Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,912: R1 (The Mandalorian Droid Factory Set)

R1 Robot Cop
Droid Factory The Mandalorian Boxed Set
Item No.: No. n/a
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: Stand, 3 more droid figures
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $44.99
Availability: December 2021
Appearances: The Mandalorian

Bio: All different types of Astromech droids populate the Star Wars galaxy. Each droid is different and has their own unique personality and colors. These four are featured in Star Wars: The Mandalorian. This is the way... for you and your Droids! (Taken from the figure's packaging.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Commentary: The Mandalorian and his crew roughed up some New Republic R1 droids in the first season of the show, and unfortunately the boxed set will not make it conducive to army-build this one. While incredibly similar to other R1 droid figures, each part seems to have new tooling so despite appearances it's not just an old droid with a few new greeblies. It's a new droid.

It's pretty good, but the colors seem off - the gray is too light, the eye doesn't seem blue enough, the yellow pinstripes and New Republic symbols seem a little pale. The general shape seems spot-on, and you can rotate the head and the, uh, secondary head. (It's a distinctive shape down there.) Thanks to the lack of jointed limbs, the figure is basically an accessory - it can stand around and turn the head, and that's about it. If you like what you see, that's the figure.

I can't say I'm overly impressed by this one, but the form factor is correct and the colors could be improved a bit. It's fine, but it's not great. "Fine" works for figures that are made before the show airs, or from unfinished reference files, but they had a couple of years to get this one right and the colors just feel off. It should look fine on a shelf of robots, and if Hasbro or Disney ever build out the crew from the jailbreak episode you'll undoubtedly want more R1 droids. This figure might be worth getting to future-proof your display, but the set is off-model in enough ways that some may want to wait for a better version later. I am hesitant to believe that day will ever come unless a lot of people at Hasbro, Disney, and Lucasfilm get rotated off these brands and bring a new direction to the line, so get this one and enjoy it. It's a lot better than nothing.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from my pal Shannon. Thanks, Shannon!

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,912: March 31, 2022

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,911: ARC Trooper Captain (The Vintage Collection)

ARC TROOPER CAPTAIN Now with Less Gear
The Vintage Collection Walmart Exclusive
Item No.: No. F3116
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #213
Includes: Helmet, 2 blasters
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $13.47
Availability: March 2022
Appearances: Clone Wars
Bio: A prestigious promotion from clone trooper, the rank of ARC Trooper can be earned through proving oneself in battle. (Taken from the web site. There is no packaging copy.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Commentary: While some may mistake this ARC Trooper Captain for a new retool, it's a 2011 figure with less gear. The original release had a figure painted up to match Fordo in his Phase II armor, but the figure was tricked out with Phase I and Phase II accessories - you really got your money's worth! This 2022 release drops all Phase II gear, and Phase II deco. And it costs more. Progress?

Like most The Vintage Collection figures, it looks good yet shows signs of age. The original mold was used back in 2011, which is 11 years ago, which means more time elapsed between this figure's first (underserved) release and this reissue than passed between Kenner's final vintage-era Ewoks and Droids figures in 1985 and the relaunch of The Power of the Force in 1995. That's a long time. That means that articulation has improved significantly since this once-gold-standard mold was released, so we don't have things like thigh swivels or some of the recent excellent hip joints. He'll stand, but the legs don't move quite as well as you might want, nor do the shoulders swing out particularly well as aesthetics were prioritized over functionality in that era. But he looks good. Especially if you don't open him.

A "photoreal" face with a fauxhawk sits under the helmet, which has been painted exceedingly well with bold black lines resembling the 2003-2005 Cartoon Network series. The white rangefinder looks great, and the red stripe matches the pauldron and the largely corrected red armor markings. If you want a first-appearance Fordo figure, this one is excellent if you can get it. The white is bright, the red is vibrant, and right now everything seems to match nicely. Just don't expect this figure to do much sitting, despite the cloth kama. It's a good design, but for whatever reason sitting just wasn't a priority for a good long time.

