Star Wars Black Series No 7 Clone Trooper Sergeant & No 13 Clone Trooper Captain 6" Hasbro Figure

Today we're having a 2 for 1! These figures are pretty much exactly the same other than the paint schemes, so I thought I'd put them together to save a little time.

First up, these figures both come with the same weapons that have matching paint schemes.

These are the same weapons that you get with the original Clone Trooper, but these have small grey parts which is a nice highlight on these weapons.

The clones are both the same as each other (and the original clone), but the Sergeant has olive green markings and the Captain has red markings.

Personally I'm more of a fan of the Captain, I think the red looks great.

Articulation wise, the clones heads look up and down a little and turn left and right. The shoulders are on a ball and hinge, there are double jointed elbows, and the wrists hinge and rotate.

There's an ab crunch that is also used instead of a waist rotation, hips are on a ball and hinge, double jointed knees, ankles swivel, go back and forth, and pivot.

I'd say these are worthy additions to your Star Wars collection if you pick up Prequel Trilogy figures. They look great together and even better when grouped with more Clones.

Go Figure!

Star Wars Black Series No 11 Bespin Luke Skywalker 6" Hasbro Figure

Back to the original trilogy for a look at Luke! This is the second Luke we've got in the Black Series, the first being the excellent X-Wing Pilot Luke. This second Luke doesn't quite reach the quality of the first figure, but it's not without it's good points.

Bespin Luke comes with a couple of accessories, the first being his blaster

The second accessory is another weapon, one for a more civilised age, his lightsaber. The hilt and blade are separate pieces so you can have the blade lit or hang the hilt on his belt.

As for Luke himself, his face and hair does not meet the high standards set by the X-Wing Luke. His outfit and the way that it is painted and sculpted is very good though.

The face has quite a shiny plastic look to it, and the hair is just one colour of brown, as opposed to the multi-layered colours of hair on X-Wing Luke. This is by no means a terrible Luke head sculpt, but it's a real step down from the first figure of this character we got.

The outfit that Luke wears on Bespin has been faithfully recreated here, with the jump suit having a worn in wrinkled look that is brought out with the dirty wash that has been applied.

The belt especially looks really good with silver highlights for buttons and buckles, and the holster that holds Luke's blaster very well actually fastens.

The articulation is solid on Luke, much like we've come to expect from the Black Series range.

His head turns left and right and can look up and down - much more down as his hair sculpt does stop a little of the up movement. His shoulders are ball hinged and he has single jointed elbows, though these work well and bring the arm into a 90 degree angle, the elbows also rotate. The wrists rotate and hinge up and down.

There's a waist swivel which also pivots backward and forward and works very well. The hips allow the legs to kick quite far forward and back a good amount, and the hinge outwards a little. There is upper thigh rotation, double jointed knees, ankles hinge back and forth and have a great ankle rocker.

The X-Wing Luke figure is a pretty difficult figure to come by nowadays for a good price and this is no bad replacement. I'd say if you can get him, pick him up - especially if you have a Vader figure to cut his hand off with...

May the Force be with You, and remember - Go Figure!

Star Wars Black Series No 14 Clone Trooper 6" Hasbro Figure

The Star Wars prequels are not particularly well loved. I'm not their biggest fan by any stretch, but one of the best things to come from them, in my opinion, is the deign of the clones. Like the stormtroopers, I just love the look of these guys sleek armour (and I really like the extra colours that were added but we'll come to that later).

This original clone trooper comes with 2 weapons, one is a smaller blaster and the other is a long blast rifle.

They're both sculpted well and look pretty good, but sadly just moulded in a plain black plastic. The trooper holds both of them well - and looks pretty cool doing it!

As I mentioned before, this trooper is a nice slick white, with black details and some grey highlights. The paint, even though it's minimal, is a little messy at parts. Around the mouth is the most notable place but I assume this is because of how intricate that area is.

There are some sculpted details which are left in plain white, like the buttons on his right arm, the details on his back, and his belt. The belt should be white of course, it just would have been nice to see a little detail in it.

The sculpting of the black under suit that you can see at the wrists, hips and neck, looks ruffled and realistic as though it's a whole under armour body suit.

The articulation on the trooper is much the same as the other Black Series figures. The head looks left and right and looks up and down a small amount. Shoulders are on a ball and hinge, the elbows are double jointed and the wrists swivel and bend. There's no waist rotation but this is made up for by having ab articulation which swivels and moves the trooper forward and back a small amount.

The hips are on a ball and hinge joint, double jointed knees, and the ankles are hinged, rotate and have the great ankle rocker pivot.

If you're a prequel fan then the clones are must haves and this is a great representation of the troopers.

Stay tuned this week - more Black Series to come in the build up to Force Friday!

Go Figure!

Star Wars Black Series No 10 Bossk 6" Hasbro figure

With only a week until Force Friday I figured it'd be time to get caught up on my Black Series reviews. First up, let's take a look at Bossk - one of the best looking bounty hunters in the Star Wars Universe in my humble opinion.

So Bossk comes with just the one accessory and that's his long blaster rifle.

The sculpt on the blaster itself isn't the best, it's just moulded in black plastic with very little detail. The strap is nice though as the buckle sections attaching it to the weapon have a nice silver paint application.

Bossk himself is much more impressive.

Everything about the figure itself is really pretty great, and I'd go as far to say that this is the best figure we've seen in the Black Series since those first great figures like Han and X-Wing Luke.

The sculpt in the skin alone is top notch with all the scales, spikes, and claws really well done, especially with the added paint wash bringing the details up. His teeth and inside mouth are also well painted and easy to see with the articulated jaw. I know - Hasbro articulated the jaw! And it works very well indeed.

The rest of the paint is well applied but sadly no shading over the yellow jump suit. That would have made all this wrinkles really pop. Bossk's jumpsuit is very screen accurate though, even though you hardly see him on screen!

Like the X-Wing Luke, the hanging straps on Bossk's suit are a rubber material which means the articulation isn't inhibited too much.

Talking of articulation, Bossk's head looks left to right, but is inhibited by the neck piece so can't look up and down. The shoulders turn right round and come out to about 90 degrees to the body, there's elbow rotation and bend, and the wrists rotate and pivot.

There is a very minor ab swivel, thigh swivel, double jointed knees, boot cut, ankle bend and ankle rocker pivot that Hasbro use in the Marvel Legends too.

I'm a big fan of this guy and would completely recommend this guy to Star Wars collectors.

Also, he looks bad ass among his fellow bounty hunters!

Stay tuned for more Star Wars reviews coming soon! May the Force be with You.

Go Figure!

Marvel 500 Blind Bag minifigures Hasbro

I picked up a couple more of the new Marvel 500 blind bags at the weekend, let's take a look at who I got.

First up, a double of sorts

My second Ultron, but this time, the bronze/copper version instead of the blue. This is a cool little figure with some nice, but minimal, paint apps.

Second up I got a figure I wanted but...

Do I really need to point out the issues here? I understand that these are minifigures and are pretty cheap, but still. The lack of paint here is just infuriating. Why sculpt the A or feathers on Cap's head and not paint them?! Seeing as Hasbro has painted the shield, stomach, and star, surely a small amount of white for the eyes, A and feathers wouldn't have been too big an ask? I guess I understand not doing the gloves and boots, but those smaller areas would have made a massive difference - especially when you see the back of Cap.

SO BLUE. Why no paint apps Hasbro?!

I still like these little figures, but I'll only pick them up one or two at a time and I won't be too bothered if they're not in stock!

Go Figure!