Hasbro Solo 12" figures

Rogerbee wrote:I don't mind different versions of troopers, as long as they fit into the chronology. Neater looking Stormies in Rogue One made no sense as it was a direct prequel to ANH. The other trooper designs we saw were good though. When you see massive groups of them, like there were on the Death Star, it's always from a distance so you can't discern different types. With such a massive military presence it's naive to assume that each and every Imperial trooper is going to look the same. There will be different units with different specialties, much like the forces there were in WW2.

I agree with the first sentence completely -- which is why it is arguably fine if the Prequel and Sequel trilogies exhibit a large amount of variation from the Original Trilogy. The Rogue One stormtrooper design differences were cosmetic and not really at issue here, although in principle I agree they really should have been exactly the same as in ANH; but Lucasfilm had already long undermined that consistency by making slight cosmetic differences in stormtrooper design in ESB and ROTJ. The stormtroopers on the Death Star (1 or 2) were exactly the same type, distance or no. We know that, because we know the props. And I am not disputing the realism of having different trooper types and specialties -- just saying we already had plenty, and there has been no good explanation for the existence of the new ones invented in Rogue One or Solo besides "our fans might be too bored with the old ones and not buy more of them unless we come up with something new." I think that to delight you and shovelchop, I shall have to resume my research into new stormtrooper types.

I think we're just looking at it from different needs/wants. You are concerned about the franchise continuity and a logical timeline for changes in armour etc.. I on the other hand am just looking at it as a 1/6 collector/builder who wants more stuff to work on and display! I think I'm getting too old to be particularly bothered by film nuances as I rarely watch movies now a days and certainly not with the passion I used to have; meds probably don't help either as they control my emotions to make them flat out dull!

shovelchop81 wrote:I think we're just looking at it from different needs/wants. You are concerned about the franchise continuity and a logical timeline for changes in armour etc.. I on the other hand am just looking at it as a 1/6 collector/builder who wants more stuff to work on and display!  I think I'm getting too old to be particularly bothered by film nuances as I rarely watch movies now a days and certainly not with the passion I used to have

That is probably a fair assessment.

The changes in ESB and ROTJ were chronological and indeed logical, but, most came about due to damaged helmet moulds.

CHEERS!

[quote=GubernatorFan]

Anyway, here are a couple of shots of the figures:





#starwars #solo #stormtrooper #male #fiction #hasbro #disney[/quote]
Hey Gub,
Is it me, or do you a get a "young Arnold " vibe off the Han head sculpt?

I think the heads for these figures can be great affordable alternatives for kitbashing. The heads on the original Hasbro 12" figures were always a smidge too big, while these seem much better.

As for high end 1/6 figures from the new movie, I think it will be a certainty, even if the movie doesn't score ( I don't know much about it yet, waiting to surprise myself)
Then it will come down to who buys the liscencing versus who offers us "Gambling Space Pilot" , " Furry, Loyal Companion" and "Smooth Talking Confidence Man"

I think a lot of the differences in the stormtrooper in the OT really just comes down to the film makers not being so bothered about it all as we are.  If they looked pretty much like the stormtroopers did in the first film then they were OK in V & VI, they didn't have to be exactly the same.  Less access to VHS at the time and no internet meant direct comparisons were almost impossible, and most people would have only seen them at the cinema.  So as long as they were passable they were OK.  Now we can tear them apart and compare and contrast, but who back in 1977 would have thought we would still be talking about Star Wars on such a regular basis 40 years later, let alone that we would be able to peruse UHD screen grabs on our personal computer screens.  
All sorts of things got onto film largely I think because it only had to be good enough.  One of my favourites is this shot with Princess Leia on the Tantive IV.  If you look at the trooper on the far left you can see that his biceps armour is held together with white tape.  It's screen accurate guys       We can get all too hooked up on it at times, and loose sight of the overall picture.
Seriously though, I think these dudes look cool   , and when movies are set around the time of the OT we should see more of them, sanitised and spruced up or otherwise OT Stormies rock    



Paul

Rogerbee wrote:The changes in ESB and ROTJ were chronological and indeed logical, but, most came about due to damaged helmet moulds.

