IG-12 with Grogu and Anzellan
The Vintage Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure
Item No.: No. G0670
Number: #286
Includes: Blaster, chest panel, 3 character figures total
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $24.99
Availability: February 2025
Appearances: The Mandalorian
Bio: Clever Anzellan droidsmiths have refurbished
IG-11’s salvaged parts into a pilotable frame for Grogu, who can operate
the droid body like a vehicle. Stripped to base motor functions, the
droid has been renamed IG-12. (Taken from the figure's set's cardback.)
Image: Adam's photo lab.
Availability: Click here to buy it at Entertainment Earth now!
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Commentary: Is this one figure or three? I'm having a hard time with that one given that
The Vintage Collection IG-12, Grogu & Anzellan has two extra-tiny figures which both serve as a missing part of the IG-12 mech. "What is a figure?" gets brought up a lot, and I should probably count this one as three - but you might not enjoy that. So let's say it's one, and we'll just make them all brief. It's a neat set.
The meat of the toy is
IG-12, a surgically enhanced release of 2021
IG-11 [FOTD #2,871] with a new torso. He was $13.99, this one is $24.99 and you get one fewer blaster. It's pretty good - the figure's head lacks two cream-color deco hits, one below the eyes and another just above the neck joint. It lacks some of the shine around the waist, but that makes sense because Hasbro gave us a removable baby gate part that would probably snap or decay if made from a hard, shiny plastic or vac-metalized. Everything else is pretty good with the light tan bits on the legs and arms, the red on the shoulders, and the same good design we got with IG-11. The problem on my sample where that the elbow joints were frozen, and needed a lot of encouragement with boiling water and some time in the freezer to move freely. The ball-jointed elbows are a smidgen loose, and while I can't engineer a better design I can say that I wanted something a bit stronger. If you got IG-11, it's a lot like IG-12.
The hands are wonderfully creepy with multiple clawed fingers splayed out, but unfortunately aren't very good at gripping the blaster rifle. This isn't the end of the world, as neither Grogu nor the Anzellan spent most of their time blasting fools. The new torso demands more examination, in part because Hasbro didn't point out how it worked on the packaging. The chest pegs in on the waist, so you can remove it to place in the Anzellan or Grogu as a pilot. Both can more or less reach the joysticks, and Grogu is a very tight fit. You will need to count on the flexibility of his ears to be crammed in there and be plugged in place securely in very specialized sockets. The Anzellan is a little looser. For what Hasbro aspired to do, I think they did a pretty good job repurposing existing parts - but the many tiny joints are very challenging to fully actuate thanks to paint and very specific tolerances. If you find it on clearance (and you probably will) buy two, just in case one snaps or is difficult.
I should also point out that the figure has an interior. Inside the chest panel you can see some pistons, levers, and what may be a screen. The body cavity has a sculpted upholstered pilot's seat, and it's even painted in spots. Hasbro could have left it unpainted and, with a pilot inside, you'd never notice. Someone over there clearly recognized that if they're going to charge us $25 they better put some extra detail in there. Sure, I would've put it on the robot head, but for all I know you'd be screaming at me for making the wrong choice. There's a lot going on here with sculpted cables and jointed ankles and a head with four swiveling layers, so I assume this figure is probably scraping the ceiling of what could be done at the price point given its complexity.
Piloting the EVA-11 are two familiar faces. The
Anzellan is new to this scale, and is quite a remarkable tiny figure. It is difficult to appreciate that a 3/5-inch figure costs a lot of money to make when it has moving parts or painted elements. Paint, paint masks, and assembly cost similar amounts for a small piece as a large piece, so it doesn't matter if you could cram this guy in your nose, plug the other side, and shoot it out - it still costs Hasbro a fair amount of money to make it. If you can squint, you'll see tiny eyes, a little mustache, a shirt, goggles, a scarf, painted skin, and more. Size matters not - the factory in China is going to bill you for four or five colors on a tiny figure with jointed arms as if it were a more complex toy. If Hasbro made it as an unpainted slug figure, the price would be absurd. While it might be a hair higher than is necessary, I don't think they're ripping fans off here - this sort of thing is actually expensive to make, especially if you see how generally great and clean the paint applications are. You know I love to complain, and I don't think Hasbro shorted us on this little guy.
Rounding out the set is Grogu. He's shorter than other
Vintage Grogu figures, no doubt because I don't think there would be a way to fit it in the tiny torso of a robot figure. He has joints at the neck and shoulders, which is what he needs to fit in and pilot his mobility walker. Hasbro did not skimp on paint here either. Not only are the eyes and hands painted green, but so are the feet. His collar and sleeve cuffs are also painted, as are the pink interiors of his ear. Hasbro could probably have left those last few bits unpainted and, when piloting IG-12, you'd never know. Given that this is a deluxe figure it seems they're acutely aware we have to feel like we're spending $25 on something really good, and while I would be curious what a $20 version would look like, at least I can't poo-poo what we got here. The little guy fits in the chest like a glove, but you might want to use a toothpick to put his ears in place. The figure's sculpt is all new, and he looks excellent. In terms of scale he's a smidgen smaller than I would expect, just barely taller than the Anzellan droidsmith.
While some deluxe figures don't feel like they're much better than a similar release from just a few years earlier, IG-12 is on the happier side of worth it. Things like extra heads with extra fine paint masks cost money, and Hasbro basically delivered a $17 figure with two extra heads here. A long time ago I was told a head is about 1/3 of a cost of many figures - I haven't a clue if it was/still is true, but let's say it is - making this a decent deal for what you get on the cardback. It stings that a deluxe version of a formerly $14 figure is now $25, but I can't imagine a world where tiny Grogu or tiny Anzellan figures would be under $4 in a blind bag or through some other format. You're not going to feel like you got an amazing deal, but it's a fair value for three characters in a single package.
Collector's Notes: I got mine from Entertainment Earth.
--Adam Pawlus
Day 3,229: April 3, 2025
