Packaging - ***
I like the new packaging, as far as this style of card/bubble goes.  You can see the figure well, there's a 'try me' hole in the bubble for the attack roar noise, and a great photo of the Nexu on the front.

On the back we're treated to some decent photos of the rest of the deluxe series, with some text on the Nexu.  Overall it's decent work. 

Sculpting - ***1/2
The level of sculpting has certainly improved, even over the last year.  He looks terrific, and seems quite close to the source material.

He's also somewhat 'battle damaged' with a large damaged area on his underside.

Scale was a bit of a concern to me when I first saw this, and it is true that he is smaller than he really should be.  It's not an extreme situation though, and he's only 20% or so too small.

Paint - ***1/2
Unlike most Star Wars figures, there's quite a bit of detail on this creature.  In particular, the paint ops on the many eyes and teeth is very well done, and the stripes on his body look realistic.  I saw a couple who had teeth with some slight problems, so you might want to choose a little carefully.

Accessories - Bupkis
The Nexu has no accessories - not even a couple Geonosian body parts.  While that is somewhat disappointing, it makes some sense, especially considering that he has...

Attack Roar - ***
...his attack roar feature.  To make up for the skimpiness in accessories or size on this figure, we got a sound feature of the Nexu roar.

He's only got one roar, but it's fairly loud, the speaker is positioned well, and it's easy to change the battery. *EDIT*  Someone pointed out what an idiot I am - he does have at least three sounds!  I had to press his button on the side about ten times in a row to get the second sound, and there's a third if you push down his tongue.  Perhaps I should read the package backs a little more carefully...

Articulation - ***
We're not talking a huge amount of articulation here, but considering it's Hasbro, and considering how their beasts are usually just big PVC's, he's pretty good.

Has joints at all four shoulders and the neck, but the two best are his jaw and tail.  His jaw is hinged with a clicking joint, so it will hold its position well.  He looks great with his mouth closed or open wide, saying "ahhhhh".

The tail isn't really articulated, but instead is a bendy tail.  You'll be able to pose it countless ways though, and it really adds to the appeal of the figure.

Value - ***
The value on the new Star Wars toys is quite a bit better than it had been in the past.  At ten bucks, this one is still a little on the light side, although a big chunk of the money is going for the roaring feature.

Overall - ***
The Nexu isn't quite as nice as some of the past beasts, but he's still pretty good.  He's certainly better than Reek, and the sculpting and paint ops are good.

Most importantly, if you plan on picking up the Arena Playset later this year, you'll have to have a Nexu!

Where to Buy - 
I picked mine up at Meijers, but Wal-mart, TRU and Target are getting them in as well.  On-line:

- Action Figure Express has the pair (Nexu and Anakin) for $25 plus shipping. That's the best on-line price I found. (MROTW Affliate).

- Toy Maniacs has the Nexu for $15 plus shipping.