Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,275: Moff Gideon (Dark Trooper Armor, The Vintage Collection)

MOFF GIDEON (Dark Trooper Armor)
The Vintage Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure
Item No.: Asst. E7763 No. G0916
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #368
Includes: Blast effect, electrostaff, backpack, cape, blaster
Action Feature: Blaster fits in holster
Retail: $16.99
Availability: July 2025
Appearances: The Mandalorian

Bio: Moff Gideon has constructed the next generation of Dark Trooper, made of beskar harvested from the depths of Mandalore. Unlike previous incarnations, this prototype is a battle suit Gideon wears. (Taken from the figure's cardback.)

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: My big gripes these days - and I have a bunch - tend to come in with timing and novelty. It's hard to get both, or either. I like that this Moff Gideon (Dark Trooper Armor) is a largely new and interesting figure. Sure, we got two in Epic Hero Series a year ago, but whatever. We got it. He debuted on TV 2 1/2 years ago, which is a lot later than "day and date" like we used to get with the main baddies for the movies, but it's here. That's something.

The development cycle for a figure is about 18 months, so Hasbro did take some time here. But it's very good, and I'll wait for something good. We're missing Giancarlo Esposito's face, as there is no unmasked head to be found here. We only get the helmeted head here, but this is the one I would pick because we didn't already have one. The sculpt is pretty smooth and reminds me of the show. The armor looks great and is glossy in the places you want. The red highlights look good, and I assume figures like this keep Hasbro's paint budget light.

Having said that, Hasbro didn't skimp on the details. You get some silver on the chest and belt buckle, plus not all reds are the same. The visor has a different texture to it, to simulate a transparent lit-up visor. The other reds are brighter and pop more. This is how it should be. What's more, the figure has some paint on his electrostaff. I was also impressed that we got that two-fabric thin cape like we got on Lando - it's red for the lining, and black for the back. It's as perfect as you can expect at this size in 2025.

A blast effect pops on the tip of the staff, and the blaster fits in the holster. It all works, and I was able to get some fun poses out of the figure.

There's also a removable backpack that goes through a hole in the cape, and his cape is held on by subtle elastic straps over the shoulders. Hasbro didn't skimp here, and he has a lot of articulation too. I found one of the thigh swivels a little loose but it in no way hurt my ability to pose the figure or have him standing. I'm generally pretty happy to get existing figures in new costumes, and this is no exception. I'd recommend it if you're collecting this strain of figures. Honestly I have no idea how people collect anymore - do you get them all? Are you picky? I have a hard time skipping 3 3/4-inch figures, but I've made some exceptions for metallic repaints. Hasbro delivers the goods here, and I've already got a playset where he might feel at home.

Having said that, I'd also happily buy a Retro version of this one.

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,275 September 11, 2025

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,265: Moff Gideon (single card, Epic Hero Series)

MOFF GIDEON 2024 Kids Line
Epic Hero Series Basic Figure
Item No.: Asst. F9405 No. G0144
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Cape, Electrostaff
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $7.99
Availability: July 2024
Appearances: The Mandalorian   

Bio: Clever and formidable, Imperial Moff Gideon is fiercely determined to capture the child known as Grogu. (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: I put off opening this Moff Gideon until recently because it's a lot like Moff Gideon from the 2-pack with Bo-Katan Kryze at Walmart [FOTD #3,175] from last year. The figures are the same - but the accessories were changed. (Also, the first one I got had a half-painted belt, so I left that one carded and bought another one to open later.) It's a nice figure. I'm just irritated that the 2-pack has a flame blast and a jetpack, while the 1-pack has an electrostaff, so you'll want to buy both. It's peak Just Different Enough to Make You Mad... or maybe you'll just skip it. This Gideon was also blown out at Ross last December/January for about $3, but naturally I bought mine at full price because life is unfair. The figure is still good. The design from the show matches the figure well - it's a black armored figure that looks sort of like Boba Fett painted black with Maul helmet horns and a cape. You can see that it's a pretty cheap figure deco, with a silver chest nub and belt buckle with a couple of red highlights. The pole is given some purple flourish, and it probably was a cheap figure to manufacture. Retail price was around $8, which is cheap by modern standards. He has a ball-jointed neck, plus swivel shoulders and hips. The cape connects by a peg, and fits very well.

