Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,372: Geonosian Picador (The Vintage Collection)

GEONOSIAN PICADOR with Orray
The Vintage Collection 3 3/4-Inch Vehicle Pack-In Figure
Item No.: No. G2769
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #411
Includes: Pike, Orray, plugs for orray, reins, stand, wagon
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $79.99
Availability: July 2026
Appearances: Attack of the Clones

Bio: Geonosians use orrays - sturday quadrupeds native to the rocky planet - as mounts for the picadors in the execution arena, as well as to pull carts carrying condemned prisoners. (Taken from the cardback.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Commentary: It's great to finally have this Orray & Geonosian Picador set. It's also a little late. Attack of the Clones came out in 2002, so this beast hit 26 years later. To put it in perspective, the long-delayed Bantha first got made by Kenner in the summer of 1998... only 21 years after the original movie had been in theaters. Prequel kids have been either much more patient or indifferent than the Gen X-ers, so now they get to pony up $80 for what is an admittedly very good - and over-engineered - display piece. It's very good, it's original, and most importantly it's packed with new stuff you didn't buy when the movie was still new. That is such a rarity that I think it's actually worth holding your nose and getting your credit card without waiting for a sale. I doubt we're going to get a lot of never-before-made stuff next year.

So what's in the set? It's versatile, and it's this year's "playset." It's an item designed to be bought more than once for display reasons, and it became apparent as I was setting it up. The orray creature has a saddle plus little plastic plugs in his side, which you can pull out to connect the reins. This means you should probably buy one of these guys to be pulling the cart, and a second one so that the Geonosian may ride him and the cart can be overturned in a display. Heck, you can probably buy more if you want. Like Mos Eisley and the Tantive IV, this set was very clearly intended for repeated purchase. The cart is good, but noting special. The orray is superior to the Mattel Jurassic World toys by a fair bit, but also you're being charged accordingly. It's the same size as the baby stegosaurus mold from a few years ago. The creature has loads of joints and deco, but is sized similarly to the $13 toys in Mattel's line. If this were made at 2009 levels of Hasbro articulation, I assume this set would probably be $40 - but we are in an era where the goal seems to be to give the fan the very best, most expensive offering possible. Everything has tons of extra detailing and joints. If you love that sort of thing, you're going to love this. If you're on a budget, you're probably mad.

The carded Geonosian Picador figure inside comes on a card, with the biggest blister in The Vintage Collection. The giant spear covers almost the entire box for the photo, and probably makes a pretty good case for Hasbro to try a new 3 3/4-inch packaging style after nearly a decade so we can get some other kinds of accessories. The ones released with the movie had sticks or blasters, but I think they were lacking this specific lengthy stick. It's distinctive, so if you have an army of these guys it'll stand out.

The figure itself surprised me. It's not a figure that shares parts with Poggle the Lesser [FOTD #3,342]. Both seem to share elements from a CAD file ancestor, but nearly every piece is significantly altered with added (or removed) armor plus different carapace detailing. Poggle has a lot more spikes and bumps, and this picador is a bit more smoothed out. Functionally, they're pretty much the same with joints in the same places. The range of movement will not surprise you, but perhaps the hands will. Poggle's are larger, with fingers outstretched for gesturing or holding his cane. This picador grips either the pike or the reins tightly, to the point where I would say it might be challenging to get them gripping.

The level of detail on the figure is pretty great, with the green bug bits being texturally similar to the others in the line with flexible gold armor so nobody loses an eye. This one stands out because the back of the armor has various jewels and tassels. Perhaps the significance of the blue gem or various rings and bars are known to you, but I may have forgotten with time. Maybe they just look cool! I appreciate that they made this guy look different than the four-pack at Hasbro Pulse. The quality is there. Hasbro did a nice job, and if you just want more bugs you can skip this set and get four in the cheaper army pack.

I found getting the orray on the cart fairly easy, but contorting this nicely jointed Geonosian to fit in the seat was tough. I worry it might distort the plastic limbs over time, so I'll probably display him nearby either seated on the creature or standing until/unless I buy a second one. (Unlikely at $80.) I'm sure anyone that worked on this is rolling their eyes at my price-related comments, but you do get a sense of sticker shock when a very good $20 figure is in an $80 box with a floating boat and dinosaur of sorts. At $60 I'd say "this is pretty great." There's so much paint, articulation, and detail on everything in the set that you can get why they are asking $80, and I assume only a sliver of that has to do with our current fun with international trade. It's also the first completely new mold we've had for an Attack of the Clones vehicle or creature in over a decade, and I appreciate that we actually got something that isn't another remake. If you're a prequel collector, go buy this, it's great. If you love creatures and vehicles, it's very cool. If you want it to be 2002 and this to be $25 with a roaring sound box, well, maybe they'll try a "retro" thing for the prequels by going back to 1990s-2000s aesthetics some day. (This won't happen.)

