JediTricks
08-02-2010, 03:01 PM
I picked these up yesterday. I had seen the Mando guy once before but didn't grab him as he didn't blow me away. But finding him again with Pre Vizsla, it made enough sense to grab both together and finish my interest in CW2010 wave 1 (I just don't care about Aurra Sing at all, the hype around her in Ep 1 made her annoying).
The Mando Cop is an interesting design, it's "future knight" complete with armor and shield and helm. The helm's maks on the toy doesn't work all that well though, the show design is supposed to stop above the mouth, but the toy's mask often just drops all the way to the chin which is too bad. The figure is fairly straightforward in design, though I don't find this type of "New Mandalorian" design particularly engaging. There's a few small details like a small clip on the belt for the baton, but most striking is the raised plates on the armor, subtly hinting at Boba Fett's armor. The colors are also fairly simple and plain, blue-gray with lighter blue-gray, more of the "knight" theme. The figure has a ball-jointed head but it's pretty much stuck as a swivel; the arms and elbows are ball-hinged, the wrists are swivels, and the waist and hips are standard joints.
The cop's best friends are his accessories, he has 3.5 of them. First is the baton, it's thin and has a very grippy design, it seems a bit too big in scale, but it works alright in hand, it's painted black and silver. The second accessory is the riot shield, it's simple but effective, with some green and light blue paint design work, and inside is a forearm clip and a VERY thin handle which works nicely in this figure's somewhat slender hands, but I suspect will be easily broken off over time. The shield also has 2 holes designed to accommodate the 3rd accessory, a rocket launcher. The launcher is nicely sized, not too big for the figure, and well detailed, although the grip and shoulder mount design are for figures with hands that can dip down and elbows that can bend past 90 degrees, which is uncommon in this line, so you kinda have to fudge it. The launcher has a missile, the "0.5" accessory, it seats almost totally flush on the launcher which is quite welcome, I hate when missiles are sculpted to sit flush as part of the launcher but stick out partway, here that's not an issue. The missile is a flat round disk with 3" of stick behind it that pops out the other end of the launcher about 3/4 of an inch; the missile has a bit of a kick to it when fired. The launcher when pegged into the shield looks almost subtle back there, so the effect is not unwelcome.
All in all, the Mando Police Officer is slightly above middle-of-the-road for this line, but has a little charm thanks largely to his accessories.
Pre Vizsla is a much better figure than I had expected. The figure is super-articulated plus, has a removable helmet, working holsters, a removable cloth cape, a very accurate likeness, lots of paint, and a darksaber. My only complaint would be that the helmet is noticeably bigger than it should be, a theme which Hasbro seems to be carrying through all the Clone Wars Mandalorian warrior figures. The sculpt on Pre Vizsla is Clone Wars good, not too sharp, not too soft, lots of elements, even the soles of the shoes get the accurate design. The paint is dark, perhaps a bit darker than the show version, but a good representation of how the armor looked in the episode.
Articulation is super plus, as I'd call it. The head is ball-jointed, the waist ball-jointed, the hips ball-hinged as are the knees, shoulders, eblows, and ankles. The wrists are also ball-hinged, the right one is an up-down joint while the left wrist is a left-right joint, like the '08 Clone Trooper wrist articulation, except here the hands are subtler, less bulky. The hips and waist have a lot of range of motion, they're not totally integrated into the sculpt as nicely as the ankles, but they're not bad, they work with the lines of the armor. The figure has a lot of range of motion, both big and small. Paintwise, the figure comes through nicely except for the red emblems on the shoulder and forearm which don't come through as well as the rest.
Accessories start with the removable helmet, a nice cartoon styled design with the thinner visor, longer face, and no rangefinder. Then there's the fabric cape, it's got the accurate design and emblem on the side, and a satiny strap to go around his neck. They sewed the cape in specific areas to make a shape, it's not always easy to pose but it does get some things right, and it's removable. Then there's the jetpack with its smaller, non-removable missile, that gets a lot of paint apps and plugs into the figure's back, it's pretty secure unless you try to stuff the cape between it, then it holds but not as well. There's the twin WESTAR-35 blaster pistols, these are an unusual design as they're flatter and squarer than most Star Wars pistols with a cleaner, simpler design, Hasbro stayed true to the colors and sculpt, and they work in holsters sculpted into Pre's thighs, as well as his trigger fingers. Finally, there's the controversial darksaber, a black lightsaber with a sword-like shape. Hasbro has realized its hilt accurately albeit a bit stubbily. The blade is not removable, and it's clear black plastic, about 2/3 the length of a lightsaber blade; fans finally have a black lightsaber, and as I suspected, it doesn't look like anything, it doesn't even look clear, just a black blade - which is fine by me since Dave Filoni wanted it to be a vibro-blade and Lucas said no.
All in all, this figure is extremely versatile and destined to be one of the most popular in the entire Clone Wars line, I suspect. The articulation is pretty much everything that could be imagined for Clone Wars. The head sculpt and cape makes him special, removing the cape makes him any cool Mando, and he has the weapons to back it up. So it's not surprising that this figure is hard to find now.
