Action Figure #665: Star Wars The Black Series Doctor Aphra (Coat)

 The doctor got lazy.

 So, here's the thing. I knew that Doctor Aphra was a thing, but I didn't know much about her besides her popping up in a few Star Wars comicbook anthologies I read. But then I discovered this figure, thought she looked kinda cool and decided to read a bit more about her and... I can't say I care much about her as a character, but I thought she was a great figure.

 And, at first, I thought she looked really cool, but something was a bit off. Why did her belt had a peg for what looked like a light saber? And then I looked at the art-insert of the box, and there were a few differences, and then I realized... This Aphra figure is a 75% reuse of Mara Jade! I'll give them this, the coat looks really cool and is unique to her, and so are the arms, plus, Mara Jade's sculpt is really good and it does fit Aphra... except for the belt which definitely isn't hers and doesn't match the art. She comes with a blaster pistol and a helmet you can take off.

 As far as articulation goes, she gets double jointed knees, swivels on her thighs, single jointed elbows that go over 90 degrees when bent, a ball jointed ab crunch and a hinged waist. Butterfly joints would've been nice, but she doesn't really need them, however, the coat does limit her range when lifting her arms, so they'll have to go at an angle and not straight up, which is a bit disappointing. She's about a head shorter than Bucky Cap.

 Maybe it's a bit harsh to call it lazy, because most of the reuse here is well suited for Aphra, but if they were going to go the extra mile with the jacket, they might as well have given her a unique belt all to herself. Aside from that, I think that she is a good looking figure, and Mara's sculpt is a winner, although, sadly, her jack does limit a bit of her movement. But, yeah, she's alright.

6.5

Action Figure #664: Star Wars The Black Series Savage Opress

 The li'l bro is not so li'l, it seems to me.

 For being in, say, 10 episodes outta the 120 something Clone Wars episodes, Savage Opress made quite an impact! I'm kinda happy I got to see the character in action around the time this figure got made!

 This guy is a beast, he is one of the largest Black Series figures, which, y'know, he should be since he towered over everyone else in the show. He features an entirely new sculpt that looks very menacing, and his stoic expression seems ripped straight out of the show. So, yeah, as far as the sculpt goes, he looks fantastic and very faithful to the source material. He comes with his giant ax and his double bladed light saber.

 Articulation features the newest and best Black Series has to offer. His elbows and knees are single jointed, but with very deep cuts allowing for bends deeper than 90 degrees. He has a ball jointed ab crunch and a ball jointed waist, with butterfly joints and the new ball peg wrists. Whichever the case, posing him is fun and smooth. His pauldrons rotate alongside his arms, so they don't limit his arm movement, however, they might be a bit too soft, making them warp in uneven ways and thus making them look asymmetrical in neutral stances. He is about a head taller than Bucky Cap.

 This is one of those figures that is a mix of it being a top notch action figure and a great character design that I really dig, so I love having this guy in my collection.

9.5

Action Figure #663: Star Wars The Black Series Moff Gideo(Dark Trooper Armor)

  Los Pollos Hermanos isn't paying the bills anymore, time to break bad. In Space.

 Having watched the Mandalorian season 1, I've been wanting a Moff Gideon for a while now, and just as I was about to buy the original release, this Moff Gideon (Dark Trooper Armor) got announced, which looked much cooler, so I decided to wait... which is the reason it took me so long to add Gideon into my collection.

 Let's start off with the good. The headsculpt is just perfect, he looks a lot more like Giancarlo Esposito than the previous figure, so that's a huge plus. I can't say how accurate the rest of the figure is to the show because I haven't started Season 2 yet, but I do think he looks like a badass cross between a Storm Trooper and a Mandalorian, all clad in black and red. I particularly love the two-tone cape that is black on the outside and red on the inside. He comes with a helmet, a spear-like weapon, a collapsed version of that weapon and a tiny gun.

 My biggest gripe with this figure is the helmet. It's made out of very soft, pliable plastic, so it doesn't stay as tight as I would like. Even worse, part of his chin tends to show from under the helmet, so unless you have Gideon looking down, with the helmet on, you'll have to play around with his torso to get the angle right so that his chin isn't showing. It's such a dumb oversight, because they've done figures with removable helmets before, like Jango Fett and Pre Vizla, and those worked perfectly, so there's no excuse here.

 On the articulation end, he has single jointed elbows and knees with great range on each. He has a ball jointed ab crunch and a ball jointed waist. He also has the new peg-wrists they have been using. Also, he is a bit of a.... let's call him a Short King, because he is super short! About a head and a half shorter than Bucky Cap.

 Well, 90% of the figure is really good. Great sculpt, great accessories, great articulation... it's just that the issue with the helmet is such a bummer, because the helmet could make him look SO cool.

7.5

Action Figure #662: Star Wars The Black Series Imperial Praetorian Guard

 In Star Wars you know the bad guys mean business when they clad themselves in red.

 Because the First Order had to copy everything the Empire did, here's the Royal Guard analogue, the Imperial Praetorian Guard AKA the guys in red. But, hey, at least these ones got to fight instead of just walking next to the Emperor!

 I think this guy looks great. His armor is a cross between a storm trooper, a Royal Guard, a Mandalorian and an ancient Roman warrior, and the red armor looks very sleek. They opted for a soft goods cape and skirt. which were the perfect choice for him. Since this guy is actually part of a group, he comes with two different weapons, the chain-sword and a scythe-like weapon, he is not supposed to use both at the same time, since these guys tend to fight with one or the other.

