Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,999: Grogu (The Black Series)

GROGU at full price
The Black Series 2020 Line Look Orange The Mandalorian Packaging
Item No.: Asst. E8908 No. F4357
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #26 - The Mandalorian
Includes: Storage box, frog, knob, bowl, Beskar mythosaur skull necklace, cookie tube, floating pram
Action Feature: Connecting lightsaber parts
Retail: $24.99
Availability: December 2022
Appearances: The Mandalorian

Bio: A mysterious alien pursued by bounty hunters on behalf of Imperial interests. (Taken from the packaging, which occupies a fair amount of space in six languages.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Entertainment Earth now!

Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Commentary: You should be insulted. Hasbro and Disney and Lucasfilm and everybody have been milking the popularity of The Child to the point of the absurd, but you also get to see so many riffs on the idea. Baby dolls, Pop! vinyl figures, 1980s-style collectible figures, games, clothes, and just about everything. With The Black Series (and to a lesser extent, The Vintage Collection) Hasbro elected to push for premium pricing. Just a Grogu by himself with some gear was once $10. Target's exclusive Grogu was $35 - but it also included a lot of accessories and Mando with him. Retro and Vintage Grogu were $10 and $15, and some were packed in as accessories with other figures. But this is $25 - and that's absurd. Hasbro has a 6-inch scale "toy" one with pram for $5, a 9-inch scale one for $10, and so many other toys that offer more for less. If Hasbro put all of this on a Vintage cardback for $18, you'd complain about the value. It's basically an accessory pack with no action figure, but priced as a full-blown action figure. And it'll sell, because it's Grogu, but it's just one more figure that people who are still collecting-them-all will begrudgingly buy in the name of completeness. It is not a bad product - it is just a wildly poorly priced one.

The Retro Collection Grogu gave you a similarly sized figure minus a couple of accessories for about $10. You could buy that figure, plus the first The Black Series Grogu (which features the same accessory box in this set), and it'd only be $20. Not included in the overlap are the cookies or necklace, which at best would be around $1 or $2 - and both of those other Grogu figures were also overpriced for what you got. I'm being repetitive now. My expectations for this one were low, and that turned out to be appropriate.

The figure itself has your little green buddy sitting down with jointed arms. Each hand has open fingers, and the right hand can hold his cookies. The head and each hand are jointed, and some brown paint over the brown garment is barely visible. His black eyes have a little pink around them, as do his ears. You wouldn't miss it if it were left out, and it's good that they did something with the deco to make it not seem like the most cynical product in the line.

Accessory interactivity is not fantastic. The clear box of gear is good to not lose the tiny accessories, but no such love was given to the other stuff. He can't wear the necklace without popping off his head, and I am hesitant to do that. The cookies can be held just fine, and the hands are not posed properly to make use of the bowl or the shifter knob really. Alternate arms or a bonus alternate figure would have helped. He can sit in his pram just fine, but getting the pieces on it to align and shut properly has proven difficult. It won't fully close - the form fit is awful on mine. The deco is nice, I appreciate the weathering and orange tripes, but it seems poorly manufactured. Having said that, the interior is nicely painted and sculpted.

What I wish Hasbro would've done was to include more than one Grogu in the set - there's so little going on here that they could toss two or three uniquely posed figures, with different expressions, and it would still feel like something of a bad value. But not this bad. If this were the only way to get the character, I would say hold your nose and buy it. But it's not - you have a lot of options and almost all of which can be had at a better price. (Surprising no one, my favorite is the "Kenner" one.) Making money is important but I think Hasbro really whiffed this one. Including a Grogu with a lesser character (say, the Client) to boost sales as an "accessory" would have made sense. Throw in other accessories as bonuses with other slower-selling figures to encourage collecting, or alternate Grogus, also makes sense. If this figure included droid parts or extra gear for Mando or just something that would make this seem like you got more plastic than a 3 3/4-inch scale figure for $10 cheaper, I wouldn't complain. But this did not happen. And it won't matter, because this will fly off the shelves as a 1-per-case figure during the weeks before season three of The Mandalorian premieres. The character's popularity will probably make this a critic-proof product unless people are over The Mandalorian or season three of the show winds up turning people off. I expect they'll be confused given how many people skipped The Book of Boba Fett, but such is life.

