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I am writing this review at the back end of September 2015 and a tad under 3-months before The Force Awakens hits cinema's - but I want to go on record and suggest that Guavian Enforcer(s) may well be the Boba Fett of the new film. I can't see him having a major part, possibly not even having any lines, but from the figure he certainly is going to be a bad *** and will appeal to a lot of fans. Guavian Enforcer is #08 in The Force Awakens releases, and is packed in wave 2 in the Red/Black packaging that we have talked so much about in earlier reviews - and that I am not going to repeat her for fear of sounding like a broken record. Put of the box the Enforcer stands 6" high, and instantly impresses once you have him in hand. When the images of the Guavian Enforcer first broke he was quickly labelled as a Deadpool wannabee, but I think if anything he looks more like a Star Trek character that Voyager or DS9 were dropping in to the later stages of their series. He looks mercenary and mean and although some may suggest he is a droid of some kind, I am fairly confident this is a man/alien under the suit and the helmet. Starting at the helmet it is made up of what looks like two halves, a back black section and a front red face-plate - into which is a cut out containing mesh and within that a red disc. The head sits on top of a black ribbed neck piece which runs into the shoulders which are covered with a very "clone like" shoulder piece. The under-suit is full of really intricate fabric textures, flip him over and have a look at his back and its almost a circuit board pattern printed into the garment. On top of this are various panels on the shoulders and down into a pair of heavy duty ribbed gloves. A substantial belt with four giant pockets encircles his mid-drift and then below this a what I can best describe as a gun-slingers belt which resembles the one Han wears in First Hope. Down onto the left leg and there is some kind of mechanism on the thigh and from this comes a red pipe which disappears behind a large knee pad on the left knee. The right leg has no such mechanism, but does sport another thigh holster - more weaponry? The boots are knee high and ribbed again down into the feet which see to have parts on either side which in my head may or may not be rockets (Cad Bane?) The decor on this figure is a thing of beauty and streets ahead of the other figures I have seen so far. My big criticism of a lot of TFA figures is a lack of depth and weathering, but that certainly doesn't apply to the Enforcer. The figure is essentially two muted colours of burgundy and black, but the burgundy has so much depth due to what looks like at least two darker washes that then picks out all that detail I mentioned above in the outfit. The black areas are flat in colour in the main, but still have a sheen to reflect like armour and are trimmed in most places with red to tie them in to the outfit. The head is painted with a couple of metallic scratches down across the face-plate and into the chin, all of which makes this guy look like he has seen some action and probably operates in a grimy spaceship / spaceport / underground lair - and had he been around 30 years ago wouldn't have looked out of place in Jabba's Palace. Articulation is also really good, despite the armoured panels. The head rotates a full 360 degree and has a real depth of movement to look up and down. The arms move out 90 degrees to the body and rotate fully and can be placed up above the Enforcers head. The elbow joint and swivel means 2-handed weapon poses are possible - although for that you would have to choose which of his weapons to disregard and that is a tough choice as you will see in a moment. The Torso is jointed, with the joint hidden neatly behind the upper belt and this allows him to swivel his top half a good range either side. Both hip joints can move reasonably well, although his left leg is restricted by a holster on his belt. The knees are double jointed, and both work brilliantly despite the left knee behind a huge knee pad. Even the red pipe is the right length to bend with the knee to almost its full potential. If I am nit picking, then the feet are a little loose in their ankle joints and it takes a bit to get him standing securely. The Guavian comes packing with two equally impressive blasters/weapons. The first resembles a sawn off shot gun and the other looks very similar to Fett's own weapon from Empire, perhaps the Guavians are fans of Mandalorian hardware? The weapons themselves are cast in a plain grey plastic, and have had a silver drybrush to make them look a little worn,. They probably could do with a black wash also to grime them up, but they do the job and can sit nicely in either hand. I really can't find much fault with the Guavian Enforcer and he sets the bench mark for me in terms of what Hasbro should be giving us with all the 6" Black Series figures. The sculpt is great, the paint finish is great and the articulation is there and has been thought about so that nothing really restricts the movement. I award the Guavian Enforcer a very rare 5 out of 5 and I would encourage everyone to go out and pick him up.

