2004 Saga: Favorites/Least Favorites, Best/Worst

[Brian]

Well, now that we have at least all seen the end of the Saga line with the OTC starting up sometime this summer, I thought it might be nice to see what everyone has thought of this year's offerings.  Almost all of the themed waves have made it to stores in some places now, with the exception of the last Saga Wave...The Endor Generals (and Ultra Ewok).  Those should be showing up any time now.  I'm a few figures behind myself, but with the pictures we have seen online and with what you have in your collection...what do you think has been the best and worst of Saga 2004.  Which were your favorites or least favorites?  I think overall 2004 has been a very good year, with very few "stinkers" in the basic line.  Here's a recap (forgive me if I miss anything):

Basic/Ultra Figures - Six "Themed" Waves

Hoth Wave
Hoth Trooper - Hoth Evacuation
R-3PO - Hoth Evacuation
Luke Skywalker - Hoth Attack
Wampa w/Cave - **Ultra**
General Rieekan w/Map - **Ultra**

Tatooine Wave
Luke Skywalker - Jabba's Palace
R2-D2 - Jabba's Sail Barge
R1-G4 - Tatooine Transaction
C-3PO w/Escape Pod **Ultra**

Jabba's Palace Wave
Holographic Luke Skywalker - Jabba's Palace
Lando Calrissian - Jabba's Sail Barge
Rappertunie - Jabba's Palace
Tanus Spijek - Jabba's Sail Barge
J'Quille - Jabba's Sail Barge
Jabba the Hutt w/pipe and bowl **Ultra**
Jabba's Denizens **Ultra**

Battle of Yavin Wave
General Jan Dodonna - Battle of Yavin
Imperial Tie Fighter Pilot - Battle of Yavin
Dutch Vander - Battle of Yavin
Captain Antilles - Tantive IV Invasion (Fan's Choice)

Star Destroyer Wave
Dengar - Executor Meeting
Bossk - Executor Meeting
Admiral Ozzel - Executor Assault

Battle of Endor Wave
Han Solo in AT-ST Disguise - Endor Strike
General Lando Calrissian - Death Star Attack
General Madine - Imperial Shuttle Capture
Ewok w/Glider **Ultra**

Hall of Fame Figures
Anakin Skywalker (Geonosis Hangar Duel)
C-3P0 (Death Star Rescue)
Chewbacca (Escape from Hoth)
Darth Maul (Theed Hangar Duel)
Darth Vader (Death Star Clash)
Han Solo (Flight To Alderaan)
Luke Skywalker (Tatooine Encounter)
Obi-Wan (Coruscant Chase)
Princess Leia (Death Star Captive)
R2-D2 (Tatooine Mission)
Stormtrooper (Death Star Chase)
Yoda (Battle of Geonosis)

I'll leave off the Target Cup figures and upcoming Jedi Council packs, since not everyone has seen these (or all of these) yet.  Also, not sure which TRU 4-packs would all qualify as "2004 Saga".  If anyone wants to comment on those as well, please feel free.

[Brian]

Since that last post was long enough, here's a few of my favorites (of what I have):

Luke Skywalker - Jabba's Palace (Have really always wanted a good Jedi Luke, and this is by far the best we've seen I think)
Luke Skywalker - Hoth Attack (Another good Luke figure, much better than the "buff" version, one of my favorites)
Lando Calrissian - Jabba's Palace (Always liked the Lando in Skiff disguise figures, and this figure is very well done I think.  The sculpting, paint apps, etc. are all very good, at least on my figure)
R2-D2 - Jabba's Sail Barge (A great figure, maybe the best current version of R2)
Rappertunie - Maybe not the most exciting character, but just a cool little figure.
Ultra Jabba - Finally a good modern Jabba.  Could have been better in some areas, but not too bad at all.  I think it looks pretty good, and I'm happy to have it.
Ultra Wampa - My first Wampa, and I think it is very well done too.  Sculpt is much more accurate than previous versions.

Overall, I think most of the figures this year have been done pretty well.  The only figure I have seen in the stores and actually passed on was the Hoth Trooper.  It just didn't look quite right to me, but if I end up getting the rest of the Saga figures, I won't feel right missing just one.  For now I've passed though, it just doesn't look that great to me.  We've basically only seen the Hoth and Tatooine waves around here (starting to see Jabba's Palace), so I don't personally have a lot of the figures that have been released.  However, thanks to Matt and Mikey, I have been able to get the Wampa, Jabba, Denizens, Lando, Rappertunie, Holo Luke, and Dodonna (thanks guys!).  Looking forward to the Star Destroyer wave (particular Bossk/Dengar, don't have a fig of either of those), as well as all of the Endor Wave.  I would have rather had a new Endor Han w/trenchcoat, but the headsculpt on this new one doesn't look too bad.  Anyways, best of luck to everyone in their searches, hopefully we'll find everything before the OTC invasion.  Looking forward to those cardbacks though .

