I am doing this review on yet another little droid, he is the R5-X2 and I found him at Target. He looks like any other 3 3/4 inch scale astromech, but he is very different.....

I am doing this review on yet another little droid, he is the R5-X2 and I found him at Target. He looks like any other 3 3/4 inch scale astromech, but he is very different..

In conclusion, I LOVE R5-X2!! I would suggest getting him if you are a Star Wars toy lover. He is only $16.99 at Target, so go pick him up!

Jodo Kast is not Boba Fett. Or is he?

Sometimes I am an idiot.

I bought this figure because I thought he was a character from the Marvel Comics Star Wars books - Fenn Shysa. I grew up on those marvel comics, and until The new books came out in the 90s they were my expanded universe.

Turns out he's not Fenn, he's just some mook named Jodo Kast.

According to Wookiepedia, Jodo Kast was a Boba Fett imposter, who is eventually killed by Fett himself.

The figure pretty much sucks, and I surprise myself by even writing this much about it.

The figure is a repaint of a 2006 Boba Fett action figure with a quick draw action. Notice the arm permanently bent. (although there is a swivel above it). The rest of the figure features mediocre articulation, with ball joints at the knees and ankles.

A mediocre, forgettable figure. He does however come with a build-a-droid part, so if you need to complete a 5D6-RA7 droid, you need to buy him. (or you could email me, I have no plans to build this droid).

Saleucami Trooper represents the end of my Star Wars figure buying bender.

The Saleucami Trooper shows up for a few seconds in Episode III, when Stass Allie gets mowed down by a group of troopers who just got order 66. Don't know what I am talking about? Well, you're on the wrong website my friend.

This trooper is yet another variant of the Clone trooper, and who doesn't like Clone Troopers? Nobody! That's why Hasbro keeps pumping them out, and why we keep buying them. They could put out a whole line of nothing but Clone Troopers, and I bet they would sell out.

The figure is your standard Trooper figure, with some different paint deco and some additional armor. Articulation is great, with ball joints all over the place, the only oversight being the lack of ball jointed hips (those are swivel).

The gun is a bit bendy...

The Saleucami Trooper is a pretty neat figure, but nothing earth-shattering. He does come with a leg for the 5D6-RA7 droid, so if you are trying to complete that, you will need this figure.

**Here's an interesting piece of trivia - I first started this review in November of 2008. So it's only taken me 9 months to catch up with it.

You get the RJ-41 droid when you combine all the droid parts from the following figures:

• Obi-wan Kenobi
• Clone Scuba Trooper
• IG Lancer Droid
• Clone Trooper

You get the RJ-41 droid when you combine all the droid parts from the following figures:

• Obi-wan Kenobi
• Clone Scuba Trooper
• IG Lancer Droid
• Clone Trooper

R4-J1 is one of those "blink and you'll miss it" droids. He appears on screen for a split second on the streets of Mos Espa in Attack of the Clones.

Naturally, there is a figure for him. No elaborate back story for this guy, he is what he is, an anonymous droid on a lost, dusty world.

The toy is pretty cool, and I think its worth buying the four figures to get him. I mean, what are you gonna do with a droid head, besides add it to your Droid Factory playset?

R4-J1 breaks down into the following parts - head, legs, body and middle foot. The body is interesting for a few reasons. For one, there is interior details underneath the head, something I haven't seen on an astromech droid before.

Secondly, there are additional holes in the body that allow you to customize the droid even further. Neat.

Each leg has small wheels underneath the feet so the droid can roll around. It's a real figure you get, not some second-thought throwaway.

In conclusion, this is the droid you are looking for, especially if you have any of the random parts lying around.

There is a method to this madness. Three Star Wars reviews in a row? IG Lancer Droid is part four in the build-a-droid series for R4-J1.

The IG series droids were only seen for a few seconds in the original trilogy, namely a brief appearance by IG-88 on the bridge of Darth Vader's Star Destroyer. But like most of the cooler designs in Star Wars, the short appearance has led to a huge fan following, with his entire back story mapped out prior to his appearance in the movies. Ain't fandom great?

We'll cover IG-88 and his story later, but for now we will talk about a predecessor, the IG Lancer Droid. The IG Lancer droids were active during he Clone Wars as machines of war created by the InterGalactic Banking Clan. Most notably these droids were led into battle by the bounty hunter Durge, as they attacked the city of Harnaidan on their swoop vehicles. Obi Wan Kenobi and his lancer squad repelled the attack, destroying most of the droids.

