Black series 6 inch Rogue One Characters. Oldies I know but new to me.

Hi all,

Having just gotten K2SO from the Black series range I discovered that almost all the other characters from Rogue one in the Black Series 6 inch range can be had at discounted prices, and in some cases very discounted prices.
So I went ahead and bought 5 of the figures:

Director Krenick
Jyn Erso (Jedha)
Baze Malbus
Chirrut Imwe
Cassian Andor

I will comment on Cassian Andor in an update has he is not with me yet.

All of these figures were priced well under the £20-£25 that they usually cost here in the UK, and 2 of them were under £10.  I can't say that they are all great figures but none of them is really bad in my opinion.  They have all the usual articulation and the 4 I have now with perhaps the exception of Jyn have reasonable likenesses.

So on to the bit I am sure you prefer the pics.








So Director Krenick is not too bad.  He comes with his blaster and that large white cape, which up close looks pretty bad but actually works from a distance.  I think a cloth cape would have been nice, but would probably have been impossible to pose convincingly in this scale.  The face to me is not bad.  He is no dead ringer but there is a hint of Krenick there.






Jyn Erso is also an ok figure to my eye.  This is probably the worst of the faces among these 4.  Honestly I can't see any of Falicity Jones features in there.  But the rest of the figure is pretty good I think.  There is a lot of detail captured and the blaster which is the only accessory is really nicely done.






Next is Chirrut Imwe, which again I think is a pretty nice figure.  The face is not brilliant but it definitely has some of his features, and the rest of the figure portrays this very detailed costume very well with a nice mix of plastic and cloth to represent the robes.  He comes with his staff and bow caster which also has morale limbs just like the prop.







And last but by no means leat we have Baze Malbus.  This in my opinion is the best of these 4 figures.  The face is once again not brilliant but you can definitely see who it is meant to be.  The amount of detail on the figure is phenomenal.  Every where you look their is moulded detail and paint and it all works really well.  He comes with his very heavy blaster and back tank which looks great and is actually 3 separate moulded pieces.  I love this one I think he is great.

And lastly a pic of these 4 with K2SO and the Death trooper which I already have.


As I mentioned earlier I will update this thread with pics and my thoughts on the Cassian Andor figure when he arrives.

But for now I look forward to your thoughts on this little lot.

Paul

Not a bad group. I pretty much agree on all your points. Yeah, if it wasn’t for the outfit, I would have absolutely no idea that was anything other than a woman in that Jyn sculpt. Looking forward to what they do with a Cassian. I think the Chirruit and Baze sculpts are the best.


Man, what I wouldn’t give for Sideshow to revisit that Greedo — $700 on the aftermarket is insane.

Nice haul! And I like them. Especially the Jyn, as that's probably my fave look for her from the film. Though I can understand what you mean with the paintjob and the face not really looking much like her. It's rather like a generic version of her, lol. Oddly enough, I actually think some of the smaller 3.75" versions of her look more like her. One can indeed tell that these are all 'earlier' Black Series releases by the paint jobs on their faces. I have noticed Hasbro seems to be trying to incorporate a more 'printed' look to some of their more recent 6" releases.

I don't yet have these myself, as I don't collect a ton of 6" inch Star Wars stuff -- I'm a bit of a stick in the mud and prefer the more traditional scales for SW figures. Plus Hasbro has been slow to put out many of my fave characters in that scale, leaving me with few other options other than Figuarts, and I can only afford a handful of those at most. And finally, as you've noted, it can be tough to even find many of the Black Series figures at an decent price here in the UK. But all that being said, if I had found the ones you've posted above for such a good price, I'd have snapped them up too! Glad you have fellow figures to go with the K-2S0!

And they may be 'old' by current media and collecting standards, but they and the movie they are from are still new in my mind. Thank you for sharing!

Stryker2011 wrote:Not a bad group. I pretty much agree on all your points. Yeah, if it wasn’t for the outfit, I would have absolutely no idea that was anything other than a woman in that Jyn sculpt. Looking forward to what they do with a Cassian. I think the Chirruit and Baze sculpts are the best.


Man, what I wouldn’t give for Sideshow to revisit that Greedo — $700 on the aftermarket is insane.