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,999: January 31, 2023

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,998: Darth Maul (The Black Series)

DARTH MAUL Cyborg
The Black Series 2020 Line Look Yellow The Clone Wars Packaging
Item No.: Asst. E8908 No. F4356
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #11 - The Clone Wars
Includes: Two-piece lightsaber hilt with two removable blades
Action Feature: Connecting lightsaber parts
Retail: $24.99
Availability: December 2022
Appearances: The Clone Wars

Bio: A deadly, agile Sith Lord, Darth Maul was a formidable warrior and scheming mastermind. He wielded an intimidating double-bladed lightsaber and fought with a menacing ferocity (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: This is a real good 6-inch figure too. Darth Maul has no nomenclature on-pack to identify him as "Cyborg" or "Mandalore" or other outfit-specifc wording, but it's good. With this line in particular I get cranky if anything is under a pretty high bar lately, and Maul hits the high marks. The character made the jump from live-action character to reborn animated cyborg to live-action-ish action figure surprisingly well! There were plenty of places Hasbro could have cheaped out, and they didn't seem to here. It's the rare $25 figure where you can fuss with it and go "OK yeah this is worth it." This is a figure with personality to spare!

The lightsaber is made of his old weapon and new parts, and you can pop the halves together. He has no problems holding it, and the design is much like the character - part of it is what you remember, and part of it was cobbled together parts from his Jedi-related on-the-job injuries. There are some nice painted details on the silver hilt, and while there could be more it's not like I'd notice at that size. I got some black grip spots and red buttons, I'm happy. The "old half" has a little peg on it that fits in a slot on his belt quite nicely. The other half has a protrusion but I don't think it goes anywhere in particular.

Maul turned out great, starting with a new head with pointier spikes and a fantastic sneer on his mug! The eyes and horns are mostly painted very well, and his squint is just dynamite. I'd probably have been happy re-rebuying a regular Maul again if it had this much personality in his face, and thankfully, I was not asked to do this. He has a bare, partially painted chest set inside a plastic vest covering up the unpainted spots. Economical! He's ripped and the costume is no slouch either, with cyborg buttons on his belt painted in blue and yellow, evoking the look of Darth Vader. The shoulder armor is connected to the arms, so he has no problems moving and looking pretty good in any pose, with an easy-to-find center of gravity.

I love the gloves and their silver painted straps, I dig the robot legs, and the dangling part of his vest just looks awesome and won't get in the way of most poses. The elbows and wrists have a great range of movement, and much like the 3 3/4-inch version of this same outfit it's an exceptionally nicely-sculpted figure. I should also note that the multi-part neck is great, jointed in just the right places to let you change his mood based on how he tilts his head. Now I have to sit back and wait and hope they do Old Man Maul from Rebels in this format down the road, but if they never do? I'm happy with this figure. This is the best Maul in this size and one of the best Maul toys period. Snag it if you see it at retail... maybe even a few bucks higher.

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,998: January 26, 2023

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,997: Migs Mayfeld (The Black Series)

MIGS MAYFELD Ex-Imperial Criminal Disguise
The Black Series 2020 Line Look Orange The Mandalorian Packaging
Item No.: Asst. E8908 No. F4360
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #27 - The Mandalorian
Includes: Backpack with blaster, four additional blasters
Action Feature: Removable backpack with extending blaster arm, four working holsters
Retail: $24.99
Availability: December 2022
Appearances: The Mandalorian

Bio: A hot-headed ex-Imperial sharpshooter, Migs Mayfeld was once a smart-mouthed leader of a gang of criminals. (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: This is a real good 6-inch figure. Migs Mayfeld gives you everything you want and does it well. Not only do you get Bill Burr, but you get four working holsters, four identical blasters, and a bonus backpack-mounted blaster. It has pretty much everything he needs, and no extra fluff you need to figure out where to store later/lose later. Articulation is good if not exceptional, and in many respects, you could probably paint him green and put him on your G.I. Joe shelf without looking out of place. Hasbro did good here, and I'd say Mando fans should pick him up.

After Q9-0, Migs is the second (and hopefully not last) figure from the gang in season one. Spreading them out far apart probably results in diminished enthusiasm, but it's another good figure with a lot going for him. A dark, dark blue costume is augmented by a brown shirt and a number of holsters that look like he stitched them together himself. There are a total of five blasters - four in holsters, one on a mechanical arm in his backpack - and everything fits in pretty nicely. (One of mine had a slightly bent scope, so it goes in the chest holsters.) The costume looks just like the show, with some light leather bits, some dark leather bits, and some painted metal elements.

