Well folks, I have good news and bad news.  The good news is that the Cowboys 2023 season is now a distant memory.  No really, the good news is that I’ve returned from hiding underneath a rock and present to you my first gallery/review in over 3 weeks.  Chris has been doing overtime (well, maybe just slightly more overtime than he usually does) to cover for me.  It’s good to be back, although a bit limited by some time constraints on my end.  And just in time to have run out new TVC figures/toys to photograph.  My availability to do this week’s review was particularly limited, so I had to dig through my files to see if I could find something that I had already photographed.  And that brings me to the bad news:  today’s review is for something from The Force Awakens 5POA product line.

I don’t know if I never completed this review out of frustration with the general crappiness of the line, or because I had better subject matter to publish, or if I was time-constrained, or (most likely) I simply forgot.  But I found a folder on my laptop with all of these images which I took well over 3 years ago.  So think of it as a bit of a time capsule.  This isn’t just an old product, the pictures themselves are pretty old.  In fact, this is probably one of the last galleries I shot in the basement of my old house back in New Jersey. 

The vehicle is a Walmart exclusive, and a straight repaint of Poe’s X-Wing Fighter.  That vehicle was also known as Black One, and was the one that Poe Dameron flew throughout most of The Force Awakens, as well as the first half of The Last Jedi until it was destroyed in the hangar of the Raddus.  This fighter is the one that Poe had flown to Jakku when he went on his secret mission to meet with Ming The Merciless.  We never actually saw it fly, as it was already parked when we first meet Poe, and it was then disabled before Poe and BB-8 could escape the First Order, and was subsequently destroyed on the ground by Kylo Ren’s stormtroopers.  [I feel like it’s been a minute since I’ve written anything about the sequels.  I had to watch a few minutes of TFA to research this review, and I got a pang of disappointment at how it fell short of my hopes.  The first act was pretty fun, but it was mostly down hill after that.  And that’s all I have to say about that.]

Aside from the paint job, the vehicle offered nothing new in 2015.  The figure of Poe Dameron is exclusive to this set.  It’s of the outfit he wore on Jakku when he was taken prisoner by Kylo Ren.  It’s 5POA, with a non-removable helmet that includes 2015’s ubiquitous idiot banana visor.  He comes with a large rifle that cannot be stowed anywhere, so he has to put it on the ground when he’s not using it.  In order to pick it up, he would have to bend over 90 degrees at the waist, since he has no knees.  And then he can only fire it by holding it with one hand and his shooting arm raised up 90 degrees.  It just seems generally uncomfortable, and not very conducive to accurately shoot things.  That’s if he can even see anything through his idiot visor.  But all of that is Poe’s problem, not mine.  The real shame is that Poe was never released in articulated form in this particular outfit. 

[I’m going to cut and paste a chunk of the original review of Poes’ X-Wing Straighter, as almost all of it applies here - I’ve just edited out the parts specific to the color scheme and the Poe pilot figure:]

...In 2015, Hasbro decided that the T-70, used by the Resistance, should be downscaled so we could party like it’s 1995.  The size will probably turn you off at the start, but if you’re willing to look past that, there are some other features to look at, most of which are likely to reinforce your original opinion.  The good parts about the vehicle?  Despite the size, it is a nice sculpt, and the paint job is pretty cool.  There is basically zero weathering to this ship.  There is a single landing gear, which allows the ship to sit straight on your shelf, but because there are no rear landing gears, the ship basically rests on the ground.  No real need for the pilots to use ladders to board, they can basically use just hurdle themselves into it.  Cool if you’re a fan of the Dukes of Hazzard, but otherwise, not good for Star Wars fans.

The cockpit has some decent detailing. It’s got an actual seat, versus many ships which just have an angled arrangement for the pilot to move into, comfort be damned.  It comes with a BB-8, but just like 1995’s R2-D2, he is not removable, and you push the droid down to activate the S-foils into attack position.  Perhaps the worst part of the whole thing is the soft rubber nose, which is a separate piece.  To top it all off, and unfortunately this is completely expected at this point, the 4 laser cannons are too easily warped, also directly out of the package.

It’s sad when a very average figure is the best part of a vehicle.  The $50 price tag does this thing no favors.  I certainly hope Hasbro considers a T-70 in the larger scale at some point in the not-too-distant future.  As it is, the vehicle is a disappointment, but due to the nice (though simple), paint applications, it’s not bad sitting on your shelf.  It gets a 3.  The good figure and paint job can’t overcome the 1995 sculpt at a 2015 price.  If you find it for $10 on clearance somewhere, maybe take a look.

[End of cut-and-paste]

So the verdict is the same here.  3/10.  The positives are that you get a figure of Poe wearing an outfit that is unavailable in any other 3.75” form.  The paint scheme of this vehicle is also unique to this release.  You’ll notice that in the last paragraph of the earlier review, I had hoped for a collector-grade version of this vehicle.  Well, we did get that in TVC, with Poe Dameron’s X-Wing Fighter.  That one was good for a 9/10.  I think releasing Black One using that mold some day in the future might make some sense, but it’s unlikely this paint scheme will ever be revisited.  And therein lies the “other value” I’ve attached to this release.  This has a paint scheme and a pack-in figure that have almost zero chance of ever being revisited.  So if you’re a fan of the sequels, Poe Dameron, or of all things 3.75”, then you might want to keep this in mind and add it to your collection.  Otherwise, feel free to move along.