Skywalkersaga's 1/12 scale Star Wars figures

Very nice work, Skywalkersaga!  You’re painting skills are very impressive.  Me?  I could leave brushmarks with an airbrush.  

I know the Padme figures well as I have both of them, so I’m really impressed with the improvement you made on the Black Series version.  Anakin is very impressive as well, especially the flesh tones.  I remember what a disappointment that figure was to so many when it first came out.  You did a fantastic job on him!

I started at the very beginning with both the Black Series and S.H. Figuarts.  The first wave of Black Series figures was so good, but it went downhill quickly.  I had already given up on the line when S.H. Figuarts started releasing their figures.  I got interested in the Black Series again when they started using face printing technology, but they are still maddeningly inconsistent.   Figures like Grand Moff Tarkin were spectacular, but a lot of the others, especially the main cast, still fell short.  (Don’t even get me started on my platoon of pink Black Series First Order Stormtroopers.)

Another issue, believe it or not, is that Black Series figures are very difficult to find at retail here in the States.  The big box stores just don’t stock them with any regularity.  About the only ones I’ve seen this past year are Jar Jar Binks and Boba Fett.  I wish SHF would release some of those prototypes they’ve shown over the years but never got around to.

So Gubernatorfan, the Black Series Stormtrooper is really that good?  I’ve been wanting to get a couple of them, but like I said, I never see them in stores and they seem to sell out online  pretty quickly.  I’m a sucker for anything Stormtrooper as I’m guessing you are based on your avatar.  

Xavion2004 wrote:Very nice work, Skywalkersaga!  You’re painting skills are very impressive.  Me?  I could leave brushmarks with an airbrush.  

I know the Padme figures well as I have both of them, so I’m really impressed with the improvement you made on the Black Series version.  Anakin is very impressive as well, especially the flesh tones.  I remember what a disappointment that figure was to so many when it first came out.  You did a fantastic job on him!

Thanks, Xavion!

Xavion2004 wrote: I started at the very beginning with both the Black Series and S.H. Figuarts.  The first wave of Black Series figures was so good, but it went downhill quickly.  I had already given up on the line when S.H. Figuarts started releasing their figures.  I got interested in the Black Series again when they started using face printing technology, but they are still maddeningly inconsistent.   Figures like Grand Moff Tarkin were spectacular, but a lot of the others, especially the main cast, still fell short.  (Don’t even get me started on my platoon of pink Black Series First Order Stormtroopers.)

Another issue, believe it or not, is that Black Series figures are very difficult to find at retail here in the States.  The big box stores just don’t stock them with any regularity.  About the only ones I’ve seen this past year are Jar Jar Binks and Boba Fett.  I wish SHF would release some of those prototypes they’ve shown over the years but never got around to.

Agree that the paintjobs/printing on the Black Series faces has not been consistent in quality. And yes, it does seem they are difficult to find in-person. Being in the UK, I've never once actually purchased a Black Series in a store (only online), but people I've spoken to in the US have said that it can be hard to track down certain figures.

My personal biggest frustration is that more often than not, the only Black Series figures I actually want end up being some kind of Target or Walmart exclusive. Since those stores don't exist here, I have to wait until they trickle onto ebay, often at quite high prices from the get-go. That's been a very prohibitive factor to me collecting these in earnest. I'm not someone who just collects every SW figure, I'm very particular about which characters I want in my collection. So it's quite frustrating when the few characters I want are super rare and pricey to track down.

Xavion2004 wrote:So Gubernatorfan, the Black Series Stormtrooper is really that good?  I’ve been wanting to get a couple of them, but like I said, I never see them in stores and they seem to sell out online  pretty quickly.  I’m a sucker for anything Stormtrooper as I’m guessing you are based on your avatar.  

Well, between liking the classic stormtrooper design (for all its goofiness) and the need to army-build... yes. And by Black Series stormtrooper I mean the most recent, "Mandalorian" (actually Rogue One) version. The original Black Series stormtrooper is hideous (unlike, strangely, the Sand Trooper). Check out my comparative review of the twelfth-scale stromtroopers here:
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t3353-star-wars-new-and-old-twelfth-scale-stormtroopers-comparison

skywalkersaga wrote:My personal biggest frustration is that more often than not, the only Black Series figures I actually want end up being some kind of Target or Walmart exclusive. Since those stores don't exist here, I have to wait until they trickle onto ebay, often at quite high prices from the get-go. That's been a very prohibitive factor to me collecting these in earnest. I'm not someone who just collects every SW figure, I'm very particular about which characters I want in my collection. So it's quite frustrating when the few characters I want are super rare and pricey to track down.

Apparently, Hasbro's distribution sucks when it comes to consistency. If you shop in actual physical stores for your figures, you need to do a systematic search through several chains and locations -- there are whole YouTube videos of people doing exactly that. I have picked up a few figures off the shelf, but most have been online purchases for me too.

Does Wal-Mart not ship to the UK? Target may or may not, don’t know.

Stryker2011 wrote:Does Wal-Mart not ship to the UK? Target may or may not, don’t know.

I have no idea, I didn't know they had an online shop. I also presumed that 'store exclusive' meant that it was physically in the store, but I guess I am behind the times... ;p

It's hard to believe these started out as Hasbro toys. You've turned them into true collectible quality figures, kinda remind me of the old SS Figures in 1/6 but with even better paint jobs. Excellent!

I was tempted to buy a few to "play with" when black series was getting popular, but after taking a closer look in store, decided they weren't quality enough, even though they are cheap. 

For Star Wars, I actually liked the old Micro Machines sets that were close to 1/72 scale. Bought a lot of those back when they were available 20-25 years ago and still have them in storage boxes. Cool thing was you could collect a lot of the figures that fit the scale and build little units of pilots and stormtroopers, not to mention some of the main characters. Also built some cheap Revell kits that were about the same scale, like the imperial shuttle. I had big plans to do a Death Star hangar bay but never really finished it!

I may have to pull them out of storage someday and take some pics...

tankgirlfuzzy wrote:It's hard to believe these started out as Hasbro toys. You've turned them into true collectible quality figures, kinda remind me of the old SS Figures in 1/6 but with even better paint jobs. Excellent!

Ah, wow, that is high praise indeed. My hope was that I could improve the Black Series enough that they wouldn't look like complete crap next to the SH Figuarts. So...thank you!  

tankgirlfuzzy wrote:;]I was tempted to buy a few to "play with" when black series was getting popular, but after taking a closer look in store, decided they weren't quality enough, even though they are cheap. 

Yeah, the price point on the Black Series is.... idk... I find it frustrating. They are definitely 'cheap' compared to most other things, but at the same time, sometimes I think they are still too pricey for what they actually are (plastic toy line figures with wildly inconsistent quality).

tankgirlfuzzy wrote:For Star Wars, I actually liked the old Micro Machines sets that were close to 1/72 scale. Bought a lot of those back when they were available 20-25 years ago and still have them in storage boxes. Cool thing was you could collect a lot of the figures that fit the scale and build little units of pilots and stormtroopers, not to mention some of the main characters. Also built some cheap Revell kits that were about the same scale, like the imperial shuttle. I had big plans to do a Death Star hangar bay but never really finished it!

I may have to pull them out of storage someday and take some pics...

Oh, awesome! I think I have a couple of those tiny ships myself. I was planning to use some of them as 'model ships' for my 1/6 figures, lol! I like them a lot. I think have also used a couple of them as Christmas tree ornaments. :'D

Would love to see some pics of yours!