2019 TVC Wave 2 (aka New TVC Wave 5)

[Mister Skeezler]

I'm kind of interested in Leia and Luke for the new faces, but honestly I'd rather they rerelease figures that go with the Sail Barge so I don't have to empty out my Palace display.

I have no idea why they thought anyone cared about that Han. I'd much rather have a Bespin Han (or really any other Han) with a better face. That obscure Echo Base Han sits in the very back of my display as a sort of "they also made this" figure.

[Jesse James]

Like Jeff said... 

I'm passing but the interest in it for me is the new paint apps, especially on faces.  That can sell me at times.  It sold me on Lando Skiff today who I'd missed earlier preorders but then got one today which I'm happy about because the early loose samples have a much nicer deco than the sandstorm Lando. 

Cardbacks aren't my bag but the carded guys for TVC are pretty much insane from what I've seen on FB.  They'll buy any fart crosswise difference on a card.

[Darth_Anton]

Sadly, the new heads are enough for me to get an opener set.

[Rob]

I don't suppose anyone's seen side by sides of the new face paint apps vs the old ones?

[Jeff]

JediBusiness had comparison pics for a couple figures.
- here is Echo Base Han.
- And here is DS2 Duel Luke.

[Nicklab]

JediBusiness had comparison pics for a couple figures.
- here is Echo Base Han.
- And here is DS2 Duel Luke.

Thanks for sharing this Jeff.  I’ve grown to like the comparison tool over at JediBusiness.  And here it’s doing a good job highlighting the differences between the original release and the updated version.  I thought I’d skip these, but now I’m not so sure.

[Rob]

JediBusiness had comparison pics for a couple figures.
- here is Echo Base Han.
- And here is DS2 Duel Luke.

Wow, yeah those are different enough that I’d consider them new variants.  Looks like I’m in the market for the repack wave...

[Rob]

Surprisingly Hasbro had these at the Pulse booth at Celebration... so I snagged them.  They're not really that great looking even if they're improvements over the originals. 

[Mister Skeezler]

How does Vader's face compare to the original? He has a removable helmet, right?

[Rob]

He does have a removable helmet, but I have so many similar SA Vaders I wouldn’t know which one to compare it to. 

[Jeff]

So is this technically Vintage Collection 2019 wave 2?

I'm basing JD's numbering off this slide from Hasbro at SDCC last year.

I see some etailers are listing it as "Wave 5" but since it's not a wide release wave coming to regular retail (its one of those 'fan channel' exclusives) we're just going to keep it separate from the main line unless we hear otherwise from Hasbro.

Update - got some clarification from Hasbro that this wave is indeed considered part of the regular TVC releases (no longer just "fan channel" exclusive) so I'll be doing a little number clean-up here in the forums and the release list.

Also some of the info I got (but can't yet share) supports Jayson's story that some future photo-real repacks will be mixed into the main line going forward.

[Nicklab]

He does have a removable helmet, but I have so many similar SA Vaders I wouldn’t know which one to compare it to. 

I happened to be checking out Rebelscum yesterday and saw that they had an image gallery for this Vader.  In fact, I kind of had to do a double-take because I wasn't sure what the image was showing me.  From what I saw it might have been some kind of 1:12 scale Asian import, and not necessarily a 3.75" figure.  I was so impressed with that image on the front page that I had to check it out.  They've updated their image galleries with detailed comparison shots of all of the figures in the reissue wave.  The new releases with the facial printing deco are listed farther down in each image gallery.

VC-008 Darth Vader was easily one of the most notable.  The paint apps on the unmasked Vader are greatly improved, and it resembles actor Sebastian Shaw far better in this new release.  When I look at the original 2010 version it doesn't seem like that much of an improvement from the removable helmet Vader that was released around 2004 or so.  This release is leaps ahead of that.

Additionally there is a significant change to the removable helmet.  The original release featured a two piece helmet.  However, it didn't quite fit right or stay on the figure well.  The new release features a one piece helmet.  Even though that might seem like a step backward in terms of detail, the removable helmet should be functional in such a way that it's not in danger of falling apart if you move the figure a tiny bit.

I was originally going to pass on this whole wave.  But having seen the images?  I'm sold.  I already ordered Han, Luke and Leia.  Up until I saw these images I was going to pass on Vader, too.  But not now.