Over the weekend, I have a long drive home from the boy's football games, so I decided to hit some Wally's along the way... One on the western side of Pittsburgh had 3 Roses, nothing else. This smacked of someone gobbling stuff up to resell to me, but maybe I'm jaded. Either way, I grabbed 2 Roses thinking I'd help a local out if he needed it and one for myself. No issue checking out, though I did nab a Rey and put her on top of the pile so she got scanned first in a hope that it was late and the checkout lady wouldn't give a poo and just push them through however she had to.
OK so my night was alright... I'd hit a store nearer the school and it hadn't had anything but this one near the city did, hooray.
On the way home I hit one near my gf's place and rounded the corner... They had Cassian Andor and the Scarrif Trooper. One each, but for the first time I've heard out here in the East, they had figures from this wave!
Now, is this a thing that we'll see more of? I dunno. But I was a happy man even to find one. Someone had gotten the rest and left a Death Trooper too, which I also bought, but yeah. Cool beans, this made my night.
But I decided to press my luck and drag my gf with me to the store beyond her town... not far, and I was pushing for no whammy's. I round the corner and I see old Luke, Rose, and after some digging a Praetorean Guard.
Again, many more Roses than the others. No Executioners, and 1x each in damaged boxes Luke/Guard which once again smacked of someone perhaps there to resell stuff.
I hate crying scalper but I have noticed an uptick in the telltale signs of douchebags creeping into the hobby more. Especially with the 3.75" TBS line, and things like the Probot, basic old Luke, etc.
So I had a pretty solid night as toy runs go, and then my buddy Jim nabs me the Executioner and our other buddy the rest of the wave... I have an extra Rose now, and I'm ok with that.
Some thoughts on the figures...
-Praetorian Guard... He's probably my favorite due to the army buildability of him, and he's a solid figure overall. Sculpt, articulation, range of motion of said articulation, paint aps (such as they are), and so on and so forth. He's pretty simple in a way, but he's a good figure all around.
-Executioner... Don't have him in hand yet, but he's basically a new deco and a new weapon on an old figure. It's a figure I like, and it's not as army buildable as the original trooper is (I'm assuming they don't have 100 executioners running around in TLJ), but I'm guessing he's just an old figure with a new deco. Ok, nothing amazing to go nuts over.
-Rose... Shockingly love her. She's very poseable, very easily holds her weapon with 2 hands, one hand, lots of cool poses... I like the aurabesh text on her jumpsuit. She has customizability with the genericness of the costume. She's a pretty cool figure and just very well done. Is she important? Does she do a ton? Does she deserve this many figures immediately? No clue, but the figure, as it is, is great. Kind of a shame she's the Finn/Old Leia/Jyn/Lando of this particular wave... She deserves better. Her initial basic 5POA 3.75" figure should've been a different costume ala her 6" exclusive or something.
-Luke... Here's the one that I'm torn on. I didn't look for a 5POA Luke because I didn't see the necessity in it with a 3.75" SA figure. Like Rose, I knew what I wanted, and it was articulation... and I got it! However, Hasbro (in its infinite confusing mixed message stuff they do) decided they'd super articulate his lower body while putting stiff plastic robes over it.
The sculpt is great. The deco is great. Having Old Luke there to stand and stare angrily, I love that... BUT WTF!? No way this figure should've had plastic robes. Cloth cloth cloth! That's the point of this line! The ability to pose these figures, and I'd like to think Luke could still whip some ass if he wished.
So I actually love-hate this figure... I'd add too, that his cloth cape needs some tweaking to make it lay right and look correct on this figure, but they've done the "skirt" piece in cloth so well before, especially with Jedi, and this one they just really **** the bed with the plastic robes. You can literally get a 5POA Luke with plastic robes that you can't pose dynamically, for less money, then you can pay more and get a Luke you can pose dynamically so long as he's standing there kind of plainly. But either way, whatever, it's a cool figure to (finally) have. I like it. I just am left scratching my head.
Scarrif Troopers... I had one already I got online for a fair price factoring in the shipping, and knew I loved it. It's a figure that is up there with my all time favorites, right beside the Death Trooper actually. And Cassian... And Jyn... Can you guess I enjoyed Rogue One?
