In a shocking reveal a few months ago, Hasbro announced a 3-pack sourced to the beloved Heir to the Empire Timothy Zahn novels.  For this set, we have once again asked Thrawn Super Fan, Tyler, to handle the review.  If you don’t already know, he’s been an occasional guest contributor to Banthaskull, and frequent participant in the comment section.  He is also a member of the SWTVC Instagram page @SWTVC, and his own IG account is @swcollector3.75.  Enjoy!

Review by Tyler 5/29/25 7:05 AM

Good morning, Bantha Skullers! Thank you for your patience in waiting for this review – it has come at last. Special thanks to Chris and Bret for once again allowing me to write another guest review for them, knowing I am a “Thrawn fanatic”.  Fair warning, this one will be lengthy, but that’s because this set is particularly special and there’s a lot to say about it. Hopefully it will be an enjoyable read for you. Let’s get into it!

First up is VC359 Captain Gilad Pellaeon, Thrawn’s right-hand man. This is a very exciting inclusion because Captain Pellaeon is a character debut; never before has this character been offered as a figure in either 3.75” or 6”.  (And let’s be honest, it’s always exciting when TVC beats TBS to getting a character – a rare occurrence these days.)  For over 30 years we have been waiting for this character in figure form, and the delivery makes it worth the wait.  The figure sports the likeness of the live action actor who plays Captain Pellaeon, Xander Berkeley (first seen in the “Shadow Council” scene with Moff Gideon, Commandant Brendol Hux, and other warlords) in The Mandalorian Season 3.  Xander was perfect casting, immediately recognizable as the character even before his name was uttered in the scene.  This figure absolutely nails his likeness.  Honest to God, I know I am going to sound biased, but this portrait is one of the very best in all of TVC 2.0.  And the card art is equally perfect, featuring Captain Pellaeon aboard the bridge of the Chimaera adjusting his gloves in classic Imperial officer fashion with a starfield visible in the viewport window behind him. The starfield (a running theme with all three card backs) screams Star Wars and has a perfect vintage Kenner feel to it. There’s absolutely nothing to complain about or ding here, other than the consistent issue inherent to this sculpt from the very beginning – the elbows cannot bend past 90 degrees.  This is an issue we’d really like fixed, Hasbro, so please retool the arms!  But, since that issue is not unique to this figure, I give it a perfect 10.  I’m sure we will be seeing more of Xander Berkeley’s Pellaeon in live action soon, as Thrawn has returned to the main Star Wars galaxy and will no doubt be linking up with Pellaeon and the larger Imperial Remnant as he launches his war against the New Republic, just as he did in the Expanded Universe.  It would be great to see another release in the future with the Seventh Fleet symbol on his shoulder, something eagle-eyed fans spotted he sports in live action.  No rush, though.

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Interestingly, Hasbro has tried a new approach with Pellaeon – a sculpted and glued cap which is not removable (and if you did, he probably wouldn’t have the back half of his head). The result is much more aesthetically pleasing than the too-thick removable ones of previous releases, but you do unfortunately lose that function.  Hasbro has stated that the removeable caps are thick due to “minimum wall thickness requirements” from the factories.  In other words, the factories will not produce them thinner, probably because they will tear or something due to the kind of plastic used.  This is unfortunate, as I do wish the cap was removable; in the Expanded Universe, Pellaeon goes on to become a Grand Admiral himself and lead the Empire after Thrawn’s death:

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Making this custom will not be possible, which is a bit sad, but at the end of the day, it’s most important for Hasbro to get the character’s original appearance right in the first place, which they definitely did.  Hasbro opted for maximum accuracy/most aesthetically pleasing and I can’t fault them for that one bit.

Next up is VC360, Grand Admiral Thrawn – appropriately numbered, since this set makes my head spin in the best way. You may be surprised to learn that my first introduction to Grand Admiral Thrawn was actually in the TIE Fighter PC game in the 90’s, where he is part of the campaign and featured in several cutscenes (including his promotion to Grand Admiral by the Emperor personally).  This figure is a SPITTING image of Thrawn from this game – he looks like he leapt off the screen and right into this bubble.  I thought the character was very cool, but it was not until later, in the early 2000’s, that I read the Thrawn trilogy and remembered, “Hey, this is the guy from that video game! So cool! And wow, he’s quite an important character!”  That’s when I really fell in love with the character, and he forever earned a place as one of my top favorites in all of Star Wars.

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There’s no other way to say it: if you are a fan of Thrawn since the “OG” Expanded Universe days decades ago, this is the figure you’ve been waiting for.  This is the sixth Thrawn Hasbro has released in the 3.75” scale, and the first to finally, after all this time, feature his iconic distinctive gold epaulets with which he was depicted since the very beginning.

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Can you believe that? It took six figures to finally receive the version we’ve always wanted.  Once again, it was worth the wait and the figure delivers.  The torso is actually a retool with some interesting engineering; the epaulet encircles the joint rather than just being glued on the shoulder, and is also very pliable plastic and does not inhibit movement whatsoever.