Thanks Stryker2011, and I have to agree that Chirrut and Baze are definitely the best of this bunch. I would have happily paid the full price for Baze in particular.

Cassian should be with me tomorrow so I will post upon him soon.

Greedo is without a doubt the most expensive 1/6 figure I have. Sadly he is only the standard one rather than the limited edition one which comes with a few extras, so he is not wort quite as high a price, but I did pay a lot for him. I wanted all the 1/6 Bounty hunters I could get and he completed the set
It is actually a beautifully done figure.

Paul

skywalkersaga wrote:Nice haul! And I like them. Especially the Jyn, as that's probably my fave look for her from the film. Though I can understand what you mean with the paintjob and the face not really looking much like her. It's rather like a generic version of her, lol. Oddly enough, I actually think some of the smaller 3.75" versions of her look more like her. One can indeed tell that these are all 'earlier' Black Series releases by the paint jobs on their faces. I have noticed Hasbro seems to be trying to incorporate a more 'printed' look to some of their more recent 6" releases.

I don't yet have these myself, as I don't collect a ton of 6" inch Star Wars stuff -- I'm a bit of a stick in the mud and prefer the more traditional scales for SW figures. Plus Hasbro has been slow to put out many of my fave characters in that scale, leaving me with few other options other than Figuarts, and I can only afford a handful of those at most. And finally, as you've noted, it can be tough to even find many of the Black Series figures at an decent price here in the UK. But all that being said, if I had found the ones you've posted above for such a good price, I'd have snapped them up too! Glad you have fellow figures to go with the K-2S0!

And they may be 'old' by current media and collecting standards, but they and the movie they are from are still new in my mind. Thank you for sharing!  

Thanks Skywalkersaga, I'm glad you like them. I have sort of moved to these a bit from previously collecting 1/6 as I find a lot of the new 1/6 Star Wars stuff is over priced these days.

Hasbro have indeed introduced a new printing process for the faces on newer figures with some stunning results. The faces are much better, but still need a good sculpt to get the most out of the new printing process.

I love Rogue One its the film the got me interested in Star Wars again after a long time in the wilderness lol. We need more like it in my opinion.

I actually got all of these from Amazon. Jyn and Cassian that should be here tomorrow were both under £9. I got free shipping too as I have a Prime membership.

Paul

scalawag wrote:Thanks Skywalkersaga, I'm glad you like them.  I have sort of moved to these a bit from previously collecting 1/6 as I find a lot of the new 1/6 Star Wars stuff is over priced these days.

I understand, and I do agree that 1/6 SW stuff can be prohibitively costly, especially the after-market prices on the Sideshow stuff...and even some of the Hasbro crap stuff can be insanely expensive these days, too. And yes, Hot Toys is always pricey, but that's just normal for them, lol. It doesn't really make a huge difference to me though as many of my fave characters don't even exist in decent 1/6 form yet, so even though there is a wide range of 'official' SW figures available in that scale, I still tend to end up making custom 1/6 figures rather than straight up collecting. I will splurge on the occassional must-have, but I agree with you that it's not a scale at which I can 'collect' in the way I am used to.

Rather, what I was getting at is that I still tend to avidly collect a lot of the traditional, smaller 3.75" SW figures. There are many from the Lucas-era that I still don't have, and it's fun to try to find them.  I have immense nostalgia for these, and their dimunitive size has always made them nice for someone like me who doesn't have a ton of storage or display space. I realize a lot of 'collectors' consider such things beneath them, but I love them, and I have invested a lot in past years into curating my lil collection of them.

That said, I do understand the appeal of 1/12 scale for those who want something a bit larger, but without having to pay the 1/6 prices. For me though, there hasn't been a ton of incentive to get heavily into the 6 inch figs as not enough of my faves have been made....though if if they start making more Clone Wars figures in that scale, I'd not be able to resist. ;p

scalawag wrote:Hasbro have indeed introduced a new printing process for the faces on newer figures with some stunning results.  The faces are much better, but still need a good sculpt to get the most out of the new printing process.

Yes, the ones I have seen have been excellent. I hope they can continue to improve. : )

scalawag wrote:I love Rogue One its the film the got me interested in Star Wars again after a long time in the wilderness lol.  We need more like it in my opinion.