Hasbro also wisely molded much of the figure in color. He doesn't have nor does he need painted detail, thanks to the simple costume design, so you can just pick him up and marvel at the subtle fabric patterns sculpted on his shirt plus the detailed pockets. The gloves have tiny ribs on the fingers and padding on the knuckles, making this look like a great replica of the costume. While he isn't an exciting alien or a cool robot, he is an excellent translation of what we saw on TV down to the photoreal head with an acceptable amount of painted scruff. I assume the technology will improve with time, but it's better than anything we got five or ten years ago.

It's great when Hasbro can do a great figure of a fun character. Migs' body seems like it could be reused for other figures down the road, which could be great. He doesn't have the fancy shoulders with the extra swing-forward motion, but other than that every joint works well with the kind of standard complaints you might expect. The legs can move, but the holsters block them from moving too much - that is the price of carrying a lot of heat. The elbows and knees have a good range of motion and he doesn't tend to flop over with the tight - but not necessarily super smooth - joints. I'd recommend this figure because I love seeing my favorite character actors and stand-up comics appear in Star Wars, but you'll want it because it's a quality interpretation of the costume. I hope they make Burg and Xi'an too at some point, especially if they can be prodded to do a Kenner-style wave with the whole crew.

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,997: January 24, 2023

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,996: Grand Inquisitor (The Black Series)

GRAND INQUISITOR Nobody Expects the Imperial Inquisition
The Black Series 2020 Line Look Blue Obi-Wan Kenobi Packaging
Item No.: Asst. E8908 No. F4361
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #09 - Obi-Wan Kenobi
Includes: Lightsaber
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $24.99
Availability: December 2022
Appearances: Obi-Wan Kenobi

Bio: Obi-Wan Kenobi is set years after the dramatic events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith where Kenobi faced the corruption of his friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker turned Sith Lord Darth Vader. (Taken from the packaging. About 25% of the package back is wasted on translating this nothing burger in six languages.)

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 increasingly feel that the line is on something of an auto-pilot. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, and sometimes it's both. With figures like this Grand Inquisitor, you get a surprisingly good figure of a surprisingly bad character (and poor live action redesign.) Hasbro did a boffo job painting his costume to look like the TV show, mostly, but what you're getting is triple generation loss. The Star Wars Rebels design lost a bit jumping to live-action in Obi-Wan Kenobi, and then Hasbro probably was working from an earlier design when translating the make-up to a toy. The end result is a nicely engineered figure with some exquisite design choices and very good joints that leaves me ice cold.

I'm sure this sounds hypocritical - after all, I like a good Kenner-style figure and those are frequently off-model and off-base. But that's the charm - they're meant to look like half-baked toys done on a budget with little to no reference, while a collector-aimed $25+ 6-inch action figure should be a near-perfect translation of what we saw on the screen - and it should be a good choice, given how scattered character choices are these days. Many of the costume elements come straight from the cartoon - and that's what you want. In a very superficial sense, you get some severe eye make-up, black armor, a gray body suit, a double-bladed lightsaber, and a vibe that reads as The Star Wars-era previsualization artwork. It's hard to not see this as something that could have been an alternate suit for a non-masked Darth Vader - the black armor looks cool, the gloves are nice. There's no gloss on the figure, but you do get some silver highlights and that Grand Inquisitor rank pin. The thigh armor is sculpted in a way that doesn't hinder leg movement - gold star to Hasbro for that - and all the joints seem to move freely. It's not stiff like so many 6-inch figures, and everything seems to have a smooth - but not loose - movement. When you pose the legs, the knees are buttery-smooth and everything just seems to work easily without a weird fight where a piece is a millimeter in the wrong direction due to parts tolerances. You can get some good poses out of this guy thanks to an abundance of well-disguised joints and nicely jointed shoulders. Hasbro took what I assume was an official Disney 3D model and sliced it up like a champ.

Unfortunately for Hasbro, Lucasfilm redesigned a familiar face and did so poorly. The long Utapauan heads have been reduced to standard human length, and it is not flattering. The Rupert Friend costume shoulders have lost the Imperial cogs, which I admit do look a little silly, but I'm OK with silly sometimes. The character's eye makeup has been greatly desaturated and there's barely any evidence of the more vibrant red on the animation model's forehead and around his eyes. His "tears" were greatly toned down, and the cartoon's piercing yellow eyes are absent, with a less-exaggerated neck and collar. Much like the character's role on the TV show, Lucasfilm sucked the coolness right out of the character - and added a goofy cape to boot. But it's an interesting cape, with a red lining, and it hangs of the shoulders in an unusual way. I don't know if it translated perfectly well to a figure, but it's distinctive. It's interesting to look at.

