by Ken Davis » Fri Sep 18, 2015 1:19 am
I picked up Kylo Ren and the Duck-trooper ( okay, that's what I call it) tonight.
This is the first Force Awakens stuff I've bought---certainly the first Hasbro stuff.
I think it's going to be the last. First impressions being lasting, I expected that the Black Series stuff would be a step-up at least.
It's not here.
I've looked over the dregs of the ransacked shelf sections at my local retailers, seen small vehicles and 4" figures......and they all look like somewhat rushed product. The sculpts are detailed, for the most part, but the paint apps look sloppy across the board.
Ren and Duck-trooper ( I will not stop calling him that) look like 4" figures in 6" ML scale format--meaning the paint apps ( on the Duck, especially) are not as precise as they could/should be. Kylo Ren really doesn't have many paint apps....a bit of light silver/gun-metal dry-brushing and that's it.
The Duck has a lot of attempted black detailing on the white armor---a LOT of it is hit-and-miss and it makes the figure come across as cheap.
That is kind of what irks me about these two examples: they cost $25 a piece, but they look like $8 figures with no accessories other than weapons. Ren has soft-goods, Duck is all plastic.
They pose just fine, with decent POAs, and they are at least a bit fiddly out of the box. They are tough to assess because so very little is known about them at this point. My step-son was quite critical of them both, more of the Duck than Ren. He expressed that had he gone to the opening night release of these, he'd have been profoundly disappointed in them as toys--and that the expense of effort to get them first off would have been a waste of time.
Holding these.........I agree. They are over-hyped as figures go.
But..........but........there's enough aesthetic with both to make them look cool enough to keep. I LIKE the Duck-trooper design--it's slick and evolved. Ren invokes a real sense of mystery about the character, much like Darth Maul. They are effective for what they are, if their execution as toys isn't fully up to snuff.
But these will be all I get, me thinks.