If you can find it I recommend it - even if you have the 2011 ARC Trooper Captain. You should leave that one in "Phase II" armor with the other helmet and bandolier, and leave this one with the Phase I gear as shown, and you'll be happy to have both. It's a compelling reason to buy both figures - pending availability - and I hope Hasbro made enough of this guy to go around. He'll make a lot of people angry, provided you can actually get your grubby mitts on one somehow.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Walmart. I missed the pre-order and lucked into finding it online in stock.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,911: March 29, 2022

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,910: B5-SL

B5-SL Mystery Crate
Droid Factory Single Droid Action Figure
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: Crate package/stand
Action Feature: Comes apart
Retail: $14.99
Availability: January 2022
Appearances: Galaxy's Edge

 
Bio: B5-SL was a BB-series astromech droid with a black sensor and blue and brown paneling. Like all BB-series units manufactured by Industrial Automaton, it stood 0.67 meters tall. During First Order's occupation of the planet Batuu in 34 ABY, B5-SL spent time in a caged area of the Droid Depot in Batuu's Black Spire Outpost while the depot's owner, Mubo, ran a diagnostic scan on the droid. (Stolen from Wookieepedia. Packaging has no copy and no Star Wars logo.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Weight in sealed package: 110 grams.

Commentary: With a tough to read name sticker, B5-SL is a blue BB-8 redeco. Is it worth $15? No. But you know what droid completism is like. Or at least you used to, there are probably five or so you don't have and can't get at the very least thanks to Disney making some of these guys impossible to get. This one is just absurdly difficult to get, so I begrudgingly suggest it's worth getting.

In 2020 Hasbro put out some swell droid 2-packs for $10, including a blue BB-9E redeco that was pretty nice - for that reason, I can't say this is a great deal. But it is a nice figure, with lots of dirty grime over the blue and coloring that recalls a faded, buried old R2-D2 action figure. Our roly-poly blue buddy has a big blue eye I absolutely love, plus silver highlights that mostly match the theme park robot. You'll notice some panels and elements that don't quite match... which is a shame, given there was no shortage of available reference material. The figure uses the heavier Disney body with the heavy weighted ball inside the 2-part shell, with a dome on top complete with hat hole. You know what to expect here.

The figure's value is entirely placed on deco. If you want more droids in various colors, it's worthwhile because there aren't any others that look quite like him. The dirty wash looks great, the blues may remind you of well-loved and faded pants, plus the big blue eye is a distinctive change from the usually black orb. I like the blue band around the top and the blue 5 o'clock shadow around the face too. It's just a cute little guy.

I am glad this figure exists, but I would rather it be in a gift set or in some non-concealed packaging so you could get one if you want one. It's kind of cruel to do at a theme park, but at least if you get one you can go home happy knowing you don't have a similar or identical droid at home. You can, however, be angry Hasbro didn't make it in a 2 for $10 bundle at Target. It is what it is, and it's OK enough to not get too fussy about either way. The last few years have been a repaint-heavy market for Hasbro and Disney in this scale, so let your love of color be your guide as to if your wallet gets opened or not.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Shannon who got them from Disneyland. Thanks Shannon!

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,910: March 24, 2022

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,909: MA-13

MA-13 Stygian Droid
Droid Factory The Mandalorian Boxed Set
Item No.: No. n/a
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: Oar, 3 more droid figures
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $44.99
Availability: December 2021
Appearances: The Mandalorian

Bio: All different types of Astromech droids populate the Star Wars galaxy. Each droid is different and has their own unique personality and colors. These four are featured in Star Wars: The Mandalorian. This is the way... for you and your Droids! (Taken from the figure's packaging.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Commentary: It has a lot of new parts, but isn't as good as you might want. MA-13 takes the existing droid dome and body, and adds new arms, a new neck, a new lower torso, and legs. It's impressive! It's just not very accurate, and the parts could be better. For people who display figures and don't touch them much, you'll probably love this. If you want something that holds together and is perfect, this ain't it.

Due to the lighting I assumed the dome was silver, but assuming the cream dome with orange panels are right, it's still undercooked. The burn marks are missing, the light under the eye is absent, the two rectangles on the right side of the dome aren't the right color, and there's no silver equator under the dome either - and one could have been added, thanks to the newly-sculpted neck extender. I realize this probably sounds petty, but when you're buying a $45 officially licensed product, it should have more deco than a custom some fan made. If Hasbro wanted to do one, they've got ample reason to try to make something better.