Hasbro didn't do a great job translating the head. The color seems off, the eye make-up looks more like German theatrical stage make-up - much more severe than the live-action look. The plastic color absorbed the ridges in the skull, making a weak design look weaker. I don't doubt Hasbro could've been working from a pixel-perfect 3D scan, but the plastic color absorbs some of the texture and it's just a very white bald man with off-color skin. If you saw this at Comic-Con you'd gush over the armor, and maybe just trail off about the face. It's just not great, and since it's a rotten interpretation of a character in the story, I assume this guy will be marked down online pretty quickly if he isn't already.

The lightsaber is weird - the double-bladed one is molded in gray and not painted silver, which is a weird strike. The pegs do help you position his hand in the right place to hold it, but there are no places to mount it on the figure body so they are more annoying than helpful in getting his hand around the weapon.

It's a frustrating figure. I won't lie to you, I wanted to hate it because the character on the show was a twerp. Hasbro did an A+ job making a costume that looks good and is jointed well, and probably gave us a C- head and a B- lightsaber. Were Hasbro to reissue this figure with better paint down the road, I bet it could be an easy A- or A overall. Hasbro and their factories did a largely good job translating what they were given, but when you have a character return with a worse performance there's only so much you can do. If we see Grand Admiral Thrawn show up on live-action Star Wars but he's played by Wallace Shawn, that would be... actually I think I would quite enjoy that. Disney, get on it.

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,996: January 19, 2023

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,995: B2EMO (Droid Factory / Disney)

B2EMO Disney Exclusive
Star Wars Droid Factory
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: n/a
Action Feature: Comes apart
Retail: $14.99
Availability: September 2022
Appearances: Andor   

Bio: All different types of Astromech droids populate the Star Wars galaxy. Each droid is different and has their own unique personality and colors. This droid is a very old and weary groundmech salvage assist unit that's been towing scrap for the Andor family for years. Join B2EMO on their adventures throughout the galaxy! May the Force be with 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: If you're an older fan and you like toy robots, you probably want B2EMO. The cynic in me sees this as the token cute merchandise character nearly every show or movie gets - and given this is one of every few Andor products you can by right now, I don't think it's unfounded - it is surprisingly hard to get. Hasbro's 6-inch scale B2EMO was meant as a "convention" exclusive, and this is the only other action toy so far. Funko also has one, which was also an exclusive. Weird, right?

The boxy (but good) robot seems like a predecessor to the astromech droid. He can grow taller if you pull him out of his crumpled-up mode, and he has a rotating dome and articulated feet with wheels. The design looks a lot like it does on TV, with the exposed panel on the side of the body and the uniquely shaped head. The wheels roll, the feet are a little wobbly - including one mismatched foot in school bus yellow - standard. The scuffing and rusted-out chassis tells droid thieves "not worth the trouble."

At $12.99 or less, I would say they nailed it as a Disney park souvenir - it's expensive, but it's a weird design with a short selling season. But it's $14.99, so it's overpriced. He's missing the green rectangles on his head, and the figure could have been served by more black "dirty" paint given the price increase over previous, similar droids. The telescoping body is nice and frankly necessary, but it's still a little guy at a price of a larger figure. He's too big to be a "sidekick" accessory, but it's definitely the kind of thing that would have benefited from being in a boxed set at a better per-figure price.

But naturally, none of this matter. What you care about is that a 3 3/4-inch scale B2EMO exists, it's official, it looks good, and it costs too stinking much on the secondary market thus rendering any of my misgivings moot. It sold out - so Disney won't care that some goofy fan thinks it isn't fancy enough to justify the asking price. At standard pricing I'd recommend it enough to get one, and if Hasbro makes a "Kenner" Andor series I would hope a weird B2EMO with a clicky dome and an awkward sticker or two can't be left out. It's weird that the most toyetic design on a decidedly toy-unfriendly series be given such a short run, but Disney shorted its first Pride Droid and that sort of thing really leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

None of this is the fault of the designers, who I assume designed this to meet a $12.99 price point that inflation kicked up. To have this toy on-shelf before the series aired, I would argue it's a pretty good feat in 2022 and they're deserving of praise. But if Hasbro (or Disney) want to try a version 2.0 that has a tilting dome - rather than this one which only swivels - I'd like to see that too.

Collector's Notes: I got this through my pal Shannon. (Shop Disney sold out quickly.) Thanks Shannon!

