WARNING:
This post contains spoilers for the movie. But seriously, if you
haven’t seen it yet, do you even care?
Hasbro
launched the new onslaught of Star Wars toys back in September. For
reasons
I have already discussed
I chose not to collect any of it aside from a few pieces here and
there like Captain
Phasma
and a die-cast
Finn.
Much
to my delight and surprise, Santa left nearly all of the new 3.75”
scale Force Awakens toys for my son on Christmas! So now I’m going
to review the line as a whole.
If
you buy anything from the links on this page - or just click them and
buy other junk - Needless Things gets a ha'penny!
THE
FIGURES
While
I always feel that vehicles are a key part of any Star Wars line,
without the characters you’ve got nothing. Of course, when these
figures hit back in September, we sport of had nothing anyway. We
didn’t know much at all about anyone and had to judge them based
solely on their appearances.
Now
we know that almost everything that’s out at the moment can be seen
in the first act of the movie and also that a lot of it is barely in
The
Force Awakens,
if at all. Constable Zuvio – who seemed to be a major supporting
character – isn’t even shown. We have yet to see figures of Han
Solo, Princess Leia, Maz Kanata, and several other characters, not to
mention some striking background characters like the mismatched
couple in Maz’s place.
I’m
not here to judge the appropriateness of the figures, though. I’m
here to talk about their quality. And to be honest, I would’ve been
thrilled to have some more random, background characters to fill out
my imaginary Mos Eisley when I was a kid. And that’s exactly what a
ton of these are. We’ve been making awesome Jakku junkyard scenes.
These
are all the simple, old school figures with five points of
articulation. I’m only covering the single-carded basic figures
($6.99-ish MSRP, depending upon where you buy them). We don’t have
any of the Armor Up series because Santa is not a chump.
Every
single one of these figures has an excellent sculpt and better paint
than I expected. Some of them hold their guns or accessories fairly
well, some don’t. The Resistance Troopers are particularly bad.
Whether they can be held or not, all of the accessories look great.
They have excellent sculpts and
they are made of sturdy plastic. It’s not the old, firm plastic of
the vintage toy line, but it’s not rubber.
I
will complain about the pricing on this line several times throughout
this post, but I have to admit – these figures are way
nicer than what Funko and other companies are currently doing in this
scale and they cost less.
The
packages are not easy to open. Hasbro used a plastic blister glued in
between a folded piece of cardboard. There is no easy way to get them
open, but the best way seems to be to fold the card beside the
blister and tear it upward.
Most
of the figures have ball-jointed necks, making their heads removable.
This is useful for some – you can put Finn’s head on a
Stormtrooper body. But the sizes are different in some cases for some
reason. For example, you can’t put Poe’s helmeted head on his
flight suit body. Kind of dumb.
Each
of the figures comes with one third of the parts necessary to build
some sort of thing. The build-a-weapon pieces are not from The
Force Awakens
or any other Star Wars production. They’re kind of fun to put
together, but annoying because they generally don’t make anything
useful or interesting. Also, Hasbro mixed franchises when packing
them in, so even if you buy every single character from The
Force Awakens
you will be missing parts since some come with Dagobah Luke or Kanan
or other characters from outside of Episode VII.
It
really doesn’t matter, though, because the parts and the constructs
are all lame and will end up in a drawer or even the trash.
Here
are some notes about specific characters:
Captain
Phasma
– One of my favorite basic figures. Her blaster has some paint and
I actually like her wacky plasma saw thing. While vac metal would
have been nice, toy makers don’t seem to go for that any more.
Oh.
Well.
Constable
Zuvio
– I think this smaller version looks much better than the Black
Series figure. He’s not in the movie, but he makes a great figure
to have for your Jakku scene. I love his hat and armor.
Ello
Asty
– Star Wars names have a tendency to be dumb. Let’s go ahead and
get over that and be amused that this guy is named after a Beastie
Boys album and that his helmet says “Eat Me” in Aurebesh. That
alone makes him a must-have. Fortunately, he’s a great-looking
figure and also a non-human in a Resistance uniform, something I hope
to see more of.
Finn
(Jakku)
– Great head sculpt. His (Poe’s) jacket looks great. There’s
more paint on almost all of these than you’d expect, like the dusty
app on Finn’s lower legs. I don’t necessarily like
dirt/battle damage, but Hasbro definitely went the extra mile with
these.