Given the lack of a painted human head, it makes sense that the figure looks great. The armor shines in spots with some red highlights, and no eyes or eyebrows to worry about painting poorly. Sculpted details are nice, with sharp paint masks giving you a perfectly nice toy figure. What's particularly interesting was that this was the first fully-armored Gideon figure with the helmet - The Black Series was 2025, and The Vintage Collection still doesn't have one. While slightly taller than 3 3/4-inch scale figures, this 4-inch scale release does look pretty fantastic. Without a super-poseable figure against which to compare him, it looks great. It shows Hasbro can make a satisfying figure at a low price, with smooth joints and feet that don't cause the figure to topple over. It's simple, and functionally perfect.

Epic Hero Series would be a great line, if it had a little more support and were a smidgen shorter. Adult collectors poo-poo kid stuff, but I think they're wrong to do that here. This is a good product, but a small slice of adult fans online would rather pay more for articulation they probably won't use. I understand why - but I feel it's costing the larger market of kids and impulse-buyers entry-level lines. Epic has been running almost two years and is still quite small, with a disjointed array of characters that don't all play well together. They're still well-made, and not a bad line to get and bounce off since it won't take up your whole house. Even with all the vehicles, you wouldn't fill an IKEA cabinet (so far, anyway.)

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,265: August 7, 2025

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,175: Moff Gideon (Walmart Exclusive 2-Pack, Epic Hero Series)

MOFF GIDEON | Bo-Katan Kryze
Epic Hero Series Deluxe Walmart Exclusive Figure 2-Pack
Item No.: No. F9376
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Fire gauntlet, Cape, 2 jetpacks, Darksaber
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $19.84
Availability: August 2024
Appearances: The Mandalorian   

Bio: Imperial Moff Gideon once wielded the the ancient Darksaber, an artifact of great importance to Mandalorians. (Taken from the packaging)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Walmart now!

Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Commentary: You should give this figure a look. Unlike the Maul set, you get your money's worth in the Moff Gideon & Bo-Katan Kryze 2-pack - more so if you didn't buy the single figures. Each figure has different accessories in the vein of "just different enough to make you mad," but I'm willing to play ball because I like the format enough. The Gideon figure and his cape are the same as the single-carded release, but Hasbro dropped the staff in favor of a new backpack and a repainted gauntlet with a flame shooting out of it - which you've already seen with Boba Fett and Paz Vizsla. Which version should you get? It's all about the accessories, and if this one goes on clearance (and I bet it will) I'd favor what's cheapest. 

For those who don't want to read the whole thing, Walmart's main selling point on the exclusive?  Backpack.  Flamethrower.

We'll look at the single version soon, but I'm stating with this one because it was a surprise. Hasbro never announced it, which is a pity given it's the first figure they made of this figure in this outfit - it's of interest to collectors. It's a new figure sculpt, and it's pretty close to what you saw on the show. His armor isn't as glossy, and the lights on the TV show chest are missing. Other than that, it's pretty much what you expect out of a toy action figure - black armor, red trim. There's not a ton of detail on the show model, so it translates nicely to the toy with a slightly brighter color of red for his various highlights. He has five points of articulation and various connection points to bolt on a backpack, his cape, or a flamethrower. He has no traditional weapons, but you can bolt on that flamethrower and it fits nicely. You also have to choose between an exclusive-to-this-set jet pack, or his cape. They fit in the hole nicely, and as I write this Gideon has the jetpack and Maul has the cape. It's a really good cape with red lining that stays on nicely, and the jetpack sticks well too.

There aren't a ton of amazing flourishes here, but there are some. His jetpack has paint on the underside, with blue vents and holes where you could connect some sort of flames if they existed. Maybe you can 3-D print some and share your files with the rest of the class. The figure also has a blaster in his holster, but it isn't removable. It's just a nice detail, along with darts in his kneepads and vertical stitches in his pants that are a lot like Darth Vader's. Star Wars has a stock look for its bad guys - black, red, and probably obscured in the face - and this is no exception. The figure can't have the kinds of texture you see on the TV show at this price point, but I think Hasbro made something that is a satisfying release for what amounts to a glorified bureaucrat cosplaying as the king of the natives of a planet he was sent to administer earlier in his career. His helmet has little crown points and everything - it's very silly when you think about it, but the kind of man that sets up his base in a hole on a supposedly abandoned planet instead of one with a decent restaurant or a place to get pants is clearly not a serious man.

