Action Figure #735: Star Wars The Black Series Jedi Temple Guard

 They are definitely not guarding my wallet.

 I'm the yellow lightsaber guy, so I've always loved the Jedi Temple Guard and the Jedi Consular classes, so believe me when I say that I've waited for this guy for a long, LONG time. And now, he is finally here... so I should be happy, right?

 Well... the good news is that the sculpt is beautiful. The golden accents on his gorgeously sculpted robes look great, the detail on his mask, or all the little gold and silver keys hanging from his belt... not to mention the good use of soft-goods for his inner skirt. The armored gloves and boots look fantastic, and I love the gold-white-cream color scheme going for him. And I didn't even mention how great the Lightsaber Pike came out, not only is the handle gold, but they kept in mind that this isn't a Double Lightsaber, but a Pike, so the light blades are appropriately shorter. Everything that concerns this guy's looks gets full marks.

 But then, it's all brought down by the articulation. The hood, it's been lovingly sculpted with natural-looking folds and what not... but it can't turn, so while you can turn the head inside it, he won't be able to look to the sides because the hood is in the way. This has been an issue with other figures such as Palpatine, so this is inexcusable. I'd take a less detailed hood if it means he can look to the side. The robes on his chest are deceptively hard, so you can't use the butterfly joints, and he'll never be able to lift his arms straight up. His knees and elbows are single jointed, with deep cuts each, and, thankfully, even the soft plastic skirt can be moved out of the way, so his legs work perfectly well. His waist is ball jointed, and he is as tall as Bucky Cap.

 I'm a bit sad that this figure is a bit of a disappointment. Like 80% of the figure is pure fire, the sculpt is just perfect, and so lovingly made, but not being able to look to the sides kills some of the coolest posing you could get out of him. So, yeah, he is good, he is decent, but some very small tweaks to the chest and hood would've brought him to the next level.

6.0