Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,605: Porgs (Batuu, The Black Series 6-Inch)

PORGS (Batuu, Smuggler's Run)
Galaxy's Edge The Black Series 6-Inch Figure Disney Park Exclusive
Item No.: No. E5159
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #n/a
Includes: Chewbacca with Bowcaster, Rey with Blaster and Staff and Lightsaber, Hondo Ohnaka with Blaster
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $69.99
Availability: June 2019
Appearances: Galaxy's Edge

Bio: Small, flat-muzzled avians that flock about the rocks and roost in the cliffs of Ahch-To island, porgs are inquisitive creatures. (Taken from the figure's packaging.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability:  Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Commentary:  Porgs are popular, and also hated.  It's a rare combo platter, making them somewhat like the Ewoks in that you have fans that can't understand why anybody loves them as well as fans that think they're just great.  At 1-inch tall, each tiny Porg is almost more of an accessory than a figure in its own right - but Hasbro sold a 2-pack in 2018 for about $6, so we're going to treat them like a unique product for the purposes of this review.

They're new! I was surprised.  At first glance I assumed they just were the standing Porg from earlier, but each body is a new casting.   There's a Screaming Porg and a Sad Porg, leaving the door open for other variants like Geordi LaPorg and BBQ Porgs in the future.  Each figure is built around the existing template - ball-jointed wings and swivel legs on a round, rotund feathered body. They're small, they're cute, and they're painted very differently than the 2018 versions.  The brown/orange feathers are much paler this time, but the brown is a pretty close match as are the other colors.

Deco is impressive - the eyes can be a little off, so examine them before you buy them if you're worried.  It's not obvious, but the closed-mouth Porg is the "Sad Porg" that gives Chewbacca a guilt trip at dinner time.  You can see the exaggerated, pouty lower lip and the sad drop-shaped eyes. A little outline around the eyes may make it more obvious, as I completely missed it when I first got the set.

Screaming Porg is pretty much perfect - the mouth is open, painted, and yelling.    The eyes are wide and the tongue protrudes a tiny bit, giving you a very cute, very personable bird-like entity.  They all have pink feet with painted webbed claws, and are probably - probably - worth the overall asking price if you want the other figures in the set. 

You get 3 $20 figures and 1 $6 2-pack in a box.  $26 of the product is inarguably good enough and new enough to be worth it, with the other $40 being just different enough to make you mad (or very exciting if you missed it the first time.)   I begrudgingly recommend the set just because Hasbro did actually go through the trouble to change stuff up enough so that you can tell them apart from previous runs, which is admittedly not a high bar but it's nice for us collector people.   If the package inspired you, get it.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from my pal Shannon who went to Disneyland's Galaxy's Edge last month.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,605: July 23, 2019