|
|
|
Review of Poe Dameron - Star Wars action figure
Force Awakens Black 6 inch Series
Hasbro
Date Published: 2015-09-07
Written By: Michael Crawford
Overall Average Rating: 3 out of 4
Please share with your friends!
|
Introduction
Last Friday (technically Thursday night, since the festivities started at 12:01 am) was "Force Friday",
the day the merchandise dropped. Fans and collectors hit their favorite mass market retailer, as well as
the online stores, to snag the new toys and exclusives right out of the gate. In many areas, the outcome
was less than stellar, with pegs lacking product and a weak retailer push. In other areas, people
were being their obnoxious selves, pushing and fighting to get figures that will be available everywhere
by next weekend. Having gone to the previous three sales, one for each of the prequels, I figured I'd
opt out this time around.
When it comes to Hasbro, I'm only collecting the Star Wars Black 6" series these days, so my needs were
a bit easier to fulfill. I found the entire first wave on the pegs Friday morning at a local Target, and
then found part of wave 2 - a wave not expected until later in the month - at a nearby Meijers. Turns
out, the assortment that includes Poe Dameron, Zuvio, Phasma and the Gauvian appears to have hit Meijers
early, in advance of other retailers. Those living in the mid-west got a special bonus!
I'm checking out Poe tonight. As expected at this point, we don't know a whole lot about him. We know
he's a lead character, played by Oscar Isaac, who is a great pilot and a leader in the rebellion against
the First Order. Not too surprising, this first version of the character comes in his pilot's outfit.
You should be able to find him pretty much every where in another few weeks, but Meijers (or online
pre-orders) are the way to go right now. He'll run you around $20, same as any other figure in
this series.
Click on the image below for a Life Size version
|
Packaging - ****
They've switched things up slightly on the new boxes. I'm not thrilled with the change, since I
prefer when a line remains consistent with the package over its life - it looks better in a MIB
collection - but it's a minor nit. The boxes are slightly narrower than before, so there's less
waste, and there's a minor change to the inner cardboard tray, but that's about it.
The graphics and personalization are good, and I really like the inclusion and style of the character
photo on the front. It's also all collector friendly, something that most mass market packaging is not.
You can easily open the box, remove the figure, and then replace it later for sale or storage, no damage
necessary.
|
|
Sculpting - ***
As I mentioned earlier, this character is played by Oscar Isaac, who is probably best known right now
for his role on the hit series Show Me A Hero, but who is taking on lots of nerd friendly
roles in films like Ex Machina and the upcoming X-Men: Apocalypse. This would
be him
normally, and here he is as
Poe. Considering the scale, the likeness is reasonable. Not great by any means, but they got it in
the general ball park, what I like to call cosplayer close. Unfortunately, the paint job throws off what
might be a better sculpt than we can discern.
The work on the costume is much better, with lots of fine detail on the jumpsuit and controls. Textures
on things like the hoses, cloth, and and straps give the impression of different materials, and adds a
nice realism to the overall look. The paint hurts here too, but not quite as much.
One of the advantages of doing a movie that's actually after those (chronologically) that we all know
and love is that you can modernize the outfits and equipment without it looking out of place. Some of
that modernization is evident in this flight suit, particularly when you compare it to Luke's version.
I've included a photo at the end of the two together.
Poe's hands are sculpted to work with the accessories, and he stands at 6", the average for this
series.
|
|
Paint - **1/2
Ouch. Looks like Poe might have been on the losing end of a fight with an FO Trooper. As I said earlier,
it's tough to tell if the underlying sculpt is good, bad or better because the lousy paint makes it
tough to see anything else.
The eyes are particularly bad, with a very toy-ish finish and a right eye that's looking off to one
side. The black hair is inconsistent, and even the costume has sloppy cut lines and edges, hurting the
underlying sculpt detail. For example, the thick, gloppy paint on the control panel on the front of the
suit softens the details and hurts the overall appearance.
Even the helmet, my favorite aspect of this figure overall, has some really bad edges and lines. Red
runs onto black, black onto red, and nothing is straight or even.
I do like some of the muted colors, like the white of the vest or the red of the suit. This toned
down coloration looks more realistic than the bright orange or super clean white of the older pilot
uniform. Of course it helps that something like the suit is actually cast in the color, making it easier
to get a consistent look.
|
|
Articulation - ***
This is a category where he should have scored better, but for a terrible neck joint.
The shoulders, elbows, chest, waist, knees, hips and ankles all have well executed articulation that
allows for a decent range of movement without harming the overall visual aesthetic. The rocker
ankles are particularly worth noting, since they allow the feet to remain flat on the ground in a wide
variety of stances.
