Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,929: Anakin Skywalker (Outlander Peasant Disguise 2021 Redux, The Vintage Collection)

ANAKIN SKYWALKER (Peasant Disguise, 2021 reissue)
The Vintage Collection
Item No.: Asst. E5912 No. F1884
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #32 (reissue)
Includes: Lightsaber, hilt, soft goods cloak
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $12.99
Availability: February 2021
Appearances: Attack of the Clones

Bio: Anakin is assigned to bring Senator Padme Amidala back to Naboo after she escapes another assassination attempt, dressing in peasant clothes to hide his Jedi identity. (From 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!

Commentary: It's been 20 years since the debut of the movie (and figures) for Attack of the Clones, a weird movie which the adults at the time didn't like very much but time has seemingly favored. You had some awkward dialogue that became meme famous. You had an amazing battle and lots of interesting fights and chases. And you had more terrible dialogue. The action figure line was similarly all over the place, with $5 figures featuring Hasbro's most gutsy stab at action features in any of its Star Wars offerings. This 2022 Anakin Skywalker (Peasant Disguise) is a repaint of a 2011 Anakin Skywalker (Peasant Disguise) [FOTD #1,803] release, which is neat but lacked a little charm. The new release improves the plastic part's deco, but the cloth part is worse. Those wanting the very best will have to cobble together elements from both figures.

Let's start with the cloak - the new fabric feels like a first shot, a rough attempt, the pattern you cut out at lunch to say "we need something kind of like this, but not this." The previous release had a really nice look and feel, like a scaled-down, worn, woven garment. The textile had some personality, which is good, because it's not like it had cool stripes or wild patterns. It's a big shape with a hole in the head, and he can wear it. This poncho feels incredibly new, which would have been more forgivable for the release 10 years ago. It's a step back now, and I don't love it. I do love the lightsaber and hilt, though, those are fine.

The figure itself comes from an era where the figures were nearly half of what they cost now - and you could see that there was cost-cutting in places. The original mold - like this reissue - has no ankle joints, nor a hole in his belt for the lightsaber hilt. I also have a bit of an issue getting him to stand and balance without leaning him forward - a thing Hasbro has recently made great strides on, but was something that held back these figure for years. (For me. Lots of people loved them as is, I wanted them to stand up.) The hips swivel forward, the wrists swivel (but do not bend), and the waist swivels. The shoulders and elbows bend and swivel, and were about as good as you could get at the time. I like that his pose is basically straight up and down, unless you wanted to make use of the joints, and the costume detail is largely excellent. With some work, he can stand - but I really like that he can sit. He doesn't have a ship to sit in, as such, but at least we can all say they did a good job making the joints move freely without barriers.

I didn't think the head was terrible for its original release, but it doesn't feel quite right now. Maybe it's missing the slight sneer, maybe the hair color is a little dark, maybe it's that the photoreal paint we were expecting didn't do much to bring the figure to life. It looks like Anakin, but not really like Hayden Christensen. I will say the head paint is much sharper, the eyes and eyebrows are better, the lips are a little shiny, and Hasbro improved the 2021 head over the 2021 head significantly. It is, without a doubt, better. Is it great? No. The upgraded heads often struggle to get that weird spark of life we're seeing on the brand-new sculpts, but this is better than the previous release of this figure.

The old cloak and the new figure are a match made in heaven (ca. 2018.) I can't point to anything about this release being exceptional for its time and certainly not today, but it is cheaper than the initial release and I applaud Hasbro for trying to improve him for the second go-round. If you just want a cheap figure and a good time, I recommend Anakin Skywalker (Outlander Disguise) [FOTD #1,204] from 2002. As I write this he's on Amazon for $7, dirt cheap for a $5 figure from 2002.) He has a silly pose, but is a magical toy with magnets letting him use the Force to grab a blaster or open a box, plus his telescoping lightsaber feels like retro 1978 chic. For a fidget toy on your desk, the 2002 one is better - for almost every diorama purpose, get the 2021 release. Or don't. Maybe they'll make an even better one. (They won't, but it felt like a positive note to end a review.)

