There
are many reasons to love Captain Phasma – the design looks like the
offspring of a Cylon and RoboCop, it’s an update to the classic
Stormtrooper, there’s a cape, Gwendoline Christie is under that
armor and also it’s all more than a little disco.
I
doubted we’d be getting any kind of vac-metal toys since nobody
seems to want to do that anymore, but silver armor was still going to
look all kinds of cool.
Of
course, all of this was before we had any idea of what kind of toys
Hasbro – and everyone else – was going to be releasing. And
somehow they all managed to keep it a secret until September. Heck,
even now we don’t know what’s happening. I just saw a whole batch
of new 3.75” characters on Amazon and I hear there’s a new Slave
I with a Boba Fett figure showing up in stores in The
Force Awakens packaging.
You
guys must’ve read my complaints about the fact that Hasbro has
relegated the more articulated 3.75” figure line to being Walmart
Exclusives and that on top of that immense indignity they’re also
$12.97 apiece, which is obscene. You might’ve also read that I
opted out of the 6” Black Series because I at no point in my life
will be able to justify paying eight thousand dollars for a
Millennium Falcon and a Star Wars line without a Millennium Falcon is
no Star Wars line at all.
And
no Star Wars line at all is what it seemed like I was going to be
left collecting.
But
then I remembered that I’ve got a son that doesn’t already have
several hundred Star Wars figures in a style that isn’t being
mass-produced and that I could just buy all of this new stuff for
him. Some of that new stuff has proven a bit harder to find than
other, so I am once again compelled to step into my most hated foe –
Walmart.
Walmart
had the first wave of the Exclusive 3.75” Black Series and they’re
pretty much garbage – not how I’d kick off a new line. There’s
a Vader with cut joints for elbows, a Chewbacca we’ve seen at least
once before, and a Jedi
Luke that might be okay but is also not special enough to buy in
addition to the Jedi Luke you already have; especially not for
thirteen bucks. Supposedly actual Force
Awakens
characters are on the way, but with these craps clogging pegs I don’t
know where Walmart is going to put them. They had a
lot of
those.
They
also had some new 6” Black Series figures – Constable Zuvio, Poe
Dameron, and Rey. I hadn’t seen Zuvio in person before (he doesn’t
look great) and it made me wonder if there might be a Captain Phasma
on the pegs. While I may not be collecting the 6” line, I’ll
still buy characters I like such as Boba Fett and Vader.
I
looked through the pegged figures and saw no Phasmas. But I’ve been
at this toy collecting game for a while, so I didn’t stop there. I
moved around some of the shelved stuff and looked behind the vehicles
and – sure enough – there was a Phasma stuck behind the Micro
Machines, clearly concealed so that someone could return and pick her
up later.
TOO
BAD FOR YOU, FOOL.
FIRST
GLANCE
Obviously
Phasma didn’t didn’t receive the glorious vac metal treatment,
but she’s still a nice silver color that photographs simply
terribly.
What’s
interesting to me is that you can sort of detect some feminine
proportions. And also the cape looks awesome. Have we ever had a
caped Clone/Stormtrooper?
PACKAGING
The
Black Series come in nice window boxes that are just shy of being too
big for what they are. The window wraps around the side and provides
a great view of the figure. The graphics on the box looked classy
when these first started coming out, but they’re starting to look
kind of cheap to me now. The kid-oriented Force
Awakens
toys are much more exciting to look at. I get that this sparseness is
meant to appeal to “serious adult collectors” and if it does
maybe I’m not one of those.
The
bio on the back is briefer than brief, which I’m actually okay
with. I don’t want to know anything else about Episode
VII before
I see it. I haven’t even watched that new Japanese trailer yet.
LOOKS
The
helmet is awesome. I love this design – it’s evocative of the
Stormtrooper headgear, but looks slightly more sinister. The vents or
markings or whatever that angle down from the lenses accomplish that.
