I’ve never liked the design of the Blurrg.  They originated in the 1985 made-for-TV movie, Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, as the stop-motion beasts of burden for the Sanyassan Marauders:

(click for the full sized image)

To this day, I’ve never watched Ewoks: The Battle for Endor.  I tried, but I find it absolutely unwatchable (and I watch the Holiday Special at least once a year).  Despite not seeing the source, I knew of the design.  I thought it looked silly.  It’s a piranha on legs.  Alternatively, I said it’s the Star Wars beast version of Mike Wazowski:

Since 1985, the Blurrg made appearances in The Clone Wars, video games, publishing, and finally as a flawlessly executed live-action visual effect in The Mandalorian.  I still felt no personal pull toward getting one in the Vintage Collection.  But that doesn’t matter because most of you did.  I’ve always been supportive of a Blurrg release for this reason, and said that if the Vintage Collection were ever going to dabble in the creature segment again, Hasbro absolutely had to lead off with the Blurrg.  They did, and the results are in.

So who is right?  Me and my Blurrg-hating misery or you Blurrg-loving lot of dopes?  You are.  I’m so happy that creatures are back, and working with this Blurrg was reminiscent of the first time I played with the Kenner Dewback as a kid.  That was one of my favorite toys (how could a kid not love a Star Wars/dinosaur crossover?).  While posing out this Vintage Collection Blurrg, my stance on the design even softened.  I now love my little walking piranhas.  Putting this gallery together was joyful (aided by the fact that I got to play with rocks from my yard).  I even found myself making the occasional creature noise while articulating the jaw.

The forelimbs are only articulated at the shoulders.  I don’t see this as too problematic because they seem almost vestigial.  I’m not sure I’d pose the little t-rex arms any differently even if they had elbows (but this in no way excuses 8D8’s elbow-less-ness).  The tail can wag back and forth.  The hindlegs articulate at the hips, which can flex out courtesy of the ball and socket construction, knees and ankles, which are rockers.  This gets you plenty of posing for the creature.  I’m really impressed with how well it balances on the relatively tiny feet.  I was expecting to have to prop it up on the tail for some poses, but that never happened.  The Blurrg stands on just the two feet even when under mount.  That’s pretty…pretty good.

As mentioned earlier the jaw articulates to either chomp down on the removable reigns or on Mando’s arm.  The detailing inside the mouth, which includes a textured tongue and ridges on the roof of the mouth, is impressive.  As with the reigns, the saddle can also be removed so you can can make the beast naked, should you choose, for the scenes with the feral mustang Blurrgs that attack Mando when he first arrives on Arvala-7. That saddle is the reason for the one point deduction.  It lacks any wash whatsoever, and looks decidedly plasticky.  One full point for that is draconian, but these reminders of the cost cutting around the Vintage Collection cut me deep.

You already know the pack-in figure well.  The tooling from VC166 - The Mandalorian has now been reused five hundred sixty two times by my count, and there’s nothing wrong with that.  It’s still one of the best figures in the history of the line.  It’s a testament to the fact that range of motion is just as important as the amount of articulation.  The knees and elbows easily bend beyond ninety degrees, which unlocks most posing options.  But this update is a study in taking the good with the bad.

Good:  The hips were updated to the new barbell style articulation.
Bad:  Unfortunately, the figure didn’t get upgraded to rocker ankles which is the expectation in 2024.
Good:  The paint scheme is much more muted and more accurate to what we see on screen.
Bad:  The silver wear marks are now gone giving Mando a “re-armored Fett on Morak” appearance.  Also, the sidearm lacks the painted grip.
Good:  The plastic molded cape has been replaced by a soft goods one.
Bad:  The holes and wear pattern on the cape featured on previous soft goods Mando figures is gone.

I gave VC166 a ten out of ten in 2020.  It’s not 2020 anymore.  Figures have come a long way the past four years.  I’m reducing VC335 - The Mandalorian (Arvala-7) to a 9 out of 10 for the lack or rocker ankles and the lack of finishing paint apps througout.