Oh, before I get started, ^#BackTheBar^.  Now here’s another review of a figure that has nothing to do with the Haslab Cantina.  Speaking of “nothing to do”...I’m not particularly enthusiastic about doing this review.  It has nothing to do with the character or the source material.  While many here in the Banthaskull community tend to lean towards the OT as our first love, most of us, myself included, are not part of the mythical “OT Only Crowd.”  I think there’s like 7 people in that group, even though that moniker is thrown around social media circles just to give credence to such a boogieman.  I thoroughly enjoy most of the Star Wars offerings, and I rank Rebels and Ahsoka respectably among those offerings.  While The Ghost wasn’t my first choice for a Haslab, I’m (mostly) glad to eventually be adding it to my collection.  It’s not a dream acquisition for me for two reasons:  Lack of any meaningful associated products already existing in my collection, and a lack of desire to devote space to something larger than the Millennium Falcon that would serve as a backdrop to only a handful of (eventual) figures.

For the first part, there was a distinct void of TVC/realistic product that supported the Rebels characters.  Whereas I had dozens of figures that waited many long years for the chance to ride on the Khetanna, the Ghost wasn’t anything I felt I needed in my collection.  The second point was more aligned with my feelings about the Razor Crest.  Super cool vehicle, but large and not something I felt that was missing from my collection.  The fact is, I felt I wanted the Crest more, because the media was current, and Hasbro had already started building a modest bench of figures that could interact with it.  It seemed like it was the next logical piece to be added to TVC’s offerings for The Mandalorian.  And then it blew up, and I stopped caring about it before it even shipped.  Problem with the Ghost is that it seemed to be somewhat random as an offering.  5 years after Rebels was over, it seemed like the ship had sailed, and suddenly I was supposed to embrace this behemoth and the handful of figures that would come with it and eventually be added down the line.  OK, I guess.  The Cantina is more like the Barge in that it’s the perfect compliment and instant collection upgrade to elevate my shelf display of the dozens of cantina denizens I have already owned for years. 

In summary, go fund the Cantina.  I like the Ghost and supported it x2, but I LOVE the Cantina.  You should totally back the Cantina.

There’s a point to this rambling about my own Haslab collecting desires.  Mainly, to make it clear that I like most new media, and I’m generally happy about the sudden influx of Rebels characters.  But this figure is essentially useless to me.  Ezra Bridger (Hero of Lothal) seems to have existed in this outfit only as a brief hologram format in Ahsoka.  So what good is it?  I feel it would have been better served as an actual translucent hologram figure offered as some kind of store/convention exclusive.  Or, just not at all.  It has no context, which is something that is of utmost importance to me.  I added an image to the gallery above that highlights this Ezra, along with several other TVC figures that essentially have no meaningful figures, ships, beasts, or environments to interact with.  I suppose you could have it pass as a regular Ezra from Rebels, especially if you didn’t get the Ghost.  It’s a pre-paint / slight retool of that figure, and exists only because it was easy for Hasbro to squeeze another use out of the tooling.  I don’t really fault them for that, but I just find such figures that lack context to be a waste of my collecting time, space, and dollars.  (But I got 2 anyway.  Sigh.)

Context aside, the figure is quite outstanding, and is a preview of the one coming with the Ghost.  The sculpting is top notch and is a nice interpretation of the animated character into realistic form.  The paint applications are colorful and fairly precise.  The face is done well, and includes Ezra’s scar on his left cheek.  The articulation is excellent, with some solid range of motion on the elbows, which bend well past 90 degrees.  However, the figure falls a bit short on true greatness, because the range is more limited in other aspects.  The neck is limited, as are the knee joints (they just barely reach 90).  Also the legs are hindered a bit by the holster straps. 

Ezra comes with a DL-44 blaster which he holds nicely, and fits snugly in the holster.  In my sample, the muzzle doesn’t fully slide through the bottom of the holster, so it floats a bit.  This might be limited to this particular sample.  Ezra also comes with an unlit lightsaber hilt, which fits into a peg-hole on the left side of his belt.  The hilt, along with the fully ignited lightsaber, look great, and fit int Ezra’s hands well.

Despite my annoyance with the lack of context, the figure itself is pretty outstanding.  The minor articulation flaws notwithstanding, it’s an overall dynamic figure that achieves a lot of poses.  It’s a 9/10.