Last night, Chris ordered me to write something for Bantha Skull because he is, quite frankly, too lazy to write 6 days a week for the site.  I was going to tell him to lick rust, but then I remembered that I had this particular gallery ready to go for quite some time, but never got around to doing the wordy part.  It’s absence has been a sore thumb in my treasured TVC Basic Figure menu up to this point, but no more!

Hasbro decided to “re-paint” VC147 Death Star Gunner, and push it out on an Episode VI cardback as part of a Walmart exclusive “096” wave.  This time, Hasbro named it Imperial Gunner, with the intent to satisfy those weirdos.

We gave VC147 top marks, with a 10/10, and you, the discerning collectors (nerds) that you are, had beef with that.  While some agreed, many thought we were too generous, and that the figure was flawed. Chris discussed the helmet scaling, the limbs, and the t-crotch design.  But in the end, while it seemed something was off, it was still a great figure.  Today, the more I look at it, the more I feel something is off, and I’m settling on it being just a little bit of everything.  Nothing is specifically egregious on its own, but together, there’s just a feeling that the figure just isn’t right.  I think that my biggest gripe is the thinness of the body.  Especially with the baggy uniform, it would seem that the human form underneath is ghoulishly thin.  It vexes me.

The only change here, which is a welcome one, is the addition of the shoulder emblems.  There was some debate over the accuracy of the missing emblem, and it seemed that Chris found the evidence that the reshoots for Rogue One had the costume lacking the emblems.  However, it was also pointed out in the comments that some behind the scenes shots of the gunner from ANH may have indicated that at least one original costume lacked the emblems.  Whatever the case may be, Hasbro made the change and added the Imperial Cog tampo to each shoulder, and this should satisfy most of us.

This is still a very good figure, even if it’s a bit bothersome to some of us in some manner.  However, even in the relatively short time since the original hit the market, the lack of rocker ankles and updated hip articulation is something that shouldn’t be completely ignored.  I’m going to adjust the score here, taking a point for the dated articulation, and another point for the odd proportions.  The new card and added shoulder emblems aren’t enough to counterbalance this.  An 8/10 is nothing to sneeze at, however.  It’s a good addition to the line, especially if you missed the original release.