To a point, yes. But black-painted frowns, differently-painted mouths, edge of armor trim? Not quite. See also scalawag's post.

Pontiacivan wrote:Is it me, or do you a get a "young Arnold" vibe off the Han head sculpt?

I think the heads for these figures can be great affordable alternatives for kitbashing. The heads on the original Hasbro 12" figures were always a smidge too big, while these seem much better.

As for high end 1/6 figures from the new movie, I think it will be a certainty, even if the movie doesn't score ( I don't know much about it yet, waiting to surprise myself)
Then it will come down to who buys the liscencing versus who offers us "Gambling Space Pilot", "Furry, Loyal Companion" and "Smooth Talking Confidence Man"

Now that you mention it, I can see a bit of a young Arnold vibe.

They do need a repaint (especially the heads), and they should do nicely. Of course, it will require something like shovelchop's skills and ingenuity to make these fully poseable action figures.

I could be wrong, but I think Hot Toys has announced a figure of the young Han. If not, I am sure it will happen. They revel in different stormtrooper types, but we are yet to see what happens here. As for unlicensed versions, this is a franchise that is perhaps least likely to see them -- Lucasfilm and Disney have been quite vigilant (not to say vicious) about protecting their interests, and other than slave Leia, I haven't seen much in the way of SW unlicensed items.

scalawag wrote:I think a lot of the differences in the stormtrooper in the OT really just comes down to the film makers not being so bothered about it all as we are. ... OT Stormies rock    

I agree completely. ANH stormtroopers "vs" sand troopers are a case in point. The gunners and naval guards on the Death Star (especially in the superlaser shaft shot) are another. ESB's mirrored imperial officers aboard the Star Destroyer, yet another. There were plenty of oversights that were not noticed or corrected, in some cases to this day. And yes, OT Stormies do rock and you can't beat the real thing (to borrow from a Coca Cola commercial slogan).

As for unlicensed versions, this is a franchise that is perhaps least likely to see them -- Lucasfilm and Disney have been quite vigilant (not to say vicious) about protecting their interests, and other than slave Leia, I haven't seen much in the way of SW unlicensed items. wrote:

Very good point, I was just thinking of Hasbro forgetting about the even bigger players behind it all!

@ Gubernator:

There were a lot more needed in the later movies, it was a a question of large numbers and not much time. Hence the variations you spoke of.

CHEERS!

Rogerbee wrote:@ Gubernator:

There were a lot more needed in the later movies, it was a a question of large numbers and not much time. Hence the variations you spoke of.

Not in ESB, at least (only up to 12 per scene), and plenty of the admittedly many ones (emperor's arrival) in ROTJ were literally painted in. Besides, I am not convinced the alterations made the process faster. I think inconsistency/oversight is the more likely explanation -- to a point. The costumes book by Alinger notes some practical differences (such as liners inside helmets, armor rigging) between the three original films but leaves the design/appearance differences unexplained.

Rogerbee wrote:@ Gubernator:

There were a lot more needed in the later movies, it was a a question of large numbers and not much time. Hence the variations you spoke of.

CHEERS!

GubernatorFan wrote:

Rogerbee wrote:@ Gubernator:

There were a lot more needed in the later movies, it was a a question of large numbers and not much time. Hence the variations you spoke of.

Not in ESB, at least (only up to 12 per scene), and plenty of the admittedly many ones (emperor's arrival) in ROTJ were literally painted in. Besides, I am not convinced the alterations made the process faster. I think inconsistency/oversight is the more likely explanation -- to a point. The costumes book by Alinger notes some practical differences (such as liners inside helmets, armor rigging) between the three original films but leaves the design/appearance differences unexplained.

And the cardboard cut-outs!!! Remember them? The arrival of the Emperor on the Death Star scene if memory serves me correctly...

shovelchop81 wrote:And the cardboard cut-outs!!!  Remember them? The arrival of the Emperor on the Death Star scene if memory serves me correctly...

Not sure -- maybe. I do know that some of the rebel troopers at the end of ANH were cardboard cutouts.