Agreed! It's the only live-action film from the Disney-era that has not made me want to throw myself into the Sarlacc.

In all seriousness, I really, really love that film. <3

scalawag wrote:I actually got all of these from Amazon.  Jyn and Cassian that should be here tomorrow were both under £9.  I got free shipping too as I have a Prime membership.l

Oh, thanks, that's good to know! The 6 inch black series figures seem to always be so overpriced on ebay. Appreciate the tip.

Perhaps Chirrut and Baze did come out best. The 6-inch Black Series has been a bit hit and miss on facial sculpting and paint application, and that can be more of a problem on specific protagonists and antagonists than on troopers. But on the whole the products are decent and I appreciate the good articulation (which was at least temporarily abandoned with the 3.75-inch figures, though the Vintage Collection is bringing it back).

Yes, it’s true ...the paint application when the 6” inch Black Series first started was so-so on some, and outright terrible on others. The Anakin figure they put out was notoriously awful in that regard, and it’s been common to have to repaint him completely. I think they are finally going to be re-releasing that figure with the updated techniques, but it’s taken nearly five years . They’ve finally made a Padme in that scale as well, but I’m a bit dubious about the sculpt based the pics I’ve seen ( especially compared to the amazing Figuarts version of her), though trying to remain hopeful.

Which is not to say other companies like Figuarts are entirely flawless at that scale either — while I loved the AotC Anakin and Padme figures that they put out, along with some of the other PT figures, the RotS Anakin was a huge disappointment . He came with not one, but THREE headsculpts and all of them were horrible. Great paint application as always, but just really ugly and lacking in resemblance to the character .

So for years, there’s only been one passable version of my fave character in that scale ( even the 6 inch Black Series Vader figures had left something to be desired), which probably did affect my views towards collecting them ( at least in comparison to the 3.75” figs, for which there is a bit more variety in my areas of interest) , lol. ;D

I think 6 inch figures are a bit of a weird scale in that, they are small enough that there’s only so much detail one can achieve, but also big enough that certain glaring flaws , which might not have been as noticeable in 3.75”, become much more readily apparent.

They do have benefits though — as you noted the articulation can be very good. The 3.75” figures did suffer from lack of articulation during the Prequels era ( though there are a couple odd gems from that time, too), and didn’t start getting better again until around 2007 onward. My personal fave 3.75” lines from the pre-Disney times are the Clone Wars collection and, as you mentioned, the Vintage Collection. I’m also fond of some of the concept art figures from the 30th anniversary collection. The Disney-era 3.75” figures can be ok , but it does seem like Hasbro is more focused on the 6” stuff as being the ‘collectible’ ones these days. My only issue with that is that they’ve tended to favour Disney’s newer characters — several of which I loathe with a fiery passion — in such releases (the main exception being the Rogue One crew and the SW: Rebels characters, whom I love!), and are slow to put out characters from previous SW eras.

I’m honestly not actually complaining , as I always welcome more variety , rather than less. : ). But the slow pace of the releases of the 6 inch figures — and the frustrating quality issues of the extant ones — led me to lean toward other scales for the time being.

When done well , figures at this size can be amazing. I really do like these R1 figs, and hope to get a couple of them myself at some point. I wish they’d made a Galen Erso in that size though .... I LOVE him (and Mads). :’))

Btw...I’m out of the loop: did they ever make a 6 inch R1 Mon Mothma? Bail Organa ? Or even General Merrick ( aka Blue Leader)? I have the first two in their 3.75” RotS form , but would definitely be curious about seeing them in a slightly larger scale.

Hope your Cassian arrives soon, scalawag!

Cassian will be arriving today   so more on him later.  I think from the pics of the figure though it will be a bit like Jyn, not a bad looking face but not much like Diego Luna.  We shall see (later today )

The new face printing tech that Hasbro have just introduced is yielding some very good results so far.  

The best comparison is the Luke in Xwing suit, which was the first 6" figure released in the black series I believe, and the new 'Archive' version which has just been released.

From all the reviews I have seen it appears that this is made from the exact same mould as the original, but the archive figure has the new face print technology, and is universally praised for being better than the original.  Its still not a dead ringer for Mark Hamill, but it has improved the look of an old sculpt some.  