There’s also less detail, giving it a sleeker look. The silver
plastic has a metallic look and the black portions are applied
perfectly.
Phasma’s
distinctive silver armor looks great. There’s something about the
design and the portions of the body glove that differentiates this
design even more from standard Stormtrooper gear.
The
back does have the traditional “O II” marking, as well as the
canister on the belt for Corellian whiskey. The belt itself is a
separate rubber piece and can be shifted around slightly if you feel
the need. The silver paint on the black rubber looks better than
you’d think it would.
I
like the low profile kneepads and the flexible-looking material
around them. The shin guard and boot combo is a little funny. The cut
makes it sort of look like Phasma is wearing boots like Lemmy’s. I
like it. The soles are a nice black shade that looks slightly
different from the body glove. Or maybe that’s just me.
Her
arms have cool shoulder pads that overlap the bicep plates and her
gauntlets have some kind of gadgetry on the inside. I don’t know if
that’s for communications or maps or if plasma (Phasma) blades
shoot out of them, but it makes a lot of sense that they’re on the
insides of her forearms rather than the outside. The gloves are black
with silver plating on the backs and fingers. It looks cool and
they’re painted oddly well for 6” action figure hands.
The
armor has nice lines, details, and plating in what I’m going to
have to assume are the right spots. Again – it’s slightly more
involved than regular armor, but also sleeker.
I’m
not going to consider the cloak an accessory because I had to remove
the figure’s head to get it off and that was a huge pain in the
ass. Well, getting it off was no big deal, but getting it back on was
a hassle. It taught me that I need to keep a hair dryer in the
Phantom Zone.
It’s
a very light and flexible plastic that looks good and has a nice,
cloth-like texture. The red trim looks great, but unfortunately mine
has some splotches on the side. Unless I’m mistaken a little nail
polish remover should take care of that. There are also some sort of
straps and closures sculpted onto this piece. It all looks good, but
I think I would’ve preferred soft goods here. This thing greatly
limits the figure’s posability. I can just picture a nicely done
fabric cloak. Of course, I can also picture one that’s too thick,
doesn’t drape well, and has no detail. So maybe we’re better off.
ACCESSORIES
Phasma
comes with a blaster that is very reminiscent of the old standard
E-11. It has a fantastically detailed sculpt and some black details
on metallic plastic that’s almost gold. It looks great. Phasma can
hold it with both hands or one and it plugs securely onto the gimmick
on the figure’s right thigh.
FUN
I
have to mention that the figure feels kind of weak and rubbery. The
good news is that since none of the parts are solid plastic, nothing
was so brittle that it broke when I was testing the joints, of which
there are a ton. They all work nicely and the figure can achieve
quite a wide range of poses.
The
shoulders are limited by the large armor plates and the hips are
restricted by the hanging belt pouches. Otherwise the joints all move
freely and are about as useful as you could want. I was quite
surprised at the fact that the figure can hold the blaster with two
hands in a natural way – this is extremely uncommon for armored
figures. Heck, you couldn’t get a buck naked Masters of the
Universe Classics figure to hold anything shorter than a spear with
two hands.
There’s
a gizmo on the right thigh that replaces the standard Stormtrooper
holster and that makes the design even more RoboCop-ish. It’s
fairly unobtrusive, so I don’t mind it.
Phasma’s blaster plugs into it nicely and stays put well, though the belt pouches come close
to making it not work.
OVERALL
The
plastic used for this figure honestly feels like garbage, but
visually and functionally this is a wonderful figure. If you’re
collecting Phasmas or the Black Series it’s a must-have. I’d
wager this is the best Phasma we’re likely to get. I mean, aside
from Hot Toys’ version.
I
don’t often invest time or money in custom pieces for action
figures, but I might actually look into a fabric cloak for this one.
I’m sure someone somewhere will make that happen.
4
out of 5
Buy
one from Amazon and help Needless Things pay the bills!:
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