NEW PRODUCT: JNB toys: 1/12 Interstellar Ranger JNB001

JNB toys 1/12 Interstellar Ranger Interstellar Ranger action figure JNB001
Brand: JNB Toys
Product name: Interstellar Ranger
Code: JNB001
Order cutoff time: June 10, 2024
Shipping time: Estimated fourth quarter of 2024
Official price: 598 yuan

Accessories list:
Real head sculpt*2
body*1
battle suit*1
belt*1
leather boots*2
cloak*1
interstellar gun*1
hilt*1
lightsaber special effects piece*2
baby transparent special effects piece*1
interstellar soldier wreckage effect Piece*1
Hand*6
Platform*1

























#StarWars #LukeSkywalker #Mandalorian

By the Force!

The "Interstellar Ranger" name evokes something different in my head...


and Spiritual Leader would better fit Morpheus Yoda, but all of it doesn't matter if we are getting Star Wars figures in "cloth action figure" category.

I am hoping to see Vader done like this. Hm. Maybe if I proceed with a custom, it will get announced.
But Luke is definitely a must. Even if he looks a bit bulky (the cloak especially, but it can be easily replaced).

You have failed, your mouseness. I am a soft goods Jedi, like my father before me!

nice one!

I definitely want this and also welcome more releases of this quality at this scale, hoping that the production pieces will keep the promise of these promotional prototype images. Great release!! A must-have for me.  

I agree he looks a little bulky, but at this scale with all that fabric I can let it slide. ^^

Wow, if they can maintain this level of apparent quality, this would be most impressive... as Vader would say.

A strange feeling: some people on Reddit are still waiting for theirs, but my Spiritual Leader / Interstellar Ranger is already here.
So let's have a Luke.


Out of package

He seems quite close to promo pics. The Jedi tunic is not as thick as I feared it would be. It is actually so thin the light shines through it. But why is it grey? I always thought Luke's ROTJ outfit was black (though some other figure manufacturers disagree - see the Black Series comparison further down)

Anyway, there is still some bulkiness here and there because of the inner layer under the tunic. There is just a lot of cloth.
Which is consistent with his Mandalorian appearance, but then the tunic should be longer.

The cloak is as bulky as it was on the promos.


It's wired, and I'm sure it can be manipulated to look better with enough patience. But I'll more likely use a different cloak - but today I only had time to cover packaged accessories.


Which include the blaster (supposedly from Jabba's palace)

framing failure, sorry

A lightsaber hilt with two very long and thin blades



V-r-r-oom!

And the damaged torso of a Dark Trooper droid:


Oh, and there is also a hologram of Grogu (and odd choice I'd say):


Another choice made by manufacturer is not so much odd but somewhat unexpected (or maybe it was wishful thinking on my part). He is not only Mezco-style, he is also Mezco-scale. Which means he is too large for most (if not all) other Star Wars figures.

With Black Series ROTJ Luke and SHF Mandalorian Luke:

Hasbro also thinks ROTJ tunic was grey

With my custom Leia and SHF ROTJ Luke (in OT Customs tunic):


Mafex Rogue One Vader and SHF Kenobi Vader (in OT Customs cape):

I am your father! - No, I am your father

Comparing with all my Vaders would take half a day, but they are mostly same height except for Mafex Vader - he is slightly taller, but needs to be even taller to be in scale.

Mezco Krig and Baron Bends:

(maybe I should have picked more human-like characters - I'll get to that later)

Of course, JNB Toys is not under any obligation to keep the scale compatible with other Star Wars lines, but for me this is disappointing.

Another source of disappointment is the overall fiddliness - it feels like a beta version. It is in scale with Mezco, yes, but it lacks Mezco "polish".
It's minor details - the belt tends to unclasp, one head is hard to fit, shoulder joints are scary to move, the tunic tends to live its own life -but they add up quickly. Plus with all these layers he can't really lower his arms all the way down.
Oh, and the is no ankle articulation - boots are too stiff (and overly large).

I'll see if I can improve any of these annoyances. The tunic is removable, so are both belts, maybe I can reach the base body and apply some shock oil to lubricate some joints.
But as it is now, the figure falls short of being the ultimate main display Luke I was hoping it to be...