I would imagine that Baze, Chirrut and Krenick from this little bunch would benefit most from the new face print tech as the base sculpts are pretty good. Jyn not so much though, I don't think the sculpt itself is good enough.

Its all moving in the right direction

I don't recall the characters from RO that you mentioned being in the 6" range yet skywalkersaga, but I am no expert on the range and may have missed them, and who knows for the future

Galen Erso would be an awesome addition I agree.  I am a big fan of Mads Mikkelson too.  I would definitely have to buy that figure    

Paul

scalawag wrote:Cassian will be arriving today   so more on him later.  I think from the pics of the figure though it will be a bit like Jyn, not a bad looking face but not much like Diego Luna.  We shall see (later today )

Aww, lol, well hopefully at least they will 'match' each other.

scalawag wrote:The new face printing tech that Hasbro have just introduced is yielding some very good results so far.   The best comparison is the Luke in Xwing suit, which was the first 6" figure released in the black series I believe, and the new 'Archive' version which has just been released.    From all the reviews I have seen it appears that this is made from the exact same mould as the original, but the archive figure has the new face print technology, and is universally praised for being better than the original.  Its still not a dead ringer for Mark Hamill, but it has improved the look of an old sculpt some.  

That's great news!! The pics I've seen of the 'archive' release of the Anakin are a similar story... same sculpt/mould, but greatly improved paint job. And no, still not totally accurate likeness, but far better than before.

And I agree that the above Rogue One figures would be great to see with upgraded faces, though given how slow Hasbro can be to release or re-release things, I'm guessing it would likely be a while before that would realistically happen. :p

scalawag wrote:
I don't recall the characters from RO that you mentioned being in the 6" range yet skywalkersaga, but I am no expert on the range and may have missed them, and who knows for the future

Ah ok , just wanted to check....I'm no expert either, and I tend to stay purposefully far away from any and all SW 'announcements' in general for the sake of my sanity.

scalawag wrote:Galen Erso would be an awesome addition I agree.  I am a big fan of Mads Mikkelson too.  I would definitely have to buy that figure    

Glad to know I'm not the only Mads fan....would be beyond awesome to have a depiction of him in 1/6 form as well.  

And..... Cassian Andor has arrived.

Another nice figure, but as I suspected there is very little resemblance to Diego Luna.  That said some nice detailing is evident, he comes with 2 blasters one of which has some really nice paint application, and has a removable cap which is a nice feature.

Anyway lets let the Pics do the talking.









Paul

The removable cap is a nice touch, but yeah, not seeing much in the likeness. It really is too bad HT never did Cassian or Baize. Missed opportunities there. Have they done Forrest Whitaker's character in this scale?

Stryker2011 wrote:The removable cap is a nice touch, but yeah, not seeing much in the likeness. It really is too bad HT never did Cassian or Baize. Missed opportunities there. Have they done Forrest Whitaker's character in this scale?

Not that I know of mate, but Saw Gerrera would potentially be an awesome figure in any scale I would think.

Paul

His outfit is indeed nicely detailed! you are right that his face doesn't look much like him...I think maybe the goatee throws it off a bit as well, as it's not that defined in the film. But he looks very good and helps to complete the line up!

I meant to say earlier that I like your 1/6 figures in the background....would give anything for a Boushh Leia!!!! <3

Stryker2011 wrote:It really is too bad HT never did Cassian or Baize. Missed opportunities there. Have they done Forrest Whitaker's character in this scale?

Agreed. Would be much preferable to be able to display 1/6 Jyn and Cassian together, and Chirrut and Baize side by side. I'm so character and relationship-driven in my collecting that things like this often make or break my decisions to go for certain figures.

Yes, for sure, I would also like to see more versions of Saw Gerrera. My husband has the 3.75" one that came in the Jedha Revolt pack, and it's pretty decent for what it is.  I wish the TCW collection line had not been abandoned after Disney took over, as it would likewise have been neat to have had both Saw and Steela in their animated forms as the young guerrilla fighters from the Onderon arc. The fact that they incorporated a Clone Wars character into Rogue One, and in such an interesting and symbolic -- if  rather tragic -- way, greatly enhanced what was already an amazing film for me. : )

Yeah that black series is quite interesting. I wonder what would have happened if my 6 year old self saw them. When I was a kid I only liked the armored Star wars figures like Stormtroopers and Boba Fett, while I found the normally clothed, unmasked characters rather boring. Can anyone else relate to that? I think those fully covered characters also sell better, but that's just speculation.