 

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,372: August 18, 2026

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,366: Battle Droid (Right side of tray, The Vintage Collection)

BATTLE DROID (Geonosis, far right)
The Vintage Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure Set
Item No.: No. F9259
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Blaster, backpack, antenna, 2 slightly different red droids and 1 Super Battle Droid with gear
Action Feature: Blaster
Retail: $67.99
Availability: July 2026
Appearances: Attack of the Clones

Bio: Battle droids, also known as combat droids, war droids,[2] clankers, droid soldiers, or battle bots, were a type of droid designed for combat. (Stolen from Wookieepedia.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Commentary: I love a nice surprise. This is one of three barely different Battle Droid figures in a four-pack with an all-new Super Battle Droid. I appreciate there was some subtle variety, but I particularly appreciate that this figure is not identical to the 2022 Battle Droid [FOTD #2,913] from Walmart's "Clone Wars" (no "The") collection. Not only is it a different shade of red, the hands and feet had some changes.

Looking at my review of the previous red droid, Hasbro listened. The same plain basic droid is a new shade of red, with some silver enhancements painted on the arsm, ribs, and metal antenna on the backpacks. On this particular robot, Hasbro added some excrutiatingly subtle silver weathering on its right neck collar area and around the right area of its torso. It has to catch enough light just-so, or you won't even notice it's there. I wish Hasbro could have amped it up or left it off, but it's appreciated. The backpack has similar weathering, also on its right side. There are also black blast marks over the vents of the backpack, and some on the front of the figure's torso too. Check out the right thigh and a unique rusty drip coming from the nipple - the pattern is different on each droid in the set. Hasbro could have put them all out with the same (or no) weathering and while I would probably complain, I certainly would understand why they didn't go all-out. But they did! There are some black enhancements to the eyes too, but they're so small you might miss them.

Hasbro was not content to use the same body as last time. A few parts may be derived from similar CAD files or tools, but the legs are new. The arms are new. The chest seems to be new. I can tell because we have things like bend-and-swivel wrists, swivel knees, and what seem to be attempts at rocking ankles. I can't get the ankles to move much from side to side, but the pins are much more subtle and that can be said of the arms, too. Hasbro getting more movement out of one of the skinniest figures in the line is quite impressive. He can mostly fold up and crouch, but I found the telescoping neck will cause the head to bump into the backpack. 

Both the head and the backpack were knocked off when I tried to do this. (He works fine with the OOM antenna, though.)  At least he can get pretty close, though. I was particularly pleased at the range of motion given to the shoulders thanks to its ball-and-socket construction, which lets him get a few decent blaster poses when combined with the wrists. Hasbro did a generally excellent job here, and we're probably approaching the limits of what you can do with joints on very thin limbs. Swappable arms might be a way around this, or slug figures specifically meant to crouch and only to crouch.

The one accessory that I think could have knocked this set out of the park would have been a single C-3PO head to swap out on one of the droid bodies. Maybe next time. What we do get is an unpainted black blaster and silver-antenna'ed backpacks. They fit nicely, even if they sometimes get in the way of some poses. It's a pretty decent load-out given what we saw in the Geonosis arena in 2002.

While I'd be lying if I said the prospect of a new Battle Droid in 2026 was something I was excited to see, I can say it's an improvement over the ones I had at home already. It's nice to see them fit in wrist articulation, and I appreciate the attempt at the tilting ankles. I had a hard time getting this figure to balance in a lot of poses, but at least he can stand on a shelf. If you're on the fence, I'd nudge you to give this set a shot. It's slightly cheaper than four carded figures, which is nice to have in this economy.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Hasbro Pulse.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,366: July 28, 2026

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,342: Poggle the Lesser (The Vintage Collection)

POGGLE THE LESSER Take Three
The Vintage Collection 3 3/4-Inch single figure
Item No.: Asst. F6878 No. G2602
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #391
Includes: Cane
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $19.99
Availability: March 2026
Appearances: Attack of the Clones

Bio: Poggle the Lesser was a powerful figure within the Confederacy of Independent Systems, commanding hte droid armies that fought the Republic for control of Geonosis. (Taken from the single-figure packaging.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Commentary: Older fans like to dunk on the prequels, but they did a nice job there. The design work is amazing, with weird backstories and some genuinely great nomenclature. The sequels didn't top Poggle the Lesser, a bizarrely-named, strange-voiced, uses-his-rival's-leg-as-a-walking-stick antagonist from Attack of the Clones. Maybe he'd be more popular if Hasbro put out the figure in year one - we got our first basic figure in 2003 with a redeco in 2006. That means he's been off the market for about 20 years - so this is a good time to try again, now with knees, elbows, wrists, and other added articulation.

