“Go…Go… Get to the ship!”
The Mandalorian ushered in a new era for Star Wars when it arrived on Disney+ and the popularity of the new title character and his companion would have a significant knock-on to the Hasbro Star Wars lines, with the Black Series in particular seeing a more defined focus on this new era of Star Wars than the films. The Mandalorian himself has had numerous releases since 2020 initially focused on the variation of his armour across Season 1 as his look was established. Come Season 2 and with no other visual changes, the Black Series releases switched more to situational releases themed around a particular storyline and that led to the 2022 Deluxe Release of The Mandalorian and Grogu as seen in their adventure on Maldo Kreis. The set was Deluxe and a ‘build-up’ pack which is a standard figure enhanced with additional accessories or component parts. It was an exclusive release, sold via Target in the US and the Fan Channel in the UK and other territories. The set is part of the wider Galaxy Collection for The Mandalorian with the wider box still featuring the slanted side and artwork. Maldo Kreis Mando is number 17 in the series and slots in between two other Deluxe releases from the same year - Boba Fett from Tython and Cobb Vanth.
The Mando figure uses the same base as all the prior figures with a base brown undersuit over which the Beskar armour is added, nearly all as individual cast silver pieces which reduces the paintwork requirement and provides crisp and defined edges. This is Mando following the provision of his sigil, so the Mudhorn symbol is present on the right pauldron. Further paint is used to add touches of colour such as blue and burgundy at the knees and some yellow and beige elements on Mando’s gloves. The chest is crossed with a softer rubber bandoleer that connects into a belt with a holster - and this carries silver painted detail on the components, buckles and ammo. Mando comes with his cape, a sculpted plastic piece that sits under the helmet and trails over his right shoulder. This cape can be removed by popping off the head. The head itself is a fixed helmet and while we know there is an unpainted head underneath it is glued into place. The Maldo Kreis element of the figure is the final decor application with white paint used to try and recreate a snowy and icy look to the figure. In places this works well, across the boots for example and the rear hem of the cloak. In other areas, it does stray more into blotching of white paint than settled snow or forming ice.
Mando comes with the same weaponry as the previous releases - his Blaster and Amban Phase-Pulse Rifle. The blaster is right-hand gripped and features a silver finish with quite a bit of sculpted detail and a painted brown grip. When not in use it can be holstered. The Phase-Pulse Rifle is a long and appropriately scaled piece with brown stock and silver body and barrel - the middle section is then coloured in grey as are the sites. This is also right hand gripped with the left hand used for support. When not in use there is the ability to have it shoulder slung with a peg on the rifle connecting to a socket on Mando’s back. Like all the variants of this that have gone before, the fit on this is poor with the rifle socket bigger than the hole and the hole not quite lining up in relation to the strap and the cloak. While the weapon can be engaged just about, it doesn't hold particularly well.
Mando features 19 points of articulation with double-jointed pinned knees a carryover from the original release. This makes him very mobile in posing with his weaponry or with Grogu, although the cloak does limit some of the movement with the legs not able to fully kneel with the cloak in place and the right arm limited in upward movement without shifting the cloak to a less natural position.
Grogu in the Maldo Kreis set was the third release of the character at the time, and it used the static body seen in the 2020 Deluxe set featuring Mando with a removable helmet from Season 1. This means that Grogu lacks any body articulation with the arms in a fixed position rather than being ball-jointed like the other version in circulation. The robes are cast in brown with the hands in green and plugged into the arms and the head is executed in the same way but with a bit more paintwork for the black eyes and with a pinkish tone over the cheeks and the inner ears. Like Mando, Grogu also has a snowy paint job which is just about visible on the bottom of his robes but lacks some of the subtle dusting we see on Mando’s boots.
Grogu features just three points of articulation thanks to the fixed arm positions and you can either rotate his head or rotate his hands. He comes with a diorama base on which to stand that features a snowy area and an open Knobby Ice Spider Egg as per the scene in the show where Grogu disturbs the Spider’s nest. The base of this piece features a flattened area to sit Grogu and have him reaching up for the egg which is painted in a darker grey finish with the open flaps and interior in green.
The set is completed by the inclusion of a Knobby White Ice Spider, a medium-sized piece that is cast in white plastic and reaches up to Mando’s hips when standing on all eight legs. Each leg is a ball joint connection to the main body providing eight points of articulation, but limited variation in how the Spider can be stood. The sculpt is accurate to the creatures on screen including the lower mouthpiece and jaws - but it lacks any substantial paintwork to really enhance the look.
Interestingly a similar set was released in the smaller Vintage Collection, and that Spider features a much better paint job with a darker mottled finish and definition to the mouth. If you want to expand your Spider swarm to battle Mando then this set provides a smaller version and two tiny versions to display as well as another smaller egg.
Assembled together the diorama value of the set is obvious pitting the snow-covered Mando against the mid-sized Ice Spider while Grogu reaches for another egg. The set also ticks the criteria for a Deluxe set with the additional value in the extra creature, although the Ice Spider itself is the weakest part of the set lacking both size so as to pose a threat to Mando as well as a decent paint job, especially when compared to the more visually impressive Vintage Collection version. Perhaps the release needed to go beyond the Deluxe format to a 2-pack or Creature Set with a larger Spider. Overall the set is good, without being exceptional. It is a good example of situational releasing and world-building dioramas and is probably a few paint improvements away from being something much more impressive.
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About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...