[Scott]

Favorite in Bold
Least Favorite Non-Bold

Basic/Ultra Figures - Six "Themed" Waves

Hoth Wave
Hoth Trooper - Hoth Evacuation
Way underscaled...and I am really dissapointed they didn't go with a Vintage Style Echo Base Trooper

Luke Skywalker - Hoth Attack
Nice figure, not real big on the face sculpt but it works

Tatooine Wave
R1-G4 - Tatooine Transaction
Droids are cool, this one was a long time coming and IMO they hit a HR

C-3PO w/Escape Pod **Ultra**
Scale is off, non-vac metal, no bendable knees, a repaint...bad effort on what would have been a cool set

Jabba's Palace Wave
Rappertunie - Jabba's Palace
SE is next to EU in my book, I would have much rather have seen an actual OT alien ala Hermi or Yarna

J'Quille - Jabba's Sail Barge
Him and Elom were nice addition to IMO a rather unstellar Wave,  It was good but could have been SO much more (see above)

Battle of Yavin Wave
Imperial Tie Fighter Pilot - Battle of Yavin
Really can't complain about any of the figures...maybe they should have done a resculpted Luke Ceremony instead but this is the worst of the 4 which all 4 are some of the best figures of '04

Dutch Vander - Battle of Yavin
Great figure all around, a tad bit tall but its hard to say if that was actually how tall Vander was

Star Destroyer Wave
Dengar - Executor Meeting
My favorite figure of 2004...Great work Hasbro on an otherwise uninteresting background dude

Bossk - Executor Meeting
VEry uneccesary resculpt (as is Bib Fortuna to me) I would have liked a new Naval Trooper or maybe a new Zuckuss (which also not high on my list)

Battle of Endor Wave
Han Solo in AT-ST Disguise - Endor Strike
EU Figure, nuff said

General Madine - Imperial Shuttle Capture
Vintage figure update...nuff said

[Brian]

Thanks for the reply Scott, your favorite/least favorites were much better organized than my reply    I agree with you, anything that is an update of vintage figures is great in my book...really looking forward to that Madine figure as well.  I've been reading a lot of positive reactions to that Dengar too, from the pics I've seen it looks amazing.  I only have Boba and IG-88 so far for bounty hunters, so Bossk and Dengar are both welcome here.  However, I could see where the Bossk wasn't really necessary.

[SilverZ]

Just a note before mine - even though I've only seen pics of the Endor wave, they've been accounted for in judgement of the rest. I'm just pointing out my personal best/worst, and the rest fall somewhere in between.

Favorite

R1-G4  (Tatooine)
Droids do indeed rock and its always good to see new (and well-done) additions.

Lando (Jabba's Palace)
The rescupt you didn't know you needed. Perfect head sculpt, detailed helmet, working holster, better paint apps. Cool all around and a surprise to boot.

Dutch Vander - Gold Leader (Yavin)
This is the best pilot figure ever, if a bit tall. Perfect helmet detail and size, good arm articulation, shockingly well hidden knee articulation, and the suit straps as a seperate component make all the other pilots before him simply 2nd rate. I love this figure!

Luke Hoth + Wampa (Hoth)
I'm lumping these together since both are great sculpts and have connecting base sections that make an awesome scene. Why this idea hasn't been used more is beyond me. This was one of the best ideas at the start of the '04 Saga line, and was never followed up.

Coulda Been Contenders

Jedi Luke (Jabba's Palace)
I'm really liking it less now because of his arms.  It screams for a ball-socket at the shoulders hidden under the tunic. Combine that with the elbow articulation from the Endor Generals. Perfection could have been made and was missed by a tad.

R2-D2 (Tatooine)
A great R2 unit that misses greatness on account of the poor execution of the drink tray. The one component that makes this "Bar2-D2) is sloppily painted in solid gold, including the glasses! It should have been a clear plastic, then painted gold in the appropriate areas. Too bad.

Ozzel (Star Destroyer)
Poor paint applications on the head and face, combined with limiting elbow articulation makes him a one-pose figure that otherwise was a perfect officer sculpt.

Least Favorite

Jabba the Hutt (Ultra)
The one character you don't skimp on, and it's skimped on in every way. Reused mold, dodgy paint apps (and should have been semigloss, not flat), incomplete dias, lack of articulation, and slightly underscale. We may never see this character done right at this point.

Hoth Rebel Soldier (Hoth)
Too short, stupid look on his face, and generally uninspired on what should have been a great army builder. Knowing what was coming in the waves after, it should have had a balljoint headsculpt, straight legs with knee articulation, and elbow articulation.

Hall of Fame (Lame)
None of these figures, with the possible exception of C-3PO and Darth Vader, needed further distribution. It was a waste of time and precious peg-space, and would have been better to just release these figures in the regular assortments when needed. Boo!

So that's it! Considering I can only call out a couple figures that I find actually terrible, that's a pretty good run overall, me thinks. Not that there's a lot of  figures like the Ultra 3Po that fall close to it, I really can take them or leave them. At least they're not abominations that ruin the slim chances of a **proper** version coming out, like Jabba.

[Brian]

Jabba the Hutt (Ultra)
The one character you don't skimp on, and it's skimped on in every way. Reused mold, dodgy paint apps (and should have been semigloss, not flat), incomplete dias, lack of articulation, and slightly underscale. We may never see this character done right at this point.

That's a really good point Tydirium.  Although I do like this figure, and its my only modern Jabba, it could have been a little better.  Your comment about the semigloss rather than flat paint is quite true I think.  Plus, if you look at the version shown on the back of Jabba's box, it seems to look much better in that picture than the final product.  However, I am very happy to have it too...still the best modern version I think.....but like you said, they should have went all out on this one.  Also agree with the joints on the Jedi Luke, that would have made it about perfect.