Welcome to our review of the Star Wars Black Series Dengar action figure. Dengar was released in wave 19 of the red line / 3rd phase packaging in 2019. He is the 5th of the 6 Empire Strikes Back Bounty Hunters to be released, with Zuckuss on the way to complete the set. Dengar is number 74 in the red packaging to date.
Packaging 4/5
Dengar is packed in the familiar phase 3 red line packaging and is number 74 in this 3rd phase of Star Wars Black Series releases. The Gregory Titus artwork is a nice close up shot of Dengar, complete with his scars.
The side decor remains standard with the red 74 and the character name on the red spine. On the other side we have the character name in red and blown up as a background in grey text.
The reverse of the card has a larger image of Dengar and the short character text, taken as usual from the StarWars.com Databank.
"Crude and slovenly, Dengar was nonetheless an effective bounty hunter. While some hunters prided themselves on finesse and style. Dengar preferred firepower and destruction."
The figure is accessed via the top or bottom flaps of the box which are secured with tape. The inner section slides out with Dengar sat in the inner plastic tray, surrounded by his backpack and weapons. There are no twisty ties or tape in play.
Paint & Sculpt 5/5
Straight off the bat you know you have a pretty special figure in hand with the weight and solid feel of Dengar. The head sculpt is fantastic with the scarring on the face sculpted detail and not just painted - or rather printed - in place. The likeness to actor Morris Bush, who played Dengar in Empire and Jedi (albeit most of the footage was cut), is excellent with the eyes in particular standing out from beneath that swath of head bandages.
We know from various expanded sources that Dengar wore a mismatch of Imperial Trooper armour, but I am not able to find any definitive re-use on the body.
Dengar wears Snowtrooper chest armour, while the legs are Stormtrooper thigh and shin armour, complete with the shaped knee sections. The shoulders too are Stormtrooper panels while the belt and holsters are akin to the gear worn by Boba Fett and other Bounty Hunters.
All the armour panels are painted a dull brown with silver detailing added to show chips and flaking of the paint. Under the armour is an off white body suit of sorts. Gloves are a slightly darker cream, as are the shoes - which do have the look of a pair of slip-on moccasins.
To complete Dengar's look, his backpack is included. This slots into a shaped section on his back. You then have two flexible straps. One is flat and slots into the chest armour by going under his arm, there is a slight socket to clip it in place. The other has what can best be described as a shaped clip that clips to the side of the backpack and then it goes under the arm to a socket beneath the front chest armour.
The backpack is packed full of detail with lots of textures and intricate details including the rolled sleeping blanket and the clips and buckles at the end of the straps. It is painted in black and then has a few more shades of colour applied to pick out the various parts - all applied neatly and without issue.
Accessories 3/5
Dengar comes with two weapons, the first of which is a DL-21 blaster. This seems to be a new cast, albeit similar to the blaster Han uses in the Saga. It is cast in quite a soft black plastic and the barrel can be warped out of the box.
It slots perfectly into Dengar's right hand with trigger finger slotting in place.
When not being used the blaster has a slotted holster at Dengar's waist. The fit here is very tight and the barrel can easily bend while being positioned. Once in place it holds in place fine.
The second weapon is a DLT-19, the same weapon that was packed with 4-LOM and originally the Imperial Sandtroopers. This is cast in a grey plastic with no paint apps and looks quite plain and a bit soft in detail.
It doesn't quite fit well in Dengar's hand, always an issue when an existing weapon is shoehorned into another release. When being held the trigger sits too far out for the trigger finger to get into position.
The other issue with this weapon, and the kicker for me, is that it is not the one Dengar has on screen in the Star Destroyer scenes. Dengar uses a Valken 38-X rifle which is different to the one included. Dengar did use a DLT-19 in some promo images, but you'd think Hasbro would be aiming for screen accuracy considering all the other Bounty Hunters are appropriately armed with fresh weapons cast for all but 4-LOM (you'd hope this wasn't a cost saving exercise).
Articulation 4/5
Dengar has 16 points of articulation, standard for a Black Series figure. Being a bulky armoured figure there is some restriction on some joints, but on the whole Dengar moves and poses pretty well.
The head is articulated on a ball joint and can rotate fully. Any other movement is restricted by the heavy bandages and chin section. The torso has a mid section ball joint built between the chest and stomach armours. This allows rotation, but no leaning forward movement as the chest panel and backpack holds the back quite straight - you can lean him back some distance if you wish, but it looks a bit odd like he is mid-fall.
The arms are ball jointed shoulders with a rotating single elbow joint and pivot wrists. The right shoulder is restricted somewhat by the armour panel, but will raise to about 45 degrees. There is no issue with the left shoulder. The elbows being a single joint bend to 90 degrees only. This is enough to give a two handed weapon pose.
The legs are ball jointed at the hip with a thigh swivel immediately below. Even with the armour these joints have surprisingly full motion and Dengar can sit or do the splits if you wish. The knees are double jointed and we end with the ankle rockers. The knees and ankles are ratcheted, and the one gripe I had was the feet are difficult to hold in a standing position as the ratchet on the right seems to be too far forward or back. In the end it was easier to put Dengar on a stand.
Summary
Dengar is as close as you can get to a perfect release and is then let down by two weapon accessories. The two blasters are poorly executed with no detail or paint. One is two soft and warped and struggles to fit in the holster, the second isn't screen accurate and doesn't fit in the hands properly.
Aside from this Dengar does everything else right from a wonderful face sculpt, weathered and worn armour and impressive articulation for such a bulky figure.
I score the wave 19 Black Series Dengar a 4 out of 5.
