to be redone.
Daultay turned out to be a great figure. I'm really pleased to have him finally. Now that he's out of the way, maybe the next Nemodien to see plastic will be Nute's side-kick in ATOC.
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