[Image courtesy of Dean Backhouse @dean_lee1138 on Instagram]

The epaulets are not the only difference.  I am happy to report that his uniform is finally nice and bright white rather than the off-white of the Rebels and Ahsoka versions – something the community has been asking for.  Third time’s the charm, I guess.  Also, his skin tone is noticeably darker blue, the darkest of the three TVC offerings (which I like very much personally), and his hair is decidedly black rather than blue or blue-black like the previous two TVC releases.  I like having options, so this change is very welcome to me.  The figure also includes a newly tooled ysalamiri, which, in my opinion, is the best of the now three that exist in 3.75”.  However, it admittedly doesn’t sit on his shoulder very well, unfortunately.  It has a tendency to fall off his back.  You may need to have Thrawn lean forward at the waist slightly.  It’s a little frustrating but not enough for me to deduct a full point.  An interesting thing to note is the difference between the promo image and the final production sample:

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We can see that the promo image showed the ysalamiri on his shoulders inside the bubble, while the final production sample has it floating in the top-right. I personally would have preferred the promo look, as I think that looked great, but again, it’s not a deal breaker. As for the card art…my goodness!  What an outstanding, gorgeous cardback. This has to be one of the best cards in all of The Vintage Collection, and I do mean that.  It’s perfection.  Grand Admiral Thrawn sporting his Expanded Universe epaulets,  with the ysalamiri on his shoulders, and his Star Destroyer, The Chimaera, in the background with the starfield.  You really couldn’t ask for a better image than this.

So you may be asking the questions, “Why do I need this? Why should I buy another Thrawn?” or “Which is the best Thrawn in TVC?”  Well, the truth is, each of the three TVC Thrawns provide value in their own way. The Rebels Thrawn is the tallest, if height is important to you (Lars IS very tall).  The Ahsoka version is necessary because it’s his live action representation, arguably the most important if your collection focuses on live action media.  But this one represents the classic Thrawn as he was depicted for over two decades in the Expanded Universe, even when the books were rebranded to “Legends”, as we can see here:

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If I could only choose one, though, it would be this one.  It’s the look we’ve been waiting for, for over three decades, and the card art is by far the best. I would put the Ahsoka Thrawn at #2 due to the live action necessity, although the figure is straight up too short and the card art is easily the weakest of the three.  All that to say, VC360 is, again, a perfect 10.

Finally, perhaps the most exciting component of this set: VC361, Joruus C’baoth!  It’s an extraordinarily rare thing these days to get characters from the Expanded Universe in TVC, let alone a newly tooled figure.  And this is, once again, a character debut in 3.75” – never before made.  Once again, worth the wait (I keep saying that because it’s true.)  It can’t be overstated how remarkable and shocking it is to get this figure in today’s offerings climate.  When The Last Command four-pack was revealed for TBS featuring Joruus and Luuke, 3.75” fans went, well, absolutely ballistic.  The jealous agony of the community was deafening.  Thankfully, TVC collectors didn’t have to wait too long to get theirs, too.  And what a surprise that reveal was, an early Christmas miracle.  It’s rare to see the community so universally excited and happy over a reveal, and I can honestly say for at least a brief moment, the community was united in ecstasy when this set was revealed.  Joruus is absolutely outstanding, from the removable medallion, to the soft goods, to the charming sandals.  The figure is pretty much perfect.  If you really wanted to find something to nitpick, I suppose it would be that the figure is missing a second lightning-shooting hand to create the look on the cover of Heir to the Empire (and the gorgeous cardback which emulates it – perfection once again).  Hasbro opted to include a unique and newly tooled (I think?) red lightsaber and unlit hilt.  Apparently, Joruus never used a lightsaber in the books.  However, on paper, an action figure of a Dark Jedi with no lightsaber is kind of weird and lame.  So I will not fault Hasbro for including a lightsaber, especially when it’s new, and especially when they also include the unlit hilt.  The lightning hands from the Sith “Evolutions” pack approximately 20 years ago pop right into the wrists on this figure and are still in my opinion the best ever made, so it’s not a dealbreaker that this figure doesn’t have a second lightning hand for me, personally.  I give this figure another 10. Former Star Wars Brand Team member Patrick Schneider stated on more than one occasion that the #1 character he’d like to see come to fruition as a figure was Joruus C’baoth.  Well, here he is, and I think it’s safe to say this was his parting gift to the Star Wars community.  From the bottom of my heart and on behalf of EU fans, thank you, Patrick.  What a truly special release this three-pack is.

The whole presentation of this three-pack is beautiful.  It’s my favorite thing ever released in TVC, and it will be very hard for anything to ever top this, for me.  Heir to the Empire and that trilogy are my favorite Star Wars books, and my preferred “Sequel Trilogy”.  I always hoped that someday we might see Heir to the Empire as a logo in The Vintage Collection, but never really thought it would happen. Well, here we are.  Truly a dream come true for myself and many others.  I am so grateful and excited that this set exists.  I hope it sells well (it has sold out on Pulse at least twice and also on Shop Disney), and it surely boosted Mara Jade to win this year’s TVC March Madness tournament.  The enthusiasm for the Expanded Universe is still there, Hasbro.  Please continue to make more from it.  Mara Jade, Rukh (the EU version – not that hideous Rebels abomination), and Luuke would put a nice bow on this media source, I think.  One can hope! In summary, this set is astonishing, shocking, beautiful, and basically perfect – a perfect 10 all around.  I’m not sure these figures will ever be released individually in the future (maybe Pellaeon on a live action card back), so I expect value to climb on these over time. I cannot recommend getting this set enough.