Given Hasbro has already produced The Mandalorian, Grogu, Bo-Katan Kryze, Ahsoka Tano, and Luke Skywalker, it would be nice to see them continue The Mandalorian cast in this format. And I mean any weird alien, any guest star. I'd love a Kenner-ized Cobb Vanth or IG-12. It would be a hoot to see those ramshackle Stormtroopers or Frog Lady. These are generally very nice figures for the price.

I wouldn't mind if Hasbro just ditched Vintage and made Epic Hero Series figures the new standard - provided they could shave them down from 4-inches to 3 3/4-inches at that time. I like this figure because he looks good, can use his gear, and remain standing. His legs swing forward fairly well and if Hasbro made vehicles for him, he'd probably fit like a champ. If there's a The Vintage Collection version of this costume I have no doubts it will have perfect deco, an alternate head, and amazing articulation - but it doesn't exist. Instead we have this guy for $8-$10ish, depending on which version you buy. I opened this one first and I think he turned out well enough. I'd recommend it, if only because I believe that this sub-line (which I hope lasts) is a great way to collect the characters in a non-fragile format at a price that doesn't make my wallet just sigh heavily and shake its head. I hate re-buying characters at $20... but $10? Or under $10? I can live with that.

Collector's Notes: I got mine fromWalmart. As Walmart exclusive toys for kids tend to be made in pretty big numbers, and in this case is shipping to even the smaller Walmarts (but not grocery stores), you'll probably have no problems finding this set.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,175: September 26, 2024

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,036: Moff Gideon (Mission Fleet)

MOFF GIDEON (with Outland TIE Fighter)
Mission Fleet Stellar Class Vehicle & 2 1/2-Inch Figure
Item No.: Asst. E9342 No. F1137
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Cape, pistol, Darksaber, E-Web laser cannon, projectile, TIE Fighter
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $19.99
Availability: September 2021
Appearances: The Mandaloian

Bio: Imperial Moff Gideon is fiercely determined to capture The Child, known as Grogu. (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: You probably already breezed past this, but I bought Moff Gideon and the Outland TIE Fighter on extreme clearance at a Burlington Coat Factory last month. I'm hesitant to collect any new scale, but I'm a fiend for clearances and I love toy vehicles - so I tried it. And it's really good. If Hasbro made this exact toy, but maybe twice as big (at twice the price) and scaled for 3 3/4-inch figures I think you'd all absolutely love it. Because it's smaller - not Action Fleet small, but close - it was easy to skip, despite being a surprisingly well-made vehicle with a well-made figure. I just don't want to collect yet another line of squat, big-headed figures that is probably, ultimately, going to be pretty shallow as these things go. It's a good package - it's just not a size that older fans were already buying. Had Hasbro slapped this in a Retro box at twice the size and price, they couldn't keep it on the shelves. It's very good.

The Moff Gideon figure is good, and if you got this quality and articulation at 3 3/4-inches you'd be happy. The shoulders have the bend-and-swivel lateral movement, each leg is jointed at the hip, the wrists swivel, and the ball-jointed head turns. It's good, it's efficient. The cape fits on with a peg, with good detailing and decent paint. Everything is clean. Gideon's face has just enough detail to look like Giancarlo Esposito, complete with mustache. You can see the smile lines, there are wrinkles in his forehead, and his eyes perfectly capture his personality on the show. It's clearly a toy with big hands, an enlarged head, squat proportions, and oversized feet, but it's stable. It's sturdy. It looks good - nobody took shortcuts here. I'm sure if anyone at Hasbro is reading this they're rolling their eyes, but I really do think old-school fans - even Vintage collectors - would probably appreciate a kid's line made with this attention to detail... at four inches tall.

His accessories include an E-Web cannon, a Darksaber, and a blaster. I love the sword's white border, and I think it's one of the better looking Hasbro figure accessories. The blaster is nothing particularly special - good sculpt, good size, fits in the hand. Everything here works well, including the E-Web Cannon. Gideon can hold it to shoot things, or you can take it off the two-part tripod and mount it in any of three places on the included TIE Fighter vehicle. It's fun - this is a great play feature that probably would've been awesome to have on 3 3/4-inch scale toys, provided collectors didn't complain about them.