The 2003/2006 sculpt was very good, being based on digital assets and having all the wrinkly skin and intricate armor detail you might want - but it was still painted like a toy of its era. This new one has a bigger budget, with more detailing of the leather-like stuff covering his lower waist, more mottling in his beard, livelier eyes, and many - but not all - of the gems now painted. The turquoise bits were left unadorned, and the red gems seema little too bright, but otherwise? They did a nice job. The bug brooch looks good, the golden bangles are colored well, and the skin seems generally about as good as you can expect at this price point. I'm not sure if the vest color is quite right - but I'm not going to knock it. There are a lot of paint apps here and Hasbro did a great job making him feel a little more finished. Even the wings have a nice shimmer to them!

The sculpt is mostly great. The bug skin? Perfect. The clothing texture? Top-notch. The only parts I'm not fond of are the artistic decisions, which generally coincides with how I feel about most "collector" figures in general. The figure seems to have perfectly replicated a basic pose of a digital model. That's good, right? Mostly, yes. The problem is that it missed some key details or quirks that make the figure seem alive. If you look at the digital model from the movies, you'll notice the bangles around his wrists are sort of a cluttered, messy, jangly thing. The figure is tight and orderly. The figure stands upright with his head held high, and excellent posture. The movie character was something of a hunchback, with his Wookieepedia portrait tilting his head in a way the figure just can't do. They nailed the details, but this goes to show you that even a super-articulated figure needs work on its pose in order to give it the right personality. It's not bad. It's no worse than what we had before. But if Hasbro does Version 3.0 some day, I would recommend making him a little slouchier, a little messier, and generally more alive.

His one accessory is a cane, and it's also about as good as the last one. The movie model has some gold on the top, and a few cracks, and some weathering. This one is mostly clean except for some gold adornments. The sculpt is good, but it's a little too nice and clean. If this were still a $17 figure I'd have little reason to complain, but as we're at $20 and probably not that far off from $23, I want either a perfect figure or a cheap figure.

Articulation is very good, with the shoulders inset in his torso nicely. The hands move well, the feet rock a bit, and he has the knees, thighs, hips, and any other joints you might want. Thin-legged figures with unusual poses can dip and fall over with time, so the articulation is very welcome here as a correcting mechanism to the aging process. I suspect Poggle figures will slowly lurch forward over the years, so at least you can to in there and move the ankles and knees a bit rather than warp a single-piece leg. He's not going to sit in any vehicles, or probably at any war room tables, but at least he can stand as the manufacturer intended.

Hasbro did a great job on the craft, but I would like to see a slouchier, nervier pose if we ever see him again. Poggle the Lesser is an awesomely weird alien out of the George Lucas catalog, but he's not a being who you would say holds his head high. I think the final deco details - even with the missing turquoise - are a good choice as it looks more like he would on a red-tinted Geonosis or Mustafar. This is probably the very best Poggle the Lesser collectible of any kind you can buy today, and it's certainly one that's loaded with personality, jointed wings, and precious metals galore. If you have that 2002 Geonosis Arena playset, he'd love to hang out there. I assume I will not see a higher-grade 3 3/4-inch version of this figure, so I can recommend this one as the best figure you'll probably ever get. The amount of fine detailing here is impressive, and I imagine followed a style guide to the letter. Companies just need to start making messier figures that love drama.

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,342: May 5, 2026

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,319: Padmé Amidala (The Vintage Collection)

PADME AMIDALA That white outfit, before it gets torn
The Vintage Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure
Item No.: Asst. G2611 No. G2612
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #383
Includes: Two blasters, cape
Action Feature: Blaster goes in holster
Retail: $19.99
Availability: January 2026
Appearances: Attack of the Clones

Bio: The brave Padme Amidala fought for peace as Senator of Naboo - but her forbidden marriage to Anakin Skywalker would prove to have dire consequences for the galaxy. (Taken from the figure's cardback, spoiling the picture.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Commentary: The $19.99 figure price point does sting a bit, but when Hasbro makes actual all-new figures you can sometimes say "yeah, I can see it." If you compare this 2026 Padme Amidala to the ripped-shirt version from 2002 ($4.99) or the "Droid Factory" version from 2003, which also had the cape, you can see some real changes. The figures in 2002 and 2003 employed 3D scanned likenesses in the product development, with more realistic proportions and face sculpts that looked eerily similar to the real people. Paint hadn't yet caught up, but it was a radical departure from the 1990s where Kenner and Hasbro could capture personality and character, but the likenesses had a ways to go. Those 2002 and 2003 figures started to add articulation, but they were usually still given the same shoulder, neck, and hip swivels as Kenner's originals from 1978-1985.

