Axe Woves was a key player in a single episode of Season 2 of The Mandalorian, when he joined Bo-Katan and Koska Reeves when they located Din Djarin, and then followed it up with participating on the hijacking of Hieronymus Bosch’s weapons cargo freighter.  He then reappeared for the final 3 episodes of season 3.  Bo-Katan located him and his fleet of privateers as they were contracted to protect Plazir 15, a planet ruled by Lizzo and Jack Black, who in turn were protected by Doc Brown.  Sometimes Star Wars is weird.  In any case, Axe had left Bo-Katan, since he believed she could not rule Mandalore without the Darksaber.  So they had a big fight, and after some skillful logic by Din, Axe decided Bo-Katan was worthy after all.  So they all travelled to Navarro where they joined forces with The Armorer and the mandos of her covert.  Together the went to Mandalore, where they found some surviving Mandalorians who sailed the glassy surface of their homeworld in a weird ship.  While on board, Axe and Paz Vizsla played games and then fought, before Grogu/IG-12 broke it up.  Eventually, they all attacked the Imperial Base in an effort to wrest control of their planet away from Moff Gideon.  The Mandos were pinned down at one point, but Axe jetpacked his way to their command ship (Gideon’s stolen cruiser), and crashed it, destroying the base and killing Gideon. 

Next up in this “repaint” wave (aside from Huyang), is Axe Woves (Privateer).  The original Axe Woves figure was released about a year and half ago, and was a Target exclusive.  It’s an excellent figure, as it’s a repaint of the outstanding VC219 Death Watch Mandalorian.  I gave that DW Mando a 10/10.  The Target Axe figure was also excellent, and included Axe’s headsculpt.  Sadly, the removable helmet was doofy, and it ruined the chance for 10/10.  I knocked it down a point for that reason.

Fast forward to today, and Hasbro decided this repaint/retool wave was a good opportunity to right that wrong.  It’s not exactly an upgrade that collectors were demanding, but giving us the separate, swappable helmet is a nice-to-have, since it’s clear that very little newness was in the budget here.  Without the helmet, the base figure here is identical to VC228.  But switching the head with the helmet shows just how much better this option is when compared to the removable helmet.  The Hasbro team seems to have heard collectors’ disdain for removable helmets, yet they seem to be dragging their feet on going all in on this, and we still get the sub-par sculpts/accessories from time to time.

There’s not much to discuss here, as the figure was reviewed already, but if you were annoyed by the removable helmet, and like the character of Axe Woves, then this is for you.  It’s a nice upgrade, even if lacking in excitement.  The original figure should have been the same 10/10 as the Death Watch Mandalorian, but the helmet took it down a peg.  Therefore, the corrected helmet puts this version back on top of the grading scale.  10/10.