As a big fan of the original wave 1 Luke in X-Wing outfit I was really looking forward to getting my hands on Poe Dameron from The Force Awakens. Poe is number #07 in the TFA range and is part of the 2nd wave. Poe arrives in the now familiar black and red box, decorated with the grey lined artwork that has been consistent on the Black Series packaging since its inception in 2013. Poe is illustrated on the packaging in his X-Wing helmet and appears on the front lower right panel as well as on the rear along with a very limited, "no spoilers", blurb about Poe. Out of the box and Poe stands 6" high, putting him at the standard height in the Black Series and an exact match for actor Oscar Isaacs reported height. For the first time in a while, Poe comes packed with a decent quantity of accessories - alternative hands, a hand blaster and a flight helmet - all of which we will talk about a little later. The flight suit is really well done and although reminiscent of the New Hope era suit, it has sufficient differences for you to know it is from a different era of Star Wars. However, unlike the First Order Storm Troopers which are suitably modern and upgraded - this suit could actually pass as an older version as there is nothing on the suit that screams +30years in advance technology. The basic orange suit is nicely sculpted from the feet upward with a "baggyness" that is common on flight suits, and plenty of pockets and pouches. It also sports a couple of varying textures with a very slight chequered texture across most of the suit, but with ribbed sleeves running up both arms. Over the top of the suit is the life presever from which comes a flexible air pipe that slots neatly into a socket in the leg. The belt holds a holster for Poe's hand blaster, and you also have those straps that hang down - exactly as they did in the 1977 version. The whole suit is painted in a flat orange, but the texture of the plastic does give it depth. The belt and straps are a flat grey, and the life presever and off white - and this has been weathered with what looks like a dry brush to dirty it up. One of the stand out areas of the uniform is the rebel logo on the chest and the Aurebesh writing under neath - which are obviously decals, but look awesome. So onto the head sculpt, and sadly this is where the figure scores a few negative points. The face itself is not a brilliant likeness for Oscar Isaac's. The Black Series have never given us brilliant human sculpts, but this one is more "off" than normal. It is very cartoonish in terms of the paint applications - it reminds me of how Marvel Select tackled the unmasked Ant-Man 7" figure with a terrible grey smear that is meant to be a 5 o clock shadow. It is also very glossy in finish and therefore picks up lots of reflections. The brilliant part of this figure though is that you can easily hide the head sculpt under the removable flight helmet. The helmet is really well designed and painted with more rebel logo's and Aurebesh symbols. The colour scheme is really nice in black and contrasting red and the visor is an opaque yellow. The helmet is a harder plastic than the original Luke X-Wing helmet, so it is a tight fit and I am sure you will get paint wear on the hair if you have this on and off numerous times. It takes a while to get the helmet seated so the eyes are positioned behind the visor. Once on the helmet looks half decent but is obviously oversized and it does seem to flare out massively at the back. I can put some of this down to the onscreen design and it reminds me very much of the A-Wing pilot helmet for Return of the Jedi. However, you can't get away from the fact that it isn't as well done as the original Luke helmet and I would have preferred a better fitting helmet or indeed a swap-able head altogether. Talking of swap-able parts, the hands are interesting as these swap at the wrist rather than via a plug in the sleeves. This was obviously needed so you can reflect Poe either wearing or not wearing his flight gloves which go up past his wrists. I was worried these would be really obvious in terms of a visible joint on the un-gloved hand, but they slot in really well and the seam is almost invisible - good job on this Hasbro. The blaster supplied is dead basic in grey plastic. There is also a definite step change backwards in Black Series weapons as they haven't bothered in making the trigger finger sit in the trigger on this one like they have done so well on previous figures like Han and Greedo. This makes Poe look ridiculous when holding the gun, but it does fit neatly into the supplied holster. Articulation is really good on this one in terms of the top half, with no armour or cloaks to restrict movement. The head rotates 360 degrees and looks up and down - with or without helmet. The shoulder ball joints are un-restricted so can get out to a full right angle to the body and up over the head if you really want them to. The elbow is the new swivel joint so can be bent 90 degrees and then also rotates. The wrists rotate as you would expect with them being swap-able. An ab crunch joint is built in and nicely hidden under the life preserver and Poe can rotate his top half a good way round until the air pipe stops him. The legs start with a ball joint hip and go into a thigh swivel and then down to double jointed knees. The ankles are then on a pivot and swivel. All of this means Poe can get into a couple of action stances, and can kneel, but he certainly can't sit down - which leaves him needing to be redesigned if Hasbro ever intend on making a 6" scale X-wing. So what is my overall verdict. Poe certainly isn't a bad figure, he has some real stand out elements like the suit textures, some decent weathering and the very neat rebel decals and Aurebesh symbols. He looses points for a very average head sculpt and an oversized helmet - so whichever option I choose to display him will bother me. I would be interested to see what a skilled painter can do with the sculpt as I think a lot of this is down to paint, but I suppose we need to get used to this sculpt as he it is coming again in November in the Argos 2-pack. Considering the other figures Poe is up against and knowing how well an X-Wing pilot has been done 2 years ago now then there is no excuse for the issues and I am going to score Poe a 3 out of 5.