I bring up the 2002/2003 figures because those things are almost as much of a dinosaur in 2006 as Kenner's original figures were in 2002. We've seen steady improvements in most figure likenesses, and Hasbro has delivered a Natalie Portman likeness that's about the size of a couple of peas with slightly exaggerated deco so real it seems to spit in the eye of life itself. And of course, in 20 years, we'll call this figure garbage because Hasbro will invent something even better. Padme's wig is separately molded, perfectly placed, and a consistent brown. Her eyes glisten a bit, Hasbro gave her a little much eye make-up - but at this size, it helps the peepers pop. The lips are painted pink, and Hasbro even put the smallest, intentional dot on her check for Ms. Portman's mole. Her eyebrows are also excellent. Sure, she's not screaming like the 2003 figure but it's realistic almost to a fault. The 2023 The Retro Collection figure was also very good in its restraint. This figure has none. I'd love to say something snarky here about how the head sculpt somehow doesn't seem worth the $16.99 it was designed at, or the $19.99 it costs because politics. But I can't. It's really something, and it's a shame our eyes are degrading with age so it's harder to appreciate.

And that's just the head. The body feels like it keeps the same basic outfit we've gotten over and over and over, with more articulation. The figure improves on the 2013 The Black Series 3 3/4-inch Padme with Nexu rips [FOTD #3,281], which was also amazing and very similar. I assume Hasbro has been trying to find new ways to make the same basic joints better, and has. The hips swing forward all the way without the belt getting in the way. The knees have a little bit of an overhang, hiding the ring joints. The ankles rock. Her wrists swivel, and her waist joint pivots just behind her belt. The jointing is a massive improvement, better than we'll likely ever need given most previous figures were good enough. But it's the very best, so far at least.

She has two blasters. The small one fits in her holster, the big one doesn't. She can hold it with no real problems. The cape's texture looks incredible, and being plastic it hangs nicely. It limits the poses you as a fan can do in your dioramas, and if I really felt like there were a ton of Attack of the Clones Tatooine dioramas being built that would matter. I assume this figure will mostly stand around on a shelf in a row with other figures, or maybe stay carded. In that respect, it's perfect. The sculptor nailed it, and should be asked to do more plastic versions of cloth things that hang off a figure in the future.

Could the accessories be better? Sure. I'd love them to have included her deleted scene hat/cloak parts, especially given that Qimir got a few more parts in his figure. Most of Padme is molded in color, so the deco budget has got to be lower here - but Hasbro did paint teh blaster grips. That's nice. This is a pretty great example of Hasbro's evolving an action figure from "a thing a kid can afford and play with" to "a collectible for adults to nitpick, photograph, and in some cases store in a box in a storage unit." She's a technical marvel, and like a lot of the women in The Vintage Collection feels like another figure that I could tell you may be one of Hasbro's very best. Most figures are "fine," and this one only gets more and more impressive as you compare her to other previous releases.

Prequel fans or fans of impressive action figures, get one. It exceeds expectations, and is somewhat eerie. Also, Hasbro has shown us just how well they can do a human face now. It makes a few classic figures from last year, like Han and Obi-Wan, look a little worse by comparison. Maybe it's just that her face is more conducive to being reduced in size and cast in plastic, but Hasbro did a great job and I am excited to see what we'll see at Toy Fair this weekend.

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,319: February 12, 2026

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,281: Padmé Amidala (The Black Series 3 3/4-Inch)

PADME AMIDALA On Geonosis, Nexu Pets You
The Black Series 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure
Item No.: Asst. A5077 No. A5158
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #01
Includes: Battle Droid blaster, Naboo blaster
Action Feature: Working holster
Retail: $9.99
Availability: July 2013
Appearances: Revenge of the Sith  

Bio: Padme Amidala is captured during a mission to Geonosis and must fight for her life in the execution arena. (Taken from the figure's packaging.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Commentary: Way back in 2013 I cut back writing these reviews - after 2,000, I wanted to stop, it seemed silly to keep going. And I guess I'm at 3,281, only doing 2 a week most weeks - so there's a lot I could go back and revisit, like Padme Amidala. She came out in 2013 in a wave that was all updates of figures that had already had figures in the past decade, and were basically updates of updates - I was cranky, especially in panel reveals, mostly because what I want as a collector is something I don't have yet. You're not going to get me to applause for another Clone Pilot in 2013, so I was equally grumpy to see them in 2025. It doesn't mean they weren't good - it's just hard to spend hundreds (thousands) of dollars on stuff that you realize isn't going to take your collection to new heights, even if it's an improvement. I'll take a new ewok, barfly, pilot, Jedi, anything that I don't have at home seems like a good time. But Hasbro has done multiple releases of this Padme at 3 3/4-inches, and we got another one coming up in 2026 - or two, or more, who can say?

Speaking with hindsight, I can say that this Padme was, in 2013, interesting. She was a new mold, possibly based on an existing sculpt but unquestionably a new mold with different details on any hypothetical shared parts. They're clearly not from the same mold - but enough elements look similar enough that I wouldn't doubt an old wax sculpt got reworked, or had an alternate version, or something. They're different but seem consistent enough to be from the same hands. This figure is more off-white, rather than brighter white like the Padme figures we got in 2002, 2008, 2007<2024, and others based on those molds too. There are a bunch of these, and they're all pretty great for their time. Heck, the frumpiest one is 2024, and it's still pretty good. The rest all look a lot like Natalie Portman's head and costume, with liberties taken with the body.

