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Never Forget - The ICMG Petition

 

Lt. Dannl Faytonni
(Outlander Club Patron)

I was pretty stoked to find Lt. Faytonni because I've heard good things… Plus, it's Anthony Daniels out of his C-3PO costume, which makes it an extra novelty to own this figure. Not to mention this figure's later running production change of Ahmed Best as a Republic Officer as well – same body parts as Faytonni, just different head and hands. So kudos to Hasbro for their creativity and ingenuity on that one!

For those of you who didn't know by the way, Lt. Faytonni is a Republic military officer… I've always viewed this character, and others like it such as the Republic pilots from Episode 1, as being the precursors to the Imperial Officers from the Original Trilogy. And Anthony Daniels kinda pulled off that snobby looking Imperial Officer look for his brief scenes in the Outlander Club in Episode 2.

Also, I've anticipated this figure because it's a generic “military” figure who should make for good custom fodder, and maybe a little army building if you think the sentient Republic Officers play any kind of role in the Clone Wars… But does Faytonni make for that great a figure? Well, not as much as you'd think… Read on for the full details of this roller coaster of a figure…

PROS

Articulation: Easily, this figure's stand out feature is its articulation. Faytonni sports a whopping 14 points of articulation! Yes, he even has more articulation than the Commtech stormtrooper! Not too shabby for a background character, and congrats to Hasbro for finally getting off their Toy Industry duffs and making a figure with a competitive level of articulation, as compared to other similarly scaled action figure lines.

The articulation breakdown goes like this:
- 2 wrist joints
- 2 cut elbow joints
- 2 standard shoulder joints
- 1 standard neck joint
- 1 waist joint
- 2 standard hip joints
- 2 knee hinges
- 2 boot top joints

And all this adds up to what? Well, beyond the aforementioned 14 points of articulation, it adds up to a darn poseable figure. And a decent amount of attention from a company that usually gives background characters the shaft.

Accessories: You cannot for the life of you knock this figure for accessories. It's pretty great really.

You get a blaster pistol which we'd seen previously with such figures as the Fan's Choice Duros, a 2-piece bar table you put together, and a cocktail glass tinted red to simulate some exotic drink (or simply a Vodka and Cranberry - my personal favorite). The glass is a real treat too because the tint is a simple thing, but it's nice, and looks realistic. A very neat accessory indeed.

The table consists of two pieces, and is not entirely sturdy as it doesn't snap together, but rather presses into place, but mine fortunately holds together well. If a bar fight were to break out in the Outlander Club though, the tables would easily topple as the freaks commenced to fisticuffs. Maybe that's even a good thing though, if you like fights in your dioramas? Hey, maybe you play with your figures too? Who knows, right?

Sculpt: Another feature I've liked about this figure is his sculpt. The likeness to Anthony Daniels seems very accurate for this scale. He has a very neutral expression as well, which is very good for all figures in my personal opinion. The wildly expressive sculpts we've seen in the Saga line have often ruined what otherwise would've been a great figure (case in point, Droid Factory Padme).

The body/legs/arms all have a vague texture sculpted into them to give it a slightly more realistic look. The figure has a belt/suspender combo as well, which is nicely detailed right down to the holes the belts would use to loosen or tighten the size - a very nicely added touch from the sculptor. The uniform's boots have a series of buckles as well that add a little something extra to them.

Also, another nice uniform feature is the addition of, what I'm guessing anyway, are rank indicators on the uniform cuffs. They're raised zigzagging yellow lines (two on each sleeve) that stand out on the dark navy blue uniform. Definitely a nice touch, but I guess those accolades should go to the costume designers for Episode 2, rather than a sculptor here.

Hasbro's proven that sculpting is one of their stronger points, I believe… But there's always room for improvement sometimes. Pose is more a factor with this figure than sculpt is though, and I'll get to that in the “Cons” section of the review in a moment.

Features: By features here, I mean his holster, which as all working holsters on Star Wars action figures do, this one rocks as well.