Wave 2 of the Force Awakens Black Series 6" figures kicks off with a bang with the impressive figure of Captain Phasma. Phasma is #06 in the Force Awakens release schedule and comes in the black and red packaging that we saw in wave 1, packaging which I am now really fond of as a design and hope that Hasbro will stick with for a number of years now, if only for the sake of Mint In Box collectors. The multi-lingual box comes with a grey lined image of Phasma's helmet on the front right panel and the same artwork on the rear along side an every so brief bio of the character, written in 4 different languages. The red panel on the right is broken only by the large #06 and the words "Captain Phasma" along with a short reference number that I assume relates to the assortment. Once out of the box, the first thing is the size of Phasma, she truly does stand head and shoulders over the other figures in the range. At 6 3/4" high (170mm) this puts the figure at around 2m high once scaled up from 1/12, this is a tag larger than Gwendoline Christie who stands at 1.91m - but you with the armour and helmets its probably bang on. The sculpt is very similar to the standard Force Awakens Trooper, albeit factored up for the increased height of the character. And unlike the Luke in Storm Trooper we reviewed from wave 8 that looked like he was wearing armour that was too big with him, Phasma looks perfectly proportioned. The First Order armour is particularly smooth and doesn't have a lot of features, so there isn't a great deal of sculpting detail on the armour of the figure - but Hasbro has captured the clean lines and panels really well. The helmet is more angular than the regular release and flares out at the bottom rather than rounding under. The helmet on the figure I am reviewing sadly has a couple of mould faults that do stand out at close inspection. Under the armour is the usual black body suit, and at the joints of the armour this is ribbed. Working down to the belt, Phasma has a similar array of pouches and compartments to the regular trooper and also sports the thigh "clip" holster on her right thigh, although she does not come with the smaller hand gun to clip there. As you look at the shins and boots you can see a significant difference to the regular trooper with some ridged shin panels and some variant feet. Many will complain that Phasma isn't chromed in some way. I don't know enough about the industry to know if this is possible or how much it costs, but if you look at how Bandai presented their C-3PO you can see it would have been an option. That aside I really like the paint finish they have gone with. It is a metallic shiny finish, but isn't overly reflective and does work on a figure of this size. It certainly isn't a match to what we will see in the film. My issue with the silver is that like most Storm & Clone troopers we have had from Hasbro, it is quite sloppy around the joints with some overrun of the silver out onto the black under suit. Either side of the knee joints the pegs are recessed into the armour panels, so Phasma looks like she has black circles either side of her knees. The cloak is really well done and for a piece of rubber it has been cast in a good "shape" and flows naturally off Phasma's shoulders. There is also a good degree of detail built into the cloak including what look like stitched patches on the rear. The cloak has been trimmed in red, which is really neat in places and in others quite messy - but overall it does the job. Articulation is limited, both by the cloak and the armour itself. The helmet does rotate a full 360 degrees but the cloak stops it looking up and down. The shoulders are on a ball joint but are then restricted slightly by the shoulder pads - in fact the left arm is practically locked in position by the cloak - the shoulders do have a clever twist where the shoulder pad slides back into the torso so the arm can get to a 45 degree angle out from the body and therefore also round and up above the head. There is single joint at the elbow, not a double joint that we have had on previous waves. The bicep swivel has also gone, but there is now a swivel in the elbow so although not perfect, Phasma can achieve a two handed weapon pose. The arm finishes with a swivel wrist that also pivots. The final articulation point on the torso is a torso joint, but this adds no value at all as it barely moves. Down to the hips and the armour again restricts any movement, you can however position one leg forward and in slightly and therefore reflect the walking scene from the trailer where Phasma is walking through what looks like a First Order corridor. The knee joints remain double joints but with the cloak will only really be used to get Phasma into a walking pose or a wider action stance. The feet are, as usual, on rocker joints so there is no problem getting her to stand flat footed and stable. Phasma's only accessory is her gold rifle which due to how the figure is packed is more than likely to arrive warped. This can be straightened using some hot water or steam. It fits neatly enough into either hand and looks "ok" although if you were nit picking the paint should be shinier and it is a little messy in places, particularly the barrell. As a centre piece of a Force Awakens collection Phasma is impressive purely through her sheer height. The paint could be closer to the chromed look, but it still works and just needs to be a bit neater - which we may see on later waves as I think a lot of these early TFA figures may have been rushed through for Force Friday. Articulation was always going to be sacrificed on armoured figures, and the cloak makes this worse, but I do prefer the rubberised cloak than having seen them go for a soft goods option which I don't think would have ever sat right. Phasma has too many niggles to be a 5 out of 5 figure, but she does enough for a 4 out of 5 score.

Review : Chewbacca (The Force Awakens) Star Wars Black Series (Hasbro) Wave/Series : Figure #05 (Phase 3 Wave 1) Released : 4th September, 2015 (Force Friday) Price : £22.99 The Episode 7 Chewbacca was one of the 5 debut Force Awakens figures that hit store shelves on Force Friday (4th September 2015). He was initially a peg warming figure as many collectors, including myself, opted to pick up the other characters first ahead of Chewie who was very similar to the original trilogy release in phase 2. Chewie arrives in the black and red phase 2 packaging with grey lined art of the character front and back. It is interesting that after Chewie was pulled from phase 1 (the phantom #13) because he wouldn't fit in the box naturally to then see that when you open this TFA Chewie that his legs are all awkwardly bent and stuffed to get him into this new red trim packaging. Out of the box and you get Chewie alongside his Bowcaster, supplied in two parts like the original trilogy version. Chewie stands an impressive 7 3/4 inches high, perhaps a tad too high against other characters - a complaint levied also against the original trilogy version. Sculpt is really good, with the fur being layered down from the head into the body and down the arms and legs. The fur obscures the joints, which kind of improves the overall asthetics of the figure. The head is the first change vs the original version with the sculpt re-done to give Chewbacca a closed mouth. This amended facial potrait much improves the figure but sadly is let down with a lack of paint applications and some very cartoony eyes. Down into the body and the whole body area is the same