Since that night we call
Midnight Madness, I've managed to find the Dooku figure. This weekend
I came across the next eight at a local Wal-mart - Qui-Gon, Endor Rebel
Soldier, Massiff, Orn Free Taa, Final Battle Jango Fett, Geonosian Rescue
Mace Windu, Bespin Duel Darth Vader, Bespin Duel Luke Skywalker. They were
$5.88, a very reasonable price these days.
The Jango figure has a major
spoiler, so don't open him up if you aren't ready to know too much. I
decided to review three of them today - the Senator Orn Free Taa, the
Massiff
(with Geonosian Warrior), and the new Qui-Gon.
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Packaging - ***
Same as the first 28 figures, and not bad. There were no backgrounds
packed in with any of these, and I haven't heard of any variations on
these three yet. There are Endor Soldiers with both van dykes and
not I believe, and there's a bloody and non-bloody hand
version of Luke (with the magnet in the arm in the bloody version, and in
the hand on the clean one), and another version of Luke with the normal
plastic post instead of the magnet.
Sculpting - Massiff ****, Orn
***, Qui-Gon *
Here's three figures that span the range of sculpting. Massiff looks
terrific, with plenty of detail and style. I can't vouch for how
well he fits the source material yet, but he's a terrific looking little
beast-dog.
Qui-Gon is on the opposite
end of the spectrum. His head sculpt is the poorest version so far,
making him look fat and odd. His neck is far too thick, and his jaw
too flattened into it along the sides. His battle pose isn't too
bad, and I had no trouble standing him, but the head sculpt is easily the
worst of the new 35 figures.
Orn
Free Taa is somewhere in
between. He leans toward the good side more than the bad, but the
sculpt is a bit soft, with less detail than some others. The detail
work on his costume though is extremely nice, and overall he's very good.
Paint - Massiff and Orn ***1/2,
Qui-Gon **1/2
The paint ops on both Massiff and Orn are very good. The costume of Orn
has a lot of detail work, and the highlights and colors used on
Massiff's body are sharp and clean.
Once again, Qui-Gon is the
odd man out. His paint ops aren't as awful as the sculpt, but the
detail work on his eyes and beard were sloppy on mine, and there were odd
spots on the brown of his cloak.
Articulation - Massiff **,
Qui-Gon **, Orn ***1/2
Oddly enough, the figure that looks the least articulated is the best this
time.
Massiff isn't articulated at
all, except for his jaw. While that's nice, and gives you a little
variance in the face poses, it still would have been nice to get some
other joints. Yes, the Geonosian that comes with him is a little
articulated, with neck, waist, shoulders and hips, but the real figure
here is the Massiff. The Geonosian is technically his accessory.
Qui-Gon has the usual
articulation at the neck, shoulders, waist and hips, with two cut joints
on the elbows thrown in. It's not bad, but with the battle pose
there really is only one position he can take.
Orn
actually has quite a few
more joints than you'd expect. He has neck (although it's very
limited), hips, shoulders, cut elbows and cut wrists. Since he's
supposed to be standing and speaking to the Senate, the arm articulation
let's you give him quite a few arm and hand poses that work great.
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Accessories - Massiff ****,
Orn ***, Qui-Gon **
It's nice to see every figure coming with accessories again. Of
course, some of those accessories are better than others.
Qui-Gon has a basic lightsaber,
and the new (and some find annoying) red 'blast' effect. It attaches
to the blade, and looks decent. Be careful with the saber though - I
almost snapped the small post inserting it into the hilt.
Massiff has the best accessory
of course, coming with a second figure entirely. This Geonosian
Warrior is well articulated, with good paint ops and a nice sculpt.
The metal chain that attaches the warrior to the Massiff is nice as well,
and this two pack is one of the best values in Star Wars in a long time.
Orn
comes with a floating
camera doohickey, which is intended for recording and broadcasting his
speech.
Value - Massiff ****, Orn ***1/2, Qui-Gon **1/2
Let's assume you're paying around $6 for these. For a double figure
like Massiff, that's a terrific deal. A figure like Orn Free Taa, with
a decent accessory and some serious bulk to him is easily worth the $6 as
well (at least in the Star Wars universe). And Qui-Gon is, well,
another Jedi Knight with just a light saber.
Overall - Massiff ***1/2, Orn ***, Qui-Gon **
Massiff kicks butt - it's that simple. If you can only buy one of
these three, snag him pronto. Orn Free Taa is also nice, although
not the best alien so far. Qui-Gon - well, I'd skip him if I were
you. He's only worthwhile to the completist, since his previous
versions (and hopefully future versions) are better.
Where to Buy -
The best
prices I've seen are at Walmart, although they are showing up a lot at TRU
too. On-line:
- Entertainment
Earth has a case for $96 (12 figures), but they are out of stock right
now. (MROTW
Affiliate)
- Toy
Maniacs has quite a few, but at $12 plus shipping, they are far
more expensive than your local retailers.
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Figure from the collection of Michael Crawford. |