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,929: May 31, 2022

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,928: Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022 Redux, The Vintage Collection)

OBI-WAN KENOBI Re-redux
The Vintage Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure
Item No.: Asst. F4486 No. F4492
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #31
Includes: Cloth robes, lightsaber, communicator
Action Feature: Communicator hooks on back of belt
Retail: $13.99
Availability: April 2022
Appearances: Attack of the Clones
Bio: Legendary Jedi Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi was a noble man, gifted in the ways of the Force. He trained Anakin Skywalker and served as a general in the Republic Army during the Clone Wars. (Taken from marketing copy. 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 Obi-Wan Kenobi is a decent improvement of the 2011 figure, but with the photoreal face paint. The 2011 figure was a rerelease of the 2009 The Legacy Collection figure, which means the bones of this figure are 13 years old. That's ancient in toy worlds. The hope was that these reissues would improve the deco to the best of Hasbro's ability, and I would say in some cases they really did do a better job - this one is sort of a lateral move. I'd recommend this if you need (and do not have) a 3 3/4-inch Attack of the Clones Obi-Wan Kenobi that makes you happy, but if you do? You can probably save your money.

At a reasonable distance, the photoreal paint on the face looks a little better - but the eyes are a bit muddy. The hair is lighter, redder, and that's not a bad change as it seems truer to his on-screen appearance. He's a little pale, but it works with the hair. Overall, I'd say they did a good job overall with the head because the hair has fewer unpainted bits in flesh color. I can't nitpick it too much, but I assume a new head would be a stunner. This 2022 figure is as good as you're probably going to get out of a 2009 mold.

I'm not loving the body. It's still a little chunky, but the joints do move fairly well and the cloth "skirt" looks better. The belt is painted well, the tunic deco seems a bit more accurate, but the belt is sloppy - you can see my sample is tilted. There's belt paint missing behind the capsules on his belt. This is objectively worse than the previous releases - so if you want to slap this head on your old figure, maybe that's the best way to go. The cloth robes cover up most of these problems, though, so maybe you won't even notice. I did have higher hopes, I hate seeing new problems introduced on a reissue of an older action figure.

The robes are basically OK - nothing amazing, at this scale it's rare that the hood rests in a pleasing way. The communicator fits on the hand and belt just fine, but lacks definition on its face - it's just silver. The lightsaber is a bit of a disappointment, because silver elements around the hilt seem to be painted poorly, lacking in separation. The previous release had some silver elements around the emitter, here they're just sort of melting in the black plastic part. It's a definite step backward, but in his hands you might not even notice it.

For a reissue of a reissue, it's not exactly a premium product. Back in the 1980s (and 1990s) my friends and I noticed some toys lost paint applications as the reissues came down the road, or had inferior packaging, or generally started to cut corners - aside from the improved/different head paint, this one largely slides backward a bit. I'm happy it's available right now, because with the new Obi-Wan show starting people should be able to order something. It's also cheaper than the original releases, and this is probably the best of the three to get. You can probably steal a better lightsaber from another Kenobi figure, which is unfortunate. At this point I would assume fans would hope for the very best (as we're being charged for the very best), and this is just OK. I wouldn't be opposed to seeing Hasbro do an all-new take on this figure in this costume, mostly because I'd rather be impressed by a figure than to just pick it up and go "well, at least it's cheaper than buying the old one on the secondary market."

