Review of Jango Fett, First Order Flametrooper
Star Wars Black Force Awakens action figures

Introduction

Hasbro's Black Series of 6" action figures continues to crank along, although distribution remains a massive issue.  I don't know about you, but I've never seen a whisper of Hux or Asty, and the next wave - which includes the already reviewed Old Man Han, Trooper Finn, and tonight's subjects, Jango Fett and the First Order Flametrooper - is almost non-existent. If Hasbro wants interest to remain up, they have to keep the pegs fresh, something that's clearly been a problem for them since last fall.

Mixing in a bit of the old with a bit of the new is a good move, however, and combining characters like Jango Fett, the dear old dad of fan favorite, Boba, with someone like the brand spanking new Flametrooper creates an interesting dichotomy. While you might not believe it, these are shipping to stores like Meijer, Target, and Toys R Us right now, and sell for around $20 each.

Packaging - ****
The standard black boxes with hanger tag look classy, and are very collector friendly. No twisty ties or rubber bands either, and I didn't have any issues with misaligned limbs in the trays. I'm also a very big fan of the character drawing on the front, and overall personalization.

Sculpting - Trooper ***; Jango ***1/2
The underlying sculpt on Jango - which can be difficult to see thanks to the giant eyebrows that seem to have a life of their own - is very good, matching the actor nicely.  Remember, this is a 1/12 scale line, and this figure is almost exactly 6" tall. The work on his armor is good as well, although there seems to be some of the damage 'sculpted' in, and not just painted.  I use quotes, because it looks more like a factory worker took a rough edge to the figure to give it that abraised look, rather than a sculpting decision.

Jango's head is proportionally correct to the armored covered body, and with the helmet in place, it all looks just about right. His hands are sculpted to work correctly with the twin blasters.

The Flametrooper is also about 6" tall, and the bulky armor looks good.  It interferes with the articulation of course, but you've already seen that situation with other Force Awakens Troopers.  The regular Trooper is still my favorite of the FO Black Series troops, but this guy ain't bad.  He does take a hit though for the tiny helmet, so tiny that it seems impossible for a head to fit inside. Some of this proportional inaccuracy could be an illusion created by the slightly bulkier flame retardant torso armor, but when compared with other FO Troopers in hand, it's clearly a small helmet.

Paint - **1/2
This category is a bit of a mess this time around, but for two different reasons.

For the Trooper, it's all about slop. And quite a bit of it, I might add. Stray marks, poor lines, inconsistent edges - I'm hoping I got a one off problem child, but you'll want to pick yours out of the pack carefully, assuming you can find a pack from which to pick.  I still love the bright, clean, white, but this time it's not so clean, and the small black dots here and there speak of weaker quality control.

I didn't have a basic quality issue like that with Jango, who has a more weathered, beaten look to his armor. It is a little much in some places, but that's a minor nit, and at least they tried to get a more battle weary appearance.  Other areas are relatively sharp, like his hairline and eyes.  There's the occasional blip, but it's not as obvious as the quality issues with the Trooper.

Ah, but then you get to those eyebrows. I'm assuming these are being done by hand, and what a long day that must be. Even so, that doesn't excuse these Groucho Marx caterpillars. In hand, my first thought was "Uncle Leo, why are you so angry!". It's such a glaring error, and one that is front and center for all to see, that it deeply hurts what would have otherwise been a much better release.

Articulation - ***
These bodies have the usual above average articulation, with some joints really standing out...for both good and bad reasons.

The neck on both characters allow for tilting, turning, and leaning poses, which adds a touch of personality and attitude to any stance. The shoulders, wrists, waist, hips, and knees all have a reasonable if not exceptional range of movement, and are all tight enough to hold poses long term. There's nothing here to write home about, but no serious issues either.

On the plus side you have the rocker ankles, which have an excellent ability to move side to side.  The feet on both - but Jango more than the Trooper - are limited by the armor in their front to back movement more than I'd like, but the side to side rocker movement is quite good.

On the negative side, you once again have these damn elbows. They are pretty basic rotating hinge joints, and thanks to the armor on both figures, they can't even make 90 degrees, let alone anything acute. You'll still get some decent arm poses out of Jango, since his guns are single hand arrangements, but the long flame thrower can't be properly held in both hands on the trooper thanks to his restricted arm articulation.

Accessories - Trooper ***; Jango ***1/2
The Flametrooper comes with two, technically: his backpack, and the 'gun', or flamethrower. The sculpting is great, and the paint operations are a little better here.  The pack fits tightly to his back, and the hose attaches to the stock of the gun easily and tightly. The plastic used for the gun is on the rubbery side - standard Hasbro stuff these days - which might make it necessary for you to use some hot water/cold water treatments to get it perfectly straight out of the package.

That same rubbery material is used for Jango's blasters, both of which can fit in his hands or his holsters.  They look good, but a bit basic.  He also has a jet pack which fits tightly on his back thanks to a single peg and hole, and this pack has a great sculpt and paint job. With both of these packs, the peg(s) is on the pack, with the hole on the figure, so they can go without the packs and not look too ridiculous.

Jango has one more accessory, hence the higher score - his helmet. It fits over the head, and the figure looks quite good with it in place. In fact, thanks to those eyebrows, mine will be wearing his most of the time. It's worth mentioning that the range finder is NOT articulated.

Fun Factor - ***1/2
While the articulation might not be quite what it could be due to the armor design on both figures, these are still a ton of fun.  Kids who love action figures and Star Wars battles will get a lot of play out of these, and they are sturdy enough to hold up to it. Collectors will enjoy posing them in the display, and swapping them up in various looks depending on what other characters - and situations - they have them in.

Value - **1/2
At $20 each, these are a pretty average value.  The accessories aren't quite at the level to push them up another half star, but you won't feel like you didn't get what you paid for.

Things to Watch Out For -
The guns/flamethrower are a little soft, so take some care when working them into the very hard plastic hands to avoid tearing the softer material.

Overall - ***
I wasn't expecting a whole lot with either of these, and to be honest, that's what I got.  They aren't bad figures, and it's great to have another Trooper variation to add to the battle front. But the sloppy paint on the Flametrooper, the awful eyebrows on Jango, and the overall feeling of 'meh' these promoted in me led to their okay-but-not-great score.

Now where the Hell is Hux?

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ****
Sculpting - Trooper ***; Jango ***1/2;
Paint - **1/2
Articulation - ***
Accessories - Trooper ***; Jango ***1/2;
Fun Factor - ***1/2
Value - **1/2
Overall - ***

Where to Buy 
These are popping up at Target, Toys R Us, and Meijer stores right now for around $20 each. Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth has a set that has these two plus the repack of Phasma, along with the new Han and Finn, all seven for $135.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Most recent was the other two new figures shipping with these, Old Man Han and Trooper Finn.

Other Black Series 6" figures I've reviewed include the Resistance Fighter, Captain Phasma, and before that we had the Target two pack of Poe and the Riot Control Trooper, the first Poe, the basic FO Trooper (along with the Disney die cast version), Snowtrooper, and Captain Zuvio.

I've covered a ton of the earlier Star Wars Black 6" figures as well, so you should also hit the Search Reviews page to find them and in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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