as used on the original Chewbacca. Sadly, the paint applications on this TFA version is inferior to the orignal paint job. As mentioned there is absolutely no wash or depth at all in the head area, and varying lighter tones across the rest of the body with the odd grey dry brush here and there to try and add age to the figure. I much prefer the darker fur tone they achieved originally. The bandoleer is amended to the new look, as is the saddle bag. The bowcaster has also had a makeover and is a new sculpt. This means the original issue with the bow part popping off has been fixed - hurray - but it also means that instead of a nice drybrushed gun metal finish all you get now is black plastic. Articulation is identical to the original. The head is pretty much fixed due to the fur down into the chest. Arms are ball jointed and can swing out to the side or up above the head. Elbow joints with swivel and a small movement in the wrist means Chewie can hold his Bowcaster in his right hand, but won't get close to that two handed weapon pose you saw as he and Han entered the Falcon in the movie. The hips are also restricted by the fur, so Chewie will never kneel or sit. But as we saw with his packed position there is some knee movement so you have some display options in terms of his stance. Chewbacca is sadly a figure that shows how the Black Series has deteriorated since its launch and promise of a true collectors line. He is rammed into a box that two years ago Hasbro wouldn't accept due to how it looks. The paint applications are worse, not better, than the original figure and although the bowcaster has been fixed it has no paint applications at all. Thank fully some of the newer figures (I am thinking about Han and Jango) have restored our faith a little and perhaps these first TFA figures were rushed out of the factory too soon. It will be interesting to see if Chewie gets a repack at some point and like Finn and Rey at that point gets a paint application upgrade. I score Chewbacca 2 out of 5 Buy from Amazon UK Buy from Amazon US

The first wave of Star Wars, The Force Awakens 6" Black Series figures hit shelves on the 4th September 2015, Force Friday. This signalled another evolution for the 6" Black Series and the 3rd packaging change in as many years. The First Order Storm Trooper, is #04 in Wave 1 of the TFA series . This is the identical figure which prior to Wave 1 was packed as an SDCC exclusive in a Black & White presentation box. This review is relevant for both figures, and images of the SDCC version can be found in the gallery. The Storm Trooper arrives in the red & black livery box which is new to the 2015 Force Awakens figure. The box retains familiar features to its two predecessors with grey lined artwork of the character front & rear. The number and figure name is now picked out in bold red, with a striking red panel down the right hand side. The rear of the box contains a short bio of the figure, but nothing that would give away any plot details of the movie. Out of the box the figure is presented in a clear insert with bold red background piece which has done a great job in giving the figures more shelf presence. The Trooper arrives with a larger blaster in his right hand and a smaller pistol packed alongside. The sculpt on the Storm Trooper is particularly striking, capturing the new updated look of the troopers perfectly. The clean lines of the helmet follow down into the body armour which is clean and crisp and only broken by the odd black "vent" or insignia. The utility belt is retained with a number of pockets & pouches. There is no obvious holster, which feels a miss at first - but all is revealed a little later. The white areas of the figure are cast in a shiny hard plastic and therefore reflect light pretty well and look the part vs the on screen version. However, the issue that plagued the Storm Troopers and Clone Troopers from 2014 is still evident on this figure where any added parts like the belt and knee pads are black plastic painted white and these look very yellow and off colour vs the rest of the armour. The paint, for what it is in these areas is neat although I have got some very minor bleeds on my Trooper's knees. Articulation is OK, but not great. Starting with the head as we always do, this rotates a full 360 degrees and can look down slightly on its ball joint. Arms start with a jointed shoulder, but due to the shoulder panels of the armour you can only really get them up about 45 degrees to the body. The elbows rotate and are on a pivot joint, but again the armour doesn't allow them to reach a full 90 degree. These two issues combined mean your First Order Trooper will struggle to hold a gun naturally with both hands, unless you want to get radical and start customising your figure and cutting away parts of the armour. The wrists rotate and allow the hands to bend, so you can at least aim your gun even if it can't be held in both hands. There is a nice torso joint on the Trooper which allows for a lot of movement - in fact you can rotate his whole chest area 360 degrees to his legs. There is no waist articulation, so down into the legs and they have a similar issue to the arms that despite hip and knee joints the armour stops getting down into a crouching or kneeling position so you will have to settle with a standing up stance for all your Troopers. The ankles are on rockers, so getting him to stand up is no issue. The two guns are nicely sculpted and then painted in a very nice black and white colour scheme. The larger gun fits neatly into the right hand with the finger going easily into the trigger. The smaller gun fits in both hands. And remember the holster issue - well there is actually a slot on the Trooper's right thigh and a corresponding groove on the gun, so the side arm slots onto the thigh and looks pretty cool - another advance in Storm Trooper equipment in the 30 years since Endor - I wonder if they have taught them to shoot straight yet? The SDCC version of the Trooper only differs in the box design, which is a very nice Black & White colour scheme with an outer sleeve which slides off to reveal the figure in a black inner box along with both guns. The box also contains a rear slot in which is a small notepad which details the various evolutions of the Storm Trooper from the Mark 1 clones through to this First Order version. I give the new Storm Trooper a 4 out of 5. I can look past articulation as I would rather have accurate armour than a masses of articulation. The off white painted parts are the turn off for me. Bandai can sort this on their figures, not sure why Hasbro is struggling. Be assured we will see many more versions of this sculpt from Hasbro. We are already getting a Sergeant with Pauldron in an Amazon exclusive 4-pack, and a crowd control version with shield in the Argos 2-pack with Poe Dameron. Also coming are Flame Troopers and Snow Troopers and I for one can't wait...

