The Knicks will not be swept!

A stunning comeback from 20 down, and the Knicks draw first blood stealing Game 1 in Boston. 

Nomad 1, Chris 0.

Apologies for the sudden interruption in Revenge of the Sith reviews, as we have to shoehorn this TVC item into our schedule.  I unexpectedly picked this up from the same Gamestop at which I secured my 501st helmet and coin on Sunday.  We’ll get back to the ROTS showcase tomorrow.

Along with the Blurrg, the Howler represents the return of the Creature/Beast expression in TVC, and it is glorious.  Both are fantastic, and hopefully have opened some doors for the line.  The apparent success of these items may have contributed to Hasbro greenlighting the Bantha, and I’d love to see this trend continue.

The howlers seem to be the beast of burden of choice on Peridea.  I am completely fascinated by this other galaxy.  We’ve only seen a small part of this one planet, and there are at least 3 native (or seemingly native) intelligent groups that call it home.  The Bandits, the Noti, and the Witches.  And they’ve domesticated the howlers - which may or may not also be native to the planet (Wookieepedia says they are native).  But is there more?  I mean, who are the Bandits raiding?  Just the Noti?  Seems unfair.  I doubt they’re messing with the Witches.  So what’s going on here?  And what about the rest of the galaxy?  Is it filled with advanced spacefaring species just like the Star Wars home galaxy?  Was Thrawn and his group traveling to any nearby planets, or did they stay put on Peridea the whole time undetected by any other governments to travelers?  I have lots of questions, and I’m sure very little of my curiosity is relevant to the main story, but it still fascinates me.  I believe this Howler marks the first extragalactic 3.75” item in the current canon.  I know we had a couple of Yuuzhan Vong figures from the EU days, but I think this is a bit of a milestone in the new timeline. 

Anyway, The Howler is essentially a dog that can be ridden.  Sounds fun!  Hasbro did a wonderful job of bringing it into the line.  The likeness is excellent, and the details are tremendous.  The sculpt is outstanding overall, and the howler is super articulated with the beast version of Jedi-level articulation.  Its four legs have ball jointed hips, knees/elbows, and paws/wrists.  The head is ball jointed and can perform all manner of expressive poses, helped along by the hinged jaw.  And for good measure, the tail is ball jointed, and adds to the versatility of the animal.

The paint job is solid, if not particularly striking, with lighter belly fur that fades into the darker fur of the body.  The face has the black and flat snout, with nicely painted eyes.  The teeth and tongue are vivid.  The reigns are a removable piece, although it leaves behind large holes in the cheeks when not attached.  While I didn’t remove the saddle, it was demonstrated by Tannith in his Youtube video a few weeks back that you can take it off, but it leaves a huge hole on the Howler’s back that essentially negates any desire to display it as such. 

Finally, the Howler comes with swap-out legs to help it perform a sitting position.  These “sitting legs” didn’t quite snap into place in a satisfying manner, but they do work, and give you another posing option.

The included Sabine has the identical base figure as the Deluxe figure.  If you check out that review, or if you have that figure, than you know everything you need to know about the sculpt, paint, and articulation of this one. 

The accessories are a bit different.  Most noticeably is the inclusion of a soft goods shmata.  It’s nicely constructed, and goes over the neck and the left shoulder.  It’s made of a very thin material (like some recent VC shmatas), so it will likely curl over time.  I’m sure there’s some handy tip for fixing this should it happen that likely involves some amount of groin pain.  Also included is a separate swap-out helmet, which replaces the much-maligned gigantor helmet that came with the deluxe figure.  Sabine also has her lightsaber, unlit hilt (which plugs into her belt) and her two blasters.  Not too surprisingly, the blasters are unpainted, which is unfortunate, because the vivid custom colors of the deluxe figure’s blasters was notable. 

As for interaction, Sabine fits nicely in the Howler’s saddle, and she can stick her feet in both stirrups (with a bit of patience) as well has hold onto the reigns.  It is well done, even though the figure was (presumably) designed long before the Howler.  Or perhaps not, as Hasbro may have planned on the Howler when they released this Sabine figure the first time and specifically designed them to work well together.  My only real nitpick with the set is that there is no place for Sabine to store her helmet while riding the Howler, but it’s not a huge deal.

For the record, as you can probably see in the images above, Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati can fit on the Howler, but their plastic skirts make it a bit tricky, and create a bit of a floating situation when they try to sit on the saddle.  Perhaps Hasbro will take the opportunity to give us (repainted) howlers with Baylan and Shin figures that include soft goods skirts and cloaks. 

The set is outstanding.  Despite the minor complaints of unpainted blasters and no place to hang the helmet, I find this to be a very enjoyable and well executed set.  The dings are too minor for me to deduct a full point, so I’m giving this a 10.