Resculpts and “kitbashed” figures have been a recent trend in Hasbro's modern line, and the forthcoming review of the “new” Bossk figure will reveal that he's a little of column A, and a little of column B as well. This new figure obviously shares parts with his POTF2 counterpart, but he's also got some spiffy all-new arms, and some iffy all-new legs.
Now, the question demands to be asked; “Why do I like Trandoshans?” And those who know me at all know exactly why: “'Cause they get all the ladies… Jockin' the Wookies and Slappin' the hoes! That's livin' Trandoshan style!”
OK, so that's out of the way now… Whew!
Now, overall, I have to say this Bossk resculpt is a series of “That's cool” combined with “That sucks”. “That Sucks” is mostly reserved for his awkward legs and unnecessary (pointless rather) articulation in them. The rest of the figure impresses, however - even his POTF2 pieces, which show how good an OLD figure can actually still stand up to some of today's.
And now, on with the show!
PROS
Sculpt : As noted, he's an impressive sculpt, even partially in his POTF2 form, but Hasbro did manage to improve on his arms and legs with added detail. While the wave prior to this impressively featured separate leg straps on a flight-suited figure (Dutch), unfortunately Bossk's new legs do not. They are, however, so nicely sculpted that they still manage to appear very separate from the figure's legs, so they look great in that respect.
The feet, arms, and head feature slightly more raised/pronounced scales than his POTF2 incarnation. While the POTF2's look wasn't bad by any means, the Saga version just edges it out in intricacy. Kudos to the figure's creator then, as it looks quite impressive. The POTF2 reused pieces are Bossk's upper AND lower torso. The real key to figuring out they're reused is a side-by-side comparison. But a keen eye (customizers will know where I'm coming from on this) will also notice that the torso pieces on Bossk are actually made of two halves each, which are required to be fused (“glued”) together for the figure to stay together. Most (if not all) of the latest modern figures are actually a single, flexible, molded torso with holes for the limbs and head to just plug into instead. It's a cheaper production process for Hasbro.
The POTF2 reused pieces blend seamlessly with the figure's newly sculpted limbs and head though, so props to the ORIGINAL sculptor of Bossk for that!
Articulation : Gotta list this because, in short, Bossk is improved over his POTF2 brother. In long, he's not only improved, but now he can kind of hold a rifle in a “braced” pose, as well as have his arms just at his sides. That's pretty cool. It's like Bossk's suddenly an “action figure” instead of just a figure.
His articulation breaks down into:
-1 standard neck joint
-2 standard hip/leg joints
-2 swivel feet joints (at the flightsuit/leg's meeting point)
-2 angled elbow joints
-2 wrist joints (at the flightsuit again)
-2 standard shoulder joints
-1 standard waist joint
With 12 total points of articulation, Bossk's not too shabby in that department. But unfortunately, his awkward leg sculpt (something for later in the CONS portion) make him a tad unposeable at times.
His arms however, can sport some quite nice poses. I'm impressed by them, and if anything, that improvement alone was enough reason for me personally to have picked Bossk up, even if he does look a lot like his POTF2 counterpart still.
Accessories : While he has less than POTF2 Bossk, he has arguably his most accurate gun to date. The sculpt of Bossk's new blaster rifle is downright amazing, and it's firm. You can't ask for much more from accessories these days than that.
The rifle's dead-on to the film version, though the strap is sculpted to hang down on the weapon, as if he's more running with it in his hands (claws?) more than having it slung over his shoulder. In the film, Bossk had it slung on his right shoulder, holding the forward brace/handle of the blaster, so the weapon is definitely not accurate to the film in that regard, but overall it's such a VAST improvement over his POTF2 weapons (even if you got two) that it's definitely worth having.
The other accessory he sports is the now common rectangular “Star Wars” stand. With the Star Destroyer wave though, Hasbro improved these stands so they actually interlock more flush at the tabs with each other now. So that's at least something, though they're still a fairly dull accessory to me overall.
I'm happy enough with the blaster though. And did I mention that it's NOT a flimsy piece of plastic? That it actually doesn't bend under its own weight? Nope, not flimsy at all folks. Way to go Hasbro. You CAN make good accessories for figures.
CONS
Decoration : Not that Bossk's paint job is “bad”, but he could be miles better. Small details were skipped, and there's an overly “clean” feel to him. There's a lot of little things about him that just could've made him better in this regard.
First, Bossk's toes are the same color as the rest of his feet. Hasbro didn't detail them with paint as I believe they did with his hands (it seems like the hand's claws are better detailed with a lighter coloring of paint, to me anyway). The feet are the most noticeable aspect to me.
The suit though could use a wash on it to bring out some of the depth of the sculpt and detail. The bright yellow's nice, and Bossk wasn't an unkempt Trandoshan in the film as I recall, but he just looks too sparkling clean. Perhaps he just came from the Galactic Laundromat? I don't know, but he looks absurdly “clean” for a Star Wars figure, especially a Bounty Hunter.
I also noticed a lot of minor bleeding where small details like the flares on his suit, or straps and wires were painted. Granted, it's just a little bleeding, but it happened all over this figure. That's a little distracting, but nothing too terrible either, so no big deal really.
Leg Pose : Probably this figure's MOST detracting feature is the awkward way in which the sculptor decided to pose his legs. Bossk did nothing but stand and make lizard noises in the movie, but it's as if the designers of this figure felt he should have an “EU action pose” instead. His feet are permanently posed apart, as if he's walking or some such.
His posed feet help you to get him to stand quite easily, but the figure shouldn't have this problem in the first place. The feet and legs are bent in such a way that he's just flat out awkward looking in the lower body, and I really can't explain WHY this figure was sculpted this way. This is a figure where the ball-socket knee articulation would've gone a LONG way. Unfortunately, that wasn't Hasbro's ultimate goal here. Even straight, regular legs would've been better.
On a side note, Bossk's mouth is sculpted open also. Why? He's not like this in the film really, so again there's a lot of EU elements that are going on with this guy. Oh well.
OVERALL
Well, in the end, he's different. If you're really not into Bossk, I can see why you'd not be interested in this figure. He's one of my preferred characters though (one of only two that I have a character collecting focus on), so I of course picked one up.
Bossk's not a terribly vast improvement over his POTF2 figure. He's certainly not even remotely comparable to, say, Dengar. This is a negative blot on Bossk, and a reason why he's probably going to be more prone (one would think) to sitting on the pegs. The irony of that statement though is that I've not seen a Bossk in some time, though Dengar and Ozzel are readily available in my area. Go figure.
In the end, I have a new Bossk figure that can sort of hold a gun with two hands, and who I've even had walking around with a Trandoshan Pimp Cane. He can be posed somewhat neutrally, and definitely in an action stance, and that's a pretty fair amount of Trandoshan goodness to me.
So I have to say that you should pick this figure up if you see one. I think it's an improvement over its earlier version, with only its weird legs being this figure's truly negative aspect working against it. Hell, Bossk can even flip the bird with his middle claw and new arm articulation now. How's that for an improvement? Oh well, maybe I'm biased because he's a Trandoshan. I dunno…
JJ
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