Also, in looking back over the Wiki articles about the Mando episodes, I find they're much more intriguing on paper. I think these eps had a lot of smart, advanced ideas that simply couldn't be expressed in the 22-minute cartoon format, and the episodes suffered for it. But with figures like these, you can remake the stories in your head to be more interesting and more exciting.
The Mando Cop is an interesting design, it's "future knight" complete with armor and shield and helm. The helm's maks on the toy doesn't work all that well though, the show design is supposed to stop above the mouth, but the toy's mask often just drops all the way to the chin which is too bad. The figure is fairly straightforward in design, though I don't find this type of "New Mandalorian" design particularly engaging. There's a few small details like a small clip on the belt for the baton, but most striking is the raised plates on the armor, subtly hinting at Boba Fett's armor. The colors are also fairly simple and plain, blue-gray with lighter blue-gray, more of the "knight" theme. The figure has a ball-jointed head but it's pretty much stuck as a swivel; the arms and elbows are ball-hinged, the wrists are swivels, and the waist and hips are standard joints.
The cop's best friends are his accessories, he has 3.5 of them. First is the baton, it's thin and has a very grippy design, it seems a bit too big in scale, but it works alright in hand, it's painted black and silver. The second accessory is the riot shield, it's simple but effective, with some green and light blue paint design work, and inside is a forearm clip and a VERY thin handle which works nicely in this figure's somewhat slender hands, but I suspect will be easily broken off over time. The shield also has 2 holes designed to accommodate the 3rd accessory, a rocket launcher. The launcher is nicely sized, not too big for the figure, and well detailed, although the grip and shoulder mount design are for figures with hands that can dip down and elbows that can bend past 90 degrees, which is uncommon in this line, so you kinda have to fudge it. The launcher has a missile, the "0.5" accessory, it seats almost totally flush on the launcher which is quite welcome, I hate when missiles are sculpted to sit flush as part of the launcher but stick out partway, here that's not an issue. The missile is a flat round disk with 3" of stick behind it that pops out the other end of the launcher about 3/4 of an inch; the missile has a bit of a kick to it when fired. The launcher when pegged into the shield looks almost subtle back there, so the effect is not unwelcome.
All in all, the Mando Police Officer is slightly above middle-of-the-road for this line, but has a little charm thanks largely to his accessories.
Pre Vizsla is a much better figure than I had expected. The figure is super-articulated plus, has a removable helmet, working holsters, a removable cloth cape, a very accurate likeness, lots of paint, and a darksaber. My only complaint would be that the helmet is noticeably bigger than it should be, a theme which Hasbro seems to be carrying through all the Clone Wars Mandalorian warrior figures. The sculpt on Pre Vizsla is Clone Wars good, not too sharp, not too soft, lots of elements, even the soles of the shoes get the accurate design. The paint is dark, perhaps a bit darker than the show version, but a good representation of how the armor looked in the episode.
Articulation is super plus, as I'd call it. The head is ball-jointed, the waist ball-jointed, the hips ball-hinged as are the knees, shoulders, eblows, and ankles. The wrists are also ball-hinged, the right one is an up-down joint while the left wrist is a left-right joint, like the '08 Clone Trooper wrist articulation, except here the hands are subtler, less bulky. The hips and waist have a lot of range of motion, they're not totally integrated into the sculpt as nicely as the ankles, but they're not bad, they work with the lines of the armor. The figure has a lot of range of motion, both big and small. Paintwise, the figure comes through nicely except for the red emblems on the shoulder and forearm which don't come through as well as the rest.
Accessories start with the removable helmet, a nice cartoon styled design with the thinner visor, longer face, and no rangefinder. Then there's the fabric cape, it's got the accurate design and emblem on the side, and a satiny strap to go around his neck. They sewed the cape in specific areas to make a shape, it's not always easy to pose but it does get some things right, and it's removable. Then there's the jetpack with its smaller, non-removable missile, that gets a lot of paint apps and plugs into the figure's back, it's pretty secure unless you try to stuff the cape between it, then it holds but not as well. There's the twin WESTAR-35 blaster pistols, these are an unusual design as they're flatter and squarer than most Star Wars pistols with a cleaner, simpler design, Hasbro stayed true to the colors and sculpt, and they work in holsters sculpted into Pre's thighs, as well as his trigger fingers. Finally, there's the controversial darksaber, a black lightsaber with a sword-like shape. Hasbro has realized its hilt accurately albeit a bit stubbily. The blade is not removable, and it's clear black plastic, about 2/3 the length of a lightsaber blade; fans finally have a black lightsaber, and as I suspected, it doesn't look like anything, it doesn't even look clear, just a black blade - which is fine by me since Dave Filoni wanted it to be a vibro-blade and Lucas said no.
All in all, this figure is extremely versatile and destined to be one of the most popular in the entire Clone Wars line, I suspect. The articulation is pretty much everything that could be imagined for Clone Wars. The head sculpt and cape makes him special, removing the cape makes him any cool Mando, and he has the weapons to back it up. So it's not surprising that this figure is hard to find now.
Also, in looking back over the Wiki articles about the Mando episodes, I find they're much more intriguing on paper. I think these eps had a lot of smart, advanced ideas that simply couldn't be expressed in the 22-minute cartoon format, and the episodes suffered for it. But with figures like these, you can remake the stories in your head to be more interesting and more exciting.