Despite being packed two per case in Wave 1 and we think repacked in the upcoming wave 3, Kylo Ren has been an elusive figure for many since his debut on Force Friday. Kylo arrives in the Red & Black phase 3 packaging, with what I believe is the best grey scale illustration to date on the front right lower flash. Kylo is #03 in the Force Awakens wave of figures and having arrived pre-release of the movie, the bio on the back of the box is suitably brief and intentionally without detail. Out of the box Kylo stands 6 1/4" high, a good half a head taller than his First Order Storm Troopers. The first thing that is evident is that the majority of Kylo is soft goods. Starting with a soft good hood this runs down under a rubber shoulder cape into a soft good covered torso. This is then wrapped in a molded belt and the cloak then flows down to drag on the floor. All in all the soft goods does a decent job. The flow and texture of the cape is pretty good, with my only criticism being the hood which like the Emperor doesn't sit well over the head. The head itself is nicely done and fully detailed to the back of the helmet which can be uncovered, although the hood does really hold itself in the uncovered position. The head is highlighted in the relevant places in silver. The shoulder cloak is really well done, so much so I kind of wish that a lot more of the figure had been done in molded rubber rather than soft goods. The Disney Elite figure, and of course the wave 1 Darth Maul, has shown that this can look just as effective. The arms are sculpted in a ribbed material from shoulder down to the gloved hands, and the same material can be found under the soft good cape with an inner skirt. The figure is finished in high gloss boots. Paint across the figure is minimal but where applied, helmet and belt, it is neat and without any bleed or obvious errors. Articulation does suffer a little on this figure. The head is ball jointed, but only moves a few millimeters either side as it is prevented from going any further by the shoulder cloak. You can feel a torso joint under the cloak, but again this doesn't really move anywhere. The arms are a little better. The left can move to something close to 90 degrees to the body and can revolve to go above Kylo's head. The right however is restricted massively by the shoulder cloak - this is a pity as this is Kylo's sword arm. Although there is the rotating elbow joint and a swivel and pivot wrist, Kylo has only one real position where he can hold light saber with both hands - another shame, as it's not the most natural and dynamic of two-handed saber poses. Under the rubber skirt is some nice hip movement, which thanks to some strategic skirt splits can allow Kylo to stand with a much wider and action orientated stance - supported by the standard double jointed knees. The ankles are on rockers which then allow the feet to sit flat to the floor to support your chosen pose. Any attempt to get Kylo to kneel is blocked by the front of the skirt, so there is no way to mimic the Vader kneeling pose with Kylo. Kylo's only accessory is his broad-saber. The hilt is a good sculpt with plenty of detail and a couple of different paint jobs. The issue, unless the film is going to prove otherwise, is that the side plasma beams are joined up to the main blade rather than separated as we saw in the trailer, and as is included on all the other Kylo figures including the 5POA 3.75" figure. As I say, this may be a plot point, and if not it looks to be corrected on the upcoming Starkiller Base exclusive version. So how to score Kylo. Well for me Kylo was always going to be a balance between articulation and looks. I don't mind an awesome looking figure with some articulation restriction, and prefer this over a super articulated figure where the looks are sacrificed. Sadly on this figure the articulation is already lost at the head, right shoulder, hips and knees by the superior (in my opinion) rubber material. And yet soft goods were still applied over this. Now the cloak is one of the best we have seen, but it needs to sit right over the helmet, and like Palpatine it just doesn't unless you are going to do some serious work in either starching the material or adding wirework to the seems. It may be controversial, but I would have preferred to see a rubber hood similar to that of Maul. Until I have seen the film I am not going to say the saber is a mistake so I will remove this from the scoring at this stage. Good figure, I would certainly have him in any TFA collection but for me he only gets 3 out of 5.

The first wave of Star Wars, The Force Awakens 6" Black Series figures hit shelves on the 4th September 2015, Force Friday. This signalled another evolution for the 6" Black Series and the 3rd packaging change in as many years. Rey, in her Jakku outfit, was #02 in Wave 1 of the TFA series and was packed in with the diminutive BB8 droid. The new box design is particularly striking, and when you get it up close you realise it isn't just a flat black and red design, but the Black Series signature line artwork remains with images on front and reverse of the character. And on the left side panel the character name is picked out in small red text and then much larger, but very discreet, grey text. The bold red stripe on the right side shows the numbering system for these figures, while the back has a multi-lingual bio of the character - whilst giving nothing away about Rey's role in the movie (which as we write this is not yet released). Unlike prior releases in the UK where the rear has been stickered to cover the various Euro languages - this one has not and signifies a more global approach to packaging from Hasbro and Disney. Into the packaging and the figure comes in the usual clear insert tray with a solid red background piece, which certainly makes the figure "pop" more visually on the shelf vs the old black inserts. Rey herself is very well sculpted, although the head perhaps feels a little featureless - a common issue in sculpting younger female faces in particular. Her hair sits in a very (dare I say Leia-esque) complex style with trailing pieces and tie backs which leave her with 3 pony tails. The outfit is relatively simple, but again captures the look of the original trilogy when you compare it to what Luke wore on Tatooine in the 1977 original. Under the wrapped gown are a upper tunic and some knee left trousers, and her arms are wrapped in a similar bandage type material down to some leather braces around her wrists. Slung round her waist is a belt, which contains a pouch or bag of some kind around the rear. Boots are ankle high and fairly featureless, although there is some pattern when you get up close. All of the outfit is painted very nicely with no noticeable paint bleed or errors. The under garments are picked out in a very light off-white, while the outer robe is a more tan shade. For this price of figure I would have expected some wash and highlights to bring out the depth in the outfit and weather it a bit considering what we have seen of Rey on Jakku. The face is very plainly painted. The eyes and eye brows are in the right place but a bit thick and the lips a bit too red. Neither of these helps the face sculpt. The hair, which is tied back, is flat brown again but its a pretty neat job between the hair line and the forehead with no bleed or skin coloured hair. Overall the paint is adequate and neat, but I would love to see what this figure would look like with a top notch paint job. Articulation, and we start at the head which is on a ball joint. It rotates a full 360 degrees, but there is almost no movement up or down which leaves Rey looking straight ahead in all poses. The shoulders are ball jointed, with her left getting up to a full 90 degrees to her body while the right sticks a little due to the shoulder sculpt. Elbows bend and swivel and there is both a swivel and joint on the wrist. This all means a good wide range of arm movement and the ability to hold her staff in both hands if needed (and probably a blaster too if she needs to). The waist is jointed, but moves very little - springing back to a central position. Hips are ball jointed and if needed you can use these and the knee joints to get Rey into a splits or kneeling position. However, the sculpted robe does restrict the leg movement and you could argue maybe should have been soft goods, but that will always be controversial and not to every ones tastes. Rey stands pretty well with articulated ankles. The staff is taller than Rey herself, and is cast in a brown plastic. Two "wraps" are sculpted onto the main body and painted in off-white. And a strap hangs off the staff and is sculpted to be hanging down when the staff is upright, leaving you with one real position for the staff when displaying Rey. Over to the other accessory / figure and BB8 is a pleasant surprise vs what we thought we may get. He is very heavy and is obviously weighted like a weeble. The head is nicely detailed and then weathered (unlike Rey). The head rotates a full 360 degrees round the body and moves from side to side on a peg which goes into the main body of the droid. The body itself is a detailed sculpt, but the weathering is not as good and that is a shame. Like Rey, give this BB8 sculpt a decent paint job and it would be a real winner. My other gripe with BB8 is the weight on mine doesn't seem to be positioned right, or heavy enough and he lolls off to one side when I try and stand him. This is easily rectified with a washer or key ring under the main body as a make shift stand. At £22.99 these figures are not cheap. The articulation and sculpt are perfectly good and the paint is adequate, but could be better. BB8 is a nice pack-in and his head shows that when they think about it Hasbro can apply good paint weathering to bring out a figures sculpt. I give Rey and BB8 a 4 out of 5, losing one star for the flat paint job. I would also give a word of warning to Mint in Box collectors that if you purchase these figures from Argos, you will get their stock item sticker on the box as you can see in my images. It is great that Argos are now carrying 6" Star Wars, but they certainly aren't geared to the needs of the collector.