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,995: January 17, 2023

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,994: The Mandalorian (The Rescue, The Vintage Collection)

THE MANDALORIAN (The Rescue Set)
The Vintage Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure PulseCon Set
Item No.: No. F5551
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #245
Includes: Wrist plug, Beskar spear, pistol, jet pack, whistling birds, flame, plus Grogu, Dark Trooper, and Moff Gideon
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $74.99
Availability: July 2022
Appearances: The Mandalorian   

Bio: The Mandalorian leads a crew on a rescue mission to Moff Gideon’s ship where a garrison of dark troopers – the advanced droids that captured Grogu – are waiting. (Stolen from Hasbro Pulse. There is no bio.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Commentary: I feel like it's almost a recurring bit in here to say something is overpriced, but it is. This The Mandalorian (The Rescue comes in a lavish, ridiculous box that's incredibly big and expensive to ship, plus an anxiety attack in the making. Do you save the packaging? How much of it? Do you remove the plastic clear trays? How do you store the accessories since there are more gizmos than the figure can hold? How can you not lose a plug for the wrist rocket that's the size of a grain of rice? I realize this may sound silly to you, but I think it's also part of why these things are less fun and more tiny jobs in the making these days. There's no way to hold or store all the accessories you get - I would much rather have bought two different kitted-out mass market Mando figures than this $75 3-pack.

To date, this is the most deluxe version of Din Djarin to date. You get a re-re-retooled figure with a cloth cape, a removable jet pack, a Beskar spear, a blaster pistol, a flame effect, the Whistling Birds effect, and an addition 2-3 figures. If Hasbro just took all this stuff and sold it in a box for $20-$25 you'd probably go "Wow, that's a bit too much" mostly because there's no easy way to store the extra stuff - but things plug in to the figure nicely. The left wrist can plug in a nifty flame blast, the right wrist has a hole for a plug or for the whistling birds. In another era, Hasbro (or Kenner) would have made a line with a dozen versions of Mando and each would sport unique armors and accessories - and I can see an upside to that. Here, you've got so many options for display it's almost daunting.

Complete with tattered cape, this version of our hero follows previous releases by barely changing the figure. The "ice spider" version had unique snow deco and a distinctive left knee pad. The "Razor Crest" version sported different thigh armor and lacked the left knee pad entirely. This "Rescue" version also adds two new wrist armor bits to allow for your fire blast accessories, which I assume costs a bunch of money to tool up. Sadly, they kept the same leg joints from the previous releases too so it's a little bit tougher to pose him compared to, say, Bo-Katan Kryze or Axe Woves. In terms of functionality, he's pretty much the same as that Beskar version we got a while back. Improved, yes. Specific, absolutely. But nothing particularly special beyond being a perfect season 2 finale figure.

The spear is a fine spear, but it doesn't do much of anything - he can hold it, it's fine. The blaster fits in his holster and is nice bright silver. If you got the figure with the non-fire accessories, it would probably be in a store for $15-$17 right now. The fire blasts might mark it up to $20-$23 these days, with the Dark Trooper retailing around $33 (but this version is missing his "dock") and Moff Gideon being $15 tops. Since Grogu has been thrown in multi-packs, I would guesstimate he's $5 tops. If you assume Hasbro would throw Grogu in a deluxe exclusive box (like we saw at Walmart) for about $21, and that Gideon and the Dark Trooper would cost the same as a retail counterpart, this set is "worth" about $68 or so - and that seems absolutely ludicrous given how little you get in the box, and that four "vintage" figures would set you back about $60 these days. I feel like I'm a constant downer and I love these things - but $75 can buy you some pretty awesome, existing Kenner or Hasbro toys.

What's kind of funny - and sad - is that sets like this used to be super cheap. Starting in 2005 Hasbro frequently released "Battle Packs," where you got 5 figures for about $20. They were usually existing figures (or retools) with new deco, and sometimes you got all-new figures in there in similarly large diorama packaging. The key difference is you got 5 figures for $20, and not 3-4 figures for $75. Hasbro is saving money on sets like this, and they're charging us premium prices - and given that a lot of their exclusives aren't selling through anymore, I'd wager to say their plan isn't working. There's no reason this set couldn't be in a simpler box for under $40-$50. As long as people like us keep buying them, Hasbro will keep making higher-end items like this - but it seems interest is slowing down. I certainly don't feel this was a particularly good nor exciting item since other versions of these figures can be had without the massive packaging, but completists will be interested in it and the flame effects are somewhat interesting. It's just that we've had multiple 3 3/4-inch - and 6-inch - versions of this character, often at premium prices, and it's just getting expensive and tiresome when we're not getting cool robots or aliens or other bad guys to fill out the collection. There's no reason to "collect them all" if they're all pretty much the same, and I have a feeling my time playing around with this figure will probably come to an end about the time I finish this sentence.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Hasbro Pulse.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,994: January 12, 2023