I'm hearing some complaints about it though… That people use it in and it warps the blaster pistol he came with. My solution though may help you weary warped blaster folks out though! Most people put the gun in with the handle of the pistol facing backwards. Try placing it in with the handle facing forwards though, and here's why: First, it's a better fit and won't warp the gun's scope or barrel. Second, the holster is on Faytonni's left hip, and since MOST people are right handed (and I'm assuming Faytonni is as well), he'd reach across his body to draw his pistol from across his body… Basically, it's the right way to pose the gun I think… But do as you wish!

Either way, I love working holsters for blasters on figures, as anyone who knows my displeasure with the Rebel Fleet Trooper would know. I'm glad to see Faytonni got good treatment from Hasbro in this situation. It doesn't require a higher cost so there's really no excuse to not include a working holster at this point.

CONS

Deco: Not that it's bad mind you, but the decoration/paint application of this figure isn't inspiring either. Mine has even eyes (if not a little droopy-eyed like old Anthony was tired or something… Could be the booze?), with little to no bleeding of the paint.

I guess the problem would be that there's just not much paint detail at all. The figure's very clean. Small details like his belt buckle and what not got no real detailing from the paint, and there's only a wash on his hair to make it stand out. This figure's flaw is that the paint job just doesn't do it's sculpt the appropriate amount of credit, I guess you would say. It's simple, and it works, but perhaps some more attention and detail could've improved the figure and made it look a little more “real”…

Pose: Now here's the deal breaker… Hasbro goes all out articulating figures, and does so WONDERFULLY with this new Lt. Faytonni. I mean they brilliantly stuffed this guy with articulation. So why is the pose bad? Well, it's awkward. He's got that odd “leaning” pose that Hasbro LOVES to use anymore. Hasbro did this to their recent Clone Pilot, as well as their Droid Factory Chase Padme.

The entire torso of Faytonni is cocked to the right side, leaving his left shoulder lower. It's for a “leaning” pose I guess, but it makes the figure awkward looking, and he simply doesn't look that nice unless he's leaning on the table. He should be able to stand neutrally, or look good in a variety of other poses with 14 points of articulation, but this oddly sculpted pose makes that difficult for him, unfortunately.

Also, the ankle of the right boot on Faytonni is bent a little too forward. I'm hoping the old customizing technique of a “boil & freeze” will alleviate this problem and I'll be able to reposition the ankle, but ultimately if Hasbro had sculpted that foot properly, this wouldn't be an issue. Still, the goofy leaning shoulder pose is far worse an issue, and does impede the “usefulness” of the figure - especially from a customizer/army builder's standpoint (I really wanted to make a big army of Republic Officers of various ranks to lead my clone army).

So in short, the pose is not really extreme, but it's just enough to make this figure a little odd if you had a bunch of him - like they'd all be line dancing or something. On a figure with 14 points of articulation, the pose should NEVER be an issue, but unfortunately Hasbro flubbed that part.

OVERALL

The figure has lots of bonuses and extras, like the articulation, accessories, and the general fact that you're getting an Anthony Daniels figure out of his C-3PO costume. The only REAL problem with this figure is that awkward pose. To some of us (customizers and army builders specifically), we're going to be disappointed with that.

Honestly, it's not really something that should've ever occurred in the first place. For some reason, at some point in the production process, someone thought it would be a better idea to make this figure very specific to a moment in Episode 2. But that idea unfortunately knocked this figure down a few pegs in my eyes - especially considering Hasbro plans to run an intentional variation with this figure by making the Achk Med-Beq version as well… Both he and Faytonni will now both have this goofy pose and be in an identical leaning stance, which can only be described as disappointing.

That said, this figure has so many positive aspects as well, that many are still going to love this figure for what it is, and for Hasbro it was a benchmark figure really… It's quite close to *gasp* perfect, dare I say? One silly sculpting decision turned into its only flaw really, and that's disappointing.

I will suggest nabbing this figure if you see it (it seems to go first in that wave), and I give it the thumbs up. I'm definitely liking it, just not as much as I would've liked it had it had a neutrally posed body sculpt. Overall though, it's pretty cool and a notch in Hasbro's belt as an improvement over their norm.

Now hopefully Hasbro can learn from what they did right here, and what they did wrong, and start cranking out more figures that are indeed as close to perfect as Hasbro can possibly make. As always, here's to hoping for future quality improvements!

 

- JJ

 

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