Star Wars Black Series

Devon, Rook, and Crow arrived today. Big props to the neighbor in the adjacent building who got the package, opened it by mistake, and came over to hand deliver it to me because "We Star Wars fans have to stick together."

Should be all caught up for now; gonna try and crack open those 3, Starkiller Scissorhands, and the KOTOR Darth pack later tonight. Meanwhile, Amazon shipped my Zeb- should be here July 2nd, it says, and YakFace just said that the Vao and Carth pack is starting to arrive in the US. I'm starting to think that it's a kink for Hasbro at this point- delaying things a couple times, only to ship 3 waves at once. Hasbro, you naughty little minx.
 
Now, these are some quality figures. Only got a chance to mess around with them for a bit, but I really like just about every one of them. It really feels like they're learning their lessons on certain issues that have been plaguing the line for a while.

Devon is probably the weakest of the bunch. The hard plastic shawl really doesn't do any favors. I may try swapping the Tibidon Station Kenobi's little shawl thing onto her to see how that looks. She fares better without the shawl, but doesn't quite look complete without it, I don't think. Her head is also super loose out of the box. Far from the worst figure, but there's always gotta be

Rook is pretty darn nice. Really dig the colors; they're quite vibrant, even with as dark as they are. Much like The Stranger, I really like and prefer the swappable helmets over the hollow ones- especially for helmet with such unique shapes, it really helps maintain the overall feel. I like that the jetpack is fixed; it's at least small enough to not get in the way, whereas I always have trouble with the larger jetpacks feeling like they're gonna pop out at the slightest touch. Kinda like how her pistols peg in- I know it's screen-accurate, but I really wouldn't liked even a small holster.

Crow/Eleventh Brother is really cool- maybe my favorite of the bunch aesthetically. Maybe the best looking and feeling Inquisitor thus far. His joints all feel nice and tight, and his saber doesn't feel flimsy like a lot of the others. The plastic hood ain't gonna be everyone's cup of tea, but I like it; again, it just helps maintain the silhouette. He and Starkiller obviously went to the nail salon together, and it shows.

Starkiller is a pretty nice deluxe. I would've been fine forgoing the wired skirt and maybe a saber or two if it meant a lower price point, but you can't deny he has a cool aura about him. The saber choices are all really cool, even if some do fit in one of the hands better than the other. His balljointed wrists also get much better range than a lot of the other recent wrists.

Treya and Nihilus are ones I'm gonna have to look into more. Been so long since I've played KOTOR, and I really don't remember much about either. That said, Nihilus is a huge improvement over the first one. Glad to hopefully be done with that old Maul body for good. May it never hurt anyone ever again. Same as with Crow, I don't know if everyone's gonna love the execution of the mask, but it works for me. Treya is super cool too- simple, but effective. The force effect stand thingies are neat, and worst comes to worse, they fit pretty well over a lot of figure's hands to use as effects if need be. And I really like the sewing of the hood; again, it really helps maintain the shape and silhouette- it fits snugly against the head so it doesn't flare out too much, and it looks nice and natural draped down the back too. Obviously, you just have to be careful to not rip the stitches, but I wouldn't mind seeing all hoods done this way going forward.

Helmet-wise and hood-wise, this is what I wanna see going forward.
 
Nihilus was a MacGuffin with 0 lines and an awesome look. He was cool. But he did literally nothing. Traya explains what he is later in the game. She on the other hand you meet very early, and is a main stay on your crew for a long while.

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So I'm simultaneously feeling the "SLOW DOWN HASBRO" vibe this week but also... shit, bring on all the KOTOR, if they want to ship Carth and Vao TOMORROW I'm game. Been waiting for more KOTOR for ages, so getting two two-packs back to back is a goddamned delight.

Just opened Maul. He's REALLY not that different from the last Maul in this look, brighter reds, cleaner face paint apps, but the cloak is fantastic and the saber is sturdier. I might say I regret getting him having the last, similar version but his shelf presence is far nicer.
 
I thought the new maul was just a straight repack with a cape, so i skipped him. Are there any big differences besides the paint and saber being better?

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docsilence said:
So I'm simultaneously feeling the "SLOW DOWN HASBRO" vibe this week but also... shit, bring on all the KOTOR, if they want to ship Carth and Vao TOMORROW I'm game. Been waiting for more KOTOR for ages, so getting two two-packs back to back is a goddamned delight.
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This is me now they've just started New Jedi Order. Like my wallet is nervous but if they're doing book characters then NJO just exploded my wishlist from a few ST updates to anyone they make from that series!
 