The IG Lancer Droid figure is part of the Build a Figure assortment from 2008's Legacy Collection line. Each figure in the line included a part for a droid. Included with this figure was the body for R4-J1.

While this figure shares the body and legs with the 2007 "vintage" collection IG-88 the figure is unique enough to warrant getting.

First off - the articulation is FANTASTIC. This killer droid features SEVENTEEN points of articulation. That's almost unheard of with star wars figures. Just look at some of the poses he can pull off:

Accessories include a vibro-lance and two blasters (one short and one long). The vibrolance has a clip on it that enables you to attach it to the long blaster, or the figures arm.

The design and detail on this figure are great, but there are a few minor flaws. The intricate wires that plug into the body have a tendency to come off during extreme poses. They just plug right back in, but it could be better.

The hands have a hard time holding the blasters, and the lance doesn't clip on the arm well.

That's about it - the IG Lancer droid is HIGHLY recommended.

The Clone Trooper (Heavy Gunner) is not a great figure. Lazy design and poor materials choice make this figure forgettable.

The problem with the whole idea of build-a-figures is that it makes you go out and buy figures you otherwise wouldn't, like this piece of crap.

Okay, maybe that's too strong. It's not crap, it's just not great.

The Clone Trooper (Heavy Gunner)is as shown in the Clone Wars animated series (the first one). The interesting thing to me about this series of figures is that although they are based on appearances from the stylized animated Clone Wars cartoon, the figures are designed to look like their live-action counterparts.

The big flaw with this figure here is the overall fit and finish. The blue paint is sloppy, the guns are bendy, and the thing doesn't like to stand.

So first lets talk about the gun aka the "Quad Cannon". The Quad Cannon attaches to the figures back and then the cannon swivels up and over the characters shoulders where it can be held with both hands. The cannon makes the figure front-heavy, and falls over, hence the use of the stand in the photos (stand not included with figure).

You can get it to balance with zen-like patience.

The cannon can dissasemble if you like, although I don't see the purpose of it other than to allow things to get out of whack. When I opened the package the ends of the cannon were all in different directions, so you will likely need to rearrange them.

The cannon also can swivel around to be kind of stored on the back, but it looks awkward.

As far as the figure goes, articulation is fine, and you get a removable helmet, so that's not too bad. But the helmet is rubbery with poor paint applications.

Basically, I just bought this for the build a droid part. Your mileage may vary.

I admit, I only bought the Clone SCUBA Trooper because it had flippers. There, I said it.

I admit, I only bought the Clone SCUBA Trooper because it had flippers. There, I said it. When I see big toy companies and franchises doing things like this it just throws me for a loop and I get sucked in.

So yeah, a Clone Trooper with SCUBA gear. This design comes from one episode of the Clone Wars animated series (the first one) where Kit Fisto leads a bunch of Clone troopers on an underwater mission on the planet Dac.

The Clone SCUBA Troopers are outfitted with underwater gear, as well as a unique set of armaments. The propulsion pack can be detached from the figure, and the two torpedoes (or jets?) can be detached as well. Hoses from the helmet attach to the figures pack.

Check out the sweet tribal design on the side of the tanks.

Each flipper is removable, and stay attached to the feet by pegs in the heels.

The gun is large, which is cool, but is horribly bent in package, which is not cool. Hasbro needs to use firmer plastic on its weapons.

Articulation once again rocks on this figure, with 14 points of articulation. No ball jointed hips, but the rest is pretty great.

Also included with this figure are parts for the Build a Droid RJ-41. This figure includes the head and middle leg.

This is a pretty great figure, it has lots of accessories, lots of articulation, and looks great. Another winner for Hasbro.

Obi-Wan Kenobi once flew with your father in the clone wars.

Obi-Wan Kenobi. Legendary Jedi, but also a general for the Army of the Republic. We usually only got to see Obi Wan as the grizzled old hermit, or the young eager padawan.

The Clone Wars series showed us General Kenobi in action. Obi-Wan was not a general who issued commands safe from his bunker. No, Obi-Wan got right out in the front lines with the clone troopers, and did battle in the thick of it.

Perhaps more likely a show of solidarity than anything else, General Kenobi dons clone armor when heading out with his troopers. Its actually a hybrid mix of select armor parts and traditional jedi robes.

He looks pretty awesome.

As far as action figures go, you don't get much better than this. Old Ben is one of the most articulated and gimmick-laden star wars figure to ever be released.

Lets start with articulation. There are approximately 14 points of articulation. Ball joints at the neck, shoulders, elbows, knees, torso and ankles. Insane

Accessories include removable helmet, lightsaber, lance, and R4-J1's leg for the build-a-droid figure.

