Review : Jango Fett, Star Wars Black Series

Review : Jango Fett (Attack of the Clones) Star Wars Black Series (Hasbro) Wave/Series : Figure #15 (Phase 3 Wave 5 / Wave 1 2016) Released : January 2016

Price : £22.99

Thank you to Kapow Toys, from whom we purchased this figure for review.

Wave 5 of the Black Series, Phase 3, was a scheduled release for 1st January 2016. The wave contained 4 new figures, and a repack of the highly sought after Captain Phasma. The wave signified the first time in Phase 3 that we got a character who was not from The Force Awakens. And it is that figure we look at here. The source of all Clone-kind, Dad of a fan favourite, and the man prone to lose his head in the presence of Samuel L Jackson.

Jango Fett is #15 in the Phase 3 releases. Even though he is not from The Force Awakens, he arrives in identical Phase 3 packaging which cements Hasbro's plan to now integrate figures from all 7 movies and the Rebels TV show into mixed waves going forward. After so many TFA figures in the red & black box since the 4th September, it feels a bit surreal to now see Jango against that intense red backdrop. And I guess it will take a while to sink in.

Jango arrives packed with helmet off. He has a gun packed ready in his right hand, with another packed to the side alongside the helmet. Starting at the top the head sculpt is a really good likeness for Temuera Morrison, and I suspect we will see this head again in the future within some clone releases. Like so many head sculpts though from this wave, the paint job does it no favors. The skin tone is pretty good, but one tone and therefore doesn't pick up the facial details. The eyebrows and eyes are also too heavy handed, looking more cartoonish. The mouth remains unpainted. The hair is quite basic, and looks to be sculpted too far back around the ears. In the movie Jango had the start of sideburns but this sculpt cuts them too high and therefore Jango looks like he has had a run in with a very dodgy hairdresser.

The helmet is a tight fit, but does sit well once on. I suspect there will be paint rub the more you use it and longer term you may end up wanting to buy two Jango's so you can display both versions. Being made to be removable, the helmet is larger than Boba's and has a thicker set Aerial. There is still a dent, but it is further back on the top of the helmet. The blue on the helmet is neatly painted onto the silver, and where some have complained it is too bright I think this is due to the camera settings as in hand it is a good match to what you see on screen. The silver of the helmet is dirtied up with some sporadic black dry brushing, but without going too far. My only criticism of the helmet is that is it cast/molded in two halves so you do suffer a seam right across the top and down each side. With helmet on Jango stands 6 1/2 inches high from boots to the top of his aerial - an exact match for the wave 2 Boba Fett, which is good considering they are clones.

Moving down to the body armour now, and it is pleasing to see that there appears to be no re-use of any significant parts from Boba Fett. The shoulder/neck piece is angled differently and the chest piece is slightly wider and with wider gaps between each of the three pieces. Jango comes with shoulder armour panels, which Boba doesn't have, and the wrist pieces are also different - with Jango's being more detailed and are even sculpted with a hinge from where the pieces snap over the wrist. All the armour pieces are painted silver and then dirtied up with black dry-brushing. The wrist pieces have some additional black and red details, and from the wrists there are sculpted wire pieces that snake up into the upper arm.

Jango wears a pocketed belt from which there are two holsters that are then strapped round either thigh. These holsters will hold both pistols easily. The belt is a separate cast piece and is done so in a dark brown rubber material but then has detail picked up in a darker shade which is almost indistinguishable, but is there. The legs are armoured with thigh, knee and shin panels, all of which are again silver painted and then weathered in black. The boots are a similar finish. Beneath all of this armour is a dark blue/purple flight suit and this is creased and folded to match real cloth behaviour, and is painted in one shade and dry-brushed in a lighter finish.

Round the back of the figure the jet pack comes pre-attached, but can be popped off if needed. It connects by means of a central plug, and two pins to keep it level. There match up very neatly to the back of the figure and it sits in place tightly enough, although just a few mm away from the body rather than a snug fit like you get with Boba. The jet pack has three different paint applications from a grey and silver base colour, to some brighter silver panels and then a dark blue trim. Unlike the armour, there is no attempt to weather the jet pack.

To sum up the sculpt and paint, I am really impressed. The sculpt captures everything it needs to and looks stunning. The paint is pretty nice too. As I said earlier, the head sculpt has not been maximised, but the rest of the armour is painted neatly and dirtied up nicely. I found just one smear of silver paint onto the inner flight suit (factory error), everything else is crisp and with no real bleed from the end of one colour to another.

Articulation on the figure starts with a ball jointed head. The head can look fully left and right, and also up and down, and this works with helmet on or off. It does however mean there is an ugly looking joint if you have Jango looking too far to either side without the helmet. And round the back of the head the skin tone joint goes too far into the neck piece.

Jango is an armoured figure in essence, and therefore you would assume this would have a bearing on his articulation. Not to start with, as the shoulder armour slides neatly into the torso when moved, so Jango can get his arms out into a shooting position or rotate them above his head if needed. Jango has a bicep swivel, which is something I haven't seen before on a Black Series figure. The reason for this addition seems to be because the bend and rotate elbow is restricted by the wiring I mentioned earlier. Adding the bicep swivel still allows the movement, and is a nice touch (well done Hasbro) rather than simply letting the elbow rotation be lost. Both wrists are on a pivoted peg, and can be swiveled and moved up and down if needed.

There is no torso joint as this would have ruined the look of the armour, but Hasbro have added a waist joint to allow the top of the body to swivel independently from the hips - again a well done for Hasbro here as like the bicep swivel they could have just left it off. The legs are where articulation dries up a little. The thigh ball joints can move out and to the side, but not enough either way to allow for sitting or crouching because of the belt and holsters. The double jointed knees are hidden really well behind a knee armour plate, and these will let Jango kneel. The feet remain pivoted and can be angled to either side or back and forward to keep the feet flatly planted when posing Jango

Where Jango's articulation, particularly the legs, comes to the forefront is if you invest in a flight stand like THIS ONE. As you can see from the pictures, you can recreate Jango's scenes from Kamino or from the Geonosian arena. Jango will look great in a diorama against the wave 3 Obi Wan, or if Hasbro ever get to him a Mace Windu.

Not including the helmet, Jango's accessories are his dual pistols. These are a a bit soft in the sculpt and predominantly silver in colour, although if you look closely there is a varying shade on the stock. My issue with the guns is a real pet hate with a lot of recent figures and that is when they are packed being held by the figure then they almost always bend and come out misshapen. This is evident on Jango more than most as you will find the right hand gun that he is holding int he pack is bent, while the other is quite straight.

I really like Jango. I think he is particularly good looking and a striking figure on display. The head paint is lacking, but the majority of fans will display him with helmet on. Articulation is good, in fact it is more than good considering Hasbro have improved on the usual articulation by adding bicep and waist swivels to make up for where other usual articulation can't be used effectively.

I score Jango a 4 out of 5