TFU boxed sets first impressions

[JediTricks]

Set 1 - Raxus Prime Starkiller (I'm naming the sets after the Starkiller figure in them)

Odd comic artwork used for the bios on the back and the tray. The bios are a little meh, and have a few little errors. I guess these sets were last-minutey. I think TRU should stop using those silver "exclusive" stickers and make something with color, they don't stand out very well.

Raxus Prime Galen Marek: Looks pretty good. Odd to be a Raxus Prime figure so clean though. Face is well-covered by the cloak. Super-articulated except for the swivel waist instead of newer jointed torso. Detail is good, but I would have liked a little more on the panels on the hands and backpack. From his left side and some other odd angles, this IS the character, I totally see actor Sam Witwer, spot on except for the giant angry eyebrow paint which works against the sculpt. From the right, it's a little less recognizable, and from the front it's angry Barack Obama thanks to the slightly darker tone, thicker eyebrows, and the way the ball-jointed head is cut. Left hand is a vague Force gesture, right hand is a C-cup but a little difficult to get holding the saber. Speaking of, the lightsaber is really good, it's the actual game one this time, and well-painted to boot! The only other weakness is a small deco issue, the black pins for the elbows around all that tan plastic and paint. The torso, crotch, upper legs, and feet are recycled from the Evolutions Secret Apprentice figure, but this is acceptable considering that's basically what's going on with the game costume anyway. Plus, bonus, you can take the generic Secret Apprentice head and stick it on the Raxus Prime body which covers half the face (but you can still see it's the wrong head, that head is just useless), switching the more accurate Sam Witwer version here onto the Evo costume body, though the skin tone on this new head is a few shades darker than that figure's tone.

Kota's Militia Elite: same very nifty figure I got a few months ago, except the gun in this set is painted in several areas - still the wrong gun though. Watch for ejecting shoulder pads, they're VERY easy to lose. The packaging warps the right hand guard, and the helmet chinstrap. Otherwise, my prior comments hold up: http://forums.sirstevesguide.com/showthread.php?t=42233

Juno Eclipse: this is mostly the same sculpt as the last, same head even, but with new torso and waist parts. The new waist is an odd pose, like she's sticking out her belly, but it looks good in a moving pose. The undershirt and cleavage paint is a little sloppy, but not too bad. The deco has changed, her hair is much more naturally-colored and her face has softened with a lighter tone, better eyebrows, and a lighter lip paint. The head is significantly better served by this deco. Keep her hat on though, they didn't fix the hairline, and the hat's dye has gotten onto the head in a few spots. The gloved hands don't have the flesh paint on top of the hands this time, not a huge loss. And she's got a regular Stormtrooper blaster, whoo. Bottom line, this is a better figure even if it weren't more accurate.


I'll come back with more later.

[JediTricks]

EVO Trooper: I don't really understand this cow trooper paint job, and certainly don't remember it. It's not quite as garish as the early photos suggest, but it's still not good. The original one had nothing wrong with its deco really, this one doesn't improve upon it in any way, it seems entirely redundant. Well, they do correct an assembly error, the 2 cylinder grenades on the back were assembled upside-down on the previous figure (as well as both Jumptroopers) and here it is the correct orientation. They didn't include the corret backpack yet again, same weird wrong backpack. So I don't see the point of this figure, it didn't correct anything, and it wasn't in demand the way the Jumptrooper fix was. Maybe this is from a part of the game I don't remember, or from the Wii/PS2 version where everything's wrong because it's a port made by a different company, but this is a bit of a miss.

Shadow Stormtrooper: Conceptually, this is sound, as I do dig clear figures and these guys did phase in and out of visible range with a slight translucency. This is the "dark" figure, the early pics showed a second, very light version of the figure for one of the sets. This figure's darker shade is more accurate to the game, but I wish 1 of the packs had the lighter one, I liked how it looked. This darker design seems a little dingy in its translucent gray plastic. TFU's Shadow Stormies had a blue glow emanating from each major seam where one armor plate layered over the next, such as the biceps. This figure tries to emulate that, but misses the point, instead there are just sections that fade into blue, and the stomach plate is blue all the way down, so it doesn't quite deliver on the promise of the concept. He does have a crystal clear gun though, that's kinda neat. All in all, it's a fair figure, but it could have been better.