Finn has the honour of being the #01 numbered figure to launch the Force Awakens 6" range of figures, as part of wave 1 he arrived alongside Rey, Kylo Ren, Storm Trooper and Chewbacca. Finn's packaging lists him as Finn with (Jakku) in brackets, which we assume differentiates this outfit from others he may wear in the film. Flip round Finn's box and you get a couple of lines of generic info for Finn in 4 different languages - certainly nothing that will spoil the film or giveaway any plot lines. Out of the box Finn stands 5 3/4" high, which puts him shorter than the likes of Rey and Poe and the First Order Storm Troopers. Starting with the sculpt and I am quite impressed with the details on this figure. The head is a good likeness for John Boyega and the hair has sculpted detail rather than be a flat piece. The under garments that Finn is wearing has quite a degree of texture up close with a hatched pattern on the top. The jacket is sculpted with plenty of folds and wrinkles and sits a little big on him - which may or may not be intentional. The trousers have a look of combat trousers about them with some sculpted pockets on the thigh area. The shoes have a 1970's loafer look about them but we must assume these are reflective of the actual prop shoes that Finn wears in the film. Finn is one of the most articulated figures to date in the TFA 6" scale, not so much because of any extra joints or parts - but more so that he is not restricted by cloaks, armour or any other bits of garment. The head rotates a full 360 degree and looks up and down - it can also apparently be popped off and fitted onto the neck peg of a First Order Storm Trooper to match the trailer. Arms move out fully to the side and rotate at the shoulders so can go right up above Finn's head. The elbows bend 90 degrees and also rotate as does the wrists. There looks to be a chest joint, but that doesn't move - not sure why Hasbro keeps these in as I haven't found a chest joint yet that adds a whole lot of movement. Finn can sit down with his hip joints moving a full 90 degrees and its only restricted at the hips if you try and do the splits because of the coat tails. Double jointed knee joints allow for some good crouching and kneeling positions and the whole thing is finished off with ankle rockers to allow stability when standing. Paint applications are a "game of two halves". The top half is neat enough but like Rey you want some weathering to dirty up that jacket and some wash into the head to bring out the detail. Yet down you go to the trousers which are dirtied up to reflect sand across the bottom of the legs. This weathering is well applied, but because it isn't followed up to the rest of the figure it ends up looking like Finn spilled something on his trousers rather than be dessert weathered. Finn only comes with an off looking blaster, for Star Wars anyway. It is not the First Order Storm Trooper weapon we may have expected. Annoyingly the gun has had some black wash weathering applied and you just wish they could have carried that over to the jacket at least. Finn has lots of positives, particularly the articulation. The paint applications are frustrating and I hope that we will see a step change going forward as Hasbro is doing really well on the sculpts for the 6" range, but rarely does the sculpt justice by missing that final level of paint apps. Finn scores 3 out of 5.

Review : Luke Skywalker and Wampa Star Wars Black Series (Hasbro) Wave/Series : Deluxe Release 2015 (Phase 2) Released : Summer 2015 Price : £39.99 - £44.99 The second wave of Black Series Deluxe figures hit in Summery 2015. Initially the wave included the Tauntaun and a repack of the Biker Scout from 2014. Later into the Summer the Bike was swapped out to the new Luke & Wampa pack. What this meant was the Hoth packs, and the Wampa one in particular, were very sporadic in terms of distribution and prices are starting to creep upwards on these at the time of review (March 2016). The Wampa pack arrives in the blue trimmed phase 2 box, decorated as usual with the grayscale artwork with a particularly impressive grayscale rendering of the Hoth scene on the back - where the Wampa drags off an unconscious Luke. You can't blame Hasbro for trying something creative by packing Luke upside down in the box to represent his precarious position in the Wampa's cave when he wakes up. Sadly this doesn't work for me in light of there is no context in the box itself such as a cave background. The upside down position also has a real impact on the Luke figures headwear which we will discuss a little later. Out of the box you get the Wampa and Luke figures. And Luke comes complete with his lightsaber and blaster. It is nice to see that the light-sabre remains a two part affair with the blade being able to slot into the hilt, a feature since lost (at least for now) on the Kylo Ren figures within the Force Awakens phase 3 figures. Let us look at Luke first, and he stands 5 3/4 inches high which puts him shorter than Han in any Hoth display, which is of course accurate to the movie. The head sculpt is new, and is sculpted so that the head and headgear are all one piece with the cap piece then slotting on top and the radio aerial stuck to Luke's left ear. The facial features are recognisable as Mark Hamill, but still the search goes on for Hasbro to nail Luke in a sculpt - the closest they have got being the original X-Wing figure. Decoration is pretty crisp, with some quite delicate application to reflect the facial scratches from the Wampa attack - perhaps an alternative head before the attack may have been a nice touch but it seems that Hasbro are moving backwards vs the benchmarks they set with the 2013 launch of this range. The big issue with the whole head is the soft goods head scarf which looks a bit like that crepe bandaging you often get. It is stitched into the head to hang down when the figure is upside down, but once the figure stands the right way the scarf just flops around and looks completely wrong - so much so I think many collectors may be tempted to cut it off. The rest of the figure is a very good effort with a quilted texture to the jacket arms and trousers and plenty of detail such as rank insignia on the chest and belt with lightsaber hook and down to the boots with their tied shin straps. All of this is painted crisply with particular attention to detail in the chest insignia which alone boasts 5 different colours. There is a lack of weathering, the same as Han, and that may frustrate some collectors who would imagine these Hoth figures with a thick frost application and dirtied boots. Articulation is the standard approach with the elbows downgraded to one joint and a