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,928: May 26, 2022

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,927: Ahsoka Tano (Corvus, The Vintage Collection)

AHSOKA TANO (Corvus)
The Vintage Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure
Item No.: Asst. E7763 No. F4478
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #222
Includes: Two lightsabers
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $13.99
Availability: April 2022
Appearances: The Mandalorian
Bio: A Clone Wars veteran and now wandering Jedi, Ahsoka Tano forges her own path in the galaxy, righting injustices that she discovers. (Taken from marketing copy. 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: The new stuff is good - Ahsoka Tano (Corvus) continues to show Hasbro can make great things when they aren't content to extrude a repainted reissue of a figure that's old enough to be a teenager. I'm really happy with these new ones, because - and this isn't meant to be back-handed - they aren't disappointing. We've had a lot of super-articulated figures that tend to fall over, or are hard to get to stand up when you put them in a slightly interesting pose. Ahsoka stood easily, right out of the packaging. I put her in a combat pose, put her on my desk, and she didn't fall over. I used to think that these figures just had to fall over if you did that - and apparently, I was being too kind. I just posed her with her sabers swinging in separate directions, legs apart, knees slightly bent. She's not wobbling or anything. I don't know what kind of alchemy they used to engineer, nor what kind of human sacrifice was made to make it happen, but it worked.

Leg articulation is good - the new-style hip joints have a good range of motion, but mine seem to have a little less tension. They're held in place well by the "skirt" piece though. The knees have joints hidden behind the pants, which work fairly nicely. The ankles also do their thing with no problems. Her legs do swing forward, but not as far forward, or as well, as other recent figures. But it's still more than a fair bit better than just about everything Hasbro has sold (and re-sold) you over the past decade.

Her interaction with the lightsabers was better than expected, with a grip that's tight enough to not drop them, but loose enough to allow her to give them a bit more direction than "runs perpendicular to arm." It's cool to see her thrust the blade out for a duel, and depending on the orientation of the hilt in the hands, you can get some interesting variations on how she grips them. Hasbro did great here - and of course, the wrists are jointed too. When I was a kid, the Kenner figures were really good but some held their weapons better than others. And with Hasbro, some of them were a fight to get them in the hands. This figure just works, and works very well.

Her sculpting, unsurprisingly, is great. The face sculpt looks just like the made-up Rosario Dawson, the headdress piece looks superb, and the painted facial features look great to my eyes. The stripes are excellent, and the headtails don't get in the way of her neck being able to turn... which would have been all but guaranteed had this been made in most eras of this line's history. Proportionally she looks great, her shoulders are excellent with mostly covered joints. If I knew we'd get figures sculpted and painted this well in the 1990s... well, I probably would have skipped buying a ton of other figures to wait for this one. We certainly wouldn't be staring down 3,000 reviews here.

I sound like a broken record, but this Ahsoka figure is yet another one of Hasbro's best. You should get her. I'd go as far as to say all the new new figures - which can be hard to easily spot among the reissues and repaints - are shaping up to give this line a very bright future between now and the time Hasbro deems it unprofitable.

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,927: May 24, 2022

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,926: Death Watch Mandalorian (The Vintage Collection)

DEATH WATCH MANDALORIAN Scale Debut
The Vintage Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure
Item No.: Asst. E7763 No. F4477
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #219
Includes: Pistol, rifle, backpack
Action Feature: n/
Retail: $13.99
Availability: April 2022
Appearances: The Mandalorian
Bio: The warrior clans of Mandalore were believed to have been wiped out ages ago. But they were resurrected, and with them, their legendary combat armor that was feared across the galaxy. (Taken from marketing copy. 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: Again, amazing. This Death Watch Mandalorian is from flashbacks in The Mandalorian streaming show, and it's spectacular. Sure, maybe the 6-inch ones will be better or whatever but the 3 3/4-inch one is so good it makes me hope Hasbro revisits Din Djarin. What we had for him was good, but now we see what Hasbro can give us? Go back to the well, redo Boba Fett, redo Jango Fett, go ahead and give Darth Vader another whirl while you're at it too. It's a good thing I like this mold, because Hasbro will be re-trotting out it for Axe Woves and the Death Watch Airborne Mandalorian. And, hopefully, whatever else they feel like. A trooper pack would be nice.