Reusing the droid body makes sense for budget reasons, and it has a lot of good hooks on it to build out the droid. The torso is the same as you've seen for years, with the arms plugging in where the limbs usually go and the lower torso plugging in where leg #3 goes. They did a good job reusing existing parts, but again, the deco is a little soft given the lack of burn marks. As an all-new droid, this is a good design - but what we saw was a rustbucket, and it would have been nice to see the paint reflect it. Similarly, the newly-tooled limbs lack some of the deco seen on the episode, but odds are nobody will notice - or maybe it was a truck of the light. But either way, the missing bands of beige on the shoulder and hips is apparent. Will most fans notice? Probably not.

The new limbs are loaded with articulation, but they also pop apart in spots pretty easily - while getting MA-13 to pose for photos, the smaller arms popped apart at the elbow. The arm assemblies aren't terribly sturdy when mounted to the body, either, so this is less of a toy and more of a collectible you'll need to carefully pose, and I assume the experience won't leave you wanting to play with him very much. Given the demands of adult collectors, I think Disney did a good job delivering things like bend-and-swivel knees and elbows, and charged accordingly. They didn't skimp. Did this droid need articulated ankles? No, but they're here. Given that I find it unlikely we'll see this particular droid build used very often, it's appreciated even though it's not entirely as sturdy as I would like for a souvenir pack I assume will be bought by kids as well as adults. He can stand, he holds his oar, and you can put him in wacky fighting poses if you want. Maybe they'll reuse him for a lightsaber training droid some day. All I can say is the sculptors and designers seem to have done their work, just be ready to lose a limb once or twice if you aren't careful.

It's a good effort, but not good enough to be perfect - the burn marks are missing, the arms aren't quite the right color, and the limbs pop off or apart pretty easily. If Hasbro remade the figure with better limbs and better paint for $20, I'd buy it. If there's never a better version, this is pretty good - but I would nudge you to version 2.0 if/when it comes to exist. Until then, droid fans will no doubt want it just because it's a cool, weird design even if it falls short of being an authentic recreation of what you saw in the small lava-strewn screen.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from my pal Shannon. Thanks, Shannon!

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,909: March 22, 2022

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,908: N0-AH

N0-AH New Dome
Droid Factory The Mandalorian Boxed Set
Item No.: No. n/a
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: 3 more droid figures
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $44.99
Availability: December 2021
Appearances: The Mandalorian

Bio: All different types of Astromech droids populate the Star Wars galaxy. Each droid is different and has their own unique personality and colors. These four are featured in Star Wars: The Mandalorian. This is the way... for you and your Droids! (Taken from the figure's packaging.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Commentary: New parts! N0-AH appeared in the second season of The Mandalorian as some junk the Jawas picked up. Why is this one named that? I have no idea - but I do know the dome shares parts with a Disney Galactic Starcruiser-exclusive figure, while the body with the restraining bolt was used on another droid a few years ago. I like this one. I don't even remember seeing him in the episode, I just like it.

The new dome is the highlight, with teal plastic and a light paint wipe that brings out the dome's many details. I'm not super familiar with the new design as of my writing this, so I love it and assume it's accurate. The orange "face" looks great, the recessed eye is a good look, and a few panels around the sides and back look designed to be removed for other plug-in bits down the road. Neat! There's a darker teal band around the neck and the top of the dome too, plus other painted grime, vents, and other details. It's so nice to have a new dome, it makes it easy to recommend this set to any droid fanatic. (A similar dome with a different body was also used in Solo: A Star Wars Story.

The body matches the few photos I've seen. It's the standard legs with a more-or-less standard body, complete with restraining bolt. There's orange detail on the chest along with tons of teal panels, plus a lot of subtle weathering all over the white parts. If you collect droids, you can tell that it's different enough to be interesting... but it's also Yet Another Droid in a line where completism is nigh-impossible even if you've been paying attention since the beginning. I should note, the shoulders of the droid in The Mandalorian (visible when Cobb Vanth said "they offered their finest in exchange") has silver prongs on them which the figure lacks, most likely due to reusing parts from another droid. Since Disney and toymakers generally don't like to tool new parts unless they're forced to do so, you get smooth shoulders here.