swivel. All of this works well enough but there is no real action pose available and the hands don't line up well to achieve a two handed lightsaber pose. Articulation is as good as that of Han, so if you are thinking of it Luke can ride the Tauntaun if you find yourself with two for your Hoth display. Accessories are the light-sabre, two part as I mentioned. So the hilt can be hung from the belt if you wish. The blaster can be held in either hand, or in the holster on the right thigh. Over to the Wampa now, and I must admit at this point that when I saw the two Hoth packs initially I was really looking forward to the Tauntaun and was underwhelmed by the Wampa. Those who have read my Tauntaun review will know I was really really disappointed with that hollow piece of plastic and was expecting the same from the Wampa. Boy was I wrong... The Wampa is an impressive lump of plastic, with loads of weight and feels real good quality. It stands a touch higher than Chewbacca at 8 1/4 inch high. Sculpt is not a perfect representation of the movie Wampa, but it is a good attempt and certainly captures the essence of the beast. Like Chewbacca the fur is all sculpted and layered down the body. This fur is painted in a base coat that is off white but with a graduation through to a bone colour in the lower extremities like arms and legs, and also on the stomach area. This all gives a decent depth to the fur, but an extra wash to dirty him up and bring out some more sculpt may have really made him pop. The eyes are recessed into the head and high gloss black. The horns are flat grey and may have benefited from a bit more attention. The mouth is a flat back with sculpted teeth into the aperture. The blood effects round the mouth have always been controversial and aren't the best looking and I think in hindsight I would have preferred a Wampa before his meal rather than after. Claws on both hands and feet are the same flat grey as the horns and despite Wampa being a messy eater there is no repeat of the blood on his hands. Articulation starts at the head which can rotate to either side, although doing so misaligns the blood splatter and if you go too far it starts to look disjointed to the body and will eventually pop off its ball joint. The left arm is ball jointed so can be rotated fully and out to the side. Elbows are then joined as are the arms. I specifically said left arm here as the right is a simple peg. The reason is that it is meant to represent the Wampa's arm being chopped off by Luke. The idea is sound, but the execution isn't great. Not only do you lose the ball joint on the right and therefore a degree of articulation, but the arm itself isn't particularly realistic as it pops off and leaves a hole in the body. The severed arm has a painted red gore stump, but out of this sticks the white peg for the arm joint and it all just looks wrong - more of a play feature not a collectors range feature. There is a torso joint under the fur which moves the top half of the body a good way either side and back and forth. This joint feels a bit loose on my figure and with the weight of the Wampa may be a weak spot going forward. Legs are ball jointed at the hip, have a thigh swivel, knee and ankle joint and allow Wampa to be planted securely and once he is posed he won't be going anywhere. This is a much more superior set to its companion the Tauntaun. Luke is a great figure - if you ignore that piece of sticking plaster that is stuck the wrong way on his head. Wampa has weight and bulk and the only criticism is the severed arm which doesn't work. I scored the Tauntaun and Han a 3 out of 5, and Wampa beats this no problem. The scarf and other niggles stops it being a perfect 5 - so I score Luke and Wampa 4 out of 5. Buy from Amazon UK Buy from Amazon US

The announcement and subsequent release of the first two Deluxe figures really brought the Black Series 6" range to life. There is something special about adding something big and spectacular as talking points within a collection. In the same way ED-209 has given some scale and presence to my Neca collection, Jabba and the Scout will do the same for the Star Wars display. Having had Jabba a while, the Scout Trooper and Bike was proving elusive and as I write is still very limited in terms of UK availability. I had been sat on an Amazon Gift Voucher for a while - so when the Scout popped up on Amazon (via Midco Toys) at just over £39 I jumped straight in. Now firstly a slap on the wrist for the third party seller, Midco Toys, who sent the Scout crammed in a box too small for him and with no protection. He arrived at my end OK and as I am a loose collector it wasnt the end of the world - but anyone collecting MIB should think twice before you use Midco. Upon arrival, and having been spoiled by the sheer size of Jabba, I felt the whole box felt and looked a little smaller than I was expecting. But then again, good things often come in small packaging. The Scout comes in the new blue trimmed box and with this being the UK release it had the usual overstickers which really make the packaging look poor. Unpacking the figure is difficult as he is provided pretty much tied to his bike with those clear elastic bands. It takes some careful manouvering to get him free. Out of the packet the Scout is already posed on his bike - and after reading some horror stories about the soft plastic I have simply left him as he is for now, after all riding his bike is exactly where he should be (am sure he will come out and play soon) The paint on the scout is good, a little sloppy around the elbow and knees, and these seem to be the same painted plastic as the clone so do look a little off colour to the rest of the armour. My visor was a little bent, but soon fixed itself and the paint applications on the head were spot on. The weathering is good, albeit not to everyone's cup of tea. The paint on the bike is good until you hit the weathering, which looks more like a Jawa has been at the bike with a 4" brush and silver paint. Braver people will clean this off and re-do. The stand is awesome, allowing you to pose the bike at different heights and angles - which is awesome when you consider putting together a group of these as it allows you to vary the positions and recreate the endor scenes. In my opinion this figures is the best yet from TBS6 and my new favourite, although I do have both a ROTJ and Imperial bias. Price wise he pretty much justifies the £40 RRP but not any more (shame on some retailers who have these out at £50). I now look forward to firstly seeing this guy more readily available in the UK, then to the single Scout release and then to the eventual Luke, Leia and maybe Ewok on Speeder Bike.

