Cassian Andor (Aldhani Mission) is the third figure released in TVC sourced from Andor (with a fourth figure to be reviewed soon).  The first two were VC261 Cassian Andor and VC262 Vel Sartha.  They were pretty good figures, however it was bad enough that they were the only 2 released at the time, but it was worse that they didn’t interact on screen in those outfits.  The good news as that this version of Cassian did interact with Vel Sartha, albeit briefly.  They don their respective mission gear, but start things off separated.  They don’t meet up until they’ve already captured the Imperial Commander (played admirably by Baron von Papanoida in the gallery above).  The shared scene lasts only a few moments before Cassian starts shedding his armor and then his tunic (neither of which can be replicated by this figure).  But hey, it’s a step up from being completely isolated from each other.

When this figure was revealed, it only took a few moments for collectors to realize that Hasbro took a huge shortcut to bring it to market.  Cassian is essentially a repainted VC229 Migs Mayfeld / VC251 Din Djarin (Morak), but with a new head/cap, and a new lower tunic.  Those figures had new upper bodies, but used the legs from the once popular Black Series 3.75 Scarif Stormtrooper.  That figure is now more than 6 years old, and it’s shortcomings are nothing less than maddening at this point.  Despite the fact that the figure was re-released in the early waves of TVC 2.0, then again in a troop builder pack, and then parts recycled as the aforementioned Migs and Din, the sculpt doesn’t get any better.  The legs are some of the worst in TVC 2.0 at this point.  Aside from the lack of rocker ankles, the knees barely reach a 45 degree bend.  As such, they are almost rendered moot as far as meaningful action poses.  But that’s not even the worst part.  The shin armor is utterly screen inaccurate.  Cassian and his heist-mates wore pants and boots, a wardrobe aspect that was captured quite nicely in Hasbro’s own 6” scale Black Series figure.  It’s a jarring shortcut, but I was willing to overlook it until I got my hands on the figure and remembered how useless those Scarif Stormtrooper legs are in the first place.

If you can get past the legs, the rest of the figure does look nice, and the upper body articulation is up to modern standards.  The face is an excellent likeness to Diego Luna.  The removable cap fits nicely on his head.  When removed, Cassian’s hair is pretty silly looking.  However, if you watch the scene after Cassian ditches the hat as he tries to fire up the transport, his hair is pretty much a flat mess, so it’s accurate.  Hasbro did retool the lower tunic (“skirt”) and belt, so it differs from the Migs/Din figure, and matches Cassian’s uniform well.

Aside from the soft cap, Cassian comes with a pistol that he grips well, and fits snugly in the holster.  But this brings us to the second major shortcut with the figure, and I might argue is even worse.  During the heist, Cassian and the other members of the team, each wield a blaster rifle that they have slung across their body.  I’m probably wrong, but the rifles look like E-11’s with the stocks extended.  Whatever the model, Hasbro opted to not include this crucial accessory with the figure.  For the record, the Sixer figure suffered the same indignity. 

At this point, it’s probably a waste of resources, but Hasbro could make up the error by correcting the legs and weapons, and releasing a troop builder 4 pack to include Tamryn (with the white stripe on his shoulder), Skeen, Nemik, and Andor.  But you’d need a bunch of other characters to make it all worth building the scene.  So forget all that.

I gave Migs and Din equal scores of 8/10.  The problem here is that the sculpt is simply inaccurate, and the missing rifle is unforgivable.  That knocks down my score to a 5 - especially because the got the Sixer legs right.  It’s a frustrating figure.  The question is if the cost of proper tooling would have taken this character off the table.  And if so, what other slightly retooled figure could have taken its place?

Oh, one other note - You can do a head swap with the recently released VC270 Admiral Piett and try to recreate the Rogue One infiltration scene (with the wrong rank badge), if you’re willing to use the 5POA Jyn Erso.