Here’s a couple of my thoughts up front:  When Count Dooku was announced, I was indifferent.  Even with the measurable growth in TVC over the past few years, figures with new tooling are still precious few.  While the best existing Dooku is below today’s standards, it’s still pretty good.  I did not put it in the category of “figures needing a TVC upgrade”, as I was reasonably satisfied with what we had already.  Again, it had some warts, but was still excellent despite being from 2005.  That Count Dooku was part of the ROTS line’s Evolutions: The Sith.  In 2009 it was re-released with a less severe headsculpt, as part of the Geonosis 2-packs from Target (w/ Nicanas Tassu).  Not only was it a decent figure that could still be displayed nicely today, you even had options with 2 distinctly different facial expressions.  The soft goods cape was one of the best efforts by Hasbro, and he had articulation that would be considered top notch until about 3-4 years ago.  On top of this, as you probably know, I have no interest in collecting packaged figures, so simply having him on a TVC card wasn’t a draw for me either. 

Later, Dooku was revealed as a finished figure.  I had some immediate concerns.  The face sculpt didn’t exactly look to me like it nailed Christopher Lee - and at this point, Hasbro’s sculpting is so incredible, that a likeness miss is no longer something that can be overlooked.  The lower tunic, or skirt, was revealed to be made of plastic, not soft goods.  This was concerning, as it could potentially limit lower body range of motion.  Even for an older gentleman like Mr. Tyranus, a Jedi/Sith figure needs the ability to pose dynamically.  And finally, the glam shots I saw made it look like Dooku lacked ball jointed wrists.  Most figures today have this type of advanced articulation, and when figures are lacking this, such as with VC300 Hera Syndulla (and almost any female figure in recent memory), it’s quite disappointing.  I’m a stickler for figures being able to achieve their characters’ iconic poses, and a lack of the hinged wrists would continue the tradition of Dooku figures being unable to recreate Dooku’s signature lightsaber ignition flourish, with his right arm down and away from his body, with the wrist flexed just so perfectly to inject an element of elegance into his stance, prior to effortlessly dispatching his victims.

So it was with great “meh” that I greeted the arrival of VC307 Count Dooku into my collection.  But as is a disturbingly regular occurrence (at least according to Mrs. Scout), I was very wrong to doubt that this figure should have been made.

It’s pretty spectacular.  On my 3 points of concern regarding sculpting, Hasbro neutralized two of them, and at least surpassed my expectation on the other.  The face sculpt isn’t perfect, but it’s much better in person than in imagery.  Maybe it’s the angle, or maybe you just have to take in the entire headsculpt from all angles in order to fully appreciate it, but it’s quite good.  One issue I do have is that the sculpt of the head prevents any significant up and down motion on the neck.  The lower tunic is indeed plastic, but a very soft a pliable type that allows for nearly full range of motion of the legs.  I wouldn’t necessarily suggest posing Dooku in a ballet split and leave him like that for months, as it might warp the skirt, but you can pose him in nice dynamic stances.  And the wrists - they are indeed of the ball jointed (or, more the technically more accurate “hinged”) variety.  So yes, Dooku can hold his lightsaber in his iconic manner.  As Threepio once said, “Wonderful!”

It is notable that this figure comes with an unlit hilt, which plugs into Dooku’s belt.  This is the first instance in the line that we have Dooku’s unlit hilt, which is another worthy upgrade over previous releases.  It should go without saying that this is on top of the added articulation previously absent, such as the ball jointed waist and rocker ankles.  Additionally, the knees and elbows do flex a little past 90 degrees.  It would be nice if they could go farther, as this is something Hasbro has proven they can accomplish, but for some reason hasn’t been as prevalent in the last few waves of figures. 

And then there’s the cape.  This might be the best looking soft goods effort Hasbro has ever made.  The material is a near-perfect thickness and texture.  It falls very naturally, and frames Dooku spectacularly.  The stitching at the shoulders makes it a perfect fit, and the neck “chain” is executed flawlessly.  My only minor nitpick here is that the material seems to hold wrinkles that were created in the packaging.  I suppose it could be ironed or steamed, but who has that kind of time?  And I don’t have an iron for ants to do this anyway. 

So aside from the limited range of motion of the neck and the slightly wrinkled cape, this figure is a very pleasant surprise, and a great addition to our collections.  I suppose it’s also important for you carded collector weirdos to have Dooku finally immortalized in TVC.  However you slice it, this Dooku is a great figure, and I’m happy to have been wrong when I thought it was going to be underwhelming and unnecessary.  I immediately can’t believe it’s taken this long for a TVC-quality Dooku. 

Here’s the funny thing:  All that praise and mea culpa I just wrote about doesn’t actually change the fact proven in that image in the gallery of this Dooku standing amongst his fellow Separatists on the Geonsosian Arena.  Dooku’s upgrade is probably the least necessary by some measures than almost any of the others on that balcony.  Kid Boba is a joke figure, at this point, and an upgrade would give you reason to set the 2002 figure on fire.  Same should be said about Nute Gunray.  That guy had an unfortunate sculpt since 1999, and the AOTC variant didn’t change that.  He’s probably among the top secondary characters in need of an upgrade - way more so than Dooku.  Poggle the Lesser is 5POA, and while a TVC upgrade would render this version moot, I don’t know that anyone in their right mind is asking for this.  And of course, we have Jango Fett.  Another decent figure, which already exists in TVC, but modern improvements would do it a favor, even if this one is still pretty darn good. 

What I’m getting at is that the Dooku upgrade is excellent, and way more impactful than I thought it would be.  But it’s still an incremental improvement over an existing figure that is already quite good.  I guess I still feel that other characters are in greater need of an upgrade, but after having this Dooku in-hand, I’m not upset about it.  10/10.