This figure looks just like on the show, with a grey body suit and blue armor. You get black boots and a mostly clean helmet, with some limited scuffing. You'll also see some silver highlights plus what I assume may be rank markings - as I write this I haven't seen a lot of reference books explaining everything just yet. The jet pack has some silver highlights and holes that seem perfect for flame accessories which, as of yet, don't seem to exist. The 2003 Boba Fett flame stand won't work without additional modifications to the figure or the flames... but Death Watch Mando's holster has a blaster that fits nicely, and the two-handed rifle can be gripped without much trouble thanks to the amazing articulation. Hasbro sculpted and painted this figure well, and their engineers put joints pretty much anywhere I could hope. I would buy trooper packs of this. As I write this, I hope Hasbro considers a box for SDCC/PulseCon/someone's exclusive with variant accessories and deco. It'll sell. They're very good. Have them fight Super Battle Droids or something... we haven't had a new one in years.

Articulation is worth praising, with excellent more-than-90-degree bends on the elbows and knees. The ankles and wrists move nicely, the double-waist joint is nearly flawless, and the ball-and-socket hip joints paired with swivel thighs are perfection. Those bend-and-swivel thighs are gone, which basically means that this figure is infinitely better than even last year's new Return of the Jedi Boba Fett. I'm getting so many cool poses out of this guy and he stays standing without help that I'm actually quite surprised - it's like when I first got a super-articulated Spider-Man figure. But better.

If you're a cranky old collector who only wants the very best, I feel you. Even if you hate everything new, make sure you get your hands on this figure - just play with a friend's, if you can. You'll go "oh, this is spectacular" and then you'll want 6 of him. I can't get over how good some of these new guys are, in part because the new hips and elbow/knee cuts aren't new technology and seem to use fewer parts than how figures used to be constructed. They just got smarter. I've been pretty complainy about paying $14 for a 3 3/4-inch figure, but if it's this good? The value is obvious - this is one of the very best figures Hasbro has ever done for Star Wars, and as an increasingly bitter and older fan it's going to keep me from wandering off as I look at metallic repaints with scorn. Hasbro, if you're reading, please repaint this mold as often as it makes sense, and feel free to go back to the well to give us yet another The Empire Strikes Back Boba Fett if it's done with this kind of articulation. After all, you haven't done an all-new super-articulated ESB Boba since 2008!

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,926: May 19, 2022

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,925: Fennec Shand (The Vintage Collection)

FENNEC SHAND Scale Debut
The Vintage Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure
Item No.: Asst. E7763 No. F4471
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #221
Includes: Braid, helmet head, unmasked head, rifle with strap, rifle, bottle
Action Feature: n/
Retail: $13.99
Availability: April 2022
Appearances: The Book of Boba Fett
Bio: An assassin and elite mercenary, Fennec Shand has worked for all the top syndicates. Clever, capable, and cunning, she is not to be underestimated and is full of surprises. (Taken from marketing copy. 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: She's good. Buy her. Fennec Shand has few nitpicks or quibbles, someone at Hasbro must have looked at the figure budget and said "Oh, we can make something really good here," which means that this new-and-improved style figure has confirmed that the reissues we've been getting are old and inferior. I don't know how long this figure has been in the making, but we first met the character in this costume in 2019. Also curiously, she's always worn the same costume, which means she has a closet full of the same outfit. But let's get back to the figure, which you should absolutely buy. You don't even need to read the rest of this review, she's the best figure in this scale I've bought (plus or minus some of last year's very best The Mandalorian figures), and you should go get her. If you miss her, I feel badly for you.