The sad thing about those figures are in my opinion the visible holes for the knee and elbow joints, I thought technology is more advanced than that. I got myself a black series clone and a tie fighter recently, maybe those holes can be covered with a thin layer of putty. My 6 year old self wouldn't have cared about that and just started playing. I envy him sometimes! xD

Ovy wrote:Yeah that black series is quite interesting. I wonder what would have happened if my 6 year old self saw them. When I was a kid I only liked the armored Star wars figures like Stormtroopers and Boba Fett, while I found the normally clothed, unmasked characters rather boring.  Can anyone else relate to that? I think those fully covered characters also sell better, but that's just speculation.

I think that the fully masked and armoured figures are easier to make look more precisely like their film counterparts, whereas actual faces are much harder to emulate at such a small scale. Especially not until recent technology has allowed for much more accurate, precise, and detailed paint jobs.  There is also the issue of fabric clothing, which is difficult to mimic at this scale, and often ends up looking either very obviously sculpted, or completely out-of-scale when made with actual fabric.

It's a little different if we are talking about animated characters, but when it comes to representing live action characters in 1/12, it is understandable why fully armoured characters with totally covered faces might have a greater appeal.

Personally, I was always the opposite....my favourite types of figures being the 'regular' humans/humanoids and/or creatures, like Ewoks. But perhaps there is some kind of gender difference going on with that, I am not sure. As a young girl, I was not necessarily into the stereotypical girlie things, but was always highly enamoured of more organic looking creatures.... and my favourite non-SW things to collect as a child in general were model horses. The main exception when it came to SW was R2-D2....he was my favourite and I was completely and utterly obsessed with him.  I'd even draw him on my school binders back in the day, lol. XD

Ovy wrote:The sad thing about those figures are in my opinion the visible holes for the knee and elbow  joints, I thought technology is more advanced than that. I got myself a black series clone and a tie fighter recently, maybe those holes can be covered with a thin layer of putty. My 6 year old self wouldn't have cared about that and just started playing. I envy him sometimes! xD

Yeah, I have to agree. I don't get why they have such visible hinges. It's not like the technology does not exist to hide those to an extent. The McFarlane TWD figures are especially bad for that, having holes and hinges in the most unsightly locations, including their rear ends, of all places, lol. On those McFarlane figures it's especially un-aesthetic, and just plain distracting to me. O.o

i just loved them all when i was a boy, but that's just me.

It's important to not loose sight that these are toys. Relatively expensive, detailed and collectable toys granted, but toys none the less.
I suspect that the joints are formed that way to make them more durable whilst maintaining articulation. The original 3.75" figures got round this problem by not having knee or elbow joints Any figure like this is built to a cost too, and as such will make compromises to make a figure at a more affordable price.

These are figures from a couple of years ago now too, and I think that as time goes on the joints are getting better. Some of the latest figures have a sort of butterfly joint at the shoulders which give a great degree of articulation wit no visible mechanics.

Paul

scalawag wrote:i just loved them all when i was a boy, but that's just me.

It's important to not loose sight that these are toys.  Relatively expensive, detailed and collectable toys granted, but toys none the less.
I suspect that the joints are formed that way to make them more durable whilst maintaining articulation.  The original 3.75" figures got round this problem by not having knee or elbow joints Any figure like this is built to a cost too, and as such will make compromises to make a figure at a more affordable price.

These are figures from a couple of years ago now too, and I think that as time goes on the joints are getting better.  Some of the latest figures have a sort of butterfly joint at the shoulders which give a great degree of articulation wit no visible mechanics.

That's a really good point, Scalawag, and I appreciate you bringing it up. : ) ETA: Sometimes my 'art critic' side comes out when reviewing figures, but it is indeed important to remember that they are still intended to have some 'playability' as toys.

Yeah if i had one of these as a youngster it would have been ripped out of the packet and thrown straight into combat

Paul

scalawag wrote:Yeah if i had one of these as a youngster it would have been ripped out of the packet and thrown straight into combat

Too right!