First
Order Flametrooper
– In my thirty-plus years of toy collecting I have come across
many, many
flamethrower figures that cannot hold their weapon. Whether it was
because the tube connecting it to the backpack was too stiff or
because the weapon was designed poorly or some other reason, there
are tons of crappy flamethrower dudes. This is not one of them. As a
matter of fact, this might be the best 5 POA flamethrower dude ever.
First
Order Snowtrooper
– General Hux is actually the best example, but I’m going
alphabetically here, so I’ll start with this guy – Hasbro did a
great job with skirts, coats, and stuff like that on this line.
First
Order Stormtrooper
– Staple of the line. These guys look great. All of the various
troopers have shiny, white armor that makes for an awesome looking
army when you put them together. There are two different versions of
the basic Stormtrooper. We only got one kind, so I don’t know if
there are differences beyond the build-a-weapon piece. I suspect not.
General
Hux
– His coat looks great. The split works nicely. It lets a little
light through, but the sculpt is very tight and looks great when the
legs are lined up. Also, it is sculpted in such a way that it doesn’t
look all weird when you move the legs. This one has a great likeness.
Goss
Toowers
– I thought this was another of Jakku’s random inhabitants, but
he’s actually a Resistance mechanic. I’d imagine he’s in one of
the scenes with all of the X-Wings prepping for battle. He looks
great. His coveralls actually should have tipped me off because they
don’t look like what the Jakkuvians (?) wear.
Guavian
Enforcer
– This is one of the least Star Wars-looking characters in the
history of the franchise. The Dark Horse comics and some of the other
Expanded Universe materials produced some questionable designs, but
these guys (as it turns out there are more than one) seem way off
spec. They look awesome, but just don’t seem right.
Regardless, the figure is great – tons of detail and more paint
than you’d expect.
Kylo
Ren
– There are several Kylo Ren figures in the line. We got the one
with the two big arm attachments. Otherwise I don’t know the
differences between the basic figures. The textures on this guy are
fantastic. What surprised me most, though, was the fact that he has
legs sculpted inside of his robes. He holds his lightsaber well. I
don’t know what the lightsaber is made of, but it got bent right
above the hilt at one point and I thought for sure that it was going
to break. But I carefully straightened it back out and it was just
fine.
PZ-4C0
– I am so happy that we got a distinctive and remarkable new droid
with the new movie. I can’t imagine the practical purpose of this
giant, ridiculous neck, but I love it. The head and neck do remind me
somewhat of General Grievous, so if this guy ends up shooting Leia in
Episode VIII, I won’t be surprised.
Resistance
Trooper
– These are definitely the lamest figures in the assortment.
They’re the modern equivalent of those weak-ass Endor Rebel
Commando that Kenner made. However, they are great non-descript troop
builders, so you need at least three of them. It’s worth noting
that this one has a dark skin tone, so future variants could occur.
Rey
(Starkiller Base)
– I don’t get why this isn’t Rey from Jakku, other than that
one should have included BB-8 and her headgear. Speaking of heads,
this one has a better head than my significantly more expensive Black
Series 3.75” figure. And the same backpack, minus a little paint.
Sarco
Plank
– One of my favorites, despite being named after a piece of wood.
His breathing mask and backpack look incredible. Even with the dull
brown robes this figure is eye-catching. He also comes with a nifty
gun that reminds me of the rifle Zuckuss uses.
BB-8,
Unkar’s Thug, & Jakku Scavenger
– This was a multi-pack that is easily the best value of the entire
line. BB-8 looks great and has a head that can move around. Unkar’s
Thug looks like a Middle Eastern terrorist and makes me slightly
uneasy. The Jakku Scavenger is actually part of a race known as
“Teedos” and is the one that caught BB-8 in a net.
He should have
come with a Luggabeast and, quite frankly, I’m pretty irritated
that he didn’t. We don’t have any
beasts in this line, though I suppose we could still see some. I just
don’t get the point of putting this guy in the three pack as
opposed to some other random character. It’s not like “Jakku
Scavenger” was on anyone’s must-have list.
The
set comes with an absurdly large net launcher that actually works
quite well. None of the figures can hold it, but my son or I can and
it works fine.
R2-D2
& C-3P0
– Must-haves, given that they are the stars of the entire saga.
