Editor’s Note:  This review has been updated with a second look…

Original Review:  Chris - 8/25/2014 6:30 AM

Is Hasbro serious with the paint applications on the helmet? The actual Wedge Antilles helmet has a solid straight yellow line from front to back with short and long black lines in the interior.  You can see an example of the pattern on the eFx replica helmet.  What Hasbro has delivered is beyond childish.  It’s infantile.  The stripe on both samples in the case I received look like they were hastily drawn freehand.  It looks more like southwestern motif art by some local doofus artist that should be hanging in a Panera Bread.  This is the most blatant case of Hasbro not caring about quality control in the Black Series to date, and that’s saying something.  If you think I’m droning on about an inconsequential accessory, the helmet is one of only two things that differentiates the pilots.

The other thing that differentiates the pilots is the head sculpt, and as we’ve seen lately, the Hasbro sculptors are on their A-game.  The fact that the face is a decent likeness for Denis Lawson circa 1979 in one thing.  The subtle fabric detail sculpted into the soft helmet including the tension where it stretches over the headphones is another. It’s quite an accomplishment for such a small item.  The paint applications to the head are not without their faults.  Fortunately they are minor enough that they don’t betray the sculpt. On the second sample from the case the eyes are rolled back into the head however. 

From the neck down, the figure is identical to 2009’s Legacy Collection Snowspeeder Pilot Luke Skywalker figure.  In one respect this is a good thing.  Hasbro currently has two super articulated Snowspeeder Pilot templates.  One is 2008’s Rebel Pilot Legacy Evolutions set Wes Jansen figure.  The other is the aforementioned Luke Skywalker figure.  Of the two, the latter has the better detailing, and that is the good thing.  Unfortunately, that Luke Skywalker figure has hands purpose sculpted to interact with its grappling hook accessory.  This means the hands are not built to interact well with either the included DL-21 blaster pistol or the A280 blaster rifle.  The pre-posing of the hands is forgivable on the Luke Skywalker figure, but just awkward on this Wedge Antilles figure.  A “kitbashing” with the hands from the Wes Jansen template should have been explored here.

Between the sloppiness of the helmet paint applications and the arms that do not belong, I can’t give this figure an upper echelon grade.  It’s a passable figure for its purpose, but barely passable in the “D” range.  6 out of 10.

Updated Review:  Bret - 11/24/2018 07:05 AM

I only recently learned that Wedge was actually visible at Leia’s Echo Base breifing.  After watching the clip and seeing still shots, I think it’s hard to tell that it’s actually Denis Lawson, but the helmet he’s holding is definitely Wedge’s.  So you can actually see him wearing the skull cap, which is pretty neat.  However, as was the issue with the VC44 Luke Skywalker (Dagobah Landing), it falls short of being screen accurate because in that briefing scene, Wedge is holding his gloves in his hand and not wearing them.  But this, of course, is a super minor nitpick.  There’s plenty to complain about.

The last numbered figure (minus the weird European exclusive Old Republic Trooper repack) in The Black Series Phase 1 (Orange), this was a welcome, but disappointing, figure.  We desperately needed an upgrade to the Wedge snowspeeder figure from the POTF2 era, and we got a huge improvement here.  However, as with much of the Black Series, the are details that are lacking, and penny saving shortcuts that negatively affect the figure.

The first, and most obvious problem with the figure is the helmet.  It looks like it was painted by Peter Griffin on meth.  This is not only terrible because it’s in the premium collector line, but also because Hasbro had already produced a superior helmet for the Wedge Antilles figure wearing his regular X-Wing gear that came with the Target Exclusive X-Wing fighter.  All they had to do was use that helmet, and things would have been OK.  Even that helmet isn’t perfect, but it looks like a Michelangelo compared to this one.  It would be laughable how bad this helmet is painted, except that I’m too busy crying about it.

Moving on from the helmet (which is hard to do), the rest of the figure is pretty good.  It uses a previously released body that was used for Luke.  That figure was notable because it was specifically designed to interact with the included harpoon gun.  As such, Wedge’s hands are angled strangely and don’t work too well in providing realistic poses for the included blaster and rifle.  I’ve always felt the rifle was an odd thing for the snowspeeder pilots to be hauling around, but whatever.  In and of itself, weird hands aside, the sculpt is a good one, containing some nice texturing as well as the separately sculpted hoses.  Wedge was given standard super-articulation.  It works well enough for this figure, although is nothing particularly special.

This figure has flaws.  The helmet paint applications need an overhaul, the hands should be neutral instead of pre-posed.  Those factors, as Chris already mentioned, are enough to knock down what easily could have been and 8 or 9 grade.  It keeps the disappointing 6.  Even still, it’s basically “close enough to definitive”, even though it could use an upgrade.

Verdict: No Action 

Close enough, but room for improvement might be enough to warrant a new release.  But this isn’t feasible in the foreseeable future, given the state of the line, so we should make due with this figure.  Ebay prices are surpisingly low, given that it is a huge upgrade to an old figure and a fan favorite character from a fan favorite film.  But if low demand for this version is any indicator, Hasbro might be best served steering clear of doing anything with Wedge for a while…UNLESS HE MAKES AN APPEARANCE IN EPISODE IX.  Help us Denis Lawson, you’re our only hope!

Verdict Guide:
Re-sculpt = The figure is not definitive, and a new version should be developed.
Re-issue = This version is definitive (or close enough), and shows sufficient secondary market demand to warrant a straight repack.
No Action = This release does not require new attention.