The helmet is soft rubber and fits over the head. The lance is included to replicate a scene from the clone wars animated series where Obi-Wan jousts with Bounty Hunter Dirge.

Parts of the figure are what we call "Soft Goods" - meaning the cloth cape and skirt. The belt is also a separate piece.

The one thing that keeps this from being one of the best figures ever is the head. The head sculpt is atrocious. If you can find a better Obi-Wan head, switch them and you have the perfect figure.

And so, it begins! I have the Star Wars bug......

I bit the bullet this summer and did something I promised myself I would not do. I bought my first Star Wars vehicle, The Legacy Collection Millennium Falcon. I have been trying to stay away from Star Wars because of the overwhelming amount of cool stuff that is out. I knew once I started, I could be hooked. I must confess, I am a total toy druggie and the easy access of Stars Wars goods at local stores is just so tempting. I actually thought that I came away from my purchase of the MF without a screaming habit, I was wrong!

Scene cuts to last week...I'm out with my wife killing time at a local Wal-Mart. Knowing that I have a problem, like a fool I decided to check out the toy aisle. At first I was not impressed, the usual generic fair of Americanized crap we give our kids for X-mas and birthdays. I was starting to think that I was OK and that my toy addiction was under control. I was sadly mistaken! I looked up and I saw the corner of a box just barely visible on the top shelve. All that I could make out was Star Wars and Legacy. Being that I loved The Legacy Collection MF, I just had to investigate.

Today I will be reviewing my findings: Star Wars A-Wing fighter with Green Leader Arvel Crynyd pilot figure. You may or may not remember Arvel Crynyd. If not, in ROTJ he was the guy that crashed into the bridge of the Super Star Destroyer Executor, resulting in the Executor crashing out of control into the second Death Star. Enough of the back story, on to the toy!

The toy is packed in a window box that looks very much like the packaging for the new Clone Wars toys. Note that this toy is a Wal-Mart exclusive.

The first thing I noticed about the A-wing is the detail of the paint job. I really like the shading and feel it adds to the realism of the toy. The toy is made of sturdy plastic and felt really light, but I'll get back to that later.

Some of the features of this toy are, a highly detailed opening cockpit, movable side cannons and retractable landing gear.

Cockpit canopy automatically opens when you slide back the lever located just behind the canopy on the fuselage.

The landing gear is manipulated using the gray lever near the rear left landing gear. Notice the cover next to the lever. It sorta looks like a battery cover, huh? My theory is that the original design of this ship may have included electronics. This may explain the lack of heft I mentioned earlier.

The Legacy Collection Millennium Falcon is every Star Wars collector’s wet dream. It’s almost perfect – so close to perfect that it makes you wonder why they didn’t go the extra mile.

I really shouldn’t complain though, the thing is all sorts of awesome.

Includes 20 minute Hi-Def video!

I told myself that there would be no toys on vacation. It would be a nice relaxing week at the shore in our beach house, sipping margaritas.

We invited good friends Shogundan and his wife, Shogunnadia, down for the night. Dan says, “I’ve got a surprise for you”

Dan goes out to his car and comes back holding the new Star Wars 3.75" Legacy Collection Millennium Falcon.

Damn you.

But I suppose, while the wives are out shopping, why not shoot a quick review?

We took a 20 minute video showing you all of the features in High Definition - check it out

Thus ended my toy-free vacation, just hours after I arrived.

The Legacy Collection Millennium Falcon is every Star Wars collector’s wet dream. It’s almost perfect – so close to perfect that it makes you wonder why they didn’t go the extra mile.

I shouldn’t complain though, the thing is awesome.

The first thing you notice about the new Falcon is the size – its 2 ½ feet long! This toy was designed to be more in-scale with the 3 3/4” action figures.

The Outside

From the outside, it is immediately clear how much effort went into this ship. All of the details are crisp and clean, and the paint and decals add more realism to the ship.

The gun turret on the top of the Falcon is activated by a lever on the side. Slide the lever up and down and the turret moves left and right, also moving the gunner’s seat inside. The turret fires the bottom two missiles when either the left or right side hits the posts on either side of the turret. Motion and missile firing is accompanied by sound effects.

Moving a bit forward, you have the Radar Dish. The dish is controlled by a knob on the side. Rotate the knob, and the dish moves. What’s more, the knob controls the arm for the training droid inside the falcon.

