Review : Supreme Leader Snoke Star Wars Black Series (Hasbro) Wave/Series : Wave 14 (Phase 3) Released : November 2017
£24.99
Pros : impressive head sculpt. soft goods work well. Cons : only that this is the same figure that is packed with the Throne deluxe set
Supreme Leader Snoke has already had one release so far in 2017 as a Gamestop exclusive with his Throne. This release, part of wave 14, is the same exact figure but now packed singularly as #54 in the Phase 3 packaging.
The packaging is the familiar black box with the now bolder Star Wars Black Series logo up top. On the expanded bottom rail we get another lovely Gregory Titus illustration, although it does give Snoke a more inquisitive look as though he is thinking something over rather than menacing the galaxy?
The red character text gives his full name as Supreme Leader Snoke, and this is repeated on the gloss red side spine under the large black number 54.
The other spine also carries the character name, once again in red against the black background. There is the faded blown up lettering on this left hand spine with the word Snoke just legible against the black.
Round the back, and thankfully there is no repeat of the wave 13 issue where the Titus illustration was cut off by some new legal text. Alongside the drawing of Snoke is quite a long piece of background text. As usual this gives nothing much away and simply talks about Snoke's position as the "shadowy" leader of the First Order and how he is a "Master of the dark side".
Snoke slides out from either the top or bottom box flap in the red inner tray. He is alone in the tray with no accessories present. Be careful when removing him from the tray - while he is not secured in with any twisty ties or similar, his cloak is tucked into two slits and could be damaged if you just pull him out.
The first thing that is striking about Snoke is the sculpt. The head is particularly impressive with its multitude of scars and defects - and yet with piercing eyes from beneath. The paint job further enhances the sculpt with a pink fleshy tone used n the damaged parts and blended in with the pale flesh. This same skin tone is used on the hands to give them a haggard look.
Snoke is one for bling it seems, and his left hand carries a huge ring with gold band and a dark crystal or gem of some kind set in top.; This decadence also runs to his slippers too which are ornately sculpted - even though they sit under that gold robe.
It isn't immediately apparent how tall this figure actually is, but Snoke stands 17.5cm tall, that is just shy of 7 inches and means he towers over most other Black Series figures - particularly noticeable when you line him up with his contemporaries such as Kylo Ren and the Praetorian Guard.
I have been impressed with the material used on the 2017 soft goods for the Black Series, but there have been issues to date with the tailoring. Snoke is however very well done with the gold robes not only looking and feeling the part but also tailored very well. The robes hang beautifully from Snoke's thin frame. They are tied in place with a rubber sculpted belt that is cast in a gold plastic with embossed design. My one worry is fraying with a few loose threads apparent on the hems.
Under the robes is a sculpted under suit. The top part looks very much like Jedi robes, while the trousers are a weird 3/4 design that only reach his calves. We then have bare legs until we hit the ornate slippers we saw a little earlier.
While it seems Snoke doesn't need a huge range of motion, Hasbro have not scrimped and under that gold robe is a full set of standard Black Series articulation points - 16 in total.
The head is the first, and this has a rotating ball joint and a pivot joint. The rotation work well, but the sculpt of the head doesn't allow too much forward/backward motion. Moving down from the head and you find a torso/waist joint. This is ball jointed but like the head does not have a great deal of lean motion in it - but it will rotate as required under the cloak.
The arms are ball jointed at the shoulder, with a rotating elbow and rotating pivot wrists. These all move smoothly under the arms of the soft goods robe and the robe moves well with the arms and still looks and hangs neatly when the arms are posed.
While the legs are hidden under the robes they have been treated the same as any other figure with ball jointed hips, thigh cut swivel, double jointed knees and ankle pivots. On this figure the most you will do is splay the legs out a little for balancing such a tall figure - but these joints will of course come into their own for the deluxe version where he will require seating on this throne.
For such a tall skinny figure, Snoke stands particularly well and all the joints feel tight.
As well as his Throne, Snoke also fits onto the Throne Room floor piece packed with the Target exclusive Kylo Ren deluxe release. It is here as we line him up with some Praetorian guards that we can start to appreciate the visuals of this scene.
It is quite refreshing in a way to have a Dark Side user who is not clad all in black or dark robes.
Adding Kylo to this scenario adds that dark dimension, and in these images you can see how tall Snoke is versus a standard Black Series human figure like Kylo Ren.
Supreme Leader Snoke is a figure with barely any flaws. He has a superb facial sculpt with equally impressive paint applications. The soft goods work and his overall visual is elegant yet menacing. There has been no scrimping under the robe either with a full sculpted and articulated body. Our only criticism is the availability of the more deluxe version as many fans would prefer to skip this basic version for the larger set with his Throne.
We award Supreme Leader Snoke 5 out of 5.