I know next to nothing about KOTOR, Legacy and Expanded Universe characters, but I'm LIVING for these figures. It's just exciting to get to know new characters and make up whatever I want to about them in my mind. So yeah, keep them coming, Hasbro.

Remember when I got introduced to Mission Vao? Good times.
 
Trunks3540 said:
I thought the new maul was just a straight repack with a cape, so i skipped him. Are there any big differences besides the paint and saber being better?
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I thought he had a new head and it's hard to tell with the much improved paint job but it might just fully be a repaint. The reds are so much nicer that I'm not mad but yeah, if you're happy with the old one this is skippable, make your own cape.
ChrisLyne said:
This is me now they've just started New Jedi Order. Like my wallet is nervous but if they're doing book characters then NJO just exploded my wishlist from a few ST updates to anyone they make from that series!
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I'm about 85% as excited for NJO as I am for KOTOR. Which is to say: VERY. Come on, Corran Horn and the OG Anakin Solo...
Hi-Fi said:
I know next to nothing about KOTOR, Legacy and Expanded Universe characters, but I'm LIVING for these figures. It's just exciting to get to know new characters and make up whatever I want to about them in my mind. So yeah, keep them coming, Hasbro.
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I'm really hoping they remaster the game cos KOTOR is the most Star Warsiest Star Wars that ever Star Warsed and whole generations deserve to fall in love with the characters as much as us old dogs did. I'll go to my grave singing that game's praises. (KOTOR 2 had some CRAZY issues because it was rushed out the door but still jam packed with memorable story and characters.)
 
Speaking of the general expanded universe.... I'd REALLY like them to get around to doing more versions of Cal. He has some great customizing options in the game, but not SO many that I think it's unreasonable to get a good sample in action figure form. Along with some variants of his lightsaber options. There's some excellent-looking stuff in that game and it's a shame to get almost none of it.
 
Damien said:
Speaking of the general expanded universe.... I'd REALLY like them to get around to doing more versions of Cal. He has some great customizing options in the game, but not SO many that I think it's unreasonable to get a good sample in action figure form. Along with some variants of his lightsaber options. There's some excellent-looking stuff in that game and it's a shame to get almost none of it.
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I just want more Fallen Order/Jedi Survivor stuff in general. The fact we still haven't gotten Cere or Greez yet feels criminal, and there's plenty of others- Bode, Cordova, Ninth Sister, Rayvis, and like all the Cantina patrons. I'd even take an unmasked Trilla if they want. Heck, I'm still surprised (but happy) they gave us Dagan, and the Turgle, Skoova Stev, and Handlebar Cal pack will never not make me happy. I know they released the Imperial Disguise Cal in Vintage Collection; surprised that one never made its way over to Black Series, considering how easy it would be. Technically, I guess you could throw his head onto a fair amount of the existing bodies and it would be semi-canon, considering all the options. I wouldn't mind some new headsculpts and saber hilts, though.
 
docsilence said:
(KOTOR 2 had some CRAZY issues because it was rushed out the door but still jam packed with memorable story and characters.)
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You can definitely see how much stuff they wanted to pack in there and it's a crying shame it couldn't be done. I really liked how open and strange the force started seeming in that game, the way they played up that the Force didn't just belong to these two factions and that there were a lot more perspectives on it out there. I really wish the mainline Star Wars stuff had kept trending that way. We're half a century into Star Wars and we have three recurring force factions counting the Night Sisters, but there's :only two" Sith at a time, most of the Jedi get wiped out, and the same happens to the sisters.

More weird force users, pls.
 
joshsquash729 said:
Technically, I guess you could throw his head onto a fair amount of the existing bodies and it would be semi-canon, considering all the options.
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For me, one of the problems is that I don't -like- the two head options we've got for him. And some of the cooler attire options don't have direct, compatible analogues in Black Series right now.
 
I do still think the best Cal we've gotten so far is the Jedi Survivor single release. I like the Turgle pack version well enough, though I probably like the body more than I like the 2 head sculpts. I agree that we definitely could stand to do with a few more. I'm sure a version from the 3rd game is likely whenever that releases, but hopefully they won't forget to go back and give us some other looks too. We've never really had a character in the line with so many opportunities for variants- even the heavy-hitters like Luke, Han, Leia. A lot of it can be done with just hair swap, maybe some scar deco here and there. If they still did swappable face plates more often, I'd say that could be a viable option.
 
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