For 2013, this was a more or less standard figure with the bells and whistles of the time. She has a working holster, non-rocking ankles, ball-jointed knees, swivel wrists, a perfect mid-torso pivot joint that uses the costume to determine the articulation, bend-and-swivel elbows, and swivel shoulders. Everything is good, except I would complain the bare elbow's ring is the white color instead of skin color. Why they didn't gang mold it with the fists, I don't know - but if you poe her with the elbow bent, you won't notice. That's how she's been on my shelf... for twelve years. I have a bunch of Attack of the Clones figures lined up on risers and haven't touched them since putting them there. She stood, she never fell over. That's good engineering.

The sculpting itself is good, with a costume that doesn't get in the way of the articulation and abs that say "you fat loser, do some sit-ups." In addition to bodyshaming middle-age toy collectors, Padme's joints are perfect to allow her to assume a number of action poses and not fall over. Given the trouble some later figures have with stability from their hip or ankle joints, she's impressive. The paint is also minimal, but good - her face, cuffs, and some of her skin has added pigment. I am especially impressed that she has not discolored, and her hand (molded in flesh) and arm (painted) still match after this much time. The level of detail on the costume - the raised piping, the creases - are all great. They're more pronounced than other Action Jumpsuit 3 3/4-inch figures, but they're nicely defined and her hands have different personality. This one can point! It's a little thing, but it changes up the figure's whole vibe.

Photo printing in 3 3/4-inch figures is a relatively new thing. Before they printed eyes and make-up on the heads, they had paint masks or hand-painted each one to the best of their ability. The factory did a great job here, the eyebrows look decent, the eyes aren't exaggerated much, the lops are fine, and the hair seems good. On her back, she has Nexu claw marks and the requisite blood marks. Also her pants are tight.

This figure may not be up to 2025 standards, what with rocker ankles and ball-and-socket hips with a photo-real face... but she's good. I bet Hasbro's new one will look stunning in 2026 but there's nothing wrong with this old one. She's expensive on the secondary market and generally quite good. If Hasbro didn't have a new one, I'd recommend this one to new fans (at the right price) because it's eerily good at certain angles. Obviously the face painting could be better today, and I think if Hasbro reissued this one with new face deco people would probably say "eh, good enough." I think this was only the third sculpt (but fourth release) of a "torn" costume Padme, and it's the best of them so far.

Philosophical Notes: One of the bigger questions I've had lately is "what does it mean to collect?" If you were collecting toys from or before the 1980s, most toy lines were generally new things that didn't last long. In 1994 there were only a few Optimus Prime toys, and they were all different. Battle Beasts had sticker variants (or Lasers) but they're all pretty distinctive. You could buy one of every Star Wars figure from the original Kenner line and not feel anything was too samey - not so with these today. The shift to collectors has stopped figures from being in circulation for years at a time, and now we're seeing reruns of reruns of reruns - even this Padme was a re-re-remake at her time. No child has had the chance to buy a Padme on a toy shelf in years, and won't when The Vintage Collection one comes out due to price and distribution. It's weird to see how toy collecting has been seeking out weird things on the secondary market, to hunting stores, to ordering online, to upgrading things you probably own and maybe forgot you bought. Presumably the upgrade cycle will continue as technology - and our willingness to pay more - continues to increase, but it's also why I find kid stuff and Retro so charming. It is what it is, and money can't make it better.

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,281: October 2, 2025

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,231: Yoda (Epic World of Action)

MASTER YODA 2025 Kids Line
Epic World of Action "Power the Force" Basic Figure
Item No.: Asst. F9405 No. G1153
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Lightsaber, Lightning, Mini Starfighter
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $7.99
Availability: February 2025
Appearances: Attack of the Clones and/or The Clone Wars   

Bio: Small in size but wise and powerful, Jedi Master Yoda trained Jedi for over 800 years. (Taken from the packaging)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

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

Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Commentary: Since "Baby Yoda" Grogu-ed his way into the line, Yoda classic has been kept out of a lot of stores. We got some stuff for the 40th of The Empire Strikes Back, but by and large this guaranteed winner has been largely sidelined. This is a fine Yoda figure for collectors or kids, and makes a stirring argument that Hasbro pour more development into its Epic lines. You should buy one. I'm not even going to make you wait for the call, just go get one.

At 1 3/4-inches, Yoda is a bit tall for a shorty. He has a ball-jointed neck and great movement at his shoulders, swivel wrists, swivel ankles, and swivel hips. Hasbro delivered some tip-top Yoda toys during the prequels, and this might beat them in actually delivering the level of detail and articulation adult fans expect. It's the slightest bit stylized, but the Attack of the Clones-esque look inspired by the digital puppet turned out well. He's not too hunched over, he has white hair, he looks angry, and he gestures well. You can have him talking, fighting, dueling, or capturing Sith lightning in his hand. The latter is a strange choice given Yoda can't shoot out lightning, nor is there a Dooku to fight, but this is how these things go now. Somehow this is a part of his toy character, so this is what you get. He can hold the gear easily, and there are storage spots for them on his tiny mini Jedi Stafighter.

