Whew! It is such a busy time of the year, I feel like I can’t get anything done around here. It has been a minute since I was able to focus on a new action figure, but that does not mean there hasn’t been a glut of things I have WANTED to talk about. Fortunately, a lot of the other guys have been picking up the slack as of late, but with 2019 drawing to a close, there are few things I want to sort before we move into “Best of the Year” mode to reflect on the year that was. But let’s not say goodbye to the ‘10s just yet.
In recent times, the end of the year has meant “Star Wars Time” for movies and toys, and 2019 is no exception. The Skywalker saga is coming to an end on December 20th with the release of The Rise of Skywalker, but that also falls into the first season of the Disney+ hit The Mandalorian. As I am sure you have noticed, Matthew K has been holding it down in awesome fashion with his recent Star Wars features, but I wanted to get in something, too, especially after getting to recently experience Galaxy’s Edge as Disney World. Bandai is offering some nice releases for November and January, so I did not want to miss out talking about one of my favorite “new” Star Wars characters, Rey.
Episodes 7, 8, and (presumably) 9 have really been Rey’s stories, and as a character, I really, really love her. The movies have, obviously, not been perfect, but Rey’s journey and Daisy Ridley’s performances have me loving the character. Fortunately, she has fared well when it comes to action figure releases. Bandai has been solid since the start, but ever since Hasbro switched to the “photo real” printing technique, their Rey figures have been on-point, and even MAFEX gave us a good The Force Awakens version. Hasbro’s improvements and price point make it harder and harder to pony up the extra dough for some of these import figures, and I REALLY like the recent Black Series figure of this version of Rey, so I came into this really hoping that the Figuarts version would be offering me something different and/or extra, and it *kinda* did. Mostly.
I want to start off by saying this is a good figure. Like, a really good figure, and an offering in-line with what I would expect from an SHF release. I have a couple of nitpicks to note because no figure is absolutely perfect, but the money used on this figure will be well spent, especially if you are a Star Wars/Bandai collector and like the character. Obviously, I am going to get into some of the details on that, but I feel like I wanted to start by going into something that has been hanging over me for a long time: are all the positive qualities worth it?
I can comfortably say that I am both a SHF and SWB die-hard. That is because I think both lines are amazing, and because I am a huge Star Wars fan. That said, these figures are NOT cheap, and finite space concerns are always something that I think are in the back (or front) of collectors’ minds. I have talked to Robo several times about thoughts on our Star Wars collecting habits as, what I believe, the gap between SWB and SHF is closing rapidly, but I am still not sure where to go at all times. It is easy when one company’s offering of a same version of a character is noticeably better than the other’s, but what about in in cases such as TRoS Rey? Both the Hasbro and Bandai versions are really good, and one does somethings better than the other and vice-a-versa, so it makes for a hard call. I mean, I have both version now, but the next time this happens with both companies making a strong lead into the same character version, sanity might have to win out so I am not always doubling up.
Okay, philosophical musings aside, I do really love this figure and with the exception of one thing, it is pretty much perfect. Likeness and quality construction are the highlights of Bandai’s SH Figuarts line, and this Rey figure embodies those attributes at almost every turn. The sculpting, articulation, and engineering are all top-notch as usual, so when you those are almost givens with any SHF release like this one, it gives you a chance to dive in a bit deeper on some specific aspects. So, I really love the likeness here, and I think it is Bandai’s best offering of Rey yet.
This looks like Daisy and their printing technique continues to improve, so the dot stippling, even in close-up, is becoming less and less apparent. I like the matte quality of the print and the additional paint work to help bring out details here, so you get a bit more here than just the base color of the plastic, as is the case with the SWB version. In fact, I find the likeness to be closer overall than that of the Hasbro figure to Daisy’s likeness. Since Hasbro upped their game, SHF and SWB kind of go back and forth in the likeness department, but I think Bandai wins this round.
Another spot where this figure wins is in the overall sculpting department. Don’t get me wrong, the SWB version is lovely, but there is bit of a crispness to this figure and it is really apparent in the sharper detail of the accessories. Bandai makes lovely lightsabers, and this is no exception, but all of the other pieces like the staff and gun win here, too as the detail is just more defined overall.
D-O is a bit of a wash though, I have to say. You can see in the pictures that there is a major size discrepancy between the two lines. I am not sure which is more accurate, but it is obviously there. That issue aside, there are things I prefer about the Bandai version, and things I like better on Hasbro’s offering. For instance, SHF is sharper in terms of detail, the plastic used is nicer, and the stand functions better. However, I like the weathered paint job in the Hasbro figure, and the little antennae on the “face” are actually poseable on that version, so points there for sure. Either way, they are both nice, so you really won’t lose in your choice.
Now, while I really do love this figure overall, one issue almost blew the whole thing: the hood(s). Well, not so much the hoods, but the swappable pieces that allow you to change from an “up” and “down” look are mind-boggling weird. Instead of a simple peg into the top of the back or something, the hoods actually come all the way down into the front of the figure and include part of Rey’s chest near the clavicles.
Why this was done, I have ZERO idea, but you really have to position them perfectly to not get any seam lines around the chest, and the flesh tone used on those pieces do not match the neck perfectly, so you can see it, and it is distracting. It is not as distracting now as it was when I first opened figure, but it I still notice it. Plus, it is REALLY hard to get the head out of the up hood when changing them out, so nuts to that. This design choice was *THIS* close to wrecking the figure overall for me, but it is executed well enough that it takes it down from a “deal breaker” to a “nitpick” so I suppose they did it as well as they could under the weird circumstances.
Overall, I am glad to add this figure to my Star Wars collection, and I think it just slightly edges out the Black Series, but it is very close. I find the sculpt and overall engineering to be better (the hoods notwithstanding), but the price point is significantly higher so there is that. It is back and forth though, so while you get both hood looks here, you have to go the SWB version for the back pack, so there are lots of trade offs. Get ready kids, Rey’s journey is about to conclude, along with rest of the Skywalker saga.