The Outland TIE Fighter itself is also excellent. With wings only 6-inches tall it's not exactly big, but it feels good in your hands and it might make you nostalgic for when Hasbro used to make new toy vehicles at bigger sizes. That's part of what kept me on board for so long - cool ships are fun to play with, and this one gets the job done. The top hatch opens to seat one figure (without cape), the wings pop in place and stay put nicely. Each wing also folds down like on The Mandalorian, which I believe is unique to this toy. The blue/gray coloring is sharp, the black solar panels have lots of detail, and you get little laser emitters under the window. I feel like the last time I was this happy with a toy Hasbro vehicle was for Rebels, so if Hasbro is taking notes I'd gladly pay $40ish for a bigger toy with these features - figure or no. If you see it cheap, I'd recommend it highly, even if you're not buying any new scales either. It's a good one-off.

Folding the wings down can be a little sticky - they don't necessarily want to fold the first time. A geared mechanism on each wing to go down smoothly would have been awesome, but for all I know there's some physics reason to not do that. At least you get a decent looking vehicle at a perfectly reasonable (clearance) price, and as much as I'd love to go back and fill in the ships I missed I don't think I want to spend hundreds of dollars right now. But hey, Hasbro can still make a good Star Wars vehicle toy when they want to, sadly it's just not at the size most older collectors would want. And if they did them in a bigger size, I assume kids and parents might be put off by the price. But I'd love to see what they could do, if they wanted.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Burlington Coat Factory for $4.49.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,036: June 8, 2023

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,821: Moff Gideon (The Retro Collection)

MOFF GIDEON Kenner Style
The Retro Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure
Item No.: Asst. F0937 No. F2024
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Darksaber, blaster, vinyl cape
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $9.99
Availability: April 2021
Appearances: The Mandalorian

Bio: Gideon was a human male who served as an officer in the Imperial Security Bureau, a law enforcement and intelligence agency of the Galactic Empire. (Stolen from Wookieepedia. 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!

Commentary: If you're old - and I'm old - Moff Gideon makes for a curious design case. When I first heard The Mandalorian would get retro figures, I assumed they would take design cues from The Power of the Force, Ewoks, and Droids lines - that is to say, cloth capes. Kenner replaced the Jawa's vinyl cape with cloth before the end of the 1970s, and new figures after 1981 were all cloth all the time until the line's first demise. Seeing a figure like Moff Gideon - with a vinyl cape and a Bespin/Jedi/Snowspeeder Luke-style lightsaber, it's a weird trippy choice. Of course, it would make little sense to give him the telescoping lightsaber, because you would be unable to give it to Mando. And you will no doubt want to do that at some point.

Seemingly a demake of the surprisingly good Moff Gideon (The Vintage Collection) [FOTD #2,773], you can see that it seemed they just took that design and rolled it back. (But not a lot.) The original Kenner Darth Vader was almost completely unpainted except for his chest panel buttons, whereas Gideon sports red stripes on his belt and sleeves too. He has grey and black paint on his face - the mustache is a nice touch - which is unusual, but not unheard-of. For example, some releases of Lando had both black and white paint on his face - but most humans had their facial details all painted in one color. I appreciate the extra pennies spent on paint, and while the silver buttons and belt buckle also look nice - are they too nice? Darth Vader's were usually a cruddy white paint, and that sounds truer to what was truly vintage/retro/what we had when Star Wars was still new.

Sculpted detail is a little soft, which is odd because some of those old Kenner figures have incredibly sharp sculpting. It may not have the authentic detail of today, but there are some superbly crisp lines and ridges on those 1978-1985 releases. Hasbro's new "retro" guys are a bit duller, which gets the point across but isn't necessarily true to what was real. Maybe it's intentional. Maybe it isn't. At least Gideon can still stand, sit, and hold his gear. His head has a decent likeness too, even if the head does have a little paint slop. I don't like the paint slop. But whatever.

In addition to the removable cape, he also has a blaster and a Darksaber. The Darksaber is the 1980s-style Luke lightsaber, now cast in a barely-translucent grey plastic to simulate the weird dark blade you've seen on the streaming screen. This is exactly the kind of thing Kenner would have done in the 1980s - they use the same weapon design over and over, rarely (or barely) every changing it. They could have done an all-new design that's truer to the show, but phoning it in a bit is appropriate. Meanwhile, they gave Gideon an all-new blaster pistol. Good for them. I would have happily accepted them just throwing in whatever blaster they had handy, because Kenner was also fond of handing out "Bespin" blasters, Han's blaster, or a Stormtrooper blaster to dang near everybody. You could've got Jedi Luke's blaster here and you'd be fine with it. What I really wish is that we got a cloth cape like Lando Calrissian (General Pilot), but the Darth Vader-esque vinyl cape works well here. I still don't think it clicks with Mando, but Gideon and Greef Karga can rock a slab of vinyl like nobody else.