Take a step backwards and open the flap on the side. The falcon makes a mechanical whirring noise as you lift up the door to reveal a small ship. This mini-fighter is a new addition for the toy and not seen in the movie. The falcon makes another sound effect when the ship is removed. The ship features an opening cockpit, slide out guns, and a firing missile. It’s not bad, but a lot of effort and resources went into this that I think could have been used elsewhere (see the section about the landing gear).

From the front you have a set of three missiles set between the two “mandibles”. There are three buttons to launch the missiles, but only the center one has sound effects. Just below at the bottom is a pull-down missile launcher that can rotate. Very awesome.

The front of the mandibles feature small, light up headlights that activate when you fire up the engines.

We’ll skip the cockpit to talk about it all at once. Be patient.

The right side has the feature that sold me on this toy – the boarding ramp. Hit a small button on the side and the ramp activates automatically, including lights and sounds! It’s a thing of beauty to see in action.

Around the back of the falcon are the engines. The panel on the back where the black vents are is removable and reveals where the batteries are stored. The engines light up and they light differently depending on what sound effects are being played. There is the regular running sound, the not-starting sound, and the hyperdrive sound. All are activated by pressing buttons on the side.

The underside of the falcon is similarly well detailed, and features a moveable gun turret as well. Unfortunately, there is only one gunner chair inside.

The landing gear is the source of the most disappointment here. It is true that this version of the falcon has more accurate landing gear than the classic version, but this landing gear does NOT retract. Instead, it is removable. The thing is, they are TOO removable, and often fall off if you handle it wrong, or push it along the floor. I’m not sure what the rationale here was, because the design of this toy appears to have the room for the landing gear. Instead of spending all that time and resources on the mini-fighter, why not figure out how to make landing gear retract? It’s like having a bat mobile that does all the cool stuff, but then the wheels don’t turn. It just seems like a basic function that was ignored. If you decide to hang the falcon, or fly it around, you can just pop off the gear but then you are left with ugly holes. Another compromise would have been to supply panels to cover up the unsightly gaps left behind.

The Cockpit

The cockpit is our gateway to the interior from the falcon. The lid lifts up just like the classic one does, and actually comes off quite easily. The interior of the lid is detailed and has stickers.

The cockpit is spacious and now features room for four figures. The two pilots’ seats can swivel and slide forward and backward, while the rear seats just swivel. The instrument panels are detailed and the figures can grab on to the controls. The cockpit is also illuminated by two lights behind the passengers. The cockpit area looks great, but when taken in context of the rest of the falcon, is much too large. This is a toy after all, and we are aiming for fun-factor here, not movie accuracy. There is no passage from the cockpit to the interior of the ship, another major oversight.

The Inside

To access the interior of the Falcon, you need to remove the panel nearest the cockpit first, then the panel near the radar dish. The interior is broken down into two compartments.

The first compartment, the area with the boarding ramp, has a few cool gimmicks. There is of course the aforementioned ramp, a smuggling compartment in the floor, the gunners’ station, a large storage area and the medical bed. The medical bed has an area that looks like something plugs in there – maybe the cuff for Luke’s severed hand as seen in ESB? I can’t help but think we will see a different version of the falcon for each movie. The area features tons of sticker detail and pegs on the floor for various figures.

Remember those buttons on the outside that activated the engines? Well, when the cover is removed, those buttons activate dialog from the movie. These sounds are largely, Han, Chewie and Luke when fighting the tie-fighters. I should also mention that the sound fidelity is AWESOME. The back of the compartment features dual doors that are a pain to open if you have fat fingers and no fingernails like me. Inside is just another storage space.

The other compartment also has a smugglers compartment, pegs on the floor, and sound effects. In addition, the holographic chess table lights up and has small holographic characters. Luke’s training ball is also represented here, and moves when the knob on the outside is turned. The focus of the sound effects on this side is the Chess match between Chewbacca and R2-D2, as well as Luke’s training with Obi-Wan.

Two figures are included – Chewbacca and Han Solo. I don’t know if these are re-releases or not, but they are well-suited to the ship, with Han having the communications gear on, and Chewie with the super-articulation.

The biggest problem with the Falcon is where to put it. This is a no-brainer – If you love Star Wars you NEED this. You just do. Just be careful when hanging this from the ceiling – Dan tried twice and both times it came crashing down on the floor. Fortunately, and this is saying something about its construction, it survived both falls unharmed.

I think this falcon will be under many Christmas trees this year. At around $160 USD it’s not cheap, but we Japanese toy fans have paid a lot more for a lot less toy.

Get one, you won’t regret it.

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