2008 Wave 2 - The Force Unleashed

[CHEWIE]

No knee articulation? 

Guess she's going to need a leg swap. 

[Jeff]

What possible good does the ankle joint serve on a figure who has no knee articulation.  It really doesn't improve the way you can pose her.  If anything positive, it helps her stand better if there is a problem there, but really, shouldn't we expect figures that can stand by themselves from Hasbro? 

No matter how you bring it up to them though, they seemingly blow the subject off...   

Hasbro has said in the Q&As that "to help figures stand" is indeed the main reason for ankle articulation on figures with no knee articulation:

"Knees will allow a leg to bend and can make for some nice poses but without the ankle, it is hard to get a figure to stand. Ankles let you move either leg forward or back, and the figures stand much better."

Yes, you should expect figures that can stand by themselves from Hasbro, but the reality is that sometimes due to the molding process or warping or packaging, that isn't always the case.  They know that, so the ankle joints are there to help the figures stand so that the average joe-shmoe doesn't have to boil-and-freeze figures to fix them.

Maybe it seems stupid to you, but there have been many times when I was glad that extra ankle joint was there to get my figures to stand up...

[Nicklab]

Saw Juno Eclipse and Vader in a store this morning.  They look alright.  I left them behind though, since I've got a deal pending for the entire wave minus the Shadow Guard.

[Jesse James]

To each their own I guess...  Personally, I don't see why Brood would need the ankle joints...  Or many other figures.  For instance, why does the Neimoidian Soldier have the ankles over the knees?  Is Hasbro saying that the NW figure was unable to stand because of the mold process or some such?

That doesn't make much sense to me...  Which figures with ankle joints only, really had that "problem"?  I could see Sun Fac maybe...  

But seriously, Commander Bacara couldn't stand?  All those other Clones could but not Bacara?  

Can't say that answer makes much sense to me.  I will say that if it was on more figures that couldn't stand, I'd agree that it makes a lot of sense...  I wish that female alien separatist character (from the Sep. Council sets) had ankle joints because mine both fall over.  That's more the plastic I guess, but some ankles would probably alleviate the problem a bit, if she (or the repaint of her) had them.  The figures like Luke from the comic pack and things though, all seem like they'd stand fine without ankle joints to me.

BTW I didn't mention the boil & freeze technique, but it only works for re-posing figures really...  If a figure's limb or weapon or something is warped, you can boil it to go back to its original shape, but the freeze doesn't hold something too thin to stand under its own weight or anything.

[Jeff]

Is Hasbro saying that the NW figure was unable to stand because of the mold process or some such?

They are not saying that they "know" certain figures will have problems.  What they were saying is that it is a problem that sometimes unpredictably happens here or there.  In their opinion, the articulated ankles help the problem if in fact it does happen.  That's all.

Articulated knees would seem help the problem just as well as ankles, but obviously, for whatever reason, Hasbro thinks otherwise...

Can't say that answer makes much sense to me. 

I never claimed it made sense.  When has Hasbro EVER supplied an answer to an articulation question that made sense to you?   

[Jesse James]

No argument there...   

Ironically there's been times where Hasbro's not included ankles where it clearly was needed...  Cody and training fatigues Clone come to mind immediately.  I can't get either of those friggin' things to stand up without a stand or me having to "adjust".  And I don't even know an adjustment will work on the fatigues Clone...  That's a pretty drastic bend in his ankle there.

It worked on Cody pretty well (that's where a boil & freeze worked wonders), but I've not even tried that new clone yet.

Still not my cup of tea but I see what you're saying Jeff.  I just don't agree with where they're coming from, at least not entirely.  I do think it worked well on Sun Fac though because he sorta wilts a bit, but his ankle joints help you get him standing up properly.  That separatist chick is a prime one for ankles, but didn't get them.  I've brainstormed for a while now, how I could go about somehow sturdying up the legs with a thin metal rod or something, put into a hole drilled in her legs or some such.  A lot of work to get one figure to stand, but I like the figure for what it is,a nd just wanted it to stand right.

[Spacey]

For me the most egregious example of needing ankles (and more articulation across the board, but that's another post) is the Legends Imperial Officer. Dude has his lean on, you know?

[David]

Agreed, the Imperial Officer could really use an update.

[Jesse James]

It's weird, but that figure originally was fine (for standing up that is), but the Legends version does lean forward a bit, or I've found some of the figures have their feet pointing outwards a bit more than the early releases of that figure.  Very strange.

[Jayson]

It's weird, but that figure originally was fine (for standing up that is), but the Legends version does lean forward a bit, or I've found some of the figures have their feet pointing outwards a bit more than the early releases of that figure.  Very strange.

If there ever was a candidate for a modern resculpt, it's the Imp. Officer. I was photographing one today and it took forever due to his ****** leg stance.

They could do black for the officers and gray variants for the scanning crew/SD personnel dudes.



What are these guys called anyway? They've got headgear/earpieces too.

[Darth_Anton]

I always called them tech officers, but that's me.

[Jesse James]

The guys in black jumpsuits seemingly didn't get a ton of screentime...  Not compared to the grey guys anyway.  In ANH the black jumpsuited guys were manning gun turrets (the crew that were aiming at the escape pod are wearing jumpsuits). 

The guys on the bridge of Destroyers wear long-brimmed Imperial kepi's that are grey.  (A Piett hat for instance), with a light grey jumpsuit like the scanner techs wear.  Their hat, being different, seems to indicate some kind of difference in their station/job however. 

The scanner tech guys wear shorter-brimmed black Imperial hats.  Why the hat difference?  Who knows.  My guess would be the black hat indicates though that those guys have a different job, while all the bridge crews in the grey jumpsuits with the darker grey hats are perhaps petty officers, learning the ropes to become junior grade lieutenants and things.  Maybe the hat is what you get upon promotion out of the ranks of the lowly technicians.

The black hats then perhaps are the lowest ranking naval personnel, the grey hats are the next step up, then its onto an Imperial Tunic/trousers as your uniform. 

Imperial "Army" though, also wear the grey jumpsuit...  AT-ST Drivers are supposedly actually just Imperial Army Troopers, and they too have the nifty simple grey onesie.

I agree, the officer could stand a resculpt at this point...  I'd say it's a very versatile body sculpt that can be used (if done right) for new versions of many different characters.  From TIE Pilots to technicians to AT-ST Drivers really.  Even Wilrow Hood's outfit is that simple jumpsuit, so perhaps that's Hasbro's plan?  New sculpt at some point will just get re-used as much as possible?

[CHEWIE]

Found two cases at differnet Walmarts so far of the figures...

[Nathan]

Is it just me, or do those things look as cartoony as the new Clone Wars figures?

[Spacey]

I think they look pretty superb... they're similar to Sandtroopers in that they have the gear for the conditions they're in. I suppose the EVO Trooper's extra-wide mask is because he needs a more powerful breathing apparatus in poisonous/hostile conditions.