Wave 7 Quick Review

[bigbarada]

I've been able to pick up most of this wave, so here are some quick thoughts on the figures.

Tycho Celchu - A-Wing Pilot - Even with the inaccuracies and EU elements, this is the best figure of the wave. Hasbro's getting much better at disguising the ball-joints, I didn't even know he had ball-joint shoulders until I started moving him around.

Having to attach the leg-harnesses myself was a little strange and I wonder if it was just Hasbro's way of hiding the fact that he doesn't come with a blaster. FYI, when you are putting the harness on, the backside has a square peg and the frontside has a round peg. So, unless you are a square peg in a round hole kind of person, then lining it up properly makes assembly much easier.

The helmet is still the wrong helmet for A-Wing Pilots and the paint apps feel a little unfinished. They molded it in translucent plastic to get the visor effect, but it ends up being see-through in areas where it shouldn't be. No big deal for me, because I'm hoping that we'll get a rerelease with the correct helmet sometime in the next couple of years.

The cap still looks kind of goofy, but not as bad as it did in the prototype photos. Plus, I can happily announce that rumors of Tycho's giraffe-neck are greatly exaggerated.

Easily one of my top 5 favorite figures of 2007.

Grade: A

Romba & Graak - First of all, Graak is soooo Lumat it's not even funny. All because some lazy EU writer didn't do his research, so now we have retconned Ewoks. How stupid is that?

Anyways, the figures themselves are great. They share bodyparts (chests, legs and feet), but are different enough that you don't really even notice.

Lumat/Graak is my favorite. His arrows fit into his pouch individually, but not in his hand or on his bow. They're a tight fit in that pouch, but that's a good thing, because you don't have to worry about them falling out. My only real complaint is that his pouch and cowl are a solid piece of plastic. So that kind of makes the pouch stick out from his body when you turn his head.

Romba's pretty cool, but it's a good thing that he is part of a 2-pack, because he'd be very boring by himself.

As I expected with selling these figures as a 2-pack, though, they are just not up to the same level of quality as Chief Chirpa from last year. It just feels like a little bit more work could have pushed these guys from the "very good" category into the "great" category.

However, they do make great "carrier" Ewoks for the tied-up Artoo.

Grade: A-

R2-D2 with Cargo Net - A repaint of the VOTC Artoo figure, so it features a removable third leg, not the retractable one from that Ep3 R4 figure.

The net's cool, but it might be too small to hold all the figures it needs to. Haven't felt inclined to test it out yet.

The "stretcher" is what makes this figure memorable; but I should warn you that getting the Artoo secured on there is very tricky and you could find yourself frustrated quicky. It's a lot of trial and error and the photo of the figure on the cardback actually has the stretcher upside down and backwards. I tried getting it to fit the way shown on the card, but it was just nearly impossible. If you just can't seem to get the ropes to fit around R2, then try heating them up with a hair dryer, that should allow the plastic to stretch a bit.

My only real complaint is why would Hasbro NOT include the sawblade attachment that came with the original VOTC release?

Overall, some great accessories really spice up what's essentially a rerelease of a 3-year old figure.

Grade: B+

Spirit Anakin - Just going off of what I saw on the card...

Horrible figure, probably the prime candidate for worst figure of the year. It's so bad, I almost feel that someone at Hasbro should lose their job because of this garbage.

Grade: F!

No sign of McSolo around here, but I'll add him once I see him.

I've attached some photos, I ended up giving Tycho the VTAC Hoth Han Solo blaster.

[jedibear]

good review(s) and pics, bigbarada...

quick question...have you tried the hairdryer trick on Graak's pouch/strap to get it to rest along his body better?

and Tycho does look really good...

...and yes! It's an odd choice NOT to include the sawblade accessory with R2 and the net!

Hope this wave shows up soon up here...always ready for more ewoks!

[bigbarada]

I haven't tried that, but it seems that Graak's pouch will only rest against his side when he's facing straight ahead. It's not a huge problem, I just think it would have been better to have the strap sculpted onto his body and the pouch just stick in with a peg (which is how Romba's knife works).

It actually took me so long to get Artoo on that little stretcher, that he's not ever coming off of there. So if I ever use the net accessory, I'll likely just use the VOTC Artoo with his little sawblade.

[Mr. JabbaJohnL]

What's wrong with Anakin? Do you not like the figure since you want Sebastian back in there, or is it just bad in its own right?

[bigbarada]

What's wrong with Anakin? Do you not like the figure since you want Sebastian back in there, or is it just bad in its own right?

He looks like he's wrapped in glittery toilet paper.

[Kidhuman]

I saw the figure in person and it looks horrid.

BigB, check out the review I gave for Han if you havent already

[bigbarada]

Since I gave Spirit Hayden such a scathing review, I figure I should qualify that by throwing myself on the grenade here and buying this figure. Hopefully, I can give a fuller picture of his crappiness and save you all $7.

The figure itself is super-articulated, which is frustrating because Hasbro wastes all those ball-joints on a figure like this and won't even give a figure like Smuggler Lando ball-joint elbows.

He's sculpted in the same see through plastic that all the recent ghost figures have been sculpted in, and he has a see-through, glittery robe that is actually rigid enough to hold the figure up. But it's so rigid that it's pretty much impossible to work with and looks ridiculously puffy.

I see where Hasbro was going with this figure. They were trying something new and it was either going to turn out awesome or like total garbage. Well guess what.... ?

F

[Old Fossil]

Man, but that would make a GREAT Christmas ornament... now he just needs some wings, a horn, and a halo.

[Kidhuman]

He looks like a tree topper Angel.

[Blue2th]

I see where Hasbro was going with this figure. They were trying something new and it was either going to turn out awesome or like total garbage. Well guess what.... ?

F

Yeah, the robe is cheezy.
I like the way they made the figure in clear plastic then painted him with a transparent wash though. Even your pics show how the light shines through his body. Perhaps Hasbro will use this same concept for future spirit figures.
The holo figures (what's the difference) could use something along these lines instead of just blue globs of plastic.

BTW: nice pics
I'm still a novice trying to post them that large. Though I realize you're pretty savy in those areas being a CGI animator and good with a Mac and camera.