It’s
been a while since I’ve said it, but I am not collecting Hasbro’s
6” Star Wars Black figures. 3.75” super articulated figures are
my thing and judging from the last year of Hasbro’s offerings in
that format I’ll be saving a lot of toy money in the future.
Boba
is my favorite thanks to his distinctive, mismatched armor and the
amount of character expansion he got thanks to authors like Karen
Traviss in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, but Jango is technically
more important to the Saga. Not only did he have more significant
screen time than his son, he was the template for the entire Clone
army, as well as the head trainer.
In
addition to being a key player, Jango was portrayed by actor Temuera
Morrison. Morrison starred in one of the few family drama-type movies
I have ever truly enjoyed, Once
Were Warriors.
It’s about a Māori family in modern (at the time) New Zealand
dealing with their marginalized status and it will make you cry. He’s
been in plenty of other stuff, too, but the man is a powerhouse in
Warriors.
I
also met him briefly at Dragon Con and had him sign a Jango figure.
He seemed like a really fun guy and he dug my mask. So there’s
that, too.
FIRST
GLANCE
I
own several Jango Fett figures and they’re all pretty good, having
come in the post-2002 era of Star Wars toys. But this one definitely
stands out. The armor looks more lived-in and the small details just
look better.
If you squint, this picture looks fine. |
PACKAGING
I
don’t know why, but I don’t like The
Force Awakens
Black Series boxes as much as the older ones. They just seem kind of
dull. Normally I’m a fan of red and black color schemes, but not in
this instance. Maybe if the “Star Wars” logo was in solid foil or
something.
Still,
this does the job. You can see enough of the figure through the
window to decide if it’s appealing or not and it does say “New
Product”, though I don’t know how long that shine is going to
last with all of the peg warmers that are already popping up. Anyone
need a TIE Pilot or Constable Zuvio?
The
back features a brief and inaccurate bio of Jango in FOUR LANGUAGES.
That’s too many. The bio claims that Fett’s armor conceals his
scarred face, but… uh…
I
wouldn’t refer to that as a scarred face. There are two scars that
I can see and they’re not exactly epic. I think “Conceals his
face, which bears a couple of minor scars” would have been more
accurate. Especially considering the fact that figure has zero scars,
minor or otherwise.
LOOKS
The
sculpted likeness of Temuera Morrison is great. I might’ve liked an
expression that was more stern and less stoned, but that’s the
fault of the paint. Speaking of which, those eyebrows are rough.
They’re ultra-black and a bit off-center and just look bad, even
when you’re not examining a close-up picture. The hair looks better
in person than it does in the picture, though. The paint on the eyes
isn’t super. He has a kind of Igor lazy eye thing going.
Jango’s
armor looks fantastic. The sculpting is very sharp and defined,
giving the plates weight and a feeling of substance. The silver paint
is shiny, but not too
shiny. There are some spots of sculpted and painted damage, giving
them a look of functionality and a sense of being lived in. This
armor has stories and the people that designed the figure were aware
of that.
I
learned all about Mando armor when I made
my own a few years ago.
There are more pieces and layers than the casual observer realizes.
That’s why I like how Hasbro handled this figure so much. Jango’s
flight suit has been many different colors across many different
action figures – everything from lavender to purple to light blue.
I don’t know the color of the actual costume, but this figure’s
suit is what Jango looks like in my head. It’s powder blue with a
thick, dark wash of what’s almost a dark lavender. It looks great
and captures the color and texture of the movie suit nicely. Over
that is the vest that the armor plates are attached to. It’s dark,
glossy grey and clearly a different material from the flight suit.
More of a leather or vinyl type thing. I love the way the shoulders
are done. The openings in the vest where the joints are situated are
large enough that the plates slide into them when you’re posing the
figure. It might not be quite accurate, visually, but it means the
figure has a full range of motion at the shoulders.
Jango’s
gauntlets naturally hold all of the gadgetry that you would expect
from a Mando warrior. The left has a flamethrower and fuel lines that
“disappear” under Fett’s upper sleeve.
The
right has mini rockets and other sculpted doo-dads that I can’t
remember the purpose of but that look great. It also has supply lines
running up into the sleeve.
The
detail on the gauntlets is great, but not quite as sharp as I was
expecting. They look good, but not so much better than the smaller
figures that I feel like I’m seeing more parts.
Jango
has a very distinctive belt and holster setup. He has the same belt
full of pouches as Boba with the wrapping underneath, but sports two
low-slung holsters for his blasters. This combined with Jango’s
matching armor and overall brighter colors gives him a more together,
soldier-like aspect than his son. The sculpt on the figure’s rig is
great, with flaps on the pouches and eyelets on the holster straps,
but the paint is minimal. They actually stand out against the rest of
this figure’s very good paint job and feel a bit bland and
tacked-on. They should have some texture or a dark wash to suggest
leather. Given the attention to detail on the rest of the figure I’m
rather surprised these look so plain.
The
figure’s lower legs look great. The kneepads have all the weird
stuff on the sides and the greaves have some extra paint to suggest
more dirt closer to the ground. The shoes are excellent, with painted
detail on the soles to give them a lot of extra personality. The
treads look great, as well.
ACCESSORIES
Jango
Fett comes with a helmet, a jet pack, and two WESTAR-34 blasters.
For
the record I am not a fan of the blasters from the prequels. They
look too sleek compared to what we saw in the Original Trilogy. Rather
than basing them on existing weaponry the filmmakers sculpted all-new
designs and they stand out like sore, silver thumbs.
Fett’s
blasters do look like their movie counterparts, even sporting some
paint on the grips. I may not like the design, but they look like
they should.
They fit perfectly into either of the figure’s hands
or into the holsters. The holsters are so narrow I was concerned that
the blasters wouldn’t stay put, but they work just fine.
Jango’s
bucket is very nice. The paint scheme matches the rest of the figure
and it’s a firmer plastic than I tend to expect from Hasbro
helmets. The paint is very clean and there aren’t any smudgy bits
you can see through. I am disappointed that the rangefinder doesn’t
pivot.
The
jet pack also has a fantastic paint job. It plugs into holes in the
figure’s back armor plate and stays put nicely. My only issue is
that it’s made out of a softer plastic and that both of the nozzles
on mine were bent.
FUN
The
figure has great articulation. All of the joints and hinges and
whatever that you might want on a twelfth scale figure at this price
point are present. The ankles are limited by the placement of the
greaves. There is an actual swivel joint on the bicep rather than at
the top of the elbow to accommodate the sculpt of the fuel lines. It
works better than the elbow swivels normally do and is aesthetically
fine because there’s actually an extra sleeve there on the costume.
Jango
is good enough that I’ll leave him on the desk for a while.
Particularly considering that I don’t have and haven’t played
with many other 6” Black Series figures (two – the aforementioned
junior Fett and Darth
Vader).
OVERALL
This
is a very good Jango Fett. If you are excited for a twelfth scale
version of the character, for twenty bucks this figure won’t let
you down.
4
out of 5
If
you want one, buy from Amazon and help Needless Things pay the
bills!:
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