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,993: NED-B (The Black Series)

NED-B Load Lifter
The Black Series 2020 Line Look Blue Obi-Wan Kenobi Packaging
Item No.: No. F6156
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #10 - Obi-Wan Kenobi
Includes: Hammer, blaster, backpack
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $33.99
Availability: December 2022
Appearances: Obi-Wan Kenobi

Bio: Obi-Wan Kenobi is set years after the dramatic events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith where Kenobi faced the corruption of his friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker turned Sith Lord Darth Vader. (Taken from the packaging. About 1/6 of the back of the box is devoted to this stunningly worthless copy instead of showing other figures or features of this product. What a waste of space.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Entertainment Earth now!

Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Commentary: NED-B is a pretty good figure in the sense that Hasbro most likely made this from early concept images. The show started filming in May 2021 and we've got NED-B in-hand in December 2022. That's pretty good! Not as good as on-shelf when the show has its "Force Friday" but "same year" is the new "impressive" these days. As a show, Obi-Wan Kenobi felt like it was willed by the merchandising and marketing departments as opposed to Andor which strived to be as not-a-toy as possible... and it shows. With this yellow robot you get a figure that, in and of itself, is pretty good - but it's not $9 better than a standard figure, nor is it 100% true-to-the-screen.

The sculpting is, without reservation, excellent. If you get in close on the unpainted plasteel panels, you can see tons of teeny tiny sculpted scrapes and scuffs. Someone spent hours making sure the costume was represented in three dimensions just right, with excellent proportions, tons of joints, and everything seemingly going where it needs to be. He has around 33 points of articulation, with construction similar to K-2SO - who was a basic (read: $20) figure and the Battle Droid, the latter of which also came with three accessories. I'm not crazy about the clear circles in the ankles, knees, and elbows, but the overall look and feel of the figure is good and it seems like something you may have seen spit out by a post-Return of the Jedi Creature Shop. Tanks to the many moving parts, you can get him to emote nicely and he's free to express himself in a body language thanks to the sizable feet. He's not going to topple over. To the sculptor and whoever engineered the articulation - you did A+ work here.

Deco is pretty good. The figure is molded in yellow and gray, with some of the yellow elements having been painted. I would have preferred it be all molded yellow or all painted yellow, because there is a bit of a visual clash. The eyes pop nicely, the blue details match the costume well, and the gray bits are mostly as they should be. It even features Aurebesh lettering on the front and back, and that's great. But his butt is painted yellow when the rest of his body is molded yellow, and I don't care for that. Comparing this figure to on-set candid photos of the costume, you can see Hasbro skipped painting the chest lights their proper colors and missed a world of scuffing on his body and limbs. They did an acceptable job for a $25 figure - but this is a $34 figure. I don't think it's unreasonable to start to expect near-perfection as the prices arbitrarily go up, unless Hasbro was working from an incomplete picture of how the final costume should look. If Hasbro was working from artwork or early renders they did a magnificent job and deserve props for getting it so close to the mark. If they had pictures of the final costume and on-set reference... I would have liked them to spring a few pennies to make this figure blow me away for the price.

Accessories are good. The hammer is awesome and fits in either hand easily. The Battle Droid blaster is an awkward fit in either hand, and wasn't shown in the press photos. His backpack has to be plugged in to a hole and then two cables are plugged in to the sides - other NED-B figures just mold it to the back. Given the price, Hasbro didn't leave anything out and I appreciate that.

With basic 6-inch  Black Series figures at $25 and this one $34, I am not convinced there's $9 of value in this box. Other figures have more accessories and probably about as much painted detail for less money. He's a big figure, but Hasbro also sold K-2SO and Chewbacca at basic price points. (Hasbro can also sell a $10 12-inch action figure, so there's probably some calculus that is not available to us mere mortals.) Cool robots are cool robots, and this is a cool robot that's accurate enough for me to say that I like it. I hope Hasbro doesn't release it with improved deco hits and faux scuffing paint later at an even higher price, because that would just make everybody feel like a chump. I assume this one may get marked down in the future, but if it doesn't, it's a decent figure that I would strongly recommend at $20-$25 and recommend at $34 if you really liked NED. And you probably really did like NED - but I've been real happy with the faux Kenner one.

