Star Wars Vintage Collection: 3.75" Qui-Gon Jinn

Right out of The Phantom Menace!

That title for Episode I is so sweet I still haven't gotten over it in 13 years...;P

Finally!  A Qui-Gon!  Funny thing is that when I first saw Phantom Menace, I actually loved it!  I strongly suspect it had to do with being starved of big screen Star Wars love from a galaxy far, far away for a long, long time.

And I loved Qui-Gon!  Perhaps is was because he was the only actor who didn't seem like he was trying to act.  Perhaps it was because he reminded most of old Ben Kenobi from Episode IV more than even the young Obi-Wan did.  Perhaps I just I love old Jedi dudes who (1977/1999 spoiler alert! Spoiler Alert!) die. :P

Either way, I'm really happy I have a Qui Gon!  And here's why:

Star Wars Vintage Collection 3.75" Bastila Shan

Bastila Shan is exactly the type of Star Wars figure that I wouldn't care about until I saw her on the pegs.  I love that she's an Expanded Universe character from the Knights of the Old Republic computer game.  Most of the EU characters are unknown unless you follow their game/story/series specifically.  And usually this means that their stories are not done being told/continues to be told.

It kinda has a roleplaying game-like feel, which reminds me of the time when the Rangerlord and I would get the siblings/cousins together for many a spot of the old West End Games Star Wars Roleplaying Game.  There was a real sense of boundless potential for your characters.  You could be anything you wanted to be--a Force sensitive but untrained character, a half-trained Jedi, a wrongly trained Jedi, or even a guy who thinks he's a Jedi and has powers because of it.  But my favourite was coming up with your own "occupation," like "Space Cowboy" or "Galactic Ladies Man"  Heh, those were the days.

But getting back on point--Bastila Shan captures this same sense of potential in plastic toy form.  And while I was on a buying-characters-I-don't-know-of streak with Barriss Offee, I picked up this lass too--how could I possible resist the "Character Debut: Never before offered as a figure!!!" sticker?  I'm such a sucker!

From seeing her in-package,  this was what I could garner:  Jedi?  Check.  Double-bladed lightsaber?  Check.  Funky new hair sculpt?  Check.  Fancy Schmancy duds?  Check.  Snazzy name?  Check.

So let's take a look at her out-of-package, shall we? :)

Star Wars Vintage Collection 3.75" Bariss Offee

I'll have to say for the record that I'm not a fan of the New Trilogy.  Or at last I'm not as big a fan of the NT as I am of the Original trilogy, not by a long shot.  I seriously dislike the way the NT was treated like a 3 movie-long commercial, with characters more or less being sold as merchandise.  As long as they appeared for a split second on screen, they'd be sold as an action figure sooner or later.  Same with the vehicles, aliens, and whatever else made it into the theatre.  And the Star Wars Universe suffered greatly.

Back in the day, the OT characters, background or otherwise, were very much less deliberate.  In fact you couldn't even tell that George Lucas had merchandising on his mind.  Perhaps he didn't even know himself.  Sure, he may have already had backstories for everyone in the Mos Eisley Cantina to the Forest Moon of Endor, but it wasn't forced on you the way Jar Jar Binks felt like it was.  Hence, I can't really get myself to like the toys--I already have a bad taste in my mouth for most things NT, so I tend to be less partial to Clone Wars stuff.

But sometimes, just sometimes, a figure will pop out at you from the pegs and no matter which trilogy/series/timeline/universe they're from, you're just drawn to it.  Barriss Offee is one of them.

Looking at the character pic they have on the card, Bariss really looks like a noob Jedi wannabe who might've been in the movies (she was) and ended up dying a meaningless death (she did)/being an easy kill during Executive Order 66 (incinerated by an AT-TE. Hm.)  The character, despite all the awesome makeup and the lightsaber, just looks uninspired in the card pic.

But look at the figure--it's almost as if they made the figure first and then based the character of the toy.  I just had to get her.  Being at 2 for S$25 helped too.  It's not often Star Wars figures go on discount here in Singapore.  So was Bariss as good out of package as she was in-bubble-on-card?  Let's find out!

Star Wars Vintage Collection 3.75" Darth Vader

When it comes to Star Wars figures, I'm the king of not opening them.  It's not that I have no intention to, but that I tend to procrastinate--either the latest Marvel Universe figures come in or the latest DC Universe ones and I put the relatively newly acquired SW stuff aside until they become oldly acquired.