GubernatorFan wrote:

Rogerbee wrote:@ Gubernator:

There were a lot more needed in the later movies, it was a a question of large numbers and not much time. Hence the variations you spoke of.

Not in ESB, at least (only up to 12 per scene), and plenty of the admittedly many ones (emperor's arrival) in ROTJ were literally painted in. Besides, I am not convinced the alterations made the process faster. I think inconsistency/oversight is the more likely explanation -- to a point. The costumes book by Alinger notes some practical differences (such as liners inside helmets, armor rigging) between the three original films but leaves the design/appearance differences unexplained.

I think too experience was gained from the "promotional" costumes used between the films as these would have potentially been worn for longer periods of time, and in less controlled and more challenging environments.  I am sure that adaptations would have been made to the promotional suits make them more practical and comfortable which then carried over to the suits subsequently used in V & VI.  I think that may well be where the helmet liners came from if my memory serves me well.  I suspect the changes were more evolutionary between the films rather than a well thought out process.

Paul

GubernatorFan wrote:

shovelchop81 wrote:And the cardboard cut-outs!!!  Remember them? The arrival of the Emperor on the Death Star scene if memory serves me correctly...

Not sure -- maybe. I do know that some of the rebel troopers at the end of ANH were cardboard cutouts.

Yup you're right, thought I might have mixed those up! ST's made more sense to me though!

It's probable that all these elements played their parts. You don't see it in figures though, they just reuse the same mould, it was how come SSC did so many clones, they were the same figure with different paint jobs.

CHEERS!

Rogerbee wrote:It's probable that all these elements played their parts. You don't see it in figures though, they just reuse the same mould, it was how come SSC did so many clones, they were the same figure with different paint jobs.

CHEERS!

The basic armour sure but there were a lot of helmet, additional armour, flight packs, accessories, weapons etc.. variants with different head sculpts even though they were clones they went out of their way to look different with hair styles, hair colour, scars, tattoos, war paint, facial hair etc..

They were cheap to do and kept SSC going through relatively fallow periods.

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I didn't know this thread existed, or if I did I'd forgotten about it!

The Hasbro Qi'ra figures showed up cheap in the local Morrisons supermarket. I got the first for £5, and the next time I went in they'd reduced her to £2.50 so I bought a second.




While she's a cheap plastic figure, with minimal articulation and ugly leg joints that create obvious gaps in her skirt, she's well sculpted and detailed. I don't know if it was by design or accident, but she's also perfectly scaled for a 1/6 Emilia Clarke.

Since I had two of them and they were so cheap, I made her my first 1/6 painting project just to see if I could improve her.

I broke out the ancient acrylic paints left over from my wargaming miniature painting days, and used electrical tape to cover the joints in the skirt, which also approximates leather.

Here's the before and after, or after and before as you look at the photo:








The S-195 blaster was also surprisingly well detailed and accurate to the 1:1 prop, except for omitting the trigger guard:




Scale reference to Hot Toys' (slightly oversized) Cloud City Leia:

She actually looks pretty decent, one of the better Emilia likenesses I've seen.

That line does make promising-looking figures, though it has its limits (most notably in articulation). Very nice customizing on your part, Asta, it looks much better this way.

GubernatorFan wrote:That line does make promising-looking figures, though it has its limits (most notably in articulation). Very nice customizing on your part, Asta, it looks much better this way.

Thanks.

I spent an age painting the face but wasn't happy with the result as the paint wasn't taking well to the surface.

Then I spent another age removing the paint and it came back to a less shiny tan colour - I'd assumed the head had been moulded in it's final colour. This was easier to paint. I was hoping to avoid the eyes apart from removing the doll dot, but since Hasbro left them in such a wonky fashion I had to straighten them up.

These are an odd set of figures, with some great sculpting and attention to detail, yet with such antiquated and ugly articulation.  As you wrote that Han was under scale it has to be a fluke that Qi'ra happened to be the perfect height for a 1/6 Emilia.

I initially picked her up because the HT Solo line is so sparse, and intended to use her as a background figure with Han meeting (Sideshow's original) Jabba as he intimates he's going to do at the end of the film.