Packaging Notes: I went from being pretty lukewarm on the Plastic-Free Packaging to somewhat detesting it once I got this in hand. Reducing plastic and waste is important - NED-B is so narrow he could easily fit in the standard box footprint. There's so much empty room in there! Hasbro has mentioned PFP being less of an issue to fans (which I don't buy) since fans are doing most of their shopping online (which I totally buy.) If you're not going to make a box that presents your product in the most gorgeous possible light, it should be efficient and reduced in size to keep costs to all parties lower. This box is almost twice as big as necessary, and every bit of ink and cardboard and weight gets added to the bill. Hasbro really ought to shrink the box and/or consider returning to the plastic window. I didn't even know a blaster was included until I opened the box - it's a nice surprise, but things like combining robot features in Transformers or accessories in Star Wars need to be specified clearly. The box says "two accessories" and you get three, plus the little diagram on the side puts the blaster under the figure where it's extremely easy to miss at first glance. A white background or outline of the blaster, combined with showing the backpack, would have been welcome. The top of the box is completely black and is wasted space.

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,993: January 10, 2023

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,992: Obi-Wan Kenobi (Wandering Jedi, The Vintage Collection)

OBI-WAN KENOBI (Wandering Jedi)
The Vintage Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure
Item No.: Asst. E7763 No. F4474
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #245
Includes: Lightsaber, hilt, blaster, cloak, L0-LA59 (disc with stand), L0-LA59 (deployed)
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $14.99
Availability: July 2022
Appearances: Obi-Wan Kenobi   

Bio: Obi-Wan Kenobi is set years after the dramatic events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith where Kenobi faced the corruption of his friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker turned Sith Lord Darth Vader. (Stolen from Amazon. 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: Good engineering and gear, not the best face paint. Obi-Wan Kenobi (Wandering Jedi) has a lot going on with a whopping six accessories, half of which are loaded with tiny painted details. That sort of stuff doesn't come free, so Hasbro is charging accordingly. This figure was $15 last year and with price increases, would be about $17 if he shows up in a new wave this year. It's a little ridiculous - not because we're not getting a lot in the box, but we're getting way more than we need. This probably would've been a much better figure with only his cloak, lightsaber, and blaster at a lower price. I appreciate the bonus droid buddies and lightsaber hilt, but even the hilt gets lost in the shuffle hanging off his butt and completely hidden by his robes. In short, the Kenner-style one was a bit more sensible and was also priced cheaper.

This is a decent figure with a less decent head. I wager Hasbro worked from a Lucasfilm style guide and that's why we got the droid companions here (and not with the non-existent Leia) because that was on the checklist of "something cute to sell the kids" and the kids didn't show up. Each droid is a wonder to behold at its size, and makes me go "OK, maybe this is worth the asking price." The disc mode L0-LA59 has a clear stand and a ball joint, allowing you to position it a bit. There's a big black eye and a red ring. It features amazing detail at this size, and they're carried over to the "active" droid too. The second L0-LA has articulated ears and a single joint on the leg, which is insane. This may well be the smallest articulated figure in this scale to date, and you can use the head joint to balance her to stand up unassisted. That's amazing. Obi-Wan can grab either droid in his hand, more or less. Each figure probably has about as much complexity as a really good alternate figure hand, but I would assume fans would place greater value in getting two tiny new characters as cute but useless bonuses.

The blaster looks great, and easily fits in his hand or holster. The lightsaber hilt pegs in the belt easily, but is out of sight and I assume it will one day fall out and I won't know it went missing for years. The lit lightsaber fits perfectly in his hand, and the robe looks pretty good too. No complaints. I assume if Hasbro gave you this much stuff in a 6-inch figure, they'd charge you an $8 deluxe premium.

I haven't even mentioned the figure yet. Obi-Wan Kenobi looks a bit like Ewan McGregor and, from some angles, a little like Homer Simpson thanks to this particular beard. The hair looks superb, but the puffy mustache adds a bit of an overbite to the exquisitely sculpted and painted face. The face doesn't look great up-close, but it's acceptable if you've got old eyes and don't look at it with a macro lens. What's more, the arm and leg joints are all excellent and while the figure breaks zero ground, it seems to do a good job carving up what I assume was the digital asset provided by Disney to this size. The one thing I don't like is the eyesore mid-torso joint. At this point, it just looks awful - unless there's an engineering reason I don't understand, I'd prefer to see this joint lowered to the belt line so any cuts would just fit seamlessly in the figure. I'd also be fine dropping it completely, if it meant a lower price point or a cleaner look to the figure's shirt. You're always going to have elbow joints or shoulder joints, but this kind of a belly laceration seems like the kind of thing they figured out how to not do in 1980s G.I. Joe. I'm only making a big deal about it since it's the one blight on an otherwise good figure that can stand without a fight and so far, isn't flopping over due to weirdly tight joints reverting back to a pose I don't want. I like it.