When I started down the Black Series 6" road with that Boba Fett in Toys R Us I had said to myself that I wouldnt be a completist in this line like I had been with previous collections. Unfortunately the Black Series bug and my compulsive collector got together and I now find myself chasing down both the standard figures, but also the exclusives that Hasbro has put out in the US. After receiving Proto Boba last week, this week saw the arrival of the Shadow Squadron. The set came up on Amazon at £50 and I had some vouchers to spend so I took the plunge. Upon arrival the set is a bit of an odd ball as it comes in packaging which although consistent with the rest of the series has an odd background. Not that this is a bad thing and was probably needed otherwise this may have looked like an empty box. Apologies for the bad packaging photo's, the box is very reflective so I didnt capture it very well. As far as I am aware the conecpt of black stormtroopers goes back numerous years within the Expanded Universe and they are seen as the elite within the Imperial Ranks. This box set brings you two of them. The first is a Black Storm Trooper who comes sporting a black pauldron. This is the weaker of the two figures contained in the set in my opinion. Firstly, unlike its counterpart, the figure doesnt seem to be overly well shaded. There is some contrast between armour and the clothing below, but not loads. I was also expecting the white imperial logo somewhere as a focal point. Stormie comes with 3 weapons, the same that come with the Sandtrooper, and these are all painted grey with no detailing. Posibility is identical to the usual sand/storm trooper. The star of the show is the Shadow Scout who's paint job is much crisper and contrasting. He cuts a very dynamic figure posed against his all black speeder bike. The scout like his deluxe white counterpart is heavily poseable and comes with a single scout blaster in a leg holster. This shadow version sports an imperial log on his chest. He does suffer from the same visor deformation as the usual release, am hoping this will self correct now out of the box - otherwise I will give it the hot water treatment. His bike is also well painted, with the imperial logo on the front and the rear side wings. Mine arrived with woefully warped handlebars, which I will also sort at some point. The stand was also very difficult to get into the hole provided. As a set this is another perfect exclusive, a repaint of existing figures that are a niche market. Having got them I love the scout, but am a bit meh about the stormtrooper. Value wise you cant argue with £50 - if you bought the deluxe speeder bike and a regular sandtrooper at RRP they would cost you £60. If you are a MIB collector then I am not convinced that the box would look good on display, it is hard to show off two black figures in a black box even if they have amended the background. All in all 3/5 from me with the Scout doing all the good work and the stormtrooper losing this set the marks.

The first thing to say about the Black Series Jabba the Hutt is that the SDCC version should have been the one that was a mains stream release. Sending out a basic Jabba knowing that a hookah and rail and Salacious Crumb have been sculpted as a limited exclusive in the US is pretty poor of Hasbro and in my head will actually lose them sales in the long run. But putting all that aside, this was still a must have piece for me and depending what you are willing to pay, getting hold of SDCC Jabba via Ebay, RobotKingdom and Kapow Toys hasn't been that hard. My Jabba came from a seller on ebay and was listed and sold as loose with damaged packaging - which was perfect for me as I always wanted to display Jabba loose on my custom throne. Upon arrival however Jabba was still sat in his SDCC display box, albeit a little rough around the edges, which was a bonus. The box is pretty cool in the main with some nice artwork on the rear, it opens up nicely using two velcro tabs and is pretty decent looking as a mock up of Jabba's palace. My concerns would be that to get the "best" look you would have to remove all the plastic trays and packing - which seem pretty well glued or tied into the cardboard throne. In addition the slot for the Han in Carbonite is pretty naff as is the substitute cardboard Carbonite block that comes with it. Jabba is obviously the star and is so much better in person than any picture. The tongue, for example, is sculpted in the mouth, but I have never seen this detail up to now on any stock photo's. The tatoo is there on his right arm, but I cant see the tail scar. Articulation is limited, but then again he is just a big slug, but the arms have shoulder, elbow and wrist articulation and moving the arms makes the mouth open - which you cannot do with going "hoh hoh hoh hoh" Crumb is pretty good, nicely sculpted and painted and with articulated shoulders, legs and head. He is obviously designed to sit over Jabba's tail. The Hookah and rail is probably a bit too plastic looking and I think this is it the paint jobs fault - it's too clean and bright - someone brave might weather these a bit with a dark wash and then some dry brushing. As many of you know I custom built a throne for Jabba in advance of his arrival, and the final diorama can be seen below - thank fully all the measurements paid off and am very happy with the final piece. I have a couple of ideas for some further dressing and am also pricing up a custom case to sit the thing in. All I need now is for Hasbro to give us some Jabba's Palace Denizens like Fortuna and the Gamorrean Guard's. 4 out of 5 rating for the SDCC Jabba Palace set 2 out of 5 rating for the standard release