I've come to a point that I realized if I open every Star Wars figure I've gotten in the past 2 years, I'd have an instant display.  After all, I was building up towards doing an Endor battle scene complete with Ewoks hanging off hang-gliders, swinging off branches, tackling AT-STs, and humping Han Solo's leg.  Ok, maybe not so mch the last one, but I digress...

One of the figures I got because I had to get the perfect version of him was Darth Vader.  I had snagged over the last 3 or so years the Power of the Force version of him on card for S$10, as well as later getting the album-plus-medallion 30th anniversary release for just S$5 complete with album.  But neither of these I opened because I was told by a reliable source (aka the Rangerlord) that they weren't the best versions anyway.

So when they released a Vintage Collection Empire Strikes Back version I immediately got him...And kept him for quite a bit because, well, sometimes Hulk or the Avengers, or SDCC sneak peaks or Batman or Zatanna got in the way.  But no longer!  It's hard to resist the power of the Dark Side succumbs eventually, and it has finally compelled me to open the Dark Lord of the Sith himself!

Star Wars Vintage Collection 3.75" Lando Calrissian - The Ladies' Man

How do I know he's the ladies' man?  Well, the wife and I are watching The Empire Strikes Back and she suddenly says, "I like Lando.  He's my favorite Star Wars character."  Just like that.  Not Chewie, not Wicket, not Luke.  Lando.  See?  Ladies' Man.

I guess it didn't help that Ladies'-Man-Wannabe Han Solo was proving to be an obnoxious piece of bantha poodoo throughout the Original Trilogy.  But come on!  You put that next to Lando "I'm respectable and have got a lot of responsibility, so I betray my friends to Darth Vader" Calrissian and Lando still comes off as more likable?  It's gotta be that slicked back hair and the artfully trimmed 'stache.  It's gotta be.

Star Wars Vintage Collection Wicket (Yub yub!)

Or Wicket W. Warwick, OBE, to be precise.

Ok so maybe he's not an OBE but he does have a very distinguished name for a hairy little furball.  Who knows?  Maybe in Ewok culture that "W" in his name means he's the most heroic and resourceful Ewok alive.  Kinda like George W. Bush is a resourceful Ewok...Nah, you're right.  Even the Ewoks would consider themselves way smarter than W. :P

Hasbro has really upped their game for Star Wars figures of late.  Yes, any new figures should be better than any of the first generation releases in general, but the current Vintage line blows all previous figures out of he water.  At least the new sculpted, new articulated ones.  And no prizes for guessing where Wicket falls.

 More after the jump!

Star Wars 3.75" Vintage Collection: Bespin Luke Skywalker

Before I start on this latest review (and it is very, very late) I want to apologize to those of you who've been following this blog diligently.  I've not posted for about two weeks and with good reason: I recently got married!  Last week, I tied the knot to the most wonderful human being I know, kind and compassionate, gentle and loving.  The best part is she loves that I do all sorts of nerdy stuff like collect toys and play games.  She even checks this page daily for updates even when I don't expect her to!

She is also a real person. :P

In fact, all these Star Wars reviews I have coming up of the new Vintage 3.75" line are her doing--she woke up at the crack of dawn and stood in line for me because I was at work and couldn't make the local release.

So I dedicate this next review--the first I'm doing on this line--to my dear Melissa.

Here's to a wonderful life together!

- Your husband, Ewan

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Hasbro should've named ol' Luke-in-training here "Best-pin" Luke for being what must be one of the best figures not just in the Star Wars line, but also in 3.75-inch history!  Yeah, Bespin Luke may be my favorite Luke Skywalker of the lot not only because he's at the most important stage of character development in the Original Trilogy, but also because he's the one character they could screw up the most easily--anything less than the best for the figure would mean disappointment among fans such as myself.

Still, among all the figures in the 3.75" lines--the Marvel Universe guys and the GI Joes--it's hard to believe a Star Wars figure can really be the best.  After all, he's got to beat guys like the new Pursuit of Cobra Beachhead and the awesome-as-nuts San Diego Comic Con (not so) Exclusive WWII Ultimate Captain America.  However, I certainly think that he doesn't just give them a run for their money, but they give him a run for his money (all in Standard Imperial Credits, of course! ;D)

Can a measly Star Wars figure, especially one of a character from way back (1980), truly be that great?  Maybe he measures up aesthetically but must certainly falls short in articulation and thereby play value?  Well there's only one way to find out!