As for the set, it's alright, a good mix, not outstanding but represents the game pretty well and plenty of fun in the box.

[JediTricks]

Set 2 - Cloud City Starkiller

The bio notes for Galen Marek and the Shadow Stormie are identical to the first set's. The interior art is obviously Felucia.

Bounty Hunter Disguise Galen Marek: The outfit the Apprentice wore to Cloud City (in the real game anyway, I don't know about the port). Not a memorable costume, but seems accurate - and they tossed in a Boba/Jango helmet despite not using one in the game. Same as the first set though, this figure is too clean, that's my initial impression. The head is the same sculpt, but the deco is better, with a slightly lighter skin tone and the eyebrows not so angry, though still too thick. It looks even more like Sam Witwer in the game, and the eyes are a friendlier design which fits since he's pretending to be a good guy at this point in the game. The head doesn't fit that well on this body because of the addition of the new collar, he is strangled by it despite it being designed specifically for this figure, and it makes him look like he has no neck and very sloped shoulders. The underlying figure is Evolutions Jango without his gunbelt, but between the vast color differences and the addition of the separate cloak piece that covers much of the figure and the new lower legs with their bolder armor and boot-top design, it's not readily obvious he's a recycle. That said, while the cloak is removable, don't take it off, the figure is quite a mess underneath, that gunbelt was doing a lot of work and without it, everything below the chest plate is all wrong. The shoulder armor has the same mismatched color hinge as Jango, this time red instead of purple. I don't like the hands being flesh-painted glove sculpts though, they look thick and wrinkled for it, and they're in gunman poses. The articulation is super all the way, including the torso, but the ball-joint nature of the torso and neck are each compromised by the cloak, so they only act as swivels. This one comes with the same red half-complete saber as set 1, which is no longer accurate since at this point in the story he has swapped it to a phony light-sider blue blade color, but it's forgivable. This figure is an interesting choice, I barely remember the costume (it's a short level) and the colors weren't quite this bold, and the look was leaner and with a shorter collar, but as a bounty hunter disguise it works alright, and the figure can hold the saber underhand more naturally like in the game. It doesn't work as well as the Raxus Apprentice figure, but it's not bad, and I do like the head better.

Proxy: Yay! The figure every fan of the game wanted, Proxy is your best and only friend, and mainly what he does is act as a holographic proxy for Vader during communications or as an imitation of the next target, when that is he's not trying to happily murder you since that is his primary programming (he feels bad when he doesn't, he thinks he's failed you). Proxy's sculpt and paint are really decent. There's only one problem, HE'S NEARLY 7 FEET TALL! There's this great scene where you think you're actually seeing a conversation with Vader in the room, and then the hologram fades and Proxy's forcefield projections die down and his limbs come back together as he shrinks down to his normal height, slightly under the Apprentice's. But this figure is nearly a head taller than that. Proxy's thin design makes this figure a little fragile, but it is well-jointed. I would have liked to have seen ball-hinged shoulders though, this character seems to need it. A quick note, Proxy is packed with his forearms rotated forwards, there's a wire at the elbow which blocks the hinge in this configuration, the wire is supposed to be facing back so just rotate the forearm before using the elbow joint. Very cool figure, almost perfect.

Jumptrooper: Guess what? He's now got a jetpack! Wowee! But the first figure didn't, so all he could do was literally JUMP! This guy can actually fly, and instead of a standard stormie blaster, he's got the Battlefront II Jettrooper's long rifle (as seen in every single Saga Legends weapons locker, only here it's got red paint details), it's the wrong rifle but the game is an odd hexagonal weapon that doesn't exist in the Hasbro library, I guess it makes sense that they could only cost 1 new part plus a drilling into the back. The jetpack seems new, I don't recognize it, looks right, has odd angles on the jets but it works here. Paint is very similar overall to the original, missing some panel lines but not all, and the metal plates are a different, more metal coloring. A decent figure, I hate these guys in the game but I'd rather have one that can fly than one that can't.