I like this figure! It looks like a weird retro appliance you could find at Space Sears before I was born. Other than the black eye being a bit off-center, it's a well-made figure and you'd be happy to blow $13 or so on it. It's part of a $45 set with 3 other very compelling droids, so I'd say just get it if your budget allows.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from my pal Shannon. Thanks, Shannon!

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,908: March 17, 2022

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,907: Bodhi Rook (The Black Series)

BODHI ROOK Now Available in Large
The Black Series 2020 Line Look Green Rogue One: A Star War Story Packaging
Item No.: No. F2888
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #06 - Rogue One: A Star War Story
Includes: Blaster, backpack with removable cover and retractable cable
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $22.99
Availability: December 2021
Appearances: Rogue One: A Star War Story

Bio: A former Imperial pilot, Bodhi has strong piloting and technical skills that he will put to use for the Rebellion. Ever practical, but highly anxious, Bodhi must gather his courage to bring the battle to the Empire. (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: Part of a fifth anniversary mini-line for Rogue One, Bodhi Rook brings another member of the cast to figure form, finally! Most of the major players now exist as 6-inch action figures, and this one has the added benefit of using a uniform that's probably pretty easy to retool to make other characters like an AT-ST Driver down the road. (We'll see next year, I guess, given it's the 40th anniversary of Return of the Jedi.)

For the money, it's a good figure. You get a 6-inch Riz Ahmed with goggles stuck to his head - and he looks great. The uniform is pretty generic, but true to the movie. Hasbro put in deep elbow cuts which give the pilot excellent range of movement, and there are a lot of painted elements on his vest and sleeves. He can stand, he can sit, the legs swing forward nicely, and everything works as well as you might hope. I wish I could say the figure surprised me, but on the whole collector figures can't/won't innovate - they meet expectations, or they're despised. This one meets expectations, giving you everything you might expect without challenging you with too many bonus features.

Bodhi does, however, have something you can play with. The removable backpack has a ripe in it, and you can retract the cable from the movie's climax up in there. The lid comes off so you can re-wind it, as there's no spring-loaded mechanism or other special parts. It's finger-powered. It looks good, but not particularly ornate. It's brown... beautiful brown. Bodhi also includes a blaster, cast in a somewhat light grey color that looks more like a figure accessory than a movie prop. Some paint, or a darker color of plastic, would have done wonders to make it great. As it is, it's good. Bodhi's accessories are largely better than most new figures we've received in recent years because they do things, and that's a lot more fun than having a small piece of plastic for you to lose in a box somewhere.

Along with the new face paint reissues, Bodhi is arguably a must-buy figure if you're a fan of the scale. The figure turned out better than I could expect, with accessories that were engineered better than I could have hoped. I like it, and I assume you will too. I've been very happy with the 3 3/4-inch kid toy version, but this is a lot better. His hair and ponytail are great, the eyes are lively and shiny, the goggles are clear, and he looks like the actor who plays him. I don't think we could ask much more from Hasbro, other than maybe putting him out five years ago, but that's sort of impossible at this point. Get it now. Collector's Notes: I got mine from Entertainment Earth.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,907: March 15, 2022

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,906: Bib Fortuna (The Black Series)

 

BIB FORTUNA shares Dryden Vos' tailor
The Black Series 2020 Line Look Green Return of the Jedi Packaging
Item No.: Asst. E8908 No. F3417
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #08 - Return of the Jedi
Includes: 3 tumblers
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $22.99
Availability: December 2021
Appearances: Return of the Jedi

Bio: Those attempting to do business with Jabba the Hutt first needed to maneuver past his pasty-faced majordomo, the Twi'lek Bib Fortuna. (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: In 1983, Return of the Jedi kicked off with Bib Fortuna right at the start. When Star Wars relaunched under Kenner in 1997, he was in year #3, almost exactly 25 years ago. When it came to The Black Series, Hasbro has been dragging their feet when it comes to classic original trilogy aliens and Bib Fortuna comes to us a whopping eight years into the 6-inch scale's run. We got Jabba pretty early on, Slave Leia was in wave #2, the Carbonite block was a preview exclusive convention item, and a Gamorrean Guard came out a few years later. And of course we've since got Jedi Luke, Boushh Leia, and Skiff Guard Lando - but creatures and aliens were in very short supply, which is one of the reasons I was super lukewarm about the 6-inch scale Rancor monster. A centerpiece of the scenes in Jabba's Palace, but in a collection, there's not much for him to go with just yet.