The wrists are a disappointment, largely because they are non-existent. There is a cut joint at the top
of the glove - where the hands swap with bare versions - but there's no wrist movement of any kind,
making the number of useful arm poses much smaller. EDIT: After careful examination (and a reader poked
me), I found that the ungloved hands do have a rotating hinge joint. Mine were stuck quite tight,
but with some heat I was able to free them up. Even so, the sculpt on the uniform keeps them from
a full range of movement.
But it's the neck that really hurt the score. It is a ball joint - I popped the head off to be
sure. But the ball is VERY far up inside the head, making any sort of tilt or lean action almost
impossible.
When you pop the head off, it looks like there's a pin joint lower on the neck, which would allow the
head to tilt back and forth. There isn't - the entire neck post is all one solid piece. The problem is
that the post is designed in such a way that the head tilts forward already. With no way to tilt it
back, he ends up with this weird head lean. It gets more obvious with the helmet on, since it is
front heavy with the outer visor.
|
|
Accessories - ***1/2
He doesn't have a ton, but what's here is solid and critical. There's four extras in total, but one is
really the stand out.
The blaster fits in his hand or holster neatly, but it sports a pretty basic sculpt and paint job.
There's two sets of hands, but rather than swap at the wrist, they swap at a cut joint in the
forearm. The wrist itself has no articulation with either the gloved or bare hands, which I
already whined about earlier. They do swap easily enough, and both sets are designed to hold the
other accessories.
That's three of the four extras (two bare hands, one blaster), and if that were it, you'd see a much
lower score here. But they've also given him his flight helmet and did a bang up job reproducing it in
this tiny size.
The sculpt and paint work look great, and I love the translucent yellow visor. The helmet fits on
his head perfectly, although because of the issues I discussed earlier with the neck, the helmet
exacerbates the forward leaning look. The helmet is front heavy, so the slight forward tilt to the head
is magnified when the helmet is in place.
Still the helmet itself is a great accessory, and they did a terrific job with it. It's not the
accessories' fault that they screwed up on the articulation of the neck, and I won't be taking it out on
the poor little guy.
|
|
|
Fun Factor - ***
While the neck and wrist articulation is whack, the overall figure is a solid, sturdy toy with plenty of
play potential for kids, and plenty of display and pose potential for adults. Do your kids a favor
- don't buy them only the standard 3.75" figures and let them miss out on these superior versions.
|
|
Value - **1/2
At the price we've seen on the new 3.75" series, we should be happy that the 6" Black series has
remained at $20 each, at least for now. That also fits in pretty well with the price of other 6"
action figures, particularly those geared toward collectors, and there are some sales going on with
certain retailers that can save you a couple bucks.
|
Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing. This guy is sturdy enough to be a great companion in the sand box, or a conversation
piece on the shelf.
|
|
Overall - ***
I'm betting this guy is a crucial part of the upcoming trilogy, so picking him up was a no brainer. But
he has a couple major issues that could have easily been avoided.
Foremost is the articulation. I'm not happy about the lack of wrist joints, and the neck is
outright annoying. Both could have been fixed with a little extra effort.
Then there's the paint, particularly on the face. The sculpt might actually have potential, but
this is a fine example of the paint application taking away any chance it had.
But as I said, having him was a no brainer. I suspect this is our first look at one of the better
heroes in the new films, and I'm betting this won't be the last version we get in the Black series.
Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ****
Sculpting - ***
Paint - **1/2
Articulation - **1/2
Accessories - ***1/2
Fun Factor - ***
Value - **1/2
Overall - ***
|
|
Where to Buy
I picked this guy up at a local Meijer store for $20. Online options include these site sponsors:
- Entertainment Earth has the set of 6 (all of wave 2) for $135.
- or you can search ebay for a deal.
|
Related Links -
Other Star Wars Black Series 6" figure reviews include the Han
and Tauntaun, Bossk and
Trooper Han Solo, Yoda, the
TIE Pilot, and the Sargent Clonetrooper, Luke
and Vader, and Chewbacca and
Sandtrooper. I've also covered the Biker
Scout and Speederbike, the Clonetrooper
and Anakin Skywalker. Before that there was Bespin
Luke, the Stormtrooper and Obi-Wan, Slave
Leia and Boba Fett, Han
Solo and Greedo, and Darth
Maul and the Sandtrooper, as well as X-Wing
Pilot Luke and R2-D2.
You should also hit the Search
Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.
Discussion:
Want to chat about this review? Try out one of these terrific forums
where I'll be discussing it!
Enjoyed this review? Be sure to head back to the main page to find thousands
more just like it!
|
|
Please share with your friends!
|
This product was purchased for the review by the reviewer. Photos and text by Michael Crawford.
|
|
|
|
|
|