Tycho
12-31-2002, 12:04 AM
I was thinking about the vintage line, and what Kenner released (which was one version for each of the figures) and now wondering whether Hasbro has finally done the best definitive version of each of the characters. With that in mind....
SW: ANH (from the vintage lists)
Luke Tatooine: well overdone, I'm hardly sure which was the best. Maybe the Purchase of the Droids 3-pack one, or the Blast Shield Luke?
Han Solo: Cantina version rocks! Han's done!
Chewbacca: well overdone. I like the Mechanic figure myself (POTJ)
Stormtrooper: CommTech figure rocks! 4-pack keeps him available.
Darth Vader: I think the Flashback was darn good. Removeable helmet was incredible - but between these 2, Vader's well represented. Dagobah was nice, but it's not "really" Darth ;)
Ben Kenobi: I really like the 25th Anniversary 2-pack one. A really decent soft-goods one could be done because he needs to be able to sit in the vehicles, the landspeeder and Millennium Falcon especially. But the soft-goods materials need to be advanced beyond the junk that's been offered and if they need to make Old Ben a deluxe to get a difinitive version out there with soft-goods, than they should do it!
Princess Leia: the Leia Collection 2-pack with R2D2 really does it for me. She can sit in any vehicle, and her cloth material is perfect, minus just the fact that she lacks a 'real' hood. If they do any more Leia's from ANH, she should be a difinitive soft-goods.
C-3PO: the Minted Coin figure had a silver leg and was perfect. Maybe if he could grip a commlink in one hand, or if that version was also made dirty with a silver leg, that'd do it. I'd like Threepio in the Ewok throne with bending knees, and with "Jabba gunk" on his face and a pop-out eye, but it's not a big deal. Still, a good way to refresh classic Threepio.
R2D2: the serving tray one and a re-done Lightsaber launching one could be combined. The Holo-Leia one was the most superior by far, but the original was not bad either. An Endor "explosion" one would also be cool. I don't think R2 has been completely overdone - and he doesn't pegwarm, so another R2 is ok - just the flying one does not look so hot in preliminaries.
Death Star Trooper: he needs a less action-pre-pose sculpt, and a new head sculpt while they're at it. Maybe a gun and holster?
Sand Person (Tusken Raider): We have enough of him. The new one forthcoming looks like the best one yet. I can't wait for this figure!
Jawa: the CommTech one was superior with 2 real lets at last. I don't think a cloth cape is necessary, unless the sandcrawler has a sit-down cockpit, in which case that soft-goods Jawa should be a pack-in with the vehicle.
Greedo: The cantina CommTech and the Cantina Exclusive are fine. Didn't he have a holster for his gun though? That always seems to be over-looked. However, any new Greedo is not needed now, and when, if ever he is done, he should have not have less articulation than the present exclusive one does today.
Momaw Nadon: He's done. The Cantina Exclusive is pretty good!
Zutton: He's done, too. The character's head is supposed to be big.
Ponda Baba: the Exclusive covers it all - but a concealed weapon holster? Just don't cheat on the legs articulation... Still, we don't need that for a very long time!
R5-D4: he needs a resculpt for sure.
Gonk Droid: he's fine, but a different version with antennae like the Echo Base one would be cool - or a really rusted out one with nice paint detail would be alright.
RA-7: He's coming with the Sandcrawler supposedly, so we'll finally get our first figure of him (a repaint of the Death Star Droid) but the figure's going to be just fine, and that ends that.
Luke X-wing Pilot: This figure could still use a resculpt, though I don't necessarily want it. However, a gun that fits in the holster, a lightsaber that clips onto his belt, and a helmet that comes off a non-dorky face could go a long ways. Finally, he could have more artculation so he twists at the biceps, and bends at the elbows, and turns at the wrists. The air hose being external to the sculpt (like Biggs) should continue.
Boba Fett: Hopefully the new figure will suffice for him. Sadly I don't think it will. I'm not sure if the missle fires. He does not have the tangle cable used to trap Luke. His cloak is not cloth like the 300th Fett (which is too pre-posed in my opinion - though it is a good figure) - and the armor on the new one is too cartoony and brightly colored to look as worn and dinged up as it should. Unfortunately, a definitive Boba Fett has not yet been done, though the SOTE 2-pack one with the ESB paint sceme rocks (yet no weapons to speak of...) On that note, I'll add that I am against them doing a removeable helmet Boba Fett that's not an EU figure (post Sarlaac or something). We can reasonably expect Boba to look like Jango, but we never saw how he wears his hair as an adult, whether he has scars, etc. The post-ROTJ EU Fett would be all acid-corroded, so that can be approximated starting with Jango's look as a beginning. But the rest should not be revealed.
Blue Snaggletooth is kind of a thorn in this topic. He was a mistake made from a black-and-white picture of Zutton sitting down, so Kenner didn't have the correct color for him, nor know his actual shortness of height. Still, you could recreate that error with the current Zutton figure, or I'd support making a Cloud City Snivvian seen in some interior pictures from Bespin sets, of a Snivvian wearing blue - or another taller alien that's not Snivvian, but looks approximatley similar. I don't think the 102 figure count (I include Jabba since he's a character, and Salacious Crumb too) should be interrupted on the count of Blue Snaggletooth being an error. But that's just me - plus I like alien figures and Cloud City is under-represented anyway.