I'm glad he's here, but the design feels like the best 3 3/4-inch figure design made as a 6-inch figure. The figure is a mix of old and new elements. His pants come from the Dryden Vos release a few years ago, with new feet. Everything seems to be new - new rubbery outer robes, new chest armor piece, new head, new arms, and some surprisingly good new hands. The fingernail claws are some of the sharpest things I've ever touched on a Hasbro product. The wrist bracelets look great, the fingers are sculpted spread apart in interesting ways - much like the character in the movie - and the arms can move a bit under the rubbery robes. The legs basically can't move at all, and since you'll never see them, reusing existing tooling makes a lot of good sense. (I'd say Hasbro could also just make it a chess piece under there to lower the costs even more. Those double-jointed knees serve no function here.)

The head, elbows, wrists, and more or less shoulders move just fine. To do Bib Fortuna right, all you need are moving arms and the head, and Hasbro delivered. The sculpt is pretty good with lots of nice detail, and a paint job that's good but not great. I like the skin color, the eyes are fine, the robes look perfectly nice. What I don't understand is the blue wash over the skin in spots. It's not like they're visible veins or anything, it just looks like someone tried to add some definition or shading and made a poor choice of color with which to do this. Most other collectibles, official photos, trading cards, or other reference images don't s how blue bits - so why are they here? To give me something to nitpick on an otherwise perfectly adequate figure? Let's say yes.

Accessories can make or break a figure, and Bib's hands don't lend themselves to gear. Heck, in the movie it's not like he had a staff, a blaster, or a knife - but Hasbro gave him something. We get three drink glasses, and the fingers have enough give to hold them. I wouldn't store them there, because I assume they will warp those perfect digits over time. I don't think the cups help anything, so they'll probably go in a baggie so I don't lose them. (I will lose them.) I wouldn't have minded a Kenner-style staff either, but with the film's 40th anniversary next year it's entirely possible Hasbro is planning a brown/red coat Bib Fortua with the requisite accessory. I mean, I'd do it.

For long-time collectors, cool Return of the Jedi alien figures are so scarce that you know I'm going to recommend this one. Hasbro can do better - a redeco would probably be perfection - but this is perfectly good now as the best/only choice. I'm surprised XL Bib Fortuna from The Mandalorian didn't make it out first, but I would assume Disney said to Hasbro "make a Bib Fortuna figure," and Hasbro shrugged at what would seem like a weird request which ultimately made sense. For this figure to be in our hands now, development probably started before he appeared on the Disney+ show in 2020. But I digress - I appreciate a good classic alien, and this is indeed a good classic alien. And much more exciting than the endless video game troopers and metallic repaints. Show Hasbro you care, and buy one. Heck, buy two.

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,906: March 10, 2022

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,905: S3-R9 (Droid Factory Mystery Crate)

S3-R9 Mystery Crate
Droid Factory Single Droid Action Figure
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: Crate package/stand
Action Feature: Comes apart
Retail: $15.99
Availability: January 2022
Appearances: Galaxy's Edge
 

Bio: n/a (Packaging has no copy and no Star Wars logo.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Weight in sealed package: 103 grams.

Commentary: Oh, you better believe we've got a lot of droids on deck. S3-R9 is a curious one on so many levels. For starters, it's a terrible match for the prop - they used the wrong dome for starters, and the colors don't match the photos of the droid at the theme park. It's a weird mismatch, and one most fans will neither notice nor care about. Seriously, at the end of this review? You won't care. You might want the grey robot, but its authenticity will have absolutely no bearing on your desire to buy it. (He's also very close to R2-BHD [FOTD #2,296].) I'd go as far as to say Disney made a bad pick for this deco, especially given just how dreary the entire batch of crate droids look compared to colorful counterparts elsewhere.

