When the TVC Endor Bunker set was first revealed, I was completely underwhelmed.  I already had a bunker set, and it served its purpose.  Sure it was 25 years old, but it was good enough.  I’ve just never been a fan of incremental upgrades to figures and toys over the years. 

Let’s take the recently crowned winner of the March Madness event, executed with painstaking, loving care by our friends @swtvc.  The goal of the bracket, is to pick the next “all new” tooled figure for TVC.  Personally, I’m not really interested in an all new Dooku.  I think we could manage with an update to the existing TLC figure.  Just a new headsculpt that better captures Christopher Lee’s likeness, and ball joined wrists so he could flex his lightsaber downward in his iconic manner.  Dooku was one of the least “athletic” Jedi/Sith in the films.  He got a little more dynamic in the cartoons, but in order to give him modern hips and rocker ankles (and everything else for a full complement of Jedi-Level Articulation), Hasbro would have to bump some other character from the precious few “All New” slots.  But I understand how nuanced collector tastes can be.  I feel that with a few upgrades, the TLC base figure would be a great addition to TVC, especially as Dooku is one of the most conspicuously absent main characters from the line.  I still believe it’s not worth the resources for all new tooling, especially if he comes at the expense of ANH Luke or Leia - or any number of other characters that don’t exist in the line at all.

As for the bunker, I similarly felt that it wasn’t worth it for Hasbro to make an all new one, but I understand that they already gave a lot of love to Jabba in recent years, so Endor needed a boost as well.  I probably would have preferred something modular for Home One, so I could display the 30-something figures from the briefing scene.  The images released from the reveal were nice, but didn’t enthrall me, and while the Disguised Rebel figure was neat, we already had one of those as well.

Now that I have the bunker in hand and can compare it to the original POTF2 set, I can only ask, “Why did it take so long for Hasbro to make this?”  Yeah, I’ve done a complete 180.  Now that I see it in person, this thing annihilates its predecessor.  As you can see from the shots in the gallery, this TVC version significantly larger than the original.  It is also much more screen accurate.  Obviously we collectors weren’t quite as insane about screen accuracy as we are now.  POTF2 was a bunch of nonsense in that regard, so much so that Chris basically considers POTF2 as “pre-modern era”, while I, like most others, simply accept everything after the Kenner days as “modern.”  In that regard, here’s something I never noticed about the original.  Look at the “louvers” (for lack of a better word) on the sides of the bunker.  The old toy has 8.  The new one has 5.  That’s a significant design difference.  What does the on-screen bunker have?  Here’s a hint:  It’s 5.  Somehow, I didn’t realize that until I had the TVC bunker in hand.  It totally annoys the crap out of me that the designers just kind of went with 9, for no apparent reason, when the film set clearly has 5, as if we wouldn’t notice (I didn’t).

Some other great details missed/made wrong by the original include the large circular machinery parts on the top of the bunker made oval for some reason, the central lock on the exterior doors lacking any detail, and the interior blast doors being the wrong color. These were all corrected this time around.  The TVC treatment also adds some new details, such as a sliding cover that reveals the comms port R2 interacted with, as well as a small hatch that Han Solo flips open so that he can hotwire the doors.  One addition that might not be met with universal approval is the moss along the roof of the bunker, as well as at the base.  Some of it is sculpted on (base), and some are separate pieces, but are glued in place.  It’s fairly screen accurate, as the actual bunker did have forest growth, but I personally feel it would have been better if this was all removable, kind of like the swampy vegetation that covers Luke’s X-Wing from The Saga Collection.  That way, you could maybe use the bunker in other display situations, if that’s your bag.  I feel like we could see this same structure someday in an episode of Andor, or The Mandalorian, but on a non-forest planet. I guess if that happens, you could use your POTF2 one.

Anyway, the real draw here is the size of the bunker.  It will comfortably fit four figures, which was the case with Han, Leia, R2, and 3PO.  The old bunker was just too small for this.  Beyond this, the actual construction of the bunker is quite similar to the POTF2 version.  The separate pieces were designed to connect in a similar manner.  I found the original to be a little flimsy, but this one is much more sturdy.

Hasbro continues its strategy of including a carded figure with the set.  This time, we get a repack of the recently updated VC23 Scout Trooper that came with the Speeder Bike, but this time around, he has a removable helmet which reveals Nik Sant (or Rex).  Again, this isn’t a particularly special treat, as we have gotten this character before, but the upgrade is nice, I suppose.  I’m not a huge fan of the the way the beard was executed.  It doesn’t look as accurate as it should be, so it’s a bit of a disappointment.  Nevertheless, if you leave the helmet on, he’s a regular biker scout.  I found the interior box packaging to be well done, and the carded figure is fairly well protected from damage inside, so this should yield good results for carded collectors.

While the newness of Hasbro’s “celebration” of ROTJ may be underwhelming, they have covered Endor pretty nicely recently (even before the 40th) with more still to come, including this bunker, the Speeder Bike, the AT-ST and Chewbacca, Endor Han, Leia, Luke, Paploo, Teebo, and the AT-ST Driver.  There are also some Endor “adjace” characters like Palpatine and his throne room, removable helmet Vader, Nien Nunb, Admiral Piett, and Moff Jerjerrod. 

The main takeaway for me was that while I was less than thrilled with this set when it was revealed, I’m happy to have it now.  It’s a decent upgrade.  So if Hasbro ever does announce an all new Count Dooku, I’m going to wince and die a little inside, but I’m sure that once I had such a figure in hand, I’d wonder how we went so long without it.