These aren’t the best our favorite droids have ever looked, but
they’re okay. Artoo is essentially the same as he’s always been
and Threepio has a gold leg (though that is now correct) and a red
arm. Neither is as shiny as I’d like, but they’re serviceable
enough.
The
set comes with a big device that sits on Artoo’s shoulders and
fires electric rockets. It’s ridiculous, but it looks fine and
works in the context of a toy. Personally, I would have preferred a
tarp to drape over the astromech.
THE
VEHICLES
Desert
Assault Walker (Entertainment Earth Exclusive)
– Not in the movie, but fun. I like any version of the AT-ST, even
one as tiny as this one. The hips and ankles are articulated and it
has little control handles in the cockpit that swing down. The cannon
also swivels. It comes with a Stormtrooper Officer (he has a
pauldron), which is nice to have. I like this desert variation
slightly more than the regular one and you can actually get it from
Amazon for cheap:
Desert
Landspeeder
– This is a very insubstantial vehicle, but it looks like part of
what we know of Jakku. The rotating turret is neat and it’s just
big enough to not feel like one of those minirig-style vehicles. It
probably should have come with another Jakku native instead of Finn,
but whatever. It’s a different Finn figure and one that we arguably
needed since he’s post-armor, pre-jacket. He’s also dusty, which
is okay.
Elite
Speeder Bike
– A new version fog the classic Speeder Bike that does not actually
appear in the movie. It’s about as basic as you can get and
honestly not worth the money, even compared to how overpriced this
line is in general. The included Stormtrooper is okay but bland. He
does have knee joints, but they don’t really help him mount the
bike any better. This is the only straight-up pass in the line.
First
Order Snowspeeder
– Also not in the movie (as far as I could tell – could be on
Starkiller base at some point). I think releasing this and the Desert
Landspeeder at the same time was an error. They’re too similar and
made the vehicle assortment seem a bit dull. Neither one is bad,
though. I wish the cannon on this one could have been a bit further
forward to allow for one more figure. Also, the cannon doesn’t
attach very well. Otherwise this thing is fine. It comes with a
Snowtrooper Officer, which to me is a desirable figure. Because
pauldron.
First
Order TIE Fighter
– I was very surprised by how nice this ended up being. The plastic
seems slightly nicer than the rest of the vehicles, which mostly feel
pretty cheap. The wings are sturdy and the classic mechanism to eject
them works better than any other TIE toy I own. The cockpit is a bit
snug for two figures, but it does work. The two firing laser bolts
also work well. The included TIE Fighter pilot has a removable helmet
and a blaster. He looks good and the accessories fit and work well.
This item is pricey, but overall might be the best value amongst the
vehicles. I understand now why Hasbro chose it as the sole entry for
the Black Series. This is the only one I am seriously considering
buying for myself.
Poe’s
X-Wing Fighter
– This is a hunk of garbage. Hasbro were out of their ever-lovin’
minds to think it was okay to charge fifty bucks for this junk. The
rubber nose doesn’t stay on well, the laser cannons were bent all
to hell:
And
the included figure barely fits in the cockpit. This is an utterly
unacceptable toy. I would be mad if I had paid twenty-five dollars
for this thing, let alone fifty. I’m relieved that Santa brought it
so I don’t have to feel like such a sucker.
Okay,
now that I’ve said all of that – I heated up the laser cannons
with a hair dryer and straightened them out. They look fine now. The
sculpt of the Starfighter is very nice and it is slightly larger than
the original Kenner model. The mechanism to operate the s-foils is
excellent and they stay together better than most other X-Wings I’ve
owned. So in the end, the only real
problem here is the cockpit. You have to work to get the figure in
far enough and once it’s there it doesn’t look right. The rubber
nose isn’t a huge issue because if it bothers you that much you can
glue it on.
The
included figure is Poe Dameron in his flight suit with a removable
helmet and a blaster. It’s probably the best of the Poes.
Resistance
X-Wing (Walmart Exclusive)
– This gets a separate entry because there was one critical
difference besides the coloring (which I prefer to the regular
version) – the laser canons were not all bent up. They aren’t
packed any differently and don’t seem to be a different plastic,
but they were perfectly straight out of the box. This one comes with
Poe in his jacket and gear from the beginning of the movie. He also
has a non-removable helmet, which seems odd.