The crystal green Jedi Starfighter is the kind of inspired lunacy that makes me say someone over at Hasbro gets the idea of fun. (There are some great 3D printed mini-rigs similarly inspired as one-piece open cockpit toy vehicles.) Hasbro should make more ships like this for their larger figures - it's a spectacular small toy. Sure, it has no paint, but it is sized just right for one figure to zoom around and you can store a lightsaber or lightning in two small drink holders. The sculpting is simple but good enough to get the point across, and as one of three accessories makes a strong case that Hasbro maybe, just maybe, should develop more actual toys. It's rare that I get a wacky made-up accessory and go "hey, this is 100% exactly the kind of thing I was going to ask you guys to make!" And here it is! It has no firing rockets or display stands, but considering most vehicles are $50 or $130 these days, it is refreshing to see what Hasbro can deliver as a value-add.

Yoda's paint is very good and his face should delight prequel-era fans. Assuming this wave makes it to stores, I assume you won't see Yoda sit on pegs. It's Yoda! Yoda has been hard to find for a while, and Hasbro made sure you would have a lot of fun with this one. He stands well, if you split his legs you'll even see his brown pants on the inner thighs. I won't say I'm jealous of today's kids only because the modern line is relatively small and scattered - but I would have loved to have owned a Yoda like this when I was young. The tiny starfighter is way better than a floating chair, the articulation is good, and his face has more personality than a lot of the other releases. Go get this one, and hopefully Hasbro will make more one-man fighters in this line that aren't giant robot suits.

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,231: April 10, 2025

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,216: Mace Windu (The Retro Collection)

MACE WINDU Kennerized
The Retro Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure
Item No.: No. G0371
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Lightsaber, cloak, another 5 figures
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $59.99
Availability: November 2024
Appearances: Attack of the Clones

Bio: The Star Wars Retro Collection is inspired by the original 1970s Star Wars figures and features original figure design and detailing! Continue your collection from a galaxy far, far away. (Stolen from the marketing copy. Packaging has no bio.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

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

Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Commentary: This The Retro Collection Mace Windu in no way bad, but something about it seemed off - and it took me a while to finally just wander over to my old figures and compare him to the 1984 Anakin Skywalker and original Obi-Wan Kenobi. They're all aspiring to be very similar things, with similar levels of detail, but they're not the same - and the reason was a mix of texture and gloss! Jedi Master Windu turned out pretty well, but there are certain things that made his other figures really memorable like whites around his eyes (none here - Lando sometimes had them) and texture on his brown robes (smooth here.) Hasbro missed some opportunities for Kenner-style whimsy and fun weird mistakes, and it's a bit smoother than I would like, but it's good. And for the price, I can't complain.

This figure - and a lot of the newly-designed figures from 2024 - show signs of some evolution. On some, you're starting to see sharper details, although many look like the sculpt was put in Photoshop, selected, expanded by one pixel, and filled. Things are just the tiniest bit softer and rounder than they need to be - but the landmarks are generally good, if a little smoother than I would have loved. The robes aren't bad, but between the shine and smoothness they seem more hard and, well, "plastic" than the slightly more textured, wrinkled, and non-reflective torsos of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker from the old days. Mace Windu's barely-visible pants seem to have nailed it - the boots are also very good. The figure's torso has a shine that seemed to mostly go away by the 1980s, so I find it the slightest bit off... but I don't think any typical modern fan is going to notice or nitpick. They did a nice job, the robes look like an old figure!

His cloth robes are pretty good, and are better than a lot of modern era cloth robes. There are no robes with sleeves and a hood in the 1980s, so this garment iterates on what we got in the 2000s - and it's better! The hood sits on his head well enough. It's not perfect, but it's pretty good - which is about how good Jedi Luke's cape was back in 1983. Hasbro did a nice job on these, and as we have no real analog, all I can say is "good job."

The purple lightsaber is very similar to the one we've been getting with most new retro figures since Bespin Luke in 1980. It's been the Darksaber, and Obi-Wan's lightsaber, and many others - and now it's purple. It looks fine! It would be interesting to see a telescoping lightsaber in this line again, but so far Hasbro has completely ditched those. I think it would have been neat to do them for any stories that take place before the 1977 movie - to keep some sort of chronological toy fiction of style - but this is probably what most fans actually want.