Thank you for the detailed and beautifully illustrated review. The whole time I was thinking about how impressive this is for its scale. But I see what you mean about the boots being too large and of course it is always sad to encounter poor or no ankle articulation. I wonder if the choice of an oversized version of 12th scale (if we can call it that) was precisely so they could get more realistic details. Even so, some things are oversized, like the boots and belt.

The choice of a grey tunic (they called it "kimono") is probably intended to bring some additional contrast to an otherwise all-black outfit. In the film, it was made of raw silk, and although it was black, the color and/or the texture made it appear slightly lighter than the underlying black layers.

Yeah, apparently it is lighter in some scenes:

GubernatorFan wrote:Thank you for the detailed and beautifully illustrated review.

My pleasure.

What's under the hood?

It is worthy of additional praise that the outfit is not permanently attached in any way. I was able to break it down to the bones base body and put it back together, in a slightly different way.

Here is the base body (hanging on the stand) compared to Notaman:


It is somewhat smaller than a "normal" (non-superhero) Mezco body (which is roughly the same size as Notaman). Maybe the manufacturer couldn't find a smaller buck. Or perhaps it is just right for Mark Hamill in Mezco scale (too short for a stormtrooper).

I am not familiar with this body by the way. It is reasonably well articulated - I've seen better (Notaman), I've seen worse (Whisky Club Marc):


Shoulders even have butterfly joints which offer both up/down and forward/backward movement. They were tight, but shock oil helped loosen them a bit.

Ankle joints are there, articulation in this area is limited only by the boots.
Unfortunately, I had a mishap with one of the ankle joints: it came apart with one ring remaining in the boot. I did pull it out eventually, but it lost some tightness, and tends to come apart again and again, so I need to fix it somehow without gluing it permanently.

And in other areas articulation is hindered by clothes. Of which there are quite a few.

The "base layer" - pants and shirt with long sleeves:


Then there is short vest with velcro on the back (but it doesn't open fully) and the grey tunic. The tunic has another layer of black material in its upper part:


And two belts:


No wonder he can't put his arms down with all of that on.
But what if I don't put all of it on?



I think with only the base layer he looks quite clean, and articulation isn't limited.


Do I really need this?

The vest apparently provides all these layers Luke had in Mandalorian - but I can't find a good pic of it from the show itself so here is a sixth-scale figure as an illustration:


But I am willing to sacrifice some screen accuracy for articulation, especially since I didn't even notice it in the show.

But before proceeding to the tunic I ended up swapping the boots with those from SCP Mole Rat by Dragon Horse


This gives some articulation in the ankles - not exceptional, but better than non-existent.
(And poor Mole Rat now has to use the stiff oversized boots which are not fully compatible with ankle pegs; but I can live with that)

Now if we pretend the soles aren't bright yellow, these boots also look more in scale.
With a belt (which is too wide for base layer only, but still):


And now we can get back to the tunic.
Without the inner vest (and with lubricated shoulders) he can achieve a neutral pose that satisfies me


Sail barge look, with just inner belt:


And finally, here is how he looks with my preferred black cloak:


Anyway, now I feel that I'm getting there.
I still need to do something with the ankle joint, paint the soles and find a better solution for the Mole Rat (maybe loose Hasbro boots). But all in all, I consider this an upgrade.

I think you are indeed getting there, and have found various improvements on the functionality and look of the figure. Very cool.

In my earlier post I said I wasn't familiar with the base body
.

Now I've identified it.

On the subject of identification:

It's Drawman by Dam Toys. I don't have it in hand, but I have a Testman, same body in different color scheme:


The body itself is SHF-scale


but the neck is definitely not from Dramwan - and it is Mezco-scale. And so is the head


This combination of scales looks really off when not covered by clothes:


But put on the inner tunic, and suddenly it looks OK:


Which drives me insane. Why in the name of the Force it works like that?!

Anyway, I am still holding on to a hope that I can assemble a soft goods version of Luke that scales well with other 1/12 Star Wars figures (which include my custom Leia, the Emperor who is in this style right out of the box, stormtroopers and model kits where joints don't stand out too much, and eventually Darth Vader).
I'll probably start with putting this suit on a Drawman body:


Curiously, adding clothes to Testman suddenly gives him some personality in my mind's eye. As if he gained sentience and decided he doesn't want to be cannon fodder in a war with humans. But that's another story altogether...

Well done identifying the body. The neck is ridiculous, but works a lot better when dressed and covered up.