I have been shying away from Star Wars reviews lately, part of that is because with the new Vintage, Clone Wars and even (to an extent) Saga Legends lines it’s been difficult to quantify all of the newer figures together. Point is with this (and the next) set of reviews I am not going to try to put them into any category other than Star Wars. Reason being is because they are kind of all over the place.  

First up, at last a decent Hoth Leia. Last year we got a very failed attempt at Leia in a comic pack with a mandolorian (whose name escapes me and I really don’t feel like looking it up. There went my toy guru points for this round, oh well). The Leia in question was the POTF Hoth Leia which of course had very little articulation (as Star Wars figures only really got into articulation in the past few years). But now we got an articulated Hoth Leia and I like it.  

She has some nice weathering on her to match the snowy Hoth landscape and is overall a great figure. Some have complained she is too short, but what we tend to forget is that Carrie Fisher isn’t all that tall either. This becomes readily apparent in several scenes of the original trilogy. Some “Tall Leia” enthusiasts note that in several scenes Fisher was on boxes and thus conclude her “character” is not as short, which is just ludicrous. The scenes in question were close ups for the most part and was the only way to ensure that her co-stars (most notably Harrison Ford, AKA Han Solo) didn’t have to slouch in the close ups  

Any more evidence needed just look at scenes that are wide or far away (ie the Carbon Freezing Chamber or her entrance into Jabba’s Palace in disguise), the height difference is very noticeable. So she is short, and she is in her figure too, while those who collect other lines might be caught off guard by this at first, it is accurate.  

I have to say this figure is a great addition to Star Wars, while she could use some better hip articulation, she is still good enough and I doubt we will see one much better. The only reason a Star Wars collector should avoid this figure is if they just don’t care about Hoth for some reason.  

Moving on comes Judo Kast, the K-Mart exclusive that is a bit of a surprise. Hasbro hammered into fans that after the TRU exclusive EU wave there would be no more Expanded Universe figures until 2011. Yet right out of the gate we get Judo Kast, funny how that works out. Technically he Is part of the Saga Legends line, but still he is an EU character.  

The Legacy Line released a Judo Kast that, well, was horrid. It was a repaint of an outdated sculpt that had no business on the shelf in the first place. This time Hasbro grew a brain cell and gave us a Judo Kast that is a repaint of the Evolutions Boba Fett with a new head under the helmet, and this is what they should have done in the first place.  

I won’t try to say Judo is a great character, but I do find his story entertaining. For those unacquainted, Judo pretends to be Boba Fett to get bigger jobs as a bounty hunter. Eventually Boba hears about him and kills him for pretending to be him, but that is another story. To me it made a ton of sense to have a character like this and I do feel he had a lot more potential than he was given, but still the stories were entertaining at the time.  

Being an exclusive to the overpriced K-Mart presents a problem, his price tag is a bit higher. I got mine for $8.99, but I wasn’t happy paying the price. This is not necessarily Hasbro’s fault completely (although Big H could have picked a different vender to put this out). Also K-Mart rarely clearances Star Wars items, so chances are unless there is a sale this is the price we are stuck with.  

Still he is a cool figure, if less of a price I might give him a higher rating. As it stands he is a bit overpriced so I am giving him a knock for that. I would only avoid him if you are on a budget or just don’t like Expanded Universe figures, I love them myself, but I know many do not like the EU.  

And then there was Luke, and again with the short comments. All I am going to say this time is watch the lightsaber duels and pay attention, Vader towers over Luke, ‘nuff said.  

But a few years ago I missed on the VTOC Bespin Luke, and to be honest now I am glad I did. This Bespin Luke has it beat, due to HIP ARTICULATION!!!! One thing I like about the articulation is it is very well hidden, in fact I found it on accident never knowing it was there. While Luke never makes a side kick what it does is provide a better range of motion in duels and such, which is great.  

Going out on a limb you can simply guess I love this figure. This is the Bespin Luke I wanted when I was a kid. He of course has his saber, his gun and a working holster, all the tools needed to take on the dark lord and discover he is your dad.  