I find the figure's head and pose to be pretty good. A lot of humans were all over the map - some looking more like their actor than others - and this one is smack dab in the middle. Does it look like Samuel L. Jackson? Sort of - but if you told me they sculpted a stunt double, I'd believe you. Han didn't look much like Harrison Ford, so a figure that seems close enough is probably the best way to go. It doesn't have to be perfect - you just need to recognize it. His pose is good too - the arms aren't bent at the elbow very much, but they do stick out to the side a bit which seems good for his cloth robes. His posture has a slight slouch forward, most of which is in his neck, taking him a step away from the very stuff poses we got on so many of the modern figures. Also notable is that this figure - like many of these figures - has hands that are better than most original Kenner figures. Mace won't drop his lightsaber - the fingers "pinch" a bit more, and that's the kind of improvement I really love to see in The Retro Collection. If Hasbro wants to fix "original" figures too, I'm all for it. Anything that makes them stand better, sit better, or play better is welcome.

Since there's a lot of wiggle room on what it means to be a true Kenner figure, and a lot of artistic and editorial choices, I would say this one is a success. It's not how I would necessarily do it, but comparing it to other Retro-style figures not made by Kenner employees in their 70s or 80s, it looks like it belongs with Hasbro's other figures when you put them all on a shelf. I'm almost disappointed they didn't make him wrong on purpose with a 1998-style blue lightsaber like we got on that first mail-away Mace Windu figure - but again, that's the kind of nonsense I would argue to do. I like it enough to say I'd recommend him if you're collecting the line, and he's a very good figure in the set that holds up well - but not perfectly - against your actual ancient figures.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Hasbro Pulse.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,216: February 18, 2025

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,208: Padmé Amidala (The Retro Collection)

PADME AMIDALA Kennerized
The Retro Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure
Item No.: No. G0371
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Blaster, cape, another 5 figures
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $59.99
Availability: November 2024
Appearances: Attack of the Clones

Bio: The Star Wars Retro Collection is inspired by the original 1970s Star Wars figures and features original figure design and detailing! Continue your collection from a galaxy far, far away. (Stolen from the marketing copy. Packaging has no bio.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

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

Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Commentary: This The Retro Collection Padme Amidala is very good - some parts almost seem to go above and beyond Kenneryness, while some - presumably as a result of digital sculpting - seem a little weird. I think the personality and pose show massive improvements over other "new" figures, but if I have to nitpick (and I do!) the boots seem off. So you should totally get this figure - and she's better than most old-style figures I see these days.

Let's start with her gear. The cape is really neat, with the elements wrapping above (and under) one another giving the figure a distinctive look I just don't see on other figures. The fuzzy white material reminds me a lot of the 1983 Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker cloak, so I would say Hasbro nailed it. It's not as bulky as the one in the movie, which is kind of amazing - when you do soft goods at this size it's incredibly difficult to make things thin and sturdy that hang well.

Her blaster is all new and more or less perfect for the format. Hasbro de-evolved the design to something simple in a light gray color that seems close to some of the older Kenner blasters. I assume if this were an actual Kenner figure, they might have just tossed her a Battle Droid blaster or an existing Squid Head blaster. This looks better than that, so kudos to Hasbro for doing a good job on something new - but I'd be just as happy with a recycled blaster, given how often Kenner did that.

But how about the figure herself? She's good. I feel like a lot of complaints fans had about Hasbro's other "new" Kenner figures were addressed well. She stands tall, but not stiffly - her back has a curve to it and her head sits forward a bit. Each arm is posed differently, with a slightly bent right arm that can hold a blaster and a mostly straight left arm that is not capable of gripping an accessory. Each arm has a silver band and is incredibly skinny - most Leia figures had arms with a little bulk on them. I think this is better than I would have expected, so nicely done Hasbro. Her torso is smooth and tight, and could probably benefit from a wrinkle or two on the front. The back has some, and the front is just a little too pristine - it doesn't look bad at all, but a little more detail would be nice.

Her legs are posed well and proportioned pretty well, again, they're thinner than we usually got in our human figures. (There were so few women it's not like we have much to compare here.) The boot coloring and proportions seem right, but the boot detail seems a little too perfect. I assume these were sculpted digitally because the straps on the back all seem to be lines that are a little too straight, a little too clean. The ones on the front are so subtle, they feel like a modern figure. Kenner was not known for subtlety, as you can see if you have legit old-school Hoth figures from 1980-1982. There were some deep, exaggerated cuts and this figure is certainly not about that sort of thing.

While her hair is a little light on sculpted detail, the paint is good, and the paint is in the right place. Hasbro did a great job with her pose and accessories, with a face that feels Kenner-appropriate and some sculpted elements that are a tiny bit overcooked - but with the cape, you probably won't even care. I doubt Hasbro will make more figures from Attack of the Clones in this format, but I hope they consider it. Three figures from a movie isn't a collection, it's not even a sneak preview wave. (We got four there!)

