Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,008: Vel Sartha (The Vintage Collection)

VEL SARTHA Figure Debut!
The Vintage Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure
Item No.: Asst. E7763 No. F5624
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #262
Includes: Blaster with removable back
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $16.99
Availability: February 2023
Appearances: Andor
Bio: In an era filled with danger, deception, and intrigue, Cassian Andor embarks on a path that will turn him into the rebel hero who will challenge the evil Galactic Empire. (Stolen from Amazon. There is no bio for Vel - this is the same copy used for both figures.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

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

Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Commentary: Have you ever picked up a figure and had to look at it and go "I don't know if this is good or not?" That's where I am with Vel Sartha, a figure that was clearly developed in a time between Hasbro keeping to a $14.99 price point and the new $16.99 price point. Generally we've been seeing some "collector" figures come out missing a few paint applications for budget reasons during these transition phases, and Vel certainly seems to be one of them. Also she's a little weird in other ways - not bad, certainly not terrible, but disappointing relative to other women recently made by Hasbro.

With Bo-Katan Kryze and Fennec Shand, hasbro loaded up the figures with painted detail, at least two accessories, alternate heads, and even slightly more articulation for about the same price. Vel has only swivel wrists, so she was designed to hold the blaster like in her cardback photo - and that's it. Her hip joints are great, the bends in her elbows are better than average, her proportions look more "human" than "toy,"and the sculptors did a bang-up job with the garments and her face. She's just a little tiny, and there's not a lot in the package for the money. This would be a very good $8-$9 figure from another manufacturer. At Hasbro's 2023 pricing, especially since she's not part of a bigger line, it's hard to be enthusiastic. I also hate the mid-torso joint, especially at this scale. Vel has two places around her belt where you could put a joint and it wouldn't be an eyesore - so why put it smack dab in the middle of her chest? What's the benefit?

I love how they sculpted and painter her hair - her face was printed nicely, and the parts of her they elected to paint turned out well. You can see a little paint under her jacket collar, but her boots are all the same brown. Multiple shades of brown are on her coat in the show, but all they painted were rings around the cuffs of her sleeves. I assume Hasbro cut corners for budget reasons and assumed we wouldn't notice - and are probably, on the whole, right if that's the case. If you just display her on the package and call it a day, you won't notice, nor will you care - but the general engineering of the figure also teeters between "excellent" and "meh," so it's hard to know for sure what their intent was. Her hip joints let her sit in vehicles well, with a great range of leg movement - I couldn't ask for it to be better. And yet, her arms seem designed mostly just to point a blaster down. She's mostly excellent, but it's weird to see the tiny, specific wrists combined with the perfectly good leg joints.

As the only Vel Sartha in this size, and generally a good figure, I'd recommend her - but at $17 I would assume Hasbro is probably just dealing with a feedback loop of this scale's sales slowing a bit, so they drop features and raise prices, which cause sales to slow, and so on and so forth. Her blaster has extra silver deco hits which really pop and look gorgeous - also the butt of it pops off, so be careful. If the figure had those extra couple of paint jobs like her gun, I'd be praising it, but the all-the-same-brown coat looks pretty blah on a $17 figure. On the other hand, if Vel was a $10 Retro figure I'd say "perfect, don't change a thing." These competing expectations probably sound hypocritical, but I've got a lower barrier to "success" when it comes to cheaper, simpler figures. The Vintage Collection are premium priced and really should be premium quality - I should be impressed, and while Hasbro comes close I'm not amazed by what we got. Also she's tiny, and it's a little painful to know that if we get little guys like Yoda or a Jawa or R2-D2, there's a good chance they too will be expensive and underaccessorized.

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,008: March 2, 2023