All in all this is a good figure, and I don't know why he sat in an opened tray from his package on my desk for months and months. Hasbro did a bang-up job with him, Reva, and Darth Vader and I only wish we could ever get literally any new show or movie to have a line that makes a real statement at retail instead of 2-3 figures and then nothing. I can't build a collection - or enthusiasm - with so few figures. Anything less than 10 is pretty paltry, even if all we get are rereleased Stormtroopers I'd have been pretty happy. Hopefully Hasbro still has more figures in the pipeline, like a mini Leia or Flea or the once and future Happy Birthday/Thank You Very Much. If you can get this figure at or under $15 it's a fantastic example of what Hasbro can do with the higher budgets, but honestly, I'd prefer they just cut the budget, get them back down to $12, and if they have to cut some gear so be it. Sell us accessory packs if need be - because figures like this are raising the price of every figure, including reissues with little or no gear that are undoubtedly cheaper to manufacture.

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,992: January 5, 2023

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,991: Mandalorian Super Commando (The Vintage Collection)

MANDALORIAN SUPER COMMANDO Toy Debut!
The Vintage Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure
Item No.: Asst. E7763 No. F5634
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #243
Includes: 3 blasters, jet pack
Action Feature: Working holsters for smaller blasters
Retail: $14.99
Availability: July 2022
Appearances: The Clone Wars
Bio: A coup topples the pacifist regime of the New Mandalorians led by Maul. His loyal Mandalorians modify their armor to reflect their allegiance. They wear red and black armor, and some even fashion horns atop their helmets . (Stolen from Hasbro's 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: We're spoiled. We got so many good Mandalorians last year that I'm only now getting to this Mandalorian Super Commando from summer. Hasbro has sort of gone full-blown overkill with Mando variants, making new ones like they're going out of style - which, I guess, they may be. Parts of this figure have been used to make multiple troopers, and no doubt more are on the way. This one doesn't have horns (that's another guy) but it does have great battle-damage paint and working holsters.

As one of the Maul-aligned Mandalorians, this figure is something I'd wanted to see for ages. You get the scraped-up helmet, the scuffed-up armor, the exposed metal kneepads, and what's one of the best translations from animation to "real" action figures. Hasbro did a bang-up job here - banging up the armor perfectly. Deco is superb, the only weak points are the mostly plastic jet pack and blasters being a little light in color. A darker color (or a less translucent plastic) would have made them perfect. I appreciate the bonus blaster, plus the holsters for the two smaller ones. They're nothing special, but they look right and fit in hands and holsters. Not the big one, though. He's gotta hold that.

Figure sculpting is as good as we've seen, and this is where it's sad to say it's both good and nothing special. That's no knock on Hasbro - every now and again they get to a ceiling and there's only so much you can do with an armored guy with some faux cloth elements. The belt and holsters look great, the body suit is good, and the armor is perfectly digitally sculpted. The shoulder armor is connected to the shoulders, so you can move the arms without moving the pads. It looks good - the greaves and vambraces also look excellent, but it's the paint and the greaves that have subtle detailing in the paint that are just plain impressive.

Articulation is as good as most modern figures - not Hasbro's best, but close. Each of the roughly 27 points of articulation move well, but not as smoothly as some of 2022's finest figures. You won't have a big problem finding the sweet spot to get him to stand without assistance, but there's a little resistance in moving each part that makes it harder than, say, Bo-Katan Kryze. (She's perfect.) He can stand and sit, and could probably fit in most ships if there was a sensible one for him to go in - it's good! Plus they could repaint these guys in the cartoon blue Death Watch colors earlier on the series... and probably make a swell Pre Vizsla with this mold, too. It's good!

I'd recommend it because it's nice to have more Mandalorians, even if it is a sudden flood. This is the kind of figure fans will no doubt seek out later unless Hasbro overproduces them because they're cool and I assume we're going to see a lot of Mando specialist collectors as time goes on. Also it's the 20th anniversary of the original Clone Wars project this year, so it seems likely fans will suddenly be reminded of things they missed - so get this one while it's still cheap.

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,991: January 3, 2023