And while I rarely mention packaging, I think one letdown of this figure is the obviously photoshopped card. Still I toss the packages so no loss to me.  

The only reason I can come up with to avoid this figure is if you might have the VTOC version, the only real upgrade is the hip joint and that one was pretty good on its own merits.  

Jumping from the OT to the Prequels is the Magnaguard. This is a great upgrade to the Magnaguard form the Ep. III collection. Not nearly perfect though.  

The major flaw IMO is the hands, while one turns completely the other does not and is stuck in a static position (That or both of the ones I have got some quality control issues). As such one hand cannot get out of the “holding the staff” position, which is a cool position but not one that is good for a total posing experience.  

Some words of warning, the chest piece comes off and once off its hard as anything to get to stay on. For some reason the one I didn’t remove the piece from doesn’t fall off as easy, so for now I recommend leaving it be.

The weird little clear pill shaped things on the end are a bit of a nuisance as well, not sure what effect they were going for with this, but I just don’t feel it worked. Also the lightning of the staff is connected to these things so to have the lightning you must keep them on. I think finding a way to have the lightning with the little clear pills optional would have been a better route for this.

In comparison to the Clone Wars version, they are a good match, not perfect but it works. They have the same cape oddly enough but does make sense from a cost saving perspective.

The vintage Magnaguard is a good figure, but not great. Some slight adjustments would have made it much better. Unless you HAVE to have a realistic version (and I am in that boat too so don’t take offence) then I would recommend catching the Clone Wars one, better articulation (Ironic though) and a more solid sculpt overall.

Which brings me to the guy the Magnaguard is supposed to protect, General Grievous. Now let me stop and say a few things about the prequels before I go on. For the most part I honestly feel the prequels of the Star Wars trilogy are the BIGGEST set of fan fiction ever made. I have to be straight as I feel there are tons of plot holes and oddball moments that make no sense. I just don’t like them overall, I own then, but only cause they say Star Wars.

But there are a few things I like from the PT, one of them (believe it or not) is the droid army. This just makes perfect sense to me, a bunch of droids fighting wars for a bunch of rich guys who are uncharismatic enough to gain legions of followers and don’t have enough money between them to hire an army of mercenaries. While the execution was a bit weak with the droids, the concept and overall look of the droid army appealed to me on many levels.

When the conflict came down to the Droids vs. the Republic though, the Droids needed a leader, who better than a cyborg with lightsabers. Now I don’t hold to a lot of what has been written about Grievous, but I did like him in the movie. My two favorite moments were when he escaped out into space (Although I thought about it later and wondered, Grievous is obviously breathing as he is also coughing, so what did he do in vacuum?) and his duel with Obi Wan (Where he was swinging two lightsabers while holding two more).

The Legacy line gave us a pretty decent Grievous, and this one is the same sculpt with some upgrades. The biggest being the cape which can hold lightsaber hilts. Of course they only give us 2, which I can kind of see why they didn’t pack four lightsabers (but wouldn’t mind four of them) but enough hilts to fill the pockets of the cape would have been a good thing. Not sure how many hilts spare I may have so I wonder if I can put enough in there.

Just like the Legacy figure the plastics on this one are pretty malleable, he is already a bit bent just from sitting in a box earlier in the week, he can be bent back out, but it’s a pain.

So perfect, no, but a good effort, the cape is the big win here so that should help you formulate the decision on if you want this figure or not, otherwise he is pretty similar to the Legacy figure.

Similar to the GI Joe relaunch, the Star Wars relaunch has several hits and misses. Also like GI Joe, Star Wars is suffering from “Core character” syndrome. But one advantage is dispite so many Luke’s and Leia’s last year, they didn’t wear out their welcome like Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow did. Comparing the numbers of figures of each last year, you will see what I mean. But I can’t help but think the vintage line could be so much better right now, a Bespin Han, a better C-3P0, and a Vader with Bespin Luke-like legs would have made the ESB wave a real winner I think. As is, there is a ton of “meh” with a few “OH’s” More reviews (including some Clone Wars) later.