COBB VANTH (Mandalorian Armor)
The Vintage Collection 3 3/4-Inch Deluxe Action Figure
Item No.: No. G0301
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #343
Includes: 2 Blast Effects, 2 blasters, 1 jetpack, 1 rocket, scarf, removable armor
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $54.99
Availability: September 2024
Appearances: The Mandalorian
Bio: At one time, Mos Pelgo marshal Cobb Vanth was custodian of Boba Fett's Mandalorian armor, which he bought off of Jawa traders. (Taken from the figure's cardback.)
Image: Adam's photo lab.
Availability:
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Commentary: A few years ago I was very fond of the phrase "managing expectations," because that's generally how you make people happy. If you go to the dollar store and get an off brand soda that's not as good as the real deal, that's more or less what you expect. When you get a "kid version" of an action figure for $10 and it's missing some paint applications, that's OK - that's what you expect for a lower priced product. But when you pay $24.99 for a deluxe
The Vintage Collection figure like
Cobb Vanth, you probably expect it to be as good as (or better than) the $31.49
The Black Series Cobb Vanth [FOTD #2,903] from 2022. If this figure dropped the flame effects and were a basic $16.99 figure (or even a $19.99 figure) I'd say "hey, this is a pretty good figure!" But at $25 - a solid $8 higher than a basic figure - I expect to be put in my place and made to feel I was wrong for even considering that the price increase might not be worth it.
While this figure is good, it is not $8 more than standards of a current, normal $16.99 Hasbro figure. Those figures have gotten so fancy for the price that an upcharge demands something above and beyond, and I think all we're seeing here is a Boba Fett tax. (And no, I'm not saying "don't buy it." It's likely as good as we're ever going to get from Hasbro. But it would be nice to be able to point to a deluxe
The Vintage Collection figure without having to say "sure it costs 50% more than it should and here's where it missed the mark." I also freely admit I am very picky and would be happy with a simpler $8 figure that lacked a lot of the weathering, if only because there's a big difference between "the best figure Hasbro can make for $8" and "a pretty good figure for $25 that comes up short.")
Hasbro packaged this deluxe figure on a wider cardback. Since 1978, Kenner and much of their competition used the same 6-inch by 9-inch footprint. This one is 6 7/8-inches by 9-inches, so anyone who has handled hundreds (or thousands) of figures will realize it's bigger and therefore special - but Hasbro probably would have been better suited to slap some sort of "deluxe" sticker or alternate means of designating this is a figure worthy of a higher price to the average consumer. If you aren't a collector, you will no doubt be confused and angered by the $8 upcharge - he's not taller and he doesn't have more gear than most Mandalorian figures of this size. An unsolicited recommendation for Hasbro:
The Power of the Force trade dress, complete with coin, would get a lot of us to say "Wow, that's really fancy!" and willingly shell out an extra couple of bucks for a deluxe figure. It's special, there's a physical (cheap to manufacture) extra good in there, and it satisfies the oft-overlooked 1984-1985 style that a lot of fans really miss. Having said that - Hasbro made a nice cardback, with a good photo, a clear logo, and a bio on the back. I really would prefer some sort of "collect them all!" on the back so fans seek out more figures, but alas, that seems to be something absent from nearly all Hasbro products in 2024. I don't understand why, either, as a kid nearly every toy I bought recommended at least one (or 92) more figures I should consider next.
The figure itself has a lot going for it, and you can see that Hasbro made some use of the extra money. First up, the heads. Timothy Olyphant's face seemed a smidgen off in the 6-inch figure, which used multiple colors of paint to try to capture his graying facial hair. It looked OK, but at a smaller size it might not quite click - this time Hasbro opted for a more uniform color, and I think it worked better. The face looks more like the performer, the expression looks more natural, and while it does lose a few points in accuracy it gains a few points in personality. It's not quite as grizzled, but it feels truer to how I remember the character looking.