Both Hasbro and Disney have given us a number of gray robots, but this one is notable in particular because the dome is an R3 dome, molded in opaque gray plastic. That's unusual! The giveaway is there's a silver patch on the right of the big eye - but also, the panels around the base of the dome are a different design entirely. The "pie slices" on top of the head are different too. If this weren't Disney's own line and own molds, I'd say maybe the tooling was busy, but historically Disney has had zero problem cranking out countless domes of various colors for delivery at the same time. So why did they go with the wrong dome here? Because they didn't notice? Because they thought (rightly) that most of us wouldn't notice nor care?

When you look at photos of S3-R9 on Wookieepedia, my first thought was "is this the same droid?" While the mold is nothing new or special - they've been using these molds for almost a decade now - the deco doesn't match. The base plastic is gray and pretty much right on the money, but check out the panels. The dark grays are much darker, almost blck in spots. There seems to be an entire ring around the top of the dome that's missing, plus more dark gray around the eye box that was left off. The prop holo emitter seems to be chrome and shiny, and us completely unpainted on the action figure. The figure also has a silver stripe painted running around the sides, and on mine it appears to be a little uneven.

Your taste in robots will probably decide just how much you care about this figure. It's a neat droid! The drab gray with some silver certainly is striking, even if Disney already put out a similar robot. Unfortunately it's off-model enough that if they did another take on this one, I'd probably suggest buying it too/instead. Disney did paint in some dirt on the droid's body, but the brown is so light that it's kind of hard to see against the similarly light gray plastic. They even painted some dirt on the back that's practically invisible because there's not enough contrast. If Hasbro got the colors this far off, I assume fans would be a mix of upset and indifferent. By making it a theme park exclusive, a lot of fans will probably never have a crack at this and on the whole won't ever care - but droid completists will be curious to get another robot. A robot that exists solely as scenery at a theme park, but still, it's a robot, and it's $15, and you've bought better for cheaper.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Shannon who got them from Disneyland. Thanks Shannon!

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,905: March 8, 2022

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,904: Stormtrooper Jedha Patrol (The Black Series)

STORMTROOPER JEDHA PATROL Debut
The Black Series 2020 Line Look Green Rogue One: A Star War Story Packaging
Item No.: Asst. E8908 No. F1875
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #08 - Rogue One: A Star War Story
Includes: Blaster, blackpack, antenna
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $22.99
Availability: December 2021
Appearances: Rogue One: A Star War Story

Bio: The Empire occupies Jedha with Stormtroopers, who are elite shock troops fanatically loyal to the Empire. A prolonged battle between Imperial forces and scattered Rebels carries on in the timeworn streets. (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: As The Black Series continues, pricing is all over the map. Exclusives that aren't particularly special may carry a big markup, or you can get a Stormtrooper Jedha Patrol figure - which is the basic figure from 2020, with a big backpack, a pauldron, and a blaster for the basic figure price. Of course it's not quite as tricked-out as the Sandtroopers from a few years ago, but it's still a generally nice basic Stormtrooper with some optional parts - so if you want to build your basic Stormtrooper army, you can remove some parts. If you want something to mix up your shelves, this is a good (and very tall) option.

If you don't have any of the newer trooper mold - and with the clean one, dirty one, flame one, mortar one, and others to follow, I'd be surprised if you didn't - this is a good one. To be able to go from a basic normal trooper to something that looks like a 1990s fan's off-model custom Sandtrooper figure is kind of spectacular. Back then, everybody used pauldrons, few fans made backpacks, and few to no fans made them perfectly on-model. This one has a neat orange pauldron, a familiar rifle, and a new backpack that looks like it's a mix of standard issue camping equipment with something to hold all your soda cans in table mode on the back. It also has a massive removable 4-inch antenna sticking out of it, which is truly distinctive and may cause chaos in your figure shelving displays.

Articulation is great, deco is clean, and it looks somewhere between a half-baked cosplay and a brilliant extension of existing Imperial costuming that certainly isn't trying too hard. It's a nice way to grow an army without buying too many duplicates, and also a fine way to let Hasbro cash in - again - on their popular Stormtrooper mold. It's kind of funny, if you look at Chewbacca, C-3PO, Stormtroopers, and a few others, they're probably getting as much action (if not more so) than similar 3 3/4-inch figures back in the day. And they're selling. I like this one because it just feels right, and if you like you can leave the backpack off to get a trooper that appeared in Solo or Rebels. But it's also close enough to things that you already own, so if you miss it, don't hurt yourself tracking one down at premium pricing. Just know that it is decent enough to own.

