When the second series of the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens Black Series figures hit Amazon last week, I knew I had to do everything in my power to get a Captain Phasma. With some persistence and a LOT of luck, I was able to grab one, so my immediate must-have figure was taken care of. However, while I was on the site, I decided that I needed to grab the new ace X-Wing pilot Poe Dameron as well because, well, Star Wars.
Now, that isn’t entirely fair, I did not go back to add Poe to my order just because he is a Star Wars character in a new assortment of Black Series figures. That fact did not hurt, but I left a couple of other figures behind because of what little I have seen of Poe in the teaser trailers and featurettes, he looks to be an important and (probably) likeable character that is continuing the cause of the original Rebel Alliance. I mean, hot-shot X-Wing pilots have to be in the upper echelon of cool in the galaxy far, far away, right? Plus, I really like Oscar Isaac as an actor and I am pretty sure he will be turning in a great performance as Poe.
Aside from being named Poe Dameron and flying the new model X-Wing for the Rebels, the only thing we really know about this character is that new and wildly popular BB-8 belongs to this flyboy. That is pretty much it, I am afraid, because with about three months left until the movie is released, JJ Abrams and company have done a pretty good job of keeping plot points and characterizations about Episode VII tightly under wraps. Personally, I am not mining for any information anyway as I want to go into my viewing of the movie with only the information that Disney (man, that sounds weird) wants us to have prior to release. That may seem a bit Pollyanna in terms of proud fan boy ferocity, but I have had some many movies spoiled for me in the past, I am going to take the other road with this Star Wars flick.
That approach is perfectly fine for someone just out to see the movie, but as a person who is buying a lot of Star Wars action figures with characters pretty much sight unseen, I might be sinking a lot of dough into figures of characters that might end up being terrible. I am not banking on that being the case, but, really, Poe might be a total douche bag, Rey might be a whiny desert-dweller (uhh…), and Phasma might get blasted out of existence by Han Solo in the first ten minutes of the flick. That would not necessarily make my choice to buy these figures a regrettable one, but I am already wanting to LIKE all of these guys.
Knowing that Poe is an X-Wing pilot, his outfit for this figure already starts to make a lot of sense. We have seen the new X-Wings flying about in the teasers, and just as they are subtle updates to the originals, so are the Rebel flight suits. You will recognize the orange visage as well as the white vest piece right away, and while they are slightly different (you can compare to the X-Wing Pilot Luke Skywalker figure), this is one of those updates, much like the Stormtroopers, that just make you say, “yep!” to the point of the update making perfect sense and probably right along the lines of what you would expect. There are some differences, and it looks like the dress code has gone a bit more lax as Poe doesn’t tuck his pants into his boots, or maybe he is wearing shoes instead?
Referencing Luke again, Poe’s articulation scheme fits in with his pretty well, and this is what you should come to expect from the Black Series by this point. The big points are there: double knees, hinge-and-twist elbows, rocker ankles, ball hips, etcetera, but I do like one extra set of options in the figure engineering, and that is the swappable hands. Yes, while the young Luke Skywalker is stuck forever in his gloves, Poe actually comes with his gloved hands, but also with a set of bare hands. Frankly, this was not at all required as far as I am concerned, but it is a nice touch and gives you options for how you would like to display your figure. Past that, I don’t think there is anything too outstanding in the makeup of the figure, but he can sit pretty well, so whenever Hasbro decides to get around to making a 6-inch scale X-Wing, Poe will be ready. And I will be ready. And you will be ready. Because, Star Wars.
Poe doesn’t come empty-handed with that extra set of hands either. The figure is packed with a small blaster as well as his flight helmet. The blaster is fine, and he can hold it well, but it is nothing if not completely nondescript and pretty forgettable. I don’t know, it is probably small potatoes, but when I think of blasters from the original trilogy, they all just scream “Star Wars” to me. That might be because I have been living with them my entire life, but I don’t find anything eye-catching about this gun at all. The helmet, on the other hand, is really great and its colors and design fit right into the update of the Rebel look. It appears to be somewhat specific to Poe himself, but we will have to wait for the movie to confirm that, but it looks nice and fits right over the head without looking too large, which is often the case with helmets like this.
Speaking of that head, let’s talk about that for just one second. Poor, poor Oscar Isaac – he is a great actor and pretty handsome fellow, but, Hasbro, you gone and done him wrong. Way wrong. I have made it no secret that my main rankle with the Black Series is the less than stellar, and sometime nonexistent paint applications. Ever since series two, the minimalist approach has really taken points off a lot of figures due to the just plain lazy paint jobs, and the heads and faces have bore most of the brunt. Obi-Wan, Han Solo, Leia, THREE Lukes, and others have taken major hits in terms of quality and likeness because the paint is just not good. The worst part is that, more often than not, there are great sculpts under that bad paint, and those sculpts suffer a lot because of it. The sculpted likenesses are there, I know they are, but you would never be able to tell.
Well, as much as those figures bother me, Poe is probably the worst we have seen in the line yet, and that continues to suck. The eyes, man, the eyes are KILLING me, and there just isn’t an excuse for it. I *think* the sculpt is hiding under there, but I cannot get past those two white blobs with inconsistent black flecks in the middle of them. There is nothing I can say that redeems these peepers, and while I have implored in the past, we are going over the edge on these. Hasbro, please fix this face paint issue now. Like, right now. You are taking potentially great figures and making them mediocre with this practice. Your figures deserve better. We deserve better. Star Wars deserves better. Please.
Okay, so I went on a bit of a tangent there, but getting this paint issue fixed is important because, aside from the terrible likeness brought on by the paint, Poe is actually a nice figure. He is not as cool or exciting as Phasma, or even Kylo Ren, but he is another solid Black Series entrant. I am pretty sure we will be seeing other versions of this figure over the course of the line, but they might be holding back right now due to potential story spoilers. That is cool; we have plenty of time add more stuff to our collection, and I am thinking Poe will be a great character, so we will all want multiple versions anyway. Even though he did not go as quickly as Phasma on Amazon, he is still currently sold out, but be on the lookout because I am thinking series two will be coming back in stock soon. At least I hope so. And more series one while you are at it, Amazon. I need more Stormtroopers.
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