As usual, there was so much good stuff on display this year at New York’s Toy Fair, and the intrepid Fwoosh staff was there to keep us up to date with pictures and all the available info for us. All the new Marvel Legends and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles provided plenty of eye-candy, but what caught my attention the most was the announcement of upcoming figures in the Mafex Star Wars line.
Now, there are no shortage of 6-inch Star Wars figures these days. Between the Hasbro Black Series, S.H. Figuarts, the model kits, and Mafex, we have more options than we need, really. But what’s great about all these different option vying for our Star Wars buck is that competition breeds excellence, and what Mafex is teasing looks to be some of the best 6-inch Star Wars figures on the market — and I say that without a hint of hyperbole.
I mean, look at that Kylo Ren. The Black Series figure was one of the better figures available when the Force Awakens line launched. The soft goods actually work well and the sculpt is solid, but where the figure falls short is the articulation. Double elbows would have gone a long way, for example. On the opposite side of that equation is the S.H. Figuarts figure. It’s got all the articulation you could want, plus additional hands and a much better lightsaber. But where this figure comes up short is the robe. It’s a nice sculpt and looks great in a vanilla pose, but you have to pose him very carefully in order for the robe to look natural; otherwise, he looks like he has sheets of aluminum siding hanging from his hips. And the hood doesn’t rest all that naturally either.
The Mafex figure looks to take the best elements from both Hasbro and Figuarts figures and combine them into one awesome figure, plus there’s an unmasked head, which fans have been clamoring for, AND a gnarly Darth Vader helmet straight from the movie. It easily looks like the best version of Kylo Ren yet, with everything you’d want all in one package. I can’t wait. This is a super-duper must have, the #1 figure I am looking forward to this year.
Everything else they showed off looks completely awesome too. BB-8 with a lighter? SOLD. I wish he didn’t come in a 2-pack with the red-armed C-3PO, but I can live with it because the gold finish looks as though it may be a tad better than the forthcoming Hasbro C-3PO. I’m curious to see how well BB-8 stands. Will he need a stand, or will there be some sort of weight-balancing feature like the Black Series figure has? The pictures make it look like he has some weight-balancing effect going on, but I can’t wait to see more.
Then there’s Captain Phasma! Again, the figure looks to take some of the best elements from the various other 6-inch versions in order to give us what looks to be a truly awesome-looking figure. The armor seems to have an appropriate amount of sheen, and she has a soft-goods cape, which is nice to see since one of my key complaints about the Black Series figure was the hard plastic cape that prevented some mobility in her left arm. Again, I can’t wait to see more.
All of these new Mafex figures will not be rolling out until later this year, but we still have the R2-D2 and C-3P0 2-pack and two different versions of Boba Fett coming in the meantime. This is looking like a great year for Mafex Star Wars. Do we dare hope for more reveals at SDCC? Maybe some more human figures like Rey and Poe? Let’s hope!