I’ve
seen this variant at several Walmarts now, so you shouldn’t have
any trouble finding one.
Rey’s
Speeder
– The best of the small vehicles. It has more heft than any of the
others and has a cannon that pops out of the top and fires a rocket.
The cargo net comes off and there are also clasps for her staff. The
included figure has goggles and headgear and fits on the seat nicely.
I was most surprised at the adjustable flaps on the sides.
THE
MILLENNIUM FALCON
The
Millennium Falcon
– Yes, of
course
the fastest ship in the galaxy gets its own category.
Also,
this is the centerpiece of the line and the most expensive item. So
I’ll go ahead and say – no
way is
it worth the $125-ish that Hasbro wants. But when compared to the
rest of the overpriced line it’s as close to earning its inflated
price tag as anything. Here’s why:
When
I first saw pictures of this thing I mocked the heck out of it. It
had a bunch of silly-looking gun features and the back canopy turned
into some kind of lounge area. My first impression was that the
Kenner version I had when I was a kid was much cooler.
I
was wrong.
This
Falcon is an excellent
toy that is far superior to almost every other Falcon that has been
released. The gun features are awesome.
The dorsal turret pops up and
reveals a whole gunner’s station with a closing hatch that a figure
can fit directly into. No – the Falcon doesn’t look anything like
that, but it’s FUN.
There’s
another hidden cannon that pops up from the front section and fires a
NERF dart. It’s also FUN and it goes really far.
The
old Kenner Falcon had a panel that came off to reveal the interior.
The panel itself was just this big hunk of plastic that you set aside
and tried not to step on. This Falcon has a similar panel, except
that this one turns into a floor area so you have more Falcon to play
in. It doesn’t technically attach to the back, but it does sit
there and the whole point is that the designers used every bit of
real estate they had.
There’s
an opening compartment in the floor, of course.
If
you put Chewbacca in the cockpit, nobody else can fit in there.
That’s a failing, and the only one this Falcon has, as far as I’m
concerned.
Finally,
there are sounds. Lots of sounds. When you turn them on, the ship
reacts to your movements. When you move it around, it swooshes. When
you put it down, it makes a landing noise. When you pick it up, it
makes a takeoff noise. When you move the little hyperdrive switch it
makes either the “going to hyperspace” noise or the “hyperdrive
fail” noise. The guns make sounds when you fire them. This thing
makes so many noises that right now I’m still not sure we’ve
heard them all.
Yes,
the Force Awakens Falcon is small compared to the BMF from a few
years ago, but the sculpt is excellent and it has all kinds of bells
and whistles.
It
comes with Chewbacca, Finn, and BB-8. BB-8 is dirtier than the other
version and Finn and Chewie have headsets on. For the first time we
have a Chewbacca figure that can easily and securely hold his
bowcaster (I like that thing).
Is
this Millennium Falcon worth the money? Well, does your kid love Star
Wars and need a Millennium Falcon? If the answer is “yes”, then
yes. It’s a great toy that costs too much, but that’s the world
we live in. You’re not going to get a comparable Falcon for less
and could conceivably pay more for one that isn’t as good.
THE
CLOSING
As
sad as it makes me that Hasbro is no longer focusing on what I want
to collect, this is a fantastic toy line. Everything is grossly
overpriced, but these are great toys. I think that there is even a
possibility that future releases could drop slightly in price, as the
precedent has been set before with Star Wars and GI Joe lines – the
first wave is expensive, but successive waves experience price drops
as Hasbro tries to keep the line popular and appealing. Hopefully
they’ll drop those stupid build-a-weapon pieces and get the price
down to five or six bucks a figure.
As
for the vehicles, those prices are nothing short of outrageous. I
can’t even imagine what Hasbro would charge for a nicer X-Wing in
the style of the Vintage Collection at this point if they think those
under-engineered hunks of crap are worth fifty bucks.
If
you want Star Wars toys and aren’t beholden to a particular style
and
can handle the jacked-up prices, this line is going to make you very
happy. If your kid wants Star Wars toys, these are way better than
the ones we had. And I include both the Kenner originals and the 90s
revival in that statement.
I got this Millennium Falcon and it is the best Millennium Falcon for 3.75" so far for fun and display factor. Your kid is a lucky kid to have some many starwars toys for christmas.
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