Commander Bond and the Knights of Ren

Commander Bond and the Knights of Ren

Disney Store PVC figurines - custom Hasbro figure

Since Disney stalled out on Star Wars, this leaves a large, sad gap in the 3.75inch figure line.  Yes, the Knights of Ren were a big washout (in the tradition of other cool-looking-but-armor-is-not-a-character characters, like Boba Fett and Captain Phasma), but surely my imagination could fix them if only I had plastic representations. Luckily, the Disney Store produces a similarly scaled line of PVC figurines to scratch that itch.

A set of 10 figures was $26, and included the 6 Knights, Kylo, a First Order Stormtrooper, Sith Trooper, and Jet Pack Trooper.  They are just statues, but they are highly sculpted and detailed.  Lots of nice metal weathering and mud where appropriate on the Knights.  

These guys were all given names after production (which I haven’t bothered to learn).  The one they made for the Vintage line (big ax guy) was just “Knight of Ren” on his card.  My favorite is gun arm guy.

The vintage line made a Sith Jet Trooper, but no standard jet trooper.  Which I find strange, since it was featured in one of the earliest released clips of “Rise of Skywalker” and made the cut in kiddie toys, along with the catapulting speeder thing.

 

That’s about all I’ve got on these.  They look nice and fill a hole in my collection until Disney figures out what to do with this mess in the future.  To spice up this lackluster review, I’m throwing in a custom figure.

Daniel Craig had a cameo (or at least his voice did) as a Stormtrooper in “The Force Awakens”, so I took a head from a “Golden Compass”(the atheist Narnia flop) figure, put it on a Stormtrooper Finn figure, and painted over the bloody handprint on the helmet.  I also dremeled out the helmet a bit to get it to fit better.  Quick and easy, but reminded me that I need a Galen Erso figure after all.  Rogue One sucked, but “Casino Royale” in the Star Wars galaxy is a win!

BTW...Sam Smith’s Spectre theme was awful:

The Last Last Jedi and Farce Friday Findings

The Last Last Jedi and Farce Friday Findings

Crait Luke Skywalker, Sith Jet Troopers, Knight of Ren

Star Wars - Hasbro

Luke:  "Where are all the Star Wars toys?!"

The Force will be with you...always...well...maybe...if you like repackaged kiddie lightsabers, Funko Poops, and leftover Lando in Skiff disguise and Poe Damerons from waves back.  Most disappointing Force Friday yet!  I kind of expected it, after the mess that was the Last Jedi...and Rogue One...and Solo.  Remnants of all those franchise killers can still be found in the clearance aisle, in almost as much abundance as any new Black or Vintage series offerings.

There were maybe six characters from each scale for this debut, but nothing really new or telling about “The Rise of Skywalker.”  Just Rey back in her desert garb, a helmeted “Felicity,” and some red jet pack troopers.  Maybe the Dis was concerned about the size of a carbon footprint left by a billion Rose Tico’s rotting in a landfill and decided to play it safe?  Anyway, enough beating that “Star Wars is dead” (which it totally is) horse...let’s look at the few figures I did pick up.

Red Stormtroopers...haven’t seen those before!  With jet packs!  “But she’s got a new hat!”  And they’re Sith troopers now!  Ooo let’s speculate what that could possibly....zzz...zzz...

A Knight of Ren.  They didn’t figure into TLJ, and I don’t figure they will be revisited in TROS.  I mean, they couldn’t even be bothered to give this costume a proper name!  Even background Cantina aliens got names for their action figures.

That’s it...three figures on Force Friday for me, and one of them I doubled down on!  To get the most out of this write-up, I’m throwing in a mid-wave leftover that Ive been sitting on for some time:  Crait Luke Skywalker, aka the Luke Skywalker we all wanted and deserved.  But Rian Johnson felt we deserved a hobo Luke that drinks green alien milk straight from the creatures teat...and then they didn’t even deliver a proper two-pack of that!  Oh how I long for the days of Phantom Menace level market saturation!

The Last Jedi figures

More Last Jedi disappointment