Felucian Warrior: This is a blue repaint of the TFU Rancor's figure, which I don't own. That figure was the other color, looked more exciting, but the Felucians in the first level did come in 2 colors for the warrior caste. This actually isn't the correct warrior design, the shoulders and chest are different because it's recycled from the Rancor pilot figure, but it's not a bad use. It's a weird design in person, and the head being part of the torso, totally immobile, was a surprise. It mainly gets away with what it's trying to do, the articulation below the head is decent, and the skullblade is good. I'm not blown away, but it's an ok use.

And that leaves the Shadow Stormtrooper, whom is identical to the first set's, a fact I'm not entirely thrilled about. But if you ever wanted to see how Hasbro puts these figures together, there ya go. The mid-torso side-slide articulation is very tight on these figures, but it does work.

This set's main selling point is Proxy, and is otherwise not quite up to the standards of the first set. With the addition of the jetpack, and the slightly better Galen Marek head, it feels more like a kitbash of corrections than its own set. It's ok, but definitely the lesser of the 2 sets and not as easy to get excited about.

[El Chuxter]

Saw 'em both this morning. Proxy looked quite good. I couldn't pull the trigger at $30 for just one figure, though.

[JediTricks]

Saw 'em both this morning. Proxy looked quite good. I couldn't pull the trigger at $30 for just one figure, though.

Yeah, not an easy set to part out either. You might get interest in the Stormie, and the Apprentice at least has Mando appeal, he'd make a good generic bounty hunter, but I don't think there's anything in this set that has grabbing appeal the way Proxy does. Still, today would have been the day to get it, since it was on BOGO50%, if you buy the other set this one was $15.


I mentioned this to you in PM earlier, but Proxy would make a great single-carded re-release with a plastic translucent Vader shell to snap around him, that would sell like hotcakes. I had hotcakes this morning at Norms Restaurant, 2 and a crepe that was really just their hotcake batter but thinner and with fruit filling.

[jonthejedi]

Thanks JediTricks...now I need to go to IHOP at 6:30 am(drooling saliva).

[El Chuxter]

Still, today would have been the day to get it, since it was on BOGO50%, if you buy the other set this one was $15.

On the one hand, yes. On the other, he would've then cost $45 and come with even more figures I don't have much interest in.

[Darth Metalmute]

Saw the sets today, but someone had stolen all the stormtroopers out. Not playing 30 for three people.

[JediTricks]

Thanks JediTricks...now I need to go to IHOP at 6:30 am(drooling saliva).

Ha! Well, good luck tracking them down. I suspect now that the sale's over, it shouldn't be too difficult for the next week or so.

On the one hand, yes. On the other, he would've then cost $45 and come with even more figures I don't have much interest in.

Well, for those 2 sets, you get 2 translucent shadow stormies, you get Proxy, you get 1 really decent Starkiller, 1 Mandolorian, 1 Rebel-like character, 2 more game Imperials, and that leaves Juno 2 (which is easily the better of the 2, but you'd have to be wanting to find a place to put her if you're not interested in the character) and the Felucian. I honestly think a creative collector such as yourself could enjoy over half those figures even without game interaction.

Saw the sets today, but someone had stolen all the stormtroopers out. Not playing 30 for three people.

Ooh, that sucks so bad! That is really lousy of someone to steal those figures.

[El Chuxter]

Well, there's also the problem that if I started TFU figures who couldn't double as generic Stormtrooper special forces, I'd want to go back and get the ones I passed on back in the day (including the Felucia Rancor and S***-Kicked-Out-Of-Him-P**** Vader), which could get pretty expensive.