 My only issue, is that these guys have energized weapons, so the edge of his scythe and the bits of chain should've been painted in bright or translucent pink. They almost got it right with these pink stripes on the chain sword, but the scythe got nothing. It makes his sparky weapons look dull and boring.

 Articulation is on brand for modern figures. Ball jointed ab crunch, butterfly joints, single jointed elbows, with  good range on them and double jointed knees. The pauldrons rotate alongside the shoulders, so no issues the, and the soft-goods skirt means he loses no articulation below the waist. He is definitely a fun figure. He is a bit shorter than Bucky Cap.

 The Imperial Praetorian Guard is definitely a fun figure to own. He looks badass and is fun to play with. They could've done a little more to make his weapons stand out, but it's not too bad.

8.0

Action Figure #661: Star Wars The Black Series Director Orson Krennic

 If it was up to him, it would've been called the Krennic Star.

 I couldn't just finish a Rogue One display with the heroes alone, I needed the bad guy, I needed Director Orson Krennic. And now, I can truly say that I'm done collecting Rogue One!

 Well, on the outset, this is yet another Empire General. And while all of them look the same, I've noticed that each one has different folds on their baggy pants! But two things make this one stand aside from the rest: His cape and his gloves. Sadly, the cape is garbage. It's made out of soft plastic, which hampers movement, and.... it just lies over his shoulder, so it's easy for it to come off if you play with him. But then again, just moving his arms makes it fall off. It's a bit of a shame, really, because Black Series loves soft-goods, and this guy NEEDED as soft-goods cape. At least the headsculpt is accurate to the actor, and he comes with a blaster pistol.

 So, let's assume that you take his cape off, what can you expect from him? Double jointed knees and thigh swivels, with a ball jointed waist. His elbows are single jointed, and while they don't have the deepest of cuts... they at least reach a 90 degree bend. He is a head shorter than Bucky Cap.

 Take away the cape and he is a decent action figure... but taking away the cape means removing want makes Krennic Krennic. Just fixing the cape to his shoulders would've fixed the issue. As it stands, it's a boring action figure.

4.0

Action Figure #660: Star Wars The Black Series Bodhi Rook

 Rogue One team: Completed.

 Well, Bodhi Rook finally completes my Rogue One team. Probably the least exciting member of the team, but, hey, in Star Wars everyone needs a pilot!

 Bodhi Rook's design is very simple and boring. He wears a grey pilot's jumpsuit with a brown vest, and that's it. I'll tell you this much, to make up for the simplicity, they went wild with the folds on his clothes. On the other hand, the head sculpt is hit and miss. The likeness to the actor is spot on, and I do like the translucent goggles.. even if you can't move them. The only issue is that the paint for the beard and sideburns looks like a brown smear than anything else, in fact, there's a strip of unpainted head below one of the goggle straps, I looked it up and it seems to have happened with other copies of the figure, which is just disappointing. He comes with two accessories, a blaster and a backpack.

 The back pack accessory comes with a thingie that is connected to a thread that extents from the back pack.

 The only way to rev up the thread again is by hand and by disassembling the back pack. This part of the pack isn't held as securely as I'd like, but it stays on for the most part.

 He gets single jointed elbows and knees, but with very deep cuts so both get over 90 degree bends. He has a swivel on his waist and on his thighs, and he also has butterfly joints which add a tiny bit of extra range to his arms. He is quite a bit shorter than Bucky Cap.

 So... He is a decent figure about a character I don't care about with a rather dull design. But the team did the most that they could with the character, so there's that.

5.5

Action Figure #659: Star Wars The Black Series Bossk

 Can't get any more cold-blooded than this!

 Well, I'm still trying to get all the Bounty Hunters from Empire Strikes Back, and the last one I found was Bossk.

 Well, this is another case of Black Series' sculpt over articulation, but we'll get onto the specifics a bit late. As far as the articulation goes, it's excellent. This is the archive re-release of Bossk, but considering he's an alien... I doubt the paint apps needed any upgrades. As with a lot of Star Wars designs, he is very simple, but the Black Series' team cooked hard with that. On his skin, they sculpted all the tiny scales, and on his pilot-like costume they gave him folds everywhere. He also had a lot of paint apps on his belt and metallic thingies alongside his shins and what not. The expression on his face is a bit empty... but it's an accurate match to how he looked in Empire Strikes Back, so bonus points for accuracy. His trigger finger hand looks a bit goofy, I think two of his three fingers should've been curled, but that's just me. His only accessory is a blaster rifle.

 Articulation is where things fall off the rails, sadly. His articulation is better bellow the waist, as he gets double jointed knees as well as swivels on his thighs and shins. He has no waist articulation, as while there seems to be a swivel on his ab crunch... he can barely twist 1 or 2 degrees, making it useless.

 His elbows are single jointed and don't even get up to a 90 degree bend, so you won't be striking many cool poses with his gun.

 That said, you can close and open his mouth, which I found pretty cute. He is a bit shorter than Bucky Cap.

 Bossk looks really nice, it's a shame his articulation is a bit limited. I think it's the lack of any waist or diaphragm articulation that really limits him. But I guess he can at least look sorta intimidating next to the other bounty hunters, because, for what it's worth, his sculpt is fantastic.

5.5