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Hasbro Pulse.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,208: January 21, 2025

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,201: Jango Fett (The Retro Collection)

JANGO FETT Kennerized
The Retro Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure
Item No.: No. G0371
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #341
Includes: 2 blasters, another 5 figures
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $59.99
Availability: November 2024
Appearances: Attack of the Clones

Bio: The Star Wars Retro Collection is inspired by the original 1970s Star Wars figures and features original figure design and detailing! Continue your collection from a galaxy far, far away. (Stolen from the marketing copy. Packaging has no bio.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Commentary: I'm a big fan of The Retro Collection, warts and all. Nobody's going back to 1984 to pump out more figures, but at least they're trying. Jango Fett is part of a six pack that's half Attack of the Clones and half Revenge of the Sith, with some sensible choices and some that are just going to make you mad that each prequel didn't get its own six pack. Jango Fett is probably tops of the list of characters to make in any format, and he's joined by two sensible choices - Padme Amidala and Mace Windu. (If it were up to me I'd throw in Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Count Dooku.) What's particularly interesting about Jango is that Hasbro made a 5-jointed version of him roughly a decade ago, and they're somewhat similar. I also assume the number of people who are grown-up Kenner kids who are looking at these figures and going "well, actually" while opening them up and playing with them is a vanishingly small group, and people might not even take these guys out of the 6-pack box they got in the mail. Their loss! It's a good figure.

Hasbro once again opted to make a Jango that mixes his costumes. The dent-free helmet of Kamino is here with the second silver and blue jetpack we saw on Geonosis. It's not true to the movie figures we got in the 2000s (but matches the The Vintage Collection deluxe figure) and I feel like Hasbro has a blank check to make those kinds of decisions with The Retro Collection. If they want to make a figure based on incorrect concept art colors, or with the wrong blaster? They should be encouraged to do so. (For Vintage and Black Series, accuracy matters. As a kid, Bib Fortuna had a weird twisty cane and nobody complained.)

The bulk of his costume feels like they put a typical modern design through a Kenner fun factory, with the various belts, holders, pads, vambraces, and so forth, toning down the musculature a bit and giving him a slightly more dynamic pose. What I found really odd were his holsters. Jango typically wears them with the leather straps over his thigh armor - this figure seems like they sculpted it digitally and accidentally pushed the straps behind the armor. It makes it look like his non-functional holsters are just kind of floating - you might not notice, but I did, and it's kind of weird. I almost feel like we got a figure that was near the final stage of development by accident - other than those holster straps, I think the decisions Hasbro made were really good. There aren't as many nifty details as on 1979 Boba - take a look at his quilted shoulders or the wrinkles on his arms and legs - but the armor seems right and the pose feels pretty good. His right gauntlet has recessed squares that seem deeper than the costume - those were shallower rectangles. The change is, well, "wrong" but who cares? It's Kenner, baby, getting a few details wrong is what makes them fun.

 Jango's helmet looks a lot like Boba Fett (Morak_ [FOTD #2,935], which is more or less what you want. It's a departure from the 1979 figure, but I think it fits in with the "story" Hasbro seems to be telling with these figures. Clearly Hasbro's interpretation of the future of Kenner would be that this is the new standard helmet, and I think it was probably the best choice. The sculpted details are all pretty much identical except for the dent in Boba's helmet, if you compare the backs they both have the same vent designs.

His backpack is really interesting and threw me for a bit of a loop. When I first saw it, I thought it was the original backpack with some modifications and the wrong coloring - but it's got to be the JT-12 with an elongated rocket. Sadly Hasbro dropped the vestigial retooled L/J-slot that we got on Boba Fett (Morak), but the proportions seem pretty close to what you'd have to get out of Kenner. I feel this was more of a "get it?" gag than how Kenner would have done it, but I'm probably overthinking things here. The little jets are melded with the figure's back - just like Boba - but this time they gave him some extra paint to set them apart. It's not quite right - but that's what makes it interesting.

The paint is the one place this figure really gives me pause, mostly because it's so good. Figures like Snaggletooth had duller silver paint back in the day, and this paint - while not vac-metal or a mirrored finish - is incredibly shiny. The quality of the materials is excellent, but - and I'm probably one of few fans to think this way - Hasbro should be allowed (no, encouraged) to cut corners. The original Kenner toys were dirt cheap back in the day, and it would be unusual for the company to cover the figure in so much paint, and so nicely too. The brown paint looks fine, the blue on the helmet looks good, and they did well.

Jango's twin blasters are, perhaps, a little too good - they look just like any typical modern WESTAR-34 blasters. I think most fans are going to love these, and they are the kind of thing I assume most Star Wars fanatics expect. Having said that, if they gave us gray Kea Moll/Squid Head blasters instead? I bet those would be just as easily accepted and would also be something Kenner Actual would have done.

Is he - and the set - worth it? Look, $10 per figure for six newly sculpted figures that vaguely resemble what I had as a child will always be worth it to me. Don't tell Hasbro, but I'd probably pay $15 for a new Retro figure as long as they were genuinely new without complaining. This is one of the better ones, and I will buy another if the set ever goes on sale.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Hasbro Pulse.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,201: December 26, 2024