Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,182: Blurrg (The Vintage Collection)

BLURRG & The Mandalorian
The Vintage Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure
Item No.: No. G0302
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Reins, saddle, carded Mando figure
Action Feature: Reins and saddle are removable
Retail: $39.99
Availability: September 2024
Appearances: The Mandalorian

Bio: With help of the Ugnaught vapor farmer Kuiil, The Mandalorian learns how to tame and ride a blurrg on the desert planet Arvala-7.. (Taken from The Mandalorian figure's cardback inside this set's box.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Entertainment Earth now!

Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

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Commentary: It is a weird era to collect Star Wars - if you're a lifer, you probably had a chance to buy most of the things you wanted years ago, and if you're new, you've missed so much good stuff I assume it's frustrating. I'm certainly at a point where it seems there's vanishingly few "I always wanted that" toys, but this is one of them. A Blurrg has been something I've wanted since Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, but has always been out of reach because those Ewok movies got no love. We got Kaink and Teek from the Star Tours boxed set, but not much else - so the fact a Blurrg made it in The Clone Wars got me nagging Hasbro (to no effect), and again when they appeared in The Mandalorian (again, to no effect) and now here we are five years after The Mandalorian Season 1 and Triple Force Friday - we finally got the key creature from the first season of the show. It's a pity Hasbro couldn't (or didn't want to) put this out in the toy line when it was new, but I'm very happy to have it now. Depending on how you look at it, it's not a bad deal - $40 gets you a $17 carded Mando upgrade (cloth cape, new hips) and a satisfyingly hefty lizard that isn't too far off from the kind of value you get with Mattel's Jurassic World dinosaurs, an underrated kid/collector line that should probably be the new North Star for all action figure lines.

That is an unnecessarily long introduction. You're probably only reading this to find out if I do or don't like this. This is one of my favorite Hasbro items in The Vintage Collection from the past 5 years. To do something cool that a) isn't a new version of something I have, and b) isn't over $200 is rare. This is great.

Toys like this - this specific toy - is why I collect Star Wars after a few decades. What I want as a collector is something I grew up with, be it from a new thing or an old thing, I'm not picky - I want something that says "We see you, and here is something you might enjoy" which was pretty much the entire line up to about 2019. New vehicles and creatures are in short supply, it used to be pretty common to get a mount for your troopers - it's weirdly rare in Hasbro lines, despite the massive success if dinosaur toys a few pegs down. The Blurrg is good - the creature has a nice sculpt, with some assembly required. (You have to pop in an arm and a leg.) Articulation is good, better than needed - this could be a 4-jointed creature, and it would get the job done. Instead it's a solid, hefty lizard fish horse with bend-and-swivel shoulders, ball-jointed hips, jointed knees, a tail that moves, and an opening jaw. There's no reason for it to be this good, and for $40, we've certainly gotten less for our money with some products.

 

But wait, it gets better! The teeth are separately molded and pointy. The mouth interior is fully painted, shiny, and with a bumpy tongue. The eyes are painted with several colors of paint, plus peachy bags under the eyes. He's even got a lightly sprayed belly, and rocker ankles. I would say this means that if you subtract Mando from the package, you're paying about $23 for a hefty creature that is a few joints shy of making The Black Series figures look bad. This is one of Hasbro's better creature figures, and to think, I'd have been over the moon if we got something Kenner classic or Epic Hero Series quality.

The saddle and reins are of a good quality with a little paint, certainly good enough for my needs. I really like this one - the little Mission Fleet one was good too, but this is bigger and also better. Given Hasbro's proclivity to reuse molds, I wonder if we'll get one with Cham Syndulla or a a Sanyassan... or maybe Kuiil. Given the upgrades to Mando, which as of this writing I haven't yet opened, I'm assuming you should just get this one. I'm a big believer in supporting what you like, and if Hasbro could pump out little ships or ridable creatures for $20-$25 (sans figure) I think that would be well worth everybody's time. Figures alone just aren't fun - with toys like this, it makes the entire enterprise worthwhile. And if Hasbro wants to squeeze another $20 out of me, and they want to make a "Retro" Kenner one with a trapdoor in the back for Mando's legs, I promise I will buy at least two.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Entertainment Earth.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,182: October 22, 2024