Star Wars designs have always had a timeless quality to them, which is why so much of the original trilogy still holds up to this day. Costumes, droids, set pieces, vehicles — they all manage to strike the perfect balance between vintage and modern, thereby belonging to no time period and every time period at the same time. Because of this, Star Wars doesn’t appear corny or dated the way Star Trek or other sci-fi properties often do. With The Force Awakens, we’re seeing the Star Wars universe in the hands of a new creative team who, so far, seem to mostly get it. Rey and BB-8? Definitely Star Wars. Captain Phasma? Star Wars all the way. The Guavian Enforcer? Er . . . maybe not so much.
So Let’s take a closer look at the Guavian Enforcer and see what we can make of this new character.
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The packaging is the new Force Awakens box that we’re getting used to seeing on the pegs by way of all the Finns and Chewbaccas that are still hanging around. It’s small, efficient, and gives nothing away in terms of details from the movie — something I appreciate immensely.
The Guavian Enforcer is numbered 08 in the series so far, which means in less than a month since launch we’re already amassing a fairly substantial collection, and it’s still a few months before the movie premiers. His bio gives the impression that he may be an army builder, but who knows at this point.
As far as his design goes, I don’t really know what to make of him, but I can tell you that he doesn’t necessarily feel very “Star Wars” to me. If you told me he originated from some random video game franchise rather than Star Wars, I’d totally buy that. There’s just something too generic sci-fi about the design. And it’s somehow cool and boring at the same time — does that make any sense? I have a feeling this is going to be a totally forgettable background character in the movie, but I may very well be wrong about that. It’s just an impression I’m getting.
There is a lot of great detail and paint work packed into the sculpt, though. It’s a nice-looking figure regardless of where it may originate. There’s some decent dry-brushing to bring out the details of his “face,” and the dark paint wash over his body gives the impression of his being suited in an old, worn, red leather suit. It actually does look pretty cool. His face is cool, but kinda generic. It makes him look like nameless drone fodder your character in a video blows through endlessly on the way to the actual, more interesting bad guys. It’s a cold, detached visage that almost succeeds in making him seem intriguing. I want to believe that maybe he’s the next, say, Boba Fett, but I just don’t know.
Lots of great detail to be seen here, though. I’ll give it that. Even the sculpted textures on his gauntlets and pouches look great. Whoever sculpted this figure did a darn good job.
His articulation is troublesome. He’s got most of the standard Hasbro 6-inch articulation you’d expect, but some of it is completely useless. His shoulder pad-thing hinders his shoulders, and the range of motion in his hips is very poor — and that’s due to the sculpt and not the harness, which really doesn’t get in the way much at all — but that didn’t stop Hasbro from outfitting him with double knees, which are effectively useless for posing since you can barely do anything with his hips. It’s frustrating.
This is about all I can get out of him in terms of “dynamic action poses.” I mean, for all I know he moves around like C-3PO in the movie, so anything more would be unnecessary, but the overall range of motion here is something of a letdown. And the thigh swivels on mine are locked tight in place. I’d take a hair dryer to them, but I don’t see what having functional thigh swivels would do for him in terms of posing functionality, so I don’t think I’m going to bother.
At this point, since those of us who are choosing to remain spoiler-free have no idea what the roles of many of these characters we’re getting are in the Star Wars universe, I suppose it is cool to have another bad guy (again — that’s an assumption on my part) for the supposed heroes to face-off against.
The Guavian Enforcer looks to be a standard height for a “trooper” in the Black Series. He’s about the same height as a Stormtrooper, but smaller than Captain Phasma. Works for me. And it’s ironic, for all the plain, stark white of the Stormtrooper, the Guavian Enforcer is the less interesting figure to me from a design perspective.
Right now, though, I keep feeling like I should return this figure because it’s just not hitting the right notes for me, and I’ve just about convinced myself that whatever role he has in the movie won’t be substantial enough to win over my good graces. I guess I should give him the benefit of the doubt and hold onto him just in case he’s crazy hard to come by later once the movie has been released. Maybe I’ll do that.
If you’d like a Guavian Enforcer for your Black Series collection, keep your eyes peeled. Wave 2 is hitting slowly but surely right now. Or you could always keep an eye on the Amazon listing in case the wave comes back in stock again.
- Try your luck on Amazon
- Pre-order the full wave with Big Bad Toy Store