Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,896: Captain Cassian Andor (The Black Series)

CAPTAIN CASSIAN ANDOR Second Edition
The Black Series 2020 Line Look Green Rogue One: A Star War Story Packaging
Item No.: No. F2890
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #02 - Rogue One: A Star War Story
Includes: Blaster, front end of rifle, back end of rifle
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $22.99
Availability: December 2021
Appearances: Rogue One: A Star War Story

Bio: An accomplished Alliance Intelligence officer with combat field experience, Captain Cassian Andor commands respect from his Rebel troops with his ability to keep a cool head under fire and complete his missions with minimal resources. (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!

Commentary: When The Black Series first started, the figures were considered pretty good. The heads looked sharp! But by the time Rogue One came out, some of the new heads looked... OK. You can tell the sculpt was good, but the paint job didn't necessarily deliver the goods - some were better than others. This Captain Cassian Andor (2021 rerelease) is an example of one that finally nailed it. Looking at the Target exclusive 2016 3-pack release... just throw it in the trash. It's dead to you now. You can see the sculpted stubble with a brown line painted over part of it, and it looks like garbage. The 2016 figure's body was perfectly good, and the sculpting job was perfectly good, Captain Cassian Andor [FOTD #2,319] turned out to be a poor deco job of a good figure. I wrote "I dislike the head. It looks like the sculpt might actually be pretty good, but the iffy plastic, terrible facial hair, and not as good as they could be eyes bring it down."

The new figure is less pasty, has more lively eyes, and the facial hair actually looks like the actor. It's good! It's amazing to think it's the same sculpt, and just a few pennies of paint transforms it into something that's really, really good for $23. It's not Hot Toys good, but it's probably one of the very best human heads I've ever seen at this price point.

As to the body, it's 2016 chic - the arm joints don't have quite the range we have today, the double-jointed knees are pretty good, and the hips have an excellent range of motion for the time. The costume itself is fundamentally the same paint job we got last time, so if you like the original portrait there's no need to upgrade. (The figure. Your sense of aesthetics would have to be truly broken if you can't see how much better version 2.0 is.)

The 3-part gun is great - you get a pistol that fits in the holster, and two pieces to slap on it to make a sniper rifle. It's fun and easy and it works. Not only does it fit in the holster with no fuss, but assembling the "super mode" is easy.

If you missed the first release, this is essential - skip the original. If you have the original release, go ahead and take your comparison photo and sell or give away the 2016 release. It's trash. I didn't think I'd really like these photoreal upgrades - I really rolled my eyes when K-2SO showed up in the mail and the first announcements left me shrugging - but dang if Jyn and Cassian didn't turn out to be some of Hasbro's very best work and upgrades that are actually worth the money. (Haven't got Baze as of my writing this, Chirrut is not bad.)

I skipped Hasbro Pulse's Luke and Han upgrades on 1995 The Power of the Force cardbacks so far, but now I'm wondering if I should give them a look. $27 per seemed too steep for me, but if you got any hi-res head shots to look at I'm all ears. But I digress. Go buy the Andor upgrade.

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,896: February 3, 2022