I knew that I'd be compelled to talk about this figure sooner or later. This one was from Wave 12 in 2012, you know, THE wave where the ever-elusive Darth Malgus was also packed in. This Imperial Navy Commander figure is supposedly very hard to find over in the States. Shortpacked or for some other reason, I think it's frickin' ridiculous that such a popular figure (hey, everybody likes them Imperial figures right?) is shortpacked and collectors had to launch a nation-wide hunt to find these for their collection. I hate goin' round and round across all of the TRUs and retail stores around town but once I found this I knew why he was such a popular figure. A short-packed action figure with an excellent headsculpt and a great deal of attention to details....a definite disaster for those wanting to find him in the wild.
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One thing about these darn VOTC figures is that they come in that cool vintage packaging. This represents Hasbro's effort to evoke that nostalgic feeling for the classic figures which came out in the late 90s/early 80s. It almost made me not wanting to rip this one out of its packaging. Almost. You'll see why I wasn't able to resist to get him out in the open. The figure has one of the most impressive sculpt we've seen of late in the VOTC line, if not through out the whole series.
Since the Imperial Navy Commander here is pretty elusive to many collectors still, I've also read/heard that collectors have resorted to pay hiked-up prices on online stores and eBay for this baby in the States. I've seen this on retail pegs TWICE thus far since I found mine here in KL, Malaysia.
The predecessor of this figure was the Death Star trooper we've last seen packed with Vader and a Stormtrooper in that 3-pack special some time ago. That one was was heavily criticised for being too 'disproportioned' and a bit of the 'bigger' side for a human character in the Star Wars universe. This one however, is a huge improvement of that version. Take a look for yourselves.
I guess I would've bought a couple if Hasbro had given us some sort of a 'variant' with a different headsculpt. I'm sure some amateur customising skills can immediately fix that now ain't it? I'd probably snag another one if I come across one soon....and probably add some 'stache or stubble just to differentiate him from this 'clean' one....LOL.
I'm pretty happy to get this into my collection. That wonderful headsculpt, although pretty generic (can't recall him being associated with any actors whatsoever) he's still a quite a looker with his sharp features and all. I love that vintage blaster that came with him and to be able to place it nicely into his holster is an icing on the cake considering there are some great figures with guns/blasters with no holster to stow the weapon into.
My normal grouse is still the same here. Hasbro can give us the most impressive sculpt ever and stuff but it always boil down to the articulations that bother most of us. Where are the hinge/swivel hips that these superb SW figures badly need? Darth Malgus for example.....is a testament to that. I sincerely hope Hasbro can rectify these for their future releases. They can do it for their G.I. Joes and Marvel Universe so why can't they do it here for SW? *Baffled*
He does have a nice height to him. Standing just about right among his Imperial peers and looking up to his Sith boss!
THE REBEL'S VERDICT: If you're a VOTC/Original Trilogy fan then this is an absolute MUST for you. You do want him to stand pretty next to your Vader and the rest of you Imperial line-up now don't ya? Considering that he's kinda hard to find at retail, you might want to consider other options like Amazon or eBay to get him. Get him fast 'cause he's disappearing faster than you can say 'uneven distribution'! On a personal note, I'm kinda sad to see Hasbro had decided to put a hold on the VOTC line to pave way for the upcoming 'Black Series' line and the revival of the Saga Legends line. We can only hope for a return of the VOTC line sometime soon in the future. 'Nuff said.
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