The good thing - or bad thing - about this kind of figure is it might cause some fans to revisit what they collect, and why. I've certainly become disillusioned with completism after decades thanks to things like carbonized figures, credit collection, gold figures, and holiday figures making me shrug once I open them... or skip them, as the case has been lately. (Yeah, you're not going to see reviews of everything here anymore. The repaint exclusives in the 6-inch line and gold figures broke me.) The Kenner-style figures have proven to be lots of fun for me - I assume younger fans will love displaying them on their cards, while I ran back to pick up the AST-5, CAP-2, INT-4, Imperial Sniper, and other Mini-Rigs and had myself a fun little time playing with all of these guys. Sure, the foot pegs don't quite fit, but at least most vehicles don't require them. If Hasbro expanded its Kenner offering, I could see reconsidering what I buy going forward. I opened up the Best Buy Black Series Qui-Gon Jinn the other day (review a-coming) and while it is better than the last release, it brings me absolutely no joy. Retro Fake Kenner Gideon is a delight - he can hang out with Uncle Gundy and Jann Tosh and everybody, it'll be a good time. Just you see. And it's OK if you don't agree. You can buy 6-inch or 3 3/4-inch super-articulated Gideons if you prefer. I like this one best.

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,821: June 1, 2021

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,773: Moff Gideon (The Vintage Collection)

MOFF GIDEON Debut
The Vintage Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure
Item No.: Asst. E7763 No. F1094
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #178
Includes: Darksaber, cape, blaster
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $12.99
Availability: December 2020
Appearances: The Mandalorian
Bio: Gideon was a human male who served as an officer in the Imperial Security Bureau, a law enforcement and intelligence agency of the Galactic Empire. (Stolen from Wookieepedia. There is 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!

Commentary: This figure's release was inevitable, but how Hasbro would execute Moff Gideon was up for grabs. Pre Vizsla got a Darksaber in 2010, and it was clear - this is an opaque weapon with white stripes. He also has a blaster and a cape, plus one of the very best heads I've seen on a figure this size - arguably tied with the 2020 rerelease of General Hux. Hasbro nailed this one in almost every respect - the leg articulation could be better (if there's ever a new TIE Fighter for him) and I'd have liked the weapon to look different. But otherwise? Dynamite. If he's going to stand around or remain carded, this is one of the very best action figures you can buy.

If there's a reason behind his costume, I don't know what it is - along with Werner Herzog's The Client, I just assume that high-ranking officials are just hiring their own tailors now. Most Generals and Moffs wore similar garments, plus or minus hats and capes. Gideon seems to be pulling from a number of sources, with a chest plate that recalls Darth Vader and a TIE Fighter Pilot, with red "ace" striping and a startling quantity of black and red that seems to foretell the rise of the First Order. (And if his experiments have to do anything with the Emperor or Snoke, that would make sense.) The figure itself is a mix of shiny and glossy, with a great range of articulation and no problems holding his lightsaber. The tiny blaster fits right in the holster, too. The red trim is gorgeous, and there are little dots on his outfit that they could have left off and you probably wouldn't have missed. The red cape trim is also a nice touch - this isn't a figure where you can see a lot of shortcuts. You get your money's worth here.

Gideon's head is amazing. The wrinkles, the mustache, the eyes, the paint - even the hair is good. It's amazing just how far we've come, and it's my hope that we see them apply this level if craziness to more of the legacy characters too. And if they don't, at least we'll be assured that every new release will look - at worst - spectacular. I hope they sent Giancarlo Esposito one and I hope they also sent him some other figures just so they can see how much better his is.

The cape plugs into the back like a G.I. Joe, and overall this is a pretty good figure. It's stable, the ankle joints are good, he doesn't seem too wobbly on my desk while I type this either. I don't have to fight to find his center of gravity. Hasbro should be applauded here, this is an excellent figure and continued proof that when Hasbro does an all-new figure and keeps refining these figures, what we get is better and well worth the increased price creep. (But only on new one. Reruns... just make new ones.)

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,773: January 28, 2021