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,904: March 3, 2022

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,903: Cobb Vanth (The Black Series)

COBB VANTH Toy Debut
The Black Series 2020 Line Look Orange Star Wars: The Mandalorian Packaging
Item No.: No. F5132
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #18 - Star Wars: The Mandalorian
Includes: Helmet, backpack, pistol, rifle, rocket
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $31.49
Availability: January 2022
Appearances: Star Wars: The Mandalorian

Bio: The marshal of Mos Pelgo, a small town on Tatooine, Cobb Vanth has earned the trust of the townsfolk as a capable peacekeeper and leader. (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: Rewatching The Mandalorian last year, I was taken aback by just ow many awesome characters were there that would make toys and probably have good kid appeal. An old west marshall that somehow got Boba Fett's laundry, Cobb Vanth is kind of perfect. If he knew of the significance of the armor, it'd be dopey - but he just got some junk from Jawas, and he wears it, because why the heck not. It's kind of cool. It's not too much of a contrivance that Mando found him given he was looking for people with a specific kind of unusual armor, and you'll probably be looking for him too. It's a good figure and I wish they had him in retro/vintage form.

The figure may prove to be a part of some venn diagram of multiple figures sharing parts to relieve you of your money. The two Tython Boba Fett figures, plus the "re-armor" Boba Fett, all may overlap a bit - we're going to have to wait and see when those final releases come out. Cobb Vanth's helmet fits right on Tython Boba Fett (the Tusken suit), which could be a coincidence. You could probably mix and match parts of these figures to get something interesting, but I don't want to pry anything apart. The scuffed-up helmet looks great, with more silver than before. The blasters look more or less like the reference photos, and the jetpack is similarly messed up - but looks a little different from the Return of the Jedi one. Obviously the rocket is totally different, but some of the greeblies and shapes look different than the ROTJ Boba we got last year. I'm surprised they didn't share parts. The silver stripe is a nice addition, but I could've stood to have even more silver scuffing. It fits nicely on the back.

The figure itself is your basic space cowboy. Marshall Handsome of Mos Pelgo has nice hair and photoreal paint, a bit glossier than I'd like but it still looks good. The armor is nicely abused, with awesome boots and nice pants. Everything moves well, with legs that can swing forward and joints that are stiff, but not ratchety. The engineering here is great. The arms move nicely, but the elbow bend isn't as deep as some other recent figures - they stop at about 90 degrees. Still, it doesn't stop him from looking awesome, posing well, and generally looking like the armor's a part of the character. Even though there are gleefully awkward bits like the turtleneck popping out of the armor, it all fits as a guy who found something cool in the dumpster and went for it.

Everybody looks at the Disney era differently, as we can all see the thought processes that went on behind things like Rogue One (the ultimate 1990s RPG/Game/Expanded Universe pastiche) and on things like the Mandoverse (a bunch of people are playing with things, sometimes they know what they are, sometimes they don't and it's more fun when they don't.) While I think I would positively cringe at seeing Star Wars focus solely on the new films, I'd be more or less accepting of an all Disney+ show shift to the toy line. (A lot of good movie stuff shows up in the shows, anyway.) Cobb Vanth is a fascinating way to introduce a character that kids will probably love, if they ever had a crack at the toys, and they won't. But fans like him too, he wasn't a jerk and let Mando take the armor which went to Boba Fett and things are all nice and good. Well, maybe Cobb Vanth himself needs some help, but that's not what this feature is about.

I really like this figure - it immediately clicked with me just because it was awesome. I love that they managed to do something wholly weird to sell you a Boba Fett that's not Boba Fett, and give us a new character, and put in a good actor, and generally remix everything without talking down to us. Get this one if you can. Pay whatever's reasonable. I look forward to Hasbro hopefully doing a de-armored version later... but especially a 3 3/4-inch one, please, and thank you.

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,903: March 1, 2022