This figure spoils me. We've been sold a lot of figures where there's a lot of "it's pretty good except" or "if they could sit/hold a weapon/etc. it would be so much better." Here, she just works. The range of articulation is remarkable, with two well-hidden waist joints. And a neck joint that's sturdy, but removes without too much of a fight to swap heads. The arms and hands are jointed nicely enough and have enough give so she can hold a weapon with two hands. The legs swing forward, and we've got cloth elements so she can sit if you want. The knees bend 90 degrees so she could sit at a bar if you wanted. The costume sculpt also seems absolutely perfect. I have no bad things to say about how this figure was sculpted, this is a shining gem and the gold standard of what Hasbro can do in this scale in 2022. Given all the awkwardness we've been sold (and re-sold at higher prices), this figure tells us Hasbro should never, ever reissue an old figure and should just set fire to the old molds. Why should we settle for troopers that fall over or Jedi that can't duel with their lightsabers? We shouldn't - because Fennec was perfectly designed with the best joints we may ever see this year. I grouse about a lot of the 3 3/4-inch figures because for $14, I want perfection, and Fennec pretty much gives it to us.

The helmet pops off and on the neck easily, but there's a new feature - the ponytail has to be removed and swapped from head to head. Strange! But neat. It gives you something more to do with the figure. The helmeted head has no face inside, so she can hold it in her hand, and/or you can pretend it's shading her eyes when it's on her head. Clearly, someone put thought into this. I particularly like the weathered detail on it.

Fennec's Ming-Na Wen head is one of Hasbro's very best at this (or any) scale. It's her. It's not a vaguely Asian-looking person who's a woman - this is very clearly the actress from the show. The eyes shine, the lips sparkle, the eyebrows are on fleek, and she has just the slightest hint of having seen it all in her facial expression. The hair is decorated well, with the tiniest of strings painted within her locks. A couple of strands hang over her face. I hate to sound like a broken record, but it's so amazing that Hasbro should start fresh with every 3 3/4-inch figure from now on. Why are we settling for Han Solo figures that look like Han Solo but not Harrison Ford? Our Bo-Katan Kryze and Fennec Shand heads are just so good - it's sort of upsetting how low our standards were in the past, even for figures I thought were good at the time.

My sample has no problems holding her blasters whatsoever, but you do have to fidget a bit to get her to grip the bottle. The fact that she can hold it at all is impressive, so accessory interaction is excellent. I have no doubt that there are problems with this figure, but compared to Hasbro's usual levels of quality - which are pretty good - this is next-level. This is excellent. I'm not crazy about the cloth parts not quite covering up the front of the figures' legs as much as I would like, but it's quibble and soft goods are rarely perfect. (And some are outright awful.) We've bought so many figures that are good, or OK, or decent enough, that I sometimes forget what it's like to be genuinely impressed by a figure. To have a likeness this good on a head the size of a pea is amazing. 

To have joints that work well on a figure that has a decent center of gravity so she doesn't topple over on my desk as I write this review is excellent. There's a big difference between having articulation, and having good articulation that lets you pose a figure just right so you don't have to worry about diving off the end of a shelf. I've settled for so many figures - gold figures, metallic figures - that this is a firm reminder that we should continue voting with our dollars and buy only the very best. This is it, kids, so skip all those carbonized figures (unless you really want them!) and put your hard-earned dollars to get this one.

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,925: May 17, 2022

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,924: CB-23 (Droid Depot set, The Black Series)

CB-23 Droid Depot Set
The Black Series Galaxy's Edge Exclusive Action Figure
Item No.: No. F3400
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Babu Frik, Pit Droid, Battle Droid with blaster and antenna backpacks, K-7R1, and CB-23
Action Feature: Weighted Base
Retail: $74.99
Availability: March 2022
Appearances: Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge and Star Wars: Resistance
Bio: A maroon and turquoise BB astromech unit, CB-23 is a member of the Resistance and serves as Poe Dameron's co-pilot for a short period of time while BB-8 was on another mission. (Taken from the packaging.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Commentary: I don't have anything to complain about here. CB-23 is another - and one of few - figures from the Star Wars: Resistance cartoon to make the transition to the 6-inch line. Considering that the show came and went with the sort of enthusiasm you reserve for a sneeze, it's kind of amazing that Hasbro gave us a new droid dome to go with this BB-8 retool. The BB-8 mold hasn't been used very much at this scale, and it's kind of amazing to think after 7 years this is only the second BB droid in this particular size class. I assumed we'd have had a BB-9E by now, but no.

