QUINLAN VOS First Movie EditionThe Vintage Collection Basic Figures
Item No.: Asst. 37499 No. 37506
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #VC85
Includes: Lightsaber, hilt, 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's photo hole.
Commentary: With two comic book incarnations under his belt, the fact that we saw a movie Quinlan Vos was actually something of a big surprise. If you asked me who was left to do from The Phantom Menace, I wouldn't probably put the background extra-turned-Expanded Universe hero in my top 10. I was pretty happy with the Comic Pack ones, but truth is I really like this one too. As a figure with 14 points of articulation, it fits the Vintage bill and even includes those lateral hip joints the kids love so much these days. Arguably the most astonishing fact about Quinlan Vos is nobody knows the name of the actor who played him. This sort of thing was expected in the original trilogy, but Lucas' camp has been pretty good about keeping records and more importantly, autograph companies are good at ferreting out who's who in the saga. Nobody knows who he is, and there aren't many good reference shots of his costume from the movie available to the public. I can only assume Hasbro had access to something, but while I can say that this figure absolutely feels like it has an air of authenticity, I'm not sure if there's currently a good way to be sure.
Taken at face value, it's a movie-ish costume of the extra who played the character who would later become Quinlan Vos, and it's a nice figure. The lightsabers and blaster make him feel like his comic pack incarnations, plus the added articulation make him more fun to play with. The detail is good, the hair sculpt is exceptional, and the obligatory yellow stripe is a nice touch too. It looks like a movie figure, although my old crank genes make me wonder if this is "correct" in the same sense that Snaggletooth, Greedo, Hammerhead, and Walrus Man were. Based on the scrap and information available to us as fans, I can't really say that it's a bad figure. I mean, has anyone ever seen a photo of this guy standing up yet? Anyway.
Detail good. Paint good. Articulation good. Worth your money? Let's say yes. If it's authentic, $10 is a pretty good deal for the movie inspiration of the Expanded Universe's arguably most famous prequel comic character. And if it's later revealed that the costume fudges a bunch of details, I'll love it twice as much for that precise reason. I love it when the toy companies make it up as they go along.
Collector's Notes: While not a giant seller, the figure was part of the first wave of 2012, which just happened to be a new vintage 5-digit SKU (37499) which means stores treated it like a new product-- which it is-- and not just a new wave of the 2010&2011 assortment (97568) and because of that, stores bought heavily. To big box stores systems, it wasn't a refresh of the old Vintage product, but an all-new product which just happened to share numerous qualities with another product. (Hence why you Target fans will have noted it had a new DPCI.) The old Vintage case sold well, so they ordered heavy on the new one, which unfortunately was a mix we didn't jump on as collectors. Or maybe we did... wave 1 always seems to overdo production. It's sort of like having a new configuration of Kleenex boxes, if that makes sense? Anyway, Quinsy shipped in waves 1 and 2 but seemed to sell pretty well, so you might not stumble on him in your travels. As a fan of Expanded Universe figures I still like the previous two versions better, but from a purely technical level, this figure trumps them both. Warm fuzzies favor the previous releases. Oh, and I almost forgot, there's a cartoon version of Quinlan Vos too that's really cool.
--Adam Pawlus
Day 1,871: August 15, 2012
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