Author Topic: New JD Review: Rep Been  (Read 2998 times)

Offline Jesse James

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New JD Review: Rep Been
« on: December 7, 2006, 02:44 AM »
Sometimes reviews are tough to get through for me...  Mostly because I'm tired, I have a life outside of this site (as we all do, outside this hobby at large), and then sometimes it's just the figure is like watching paint dry...  Senators are sometimes cool figures to review, don't get me wrong, but there are some that I feel like just skipping and Rep Been fell into that file.


Clicky & Read Away!

So here we are in the End-Boo wave, and Rep Been's up for review...  He's not Hasbro's best foot forward, though he has some admirable traits.  As a statue he looks ok, he's not bad set dressing, but since he is pretty much a statue I feel Hasbro shorted you, me, and anyone else who bought this figure by not giving us a little something more than a stick.

I think a cool base or piece of the "Sacred Place" scenery would've been neat and heightened the coolness of the figure.  There's definitely ways to spice up the "Senator" figures though...  Blasters helped Meena Tills and her Gran cohort...  Hasbro has some options there I think that go beyond a simple blaster or stick though.

The figure's sculpt and paint are pretty sharp though...  If you're not totally averse to buying Gungan figures, he does look nice standing with Boss Nass...  I just don't know if $7 is a price everyone will want to shell out on this figure.
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Offline Darth_Anton

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Re: New JD Review: Rep Been
« Reply #1 on: December 7, 2006, 09:40 AM »
As always, great review. The figure doesn't bother me as much simply because the character doesnt have much play value for me to begin with. He does what I need him to do, stand there and fill out the BG. Heck, I've been contemplating picking up a second.
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Offline David

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Re: New JD Review: Rep Been
« Reply #2 on: December 7, 2006, 08:20 PM »
I think you always do great reviews, but I do have 2 objections:
1) There is quite a lack of accessories, but at least Hasbro gave him a staff that he didnt carry in the movie. I feel that this was a very nice extra that Hasbro didnt have to throw in.
2) I dont think he is pegwarming, at least in my area. I havent even seen this fig yet, the only one i havnt seen in the End-Boo wave in fact. I hate Gungans and would understand why people would think hes a potential warmer, but in my area hes a hard find.

anyway, good review, just a couple things i figured id point out.
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: New JD Review: Rep Been
« Reply #3 on: December 8, 2006, 03:34 AM »
At the time I wrote the review, I saw lots of Been...  Now, not so much.  I do see him frequently at K-Mart, KB, and TRU though so he's still warming here, but Target and WM (the mainstays) he isn't...  nobody is actually, save for Vader, 3PO, Amidala and a handful of others...

So I'd have to say the status of this figure has changed somewhat on the pegs.  I wrote the review a little bit ago, so keep that in mind when reading sometimes...  :)  Thanks for the complements though Snaggletooth.

About the accessory...  I'm not so sure the staff isn't visible somewhere, but that aside I think my point on the accessory isn't so much that what we got was boring or anything...  A staff is good I think and makes more sense than a rehashed blaster at times even for figures like this.  What I am saying though about the lack of accessories is that Been's a relatively simplistic character/figure for Hasbro.  His sculpt is about what it should be in detail, his paint applications aren't OVERLY elaborate (they're nice though), and his articulation/construction is certainly simplistic by Hasbro standards (no complex inner-mechanism, no super articulation, etc.) so he's not labor-intensive to put together...

So on figures like this guy I feel Hasbro's got a certain level of room to "make up" for the lacking excitement otherwise.  The Senator-esque figures are really good for what they are generally, but they're also a bit lacking in terms of excitement and perceived value to me...  Lushros Dofine got a bump up though because he came with that kick-ass terminal from the Invisible Hand and a datapad...  If Meena Tills had maybe a datapad, a holographic mini Rodian Senator or something (from Palpy's Office, just to get it), that would be cool, and the list goes on...  The little extra in accessories is where Hasbro has an ability to make up room on the simpler figures like Senators, and maybe make them more appealing to buy.

While I can't say I've bought more Lushros figures yet, I'm considering it for the consoles...  Then again I've now realized he's actually somewhat an army builder because there's tons of guys like him seen in E1, E2 (I think) and E3, but before that I was considering a 2nd or 3rd of him just for the console...  Been's actually a figure you could justify a couple of him because of the fact there are identical dudes around him, but that aside I think some scenery from the Sacred Place would've helped to persuade me to make that buy.

Just thoughts though on how I perceive a lack of value with the figure...

Now, make Been $5, and that's less a gripe for me and we're not having this discussion, haha. :)
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Offline Artoo

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Re: New JD Review: Rep Been
« Reply #4 on: December 10, 2006, 02:11 PM »
I'll pick him up. I do think he should of came w/ an extra acessory. Maybe one of those pod seat things or an extra Gungan kid.
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