If you missed Star Wars: Resistance, that's OK, I suggest you keep missing it. The show was the most colorful Star Wars has been since Ewoks and/or Droids, and was loaded with neat vehicles, cool aliens, and some excellent costumes along with some of the most dreadfully dull stories aimed at young kids you'd expect to see. The tie-ins to the sequel trilogy were few, but given how they can't actually spoil anything or tell you anything in the show you were left without a lot to go on unles you really loved the characters. While I could hang out with Flix all day long, he has yet to get his own spin-off.

CB-23 was BB-8's replacement, and is a pretty nice figure. The red roly-poly body has the same weighted mechanism we saw with BB-8, and there's no dirty deco or battle damage. It's just a nice clean robot with a newly-tooled dome, complete with wonderful blue highlights, a silver cap, and other painted silver and black detailing. I'd make some comment or snide remark about it if I could, or even say it's amazing, but it's just kind of exactly what you would and should expect out of this kind of a retooled action figure. The colors are all nice and bright, the paint is mostly incredibly clean and the antenna are, for some reason, almost translucent. But everything looks good. As a glorified accessory, this robot is charming and more colorful than most figures we tend to get.

There aren't many landmarks I can point to and say "this is awesome!" Top-to-bottom, it's an incredibly decent little robot that serves as a reminder that the designers behind Resistance did a great job and there may be some gold to mine out of the show if we ever get to a point where anything goes in action figures again. (It won't, so don't get your hopes up.) I wouldn't recommend this figure for the price of the boxed set, but it's nice enough that if you were going to buy the set anyway, it's not going to tick you off. It's good! You'll like it.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Shop Disney.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,924: May 12, 2022

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,923: Pit Droid (Droid Depot set, The Black Series)

PIT DROID Droid Depot Set
The Black Series Galaxy's Edge Exclusive Action Figure
Item No.: No. F3400
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Babu Frik, Pit Droid, Battle Droid with blaster and antenna backpacks, K-7R1, and CB-23
Action Feature: Sort of wads up
Retail: $74.99
Availability: March 2022
Appearances: Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge and The Phantom Menace
Bio: The cheap and expendable often bolt out to repair still cycling superheated pod racer engines with no regard to their personal safety. (Taken from the packaging.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Commentary: I like droids, especially new ones. With so many repaints - even this set is sort of burdened with a few of them - a fresh face (in the scale) like this Pit Droid is welcome. While he has no accessories of his own, the $75 set does seem expensive. Thanks to recent price increases, a $25 K-2SO-style droid, a $25 Battle Droid, and a mishmash of 3 mini droids for $25... it's not terrible. It's not ideal, as I wouldn't have bought another Battle Droid at this point, but that's how they get you.

I can only assume more repaints of this Pit Droid are coming, and it's a good enough mold to consider buying in more colors. While it can't fold up under a tiny little saucer, it's loaded with articulation like an ab crunch, two elbow joints, ball-jointed elbows, and swivel wrists. This gets it pretty close - it's not perfect, but it's still impressive for the size that you can fold him down quite a bit. At about 4-inches tall he competes with similarly sized The Vintage Collection figures in terms of complexity and size. Who ever thought we'd get rocker ankles on a Pit Droid? I sure didn't, but the DUM-series has them.

