Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,118: The Mandalorian (Epic Hero Series)

THE MANDALORIAN New Kids Line
Epic Hero Series Basic Figure
Item No.: Asst. F9405 No. G0099
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Blaster pistol, Darksaber
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $9.99
Availability: January 2024
Appearances: The Mandalorian
Bio: The Mandalorian is a formidable bounty hunter in an increasingly dangerous galaxy. (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!

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Commentary: I think we can all just assume whenever Hasbro makes a new scale, we're getting The Mandalorian - it just makes sense. Since the show's 2019 debut, this is the first kid-line 3 3/4-inch action figure. There have been Kenner-style figures, vehicle pack-ins, super-articulated figures galore, and a 6-inch cheapo figure, but this is Hasbro's first toy basic carded version of him aimed at kids outside of the food/drug/discount channels. While some of the figures in the mostly-yellow-and-blue Epic Hero Series packaging look like they were close to old-school Kenner, so is this one - except he feels more like a 1990s Power of the Force POTF2 figure. I love that.

Standing at 4-inches tall, he seems to be pretty much the exact height of The Vintage Collection Mando I had on my desk (from the Razor Crest set.) He's shinier, and changes some key details - the wrists now are painted Beskar silver, and the silver is much brighter than on most of these figures. The blue knee pads and brown straps on the legs aren't painted, and some elements of the armor were left undecorated. The dark gray elements below his belt over his junk and his hips is left undecorated, and the belt and bandolier are now an incredibly bright and saturated reddish brown. His gloves are now all one color, without the uniquely colored fingers. It isn't a closer match to the show, but I think some of you old-school toy fiends might appreciate the Kenner-style inaccuracies.

The figure also has holes. There's one in his back for a jet pack (not included) and one in each gauntlet to add a shield or the slide-out blade (which comes with Sabine.) His cape is removable, and it took me a minute to realize there's a cut in the left side of his neck that opens to remove it - you'll want to remove it for him to sit in a vehicle. The joints move nicely and it feels like an honest-to-goodness toy, with hands that easily grip his accessories. Also like most classic figures, there are no holsters for his gear. He has to hold them all.

His pistol is molded in gray, and the Darksaber has a white-edged blade that looks just as good if not better than what we got in the collector lines. There's no crackle, but that's OK. He's lanky and looks like a gunslinger, with a visor on his shiny silver helmet that seems just the tiniest bit narrower than on other figures. The sculpted detail is sharp throughout, and I think this might appeal to some of the fans who also liked the Retro figures, but in a different way. If this exact figure came out in the 1990s, your head would explode and you would be waiting outside Kay-Bee waiting for them to open to cherry-pick it off the pegs. It's the real deal, and as luck would have it, it's an easy to get figure because it seems Walmart is getting him in solid cases and in the assortments.

I hesitate to say $10 is a steal for this figure. It's a good figure. $10 is on the lower-end of what Hasbro charges in 2024. I think another company could have delivered a figure of equal quality at a lower price (have you seen Playmates' figures?) but Kenner and Hasbro have typically been on the more expensive side of licensed action figures. I like this figure enough to recommend it if you like this format. The shiny silver is more in line with the Carbonized figures - and I liked that silver a lot - with articulation that easily fits in the vehicles you may have without fussing with weird hips or ankle joints. The only thing Hasbro did wrong was to wait four years to make this figure - it probably would have been the best-selling product of the year in 2019 or 2020. Or 2021. Or 2022. Now we've all got a ton of other Mando figures, so it remains to be seen if the populace will see this one and go "that's the one I gotta have!" after having a crack at bigger, more detailed releases several times over.

I would argue this is the superior toy, and Hasbro should consider skewing a line of diverse aliens, heroes, villains, droids, and others in this format rather than its collector formats. Hasbro doesn't make the crazy detailed figures that Hot Toys does - so if you want the very best, that's a whole completely different price point. If you're playing in the world of $10-$25 figures, this kind of release easily slips in the Razor Crest and squeezes in the N-1 pilot seat without much fuss and looks spectacular in there.

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,118: March 21, 2024