If you think S.H. Figuarts can do no wrong in their Star Wars line, this isn’t the review for you.
And I don’t think I can even call this a review, it’s more of a video with some random pictures and text that will probably go nowhere. That’s all I can muster with this figure.
The S.H. Figuarts Star Wars Count Dooku is a Soul Web exclusive, which at this point is not that big a deal except for the fact that I paid for this quite a few months ago. Judging by the original promotional images we all knew there would be some problems but it’s Bandai. It’s S.H. Figuarts. It’s Star Wars. And it’s Count Dooku. No way was I passing this up.
In fact, I probably would have been a little happier with that original slightly darker brown. What we get is more of a lighter chocolate.
The same color for the whole body except the boots does the figure no favors, along with the slightly dated sculpting and articulation scheme. If you didn’t watch the video…
…I mention several times that I think this prototype has been sitting around for a few years and Tamashii Nations had a opening in the schedule. I’m talking, back to when Bandai first got the license. This feels like an initial effort that was never updated or tweaked. I have nothing against those first figures like Luke and Maul, but you can’t deny there has been an evolution to the line as time has passed.
Dooku doesn’t feel that way. His clothing is smooth besides a few wrinkles and clothing folds. His articulation is a bit clunky and cumbersome. The likeness isn’t quite there on either of the barely different heads. And the color of the clothes seems way off. I mean, they could have been going for this I guess…
…but even that is darker than the figure. When I, and I assume most people, think of Dooku, I think of this…
I also don’t much care for the cape. It’s double layered but only sewn on the sides, which people tell me is accurate, but it’s also flat and lifeless out of the box. Bandai also sewed it in such a way as to stay bunched up on the shoulders and off the body, which again goes back up to the Visual Dictionary above, but makes it look weird in this scale.
So that’s me griping about most of the figure itself. To counteract that, I have to say the accessories are fairly nice. The lightsaber hilts are spiffy with nice sculpt and paint, although making the blade removable with a tiny pin seems useless when the grip hand opens enough to just slip the handle in. The hands are nice along with the addition of electric hands. The alternate head has a raised eyebrow but isn’t that much different than the first, but they added another head! That’s something, right?
Look, I don’t hate the figure, I just feel like I should have gotten something with a little more overall oomph for the $70-$80 I paid for this. I think if Hasbro ever gets around to Dooku it will be the one for my shelf, especially with the way they’ve been killing it with the photo real. And you may say “NO WAY, BLACK SERIES IS NOWHERE NEAR AS GOOD AS SH FIGUARTS!” to which I say “$20.” Optional parts aren’t as abundant and I don’t know where they would go with the cape, but for the price difference and the leaps in quality Hasbro has made in the past year or so, yeah, I believe a Black Series would replace this in my display.
But this is on the shelf until then, because it’s the only Dooku we have.
I couldn’t help myself and had to paint the tunic. I also wet down the cape and let it dry in a more dynamic position. I think the pants could be darker and I may track down another head at some point, but this makes me a little happier with the figure.