Sculpting is good, deco is light - but more or less true to the CG models - and the design hasn't been in this scale before, so he's pretty exciting. A reddish brown robot with a subtle grey ring around the dome is nice, as are the painted antenna. I like what Hasbro did here, and if it were sold separately for $15-$18 or a $25 2-pack I'd say it's arguably worth that. As the most impressive, robust new part of a $75 souvenir set it's a bit ridiculous, but given that most "new" figures lately are reruns of some sort you might be fine shelling out to get something that isn't a photoreal of a figure you've already purchased once or twice. Also there's so little from The Phantom Menace that this is actually kind of lovely. Hopefully Hasbro throws in a tool or two next time, because you will probably want one or two more of these in different colors. Get it if the price for the set doesn't make you wince.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Shop Disney.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,923: May 10, 2022

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,922: Mace Windu (Redux, The Vintage Collection)

MACE WINDU Re-re-redux
The Vintage Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure
Item No.: Asst. F4486 No. F4495
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #35
Includes: Cloth robes, lightsaber, hilt
Action Feature: Hilt can't plug on belt
Retail: $13.99
Availability: April 2022
Appearances: Attack of the Clones
Bio: A grim Jedi Master, Mace Windu was the champion of the Jedi Order, with little tolerance for the failings of the Senate, the arguments of politicians, or the opinions of rebellious Jedi. (Taken from marketing copy. 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 Mace Windu is a rerun of a rerun, the Jedi of Theseus, and really not too great compared to other new figures. I mean, it's not bad... but given that at its core it's a repaint of a retool of a figure from 2007? It's disappointing. Hasbro put a lot of effort refurbishing a core figure who started life in The 30th Anniversary Collection - the skirt and head were changed for The Vintage Collection in 2011. So this is a repaint of an 11 year old figure, that was at its core a 15 year old figure, which had some problems. It was also created for specialty/fan channel, meaning you won't find this series of rereleases in big box stores or their respective web sites. While I don't think this figure is as good of an improvement as it could be, newer fans who don't own a Mace Windu figure will find a lot to like. It's just the old-timers that will probably feel bad that they're buying the same tooling, again, complete with some of its problems.

The colors of the robes are better, the plastic outfit better matches the cloth under the skirt - that's good! It looks more like the reference photos than previous figures, which trended lighter. The legs are the swing-forward variety, still blocked by the vinyl skirt hanging down - that's bad. The skirt wasn't retooled, so the hole on the belt is too small for the lightsaber hilt's peg - so it won't go in there. You're got some stiff elbows, perfectly acceptable cloth brown robes, and hands which are a bit more flexible than some. That's an improvement - I don't know what it is, but getting accessories in those tiny hands tends to be difficult.

The 2011 head sculpt is here and it's arguably improved with the Photoreal paint... but it needs work. The eyebrows on my two samples are a little different, one seems off-center and both seem too thick to look like Samuel L. Jackson. His eyebrows are incredibly thin, especially in The Phantom Menace, where I had to double-check to verify he did indeed have them in the first place. The lips are colored lightly, and the shine on the yes looks wonderful. But I can't get beyond how much I dislike the very thick eyebrows. The skin tone seems OK, the expression is/was fine, and it is an improvement over what we had before [FOTD #1,751].

Since the 2011 figure was expensive (and Hasbro could save money bringing back the old tooling), this figure existing makes sense - fans want a 3 3/4-inch Mace Windu, and anything on a Vintage cardback tends to sell if it has adult fans. It's both the best we've had, and disappointing. 3 3/4-inch Jedi hips tend to be marred by bad articulation and plastic robes, as this is. The sleeves are kind of bulky and weird. The belt hilt peg doesn't work, which is pretty sad given it should be a pretty easy thing to take care of somehow. And the eyebrows... I hate the eyebrows. When a figure's reissue is at least partially predicated on improving it, this one is something of a lateral move. Is it better? Yeah. Is it as good as we're seeing when it comes to the paint on other recent heads of this size? No. Are the accessories too big still? Yeah. Could Hasbro have done well just to make us an all-new one even if it means waiting a few years? Probably. If you're on a budget, I'd pass on this one and hold your breath for another new one later. It might not ever come... but Mace is someone Hasbro likes to revisit on the regular. If you have no Mace Windu figures, get this one - it's as good as they come in this size! If you have most or all of them, consider how much you want to set fire to $14 to have something to look at, nod, and then put back in a display or in a box to store somewhere. Given how much of these lines are repaints, you might be better served saving the cash for the next big HasLab item instead, whatever it is.