OK - I'll stop there and see if anyone wants to add anything about the original 22 ANH figures and how well they've been redone before we go on to Empire Strikes Back.
SW: ANH (from the vintage lists)
Luke Tatooine: well overdone, I'm hardly sure which was the best. Maybe the Purchase of the Droids 3-pack one, or the Blast Shield Luke?
Han Solo: Cantina version rocks! Han's done!
Chewbacca: well overdone. I like the Mechanic figure myself (POTJ)
Stormtrooper: CommTech figure rocks! 4-pack keeps him available.
Darth Vader: I think the Flashback was darn good. Removeable helmet was incredible - but between these 2, Vader's well represented. Dagobah was nice, but it's not "really" Darth ;)
Ben Kenobi: I really like the 25th Anniversary 2-pack one. A really decent soft-goods one could be done because he needs to be able to sit in the vehicles, the landspeeder and Millennium Falcon especially. But the soft-goods materials need to be advanced beyond the junk that's been offered and if they need to make Old Ben a deluxe to get a difinitive version out there with soft-goods, than they should do it!
Princess Leia: the Leia Collection 2-pack with R2D2 really does it for me. She can sit in any vehicle, and her cloth material is perfect, minus just the fact that she lacks a 'real' hood. If they do any more Leia's from ANH, she should be a difinitive soft-goods.
C-3PO: the Minted Coin figure had a silver leg and was perfect. Maybe if he could grip a commlink in one hand, or if that version was also made dirty with a silver leg, that'd do it. I'd like Threepio in the Ewok throne with bending knees, and with "Jabba gunk" on his face and a pop-out eye, but it's not a big deal. Still, a good way to refresh classic Threepio.
R2D2: the serving tray one and a re-done Lightsaber launching one could be combined. The Holo-Leia one was the most superior by far, but the original was not bad either. An Endor "explosion" one would also be cool. I don't think R2 has been completely overdone - and he doesn't pegwarm, so another R2 is ok - just the flying one does not look so hot in preliminaries.
Death Star Trooper: he needs a less action-pre-pose sculpt, and a new head sculpt while they're at it. Maybe a gun and holster?
Sand Person (Tusken Raider): We have enough of him. The new one forthcoming looks like the best one yet. I can't wait for this figure!
Jawa: the CommTech one was superior with 2 real lets at last. I don't think a cloth cape is necessary, unless the sandcrawler has a sit-down cockpit, in which case that soft-goods Jawa should be a pack-in with the vehicle.
Greedo: The cantina CommTech and the Cantina Exclusive are fine. Didn't he have a holster for his gun though? That always seems to be over-looked. However, any new Greedo is not needed now, and when, if ever he is done, he should have not have less articulation than the present exclusive one does today.
Momaw Nadon: He's done. The Cantina Exclusive is pretty good!
Zutton: He's done, too. The character's head is supposed to be big.
Ponda Baba: the Exclusive covers it all - but a concealed weapon holster? Just don't cheat on the legs articulation... Still, we don't need that for a very long time!
R5-D4: he needs a resculpt for sure.
Gonk Droid: he's fine, but a different version with antennae like the Echo Base one would be cool - or a really rusted out one with nice paint detail would be alright.
RA-7: He's coming with the Sandcrawler supposedly, so we'll finally get our first figure of him (a repaint of the Death Star Droid) but the figure's going to be just fine, and that ends that.
Luke X-wing Pilot: This figure could still use a resculpt, though I don't necessarily want it. However, a gun that fits in the holster, a lightsaber that clips onto his belt, and a helmet that comes off a non-dorky face could go a long ways. Finally, he could have more artculation so he twists at the biceps, and bends at the elbows, and turns at the wrists. The air hose being external to the sculpt (like Biggs) should continue.
Boba Fett: Hopefully the new figure will suffice for him. Sadly I don't think it will. I'm not sure if the missle fires. He does not have the tangle cable used to trap Luke. His cloak is not cloth like the 300th Fett (which is too pre-posed in my opinion - though it is a good figure) - and the armor on the new one is too cartoony and brightly colored to look as worn and dinged up as it should. Unfortunately, a definitive Boba Fett has not yet been done, though the SOTE 2-pack one with the ESB paint sceme rocks (yet no weapons to speak of...) On that note, I'll add that I am against them doing a removeable helmet Boba Fett that's not an EU figure (post Sarlaac or something). We can reasonably expect Boba to look like Jango, but we never saw how he wears his hair as an adult, whether he has scars, etc. The post-ROTJ EU Fett would be all acid-corroded, so that can be approximated starting with Jango's look as a beginning. But the rest should not be revealed.
Blue Snaggletooth is kind of a thorn in this topic. He was a mistake made from a black-and-white picture of Zutton sitting down, so Kenner didn't have the correct color for him, nor know his actual shortness of height. Still, you could recreate that error with the current Zutton figure, or I'd support making a Cloud City Snivvian seen in some interior pictures from Bespin sets, of a Snivvian wearing blue - or another taller alien that's not Snivvian, but looks approximatley similar. I don't think the 102 figure count (I include Jabba since he's a character, and Salacious Crumb too) should be interrupted on the count of Blue Snaggletooth being an error. But that's just me - plus I like alien figures and Cloud City is under-represented anyway.
OK - I'll stop there and see if anyone wants to add anything about the original 22 ANH figures and how well they've been redone before we go on to Empire Strikes Back.