The helmet is very good. It doesn't have the articulated rangefinder - given the price and its importance in the show, I find that a knock against it - but it does have a lot of painted weathering and clean details. The dent is there, the yellow stripes are there, the black top of the rangefinder was also sadly
not there. At this size I'd say it's very good, but I would be curious to know if this was a budgeting issue or an oversight. Considering that this figure came out nearly three years after the 6-inch one, I was expecting something closer to perfection in the details. It's by no means bad, and if it came out back in 2022 I would applaud them for doing such a good job. Going back to managing expectations, fans expect a missed detail or two for the first figure we get for a toy, or a rush job. Since the character was introduced in 2020 with a previous figure in 2022, and it's a detail Boba Fett (and fans know Boba Fett) it's an odd one to leave off here. I admit I'm being picky - thanks to all the weathering, it wasn't something I even realized until I compared it to the previous figure.
The accessories are a little disappointing. All of them are missing paint applications. The rifle lacks any paint, and is the wrong color. The first toy was black with white wrappings around the barrel and the grip, which is pretty close to the prop. This rifle is all brown, with no paint at all. His smaller blaster pistol has no painted detail this time, and I don't think that's a big loss - but the color is incorrect. His removable rocket is missing the white paint seen on the show and previous Hasbro figure, and the jet pack is missing the stripes from the nozzles (not a huge loss), and much of the weathering and scuffing was left off. If you open and display the figure, you'll probably never even notice the missing jet pack paint - but Hasbro packaged it facing out, so mint on card collectors won't miss it.
But how is the figure itself? The sculpt is great, with a lot of color changes that may or may not be truer to the actual costume. I'm not sure. Vintage Vanth has lighter colors overall, with a little more red in the pants, slightly lighter red vambraces, and fingerless gloves - this time the skin is painted. the textures are largely great all around, but the figure has almost no paint from the waist down. His marshal badge is painted, but no silver scuffing was put on his knee pad and the boots lack the unique weathering from the show. There's even a few components on the paints that were painted on the previous figure, but not here. Clearly, they wanted the weathering on the chest - the shoulders and chest are slathered in amazing silver weathering, and that's great. The colors are good, and the armor is even (mostly) removable - it's tethered to his wrist, so you can't make an unarmored version of the character from this figure. You can get pretty close, though. The paint on his hands and forearms also turned out quite well.
Managing expectations once again, on a deluxe figure we expect a little more attention to detail - and Hasbro comes very close. The lights on the top right of his chest aren't painted red on this figure, as they are almost always skipped. Interesting, one thing I missed on The Black Series figure was that Hasbro included some red in the circle over his heart which don't seem to be present on the show or on this figure. Nice correction, Hasbro! The shoulder pads have silver weathering - that's good! - but not quite as much as the show. I think the Mythosaur is placed better on this figure than The Black Series figure, but I'm having a tough time getting a really good clear look at it. Overall, I'd say they did a nice job.
Rounding out the set are two flame jets you can plug in to the jet pack. I consider these mostly disposable. They're not bad, but if they were left out I would not have missed them. I would rather that money have gone to those red lights on the chest armor or the black rangefinder tip. I could probably scrounge some flame pieces elsewhere if I really needed them, and I assume they were included here to make it look like Hasbro was giving us more for our $25.
Back in 1999 we accepted Boss Nass that didn't match the movie and it's likely Hasbro didn't have finalized costumes. In 1979 we took Walrus Man and Greedo that were off-model, because we had no reference and, most likely, neither did Kenner - and this was after the movie. When you're making "fan" product with "fan" prices, especially when you have several years to work on a figure, it stings to see the details come out wrong. It's very close. I just hope Hasbro doesn't take another basic, regular size figure and slap it on a wider cardback for a higher price without making sure it is so good that I would feel bad for even daring to make the slightest complaint about it.
Collector's Notes: I got mine from Entertainment Earth.
--Adam Pawlus
Day 3,187: November 7, 2024