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,922: May 5, 2022

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,921: Obi-Wan Kenobi (Archive, The Black Series 6-Inch)

OBI-WAN KENOBI 2.0, Previously the Worst 6-Inch Figure Ever, Improved
The Black Series Archive 6-Inch Figure
Item No.: Asst. F0961 No. F1909
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #n/a
Includes: Lightsaber
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $22.99
Availability: December 2021
Appearances: Revenge of the Sith

Bio: Obi-Wan is forced to battle his friend Anakin Skywalker in a devastating lightsaber duel after Anakin turns to the Dark Side. (Taken from the figure's 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: I generally don't like dumping on figures, and I won't because this Obi-Wan Kenobi rerelease is an improvement on the worst The Black Series figure ever made. I think there's room for debate on if those Carbonized, Credit Collection, or Holiday Edition figures are any good (or not.) But the 2014 release of Revenge of the Sith Obi-Wan Kenobi looked bad when it hit shelves and today looks like a bootleg that you wouldn't pay a nickel for at the flea market... so of course it's worth over $70 on the secondary market. Just because something is worth money doesn't mean it is any good, but generally speaking valuable items may be worth revisiting. This one needs some new work, and enhanced deco isn't enough for him.

The original figure had an incredibly pale blue lightsaber, and so does the new one. I wouldn't say it's an improvement, but it's no worse - and it might be just a bit bluer and, surprisingly, thicker. As such, we can say well-ish done Hasbro, but a bluer hue would've been welcome.

At first glance the figure doesn't look great - but compared to the previous edition it's a huge improvement. Compared to other 6-inch Hasbro Obi-Wan Kenobi figures (Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Clone Wars) it just looks awful. The head seems so thin and squished, the personality's not quite right, and if anything this shows that no amount of paint or correct colored plastic can save a doomed head sculpt. Over the years we've seen all sorts of great sculpts marred by weird skintones or iffy paint choices, which makes this figure - which is a bad sculpt with better but still bad paint choices - unique. The hair is too light, the skin tone is better and has hints of life thanks to a few rosy spots, the eyes are glossy and more lively. Lokoing at reference photos for the movie, his hard seems to be darker with grey temples - this figure just doesn't match it. I'm not sure why, either, it could've been an easy fix that may have distracted you from the parts of the beard are lacking in paint.

The body is pretty much the same, with boots that are too light and lacking in any real detail. The pants seem acceptable (and the same as before) and the robes are a bit more saturated - but the broad shoulders only make his head look smaller. It's doomed, but at least things like the brown under the chin and the belt are good.. The painted elements on the belt are placed better this time and the paint is overall improved, but when it comes to determining what makes a good figure, it ain't the belt. If the head or pose are bad, the figure sucks - and the joints are fine, but there's just something about the pose that doesn't read as good. But hey, at least the hands are a color that more closely resembles that of a human rather than that of a cake made to look like a human.

This is currently the best version of Obi-Wan Kenobi from Episode III in this Hasbro line. Other versions of him in other lines and scales are arguably better. Maybe you'll like it enough, but you're wrong, it's bad. At certain angles, in certain dark rooms, with just the right light, I admit the head is capable of looking pretty decent - but that's a lot of marks to hit to get a reissue from "worst figure ever" to "almost acceptable." This figure will sell and sell well thanks to the upcoming streaming show, but you can only lie to yourself so much about it being good. I wouldn't hold your breath for a re-redux, but I'd like to ask Hasbro to consider it for Revenge of the Sith's 20th anniversary in 2025. There's no reason for this to be the worst version of Ewan McGregor so far.

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

Day 2,921: May 3, 2022