Posted by: @ru1977

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I keep wanting that figure then remembering I prefer his first episode look.

I'm with you. I think Mando looked way more interesting with the hodgepodge armor (and maybe the one mithril shoulder piece) than the all-silver version he wore for the rest of the series. 

Got sidetracked by a bunch of freelance stuff and jumped back here to see if I missed much cos it felt like... a pretty strong lull in Black Series lately? Not a complaint, I needed a break, but felt a little... too quite and got nervous I was missing out. 

Catching up though - yeah, that knife for Din makes no sense. I like the figure, but I'd rather have a soft goods cape on the older buck if I'm being totally honest. Not a bad figure at all, just not my favorite Mando. 

The head-swapping for Leia caught my attention because I have an old Jabba's palace Leia with a had that is not on particularly well and I've always wondered if any of the modern Leia heads would work - the figure's already a little messed up and I'd rather have a good face print with inaccurate hair than the right hair on that old potato of a face. 

I totally get why people skipped the Andor figures cos they're not very action-figure-y, but man, those figures live permanently on my desk. I have an unhealthy attachment to that show. 

Gotta get caught up with the Bad Batch to see if I'm going to be grumblingly buying a third version of those boys... 

@fletch yeah, definitely. And I think it's a couple things for me. One is I fell in love with that first picture that ever leaked of Din, but also ... or maybe this ties in with that, it really reminded me of Johnston's original intention with Boba Fett's armor being scavenged from several different sets. (The abandoned that idea by the time they painted to armor for ROTJ though.) And knowing what I do about Filoni, that was probably an intentional nod to Johnston's concept. But now I finally realize the shiny beskar version is how they'd intended him to look from the beginning and the beat up version I prefer was just an intro costume.

@ru1977 You nailed it all around. The hodgepodge costume for Din was just Batman-in-a-ski-mask or turtle-neck Daredevil or whatever. It was the costume to make getting the costume a whole thing fans were invested in. But that doesn't make it not awesome. I love the all-Beskar costume, myself. And I'm sure that comes from the giant checkmark next to 'does this person like knights and armor?' Holding that Darksaber - new Din looks like a badass Space Knight.

I also have a really strong fondness for the original costume for the same reasons as you. And it was definitely more 'Western' than 'Space Fantasy' - which is something I REALLY loved about the first season of the show. If they redid the original costume with new parts - I'd almost certainly buy it. Not that the existing body for that costume is BAD, but I do think the new one is better in ways that could translate backward toward making a better version of the original costume.

@theknightdamien You're right. Now you nailed it with the Batman and Daredevil comparisons.

And I don't even hate the shiny one. It's still cool, I just prefer the other one. And it's kinda funny looking back to how I was anxious every time they took another step away from it. (Shoulder... full body... jetpack) Every few months I'll make a list and price the parts for a costume then buy some upgrade for my Boba instead, heh. But walking around with a sweet cape instead of a jetpack? My back would thank me.

but also, yeah, I don't really know how they could improve the original costume figure. The head is the biggest thing I guess? I'd buy that upgrade though.

Posted by: @ru1977

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but also, yeah, I don't really know how they could improve the original costume figure. The head is the biggest thing I guess? I'd buy that upgrade though.

The head for sure. But also just the way they did the torso never looked quite right, and was too narrow up at the shoulder area. The new figure is a TINY bit bulkier than previous Dins, and just generally feels better-proportioned. And besides the stupid hands not being able to hold things, the joints seem to function a little bit better than previous figures as well. He's better than the previous Beskar Mandos, and those figures were an improvement over the non-Beskar Mandos. So it stands to reason that there's lots of room for improvement.
Again, not to say the original figure is bad. But it's not exactly new - it came out five years ago. If Hasbro hasn't made general improvements to the design and function of their figures in five years, then we have a whole different problem to talk about.

@theknightdamien Thank you for detailing those. yeah, I agree with all that and would be happy with those changes. I'd really love that figure.

Mandalorian as a show really suffered from my own baggage. I really liked the Lone Wolf and Cub, adventure a week premise it started as.

The more it came to be about building lore and continuing old stories, the more I wanted him back in his busted ship, trucking around with his buddy IG-11, and just letting Grogu be Baby Yoda.

I FINALLY opened over 30 Black Series figures I've had stored away for years. Red boxes, mural boxes, heck, even the original Han figure in the black and orange box - because I finally figured out how and where I wanted to display them. And I got tired of "but what if I need to sell them for rent money?" FINE - sell 'em loose. Pulling the figures out of the plastic prisons and then ripping all of those boxes apart to get  OUT OF MY SPACE felt so nice!

And - my bookcase looks great!

But then I've spent the last week buying to fill-in the gaps! I really didn't plan to do that, especially after discovering I have three Aaylas and two Archive Emperors and two Archive Threepios because I forgot to return things I got on better sales. 🙄 Just picked up a lot of Grievous, Dooku, Mace, Ep 1 Qui-Gon and Obi, Jango, plus some others that I can re-sell to get the price down. 🙂 Realized I had a perfect spot for Greef and so, after all these years ignoring that character, he just arrived tonight and fit exactly.

Ep 1 Padme and Anakin got me excited to go back and fill those gaps, as well as the new Ahsoka - CW version and D+. Plus, I was able to snag the new Mando who really is a big improvement and nails the look, and a couple new R2s.

I haven't truly enjoyed SW figs for quite awhile, so this has been a really nice change. Pics to come soon! 🙂

@fletch. Well.. I wouldn't trade the Fett stuff but I do agree about the busted ship and Grogu stuff being the show.

And I get it about one's own baggage ruining something. I went into The Phantom Menace hoping for Qui Gon and Obi Wan to be like Name of the Rose heh.

I don't recall having much baggage going into TPM. I just wanted lightsabers and stuff, and honestly it's still my favorite of the prequels - almost exclusively because of Liam Neeson. That being said, they've REALLY done Jinn dirty in newer media by basically making him the only chump in the history of the galaxy to die from a stab wound. The second Maul got cut in HALF and came back, Qui-Gon kind of became a bit of a little bitch, didn't he?

Still my favorite Jedi. DESPERATELY needs a better figure. I never found the improved-scan version of him on the vintage card, I believe it was. But even so, I really, really, so very badly, want a Qui-Gon that can pull off a few different two-handed lightsaber poses. Something that really should be more of a priority to Hasbro than it ever is, since virtually none of the Jedi (robed) figures can do that.

Posted by: @theknightdamien

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I don't recall having much baggage going into TPM. I just wanted lightsabers and stuff

Clearly the best way to go into it... and probably any movie.

@ru1977  I don't know. I feel like if I went into Old Henry wanting lightsabers, I probably would have been disappointed.

@theknightdamien 

Posted by: @theknightdamien

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I don't recall having much baggage going into TPM. I just wanted lightsabers and stuff, and honestly it's still my favorite of the prequels - almost exclusively because of Liam Neeson. That being said, they've REALLY done Jinn dirty in newer media by basically making him the only chump in the history of the galaxy to die from a stab wound. The second Maul got cut in HALF and came back, Qui-Gon kind of became a bit of a little bitch, didn't he?

Still my favorite Jedi. DESPERATELY needs a better figure. I never found the improved-scan version of him on the vintage card, I believe it was. But even so, I really, really, so very badly, want a Qui-Gon that can pull off a few different two-handed lightsaber poses. Something that really should be more of a priority to Hasbro than it ever is, since virtually none of the Jedi (robed) figures can do that.

Maybe Maul’s species is just built different so he could survive being sliced in half long enough to get patched up..?