I just saw the Skeleton Crew trailer for the first time before I wrote this review, and I’m not entirely sure what’s going on, but it looks like a bunch of kids find a ship, accidentally fly it and get lost in space, and are befriended by Jude Law’s character to ostensibly get them home.  The characters, tone, pacing, and music from the trailer are unlike anything I’ve seen in Star Wars before, but I’m not going to let that stop me from watching the show.  It looks like it could be fun, and might be a refreshing take on the franchise, especially if it ends up being it’s own small story instead of tying in too closely with the major events in the galaxy.  I’ve been playing Outlaws, and while I initially found it to be tedious with all the sneaking around, it definitely gets better as you progress through the story.  The “world” is rich and immersive, and while there’s a few random easter eggs that tie things to the main OT storyline, Kay Vess essentially operates in her own bubble, and it’s pretty great.  It’s what The Mandalorian promised to be, before Din Djarin eventually linked up with Bo-Katan and Ahsoka.  Because of that, I feel like I might really enjoy Skeleton Crew, despite it being about a bunch of kids.  Maybe it will have elements of things like Stranger Things, ET, or The Goonies.  It could work.

OK, so while we know next to nothing about the show, we know even less about Jod Na Nawood (although he is apparently Force-sensitive, according to Wookieepedia).  So we have a figure of him.  I think we can assume that more figures will eventually follow in TVC, but for the moment, it’s all we have.  As such, he is, at least for the moment, context-less.  Nevertheless, I have no problem with this.  I’m actually really excited that this figure was released at this time, because I really can’t recall the last time we got a figure before the character appeared on screen. Well, technically, K-2SO from Andor, who is part of this same wave assortment, would fit that description, but that’s very different, since we already know the character and it is simply a repack on a new card.  So that aside, Jod Na Nawood is like a modern unicorn in TVC.  It reminds me of the preview figures that we used to get for the prequels.  I used to love those, because I’d spend several weeks, or months, trying to imagine what the heck these guys were all about.  While I may not be experiencing that same level of wonder with this figure, I defnitely appreciate that TVC has finally gotten a jump on the media release schedule.  And it’s not a random backgrounder that can be relegated to the cutting room floor, this is a main character. 

The figure itself is excellent, but not without a few concerns.  The sculpt is good, even if the outfit is rather…earthly.  The street clothes, along with the trench coat, are similar in feel to the recent Cassian figure from Andor.  The coat is physically removable, although the sleeves are not - which would give you no real reason to remove the coat in the first place.  There is a lot of nice detail in the texture, folds, and ornaments.  Underneath, he’s wearing a v-neck shirt, cargo pants, and boots.  Everything looks nicely done. 

The figure has a belt with a front holster, which is a little bit of a different look that the typical side holster.  The pistol itself fits nicely in the holder, as well as his hand.  It has looks like a flintlock, with the curved handle.  Lastly, he comes complete with a shmata (joining a long line of figures with head-shmatas) either to keep him warm or to serve as a disguise; who knows?  We haven’t seen the show yet!  It fits nicely, and significantly alters the look of the figure.

The articulation has its pluses and minuses.  On the good side, the elbows bend well past 90 degrees.  The hips are of the new style, and have a nice range of motion despite the long coat, which is a very flexible plastic.  The feet provide a solid base for the figure to stand upright, which lately has been a bit of an issue when the feet aren’t perfectly flat.  This also has a great center of balance, as you can see with the running pose in the gallery above.  On the negative side, only one of the wrists (left) on my sample has good range of motion, while the other one can’t seem to get past the cuff (YMMV).  The knees barely reach 90, and that’s upsetting, since they got it right on the elbows.  And there is almost no up-and-down range of motion for the neck, which limits the expressiveness of the figure.

Finally, the headsculpt.  It’s definitely not terrible, by any stretch, but it doesn’t nail Jude Law’s likeness.  In person, it looks closer from some angles versus others, but it’s far from a slam dunk.  TVC has had such great likenesses lately, and I feel a bit disappointed in this one.  Again, it’s not bad, it just misses the mark. 

Overall, this is an excellent release, but the imperfect range of motion on the most of the joints, and the slightly off likeness, definitely hurts the final score.  I won’t factor any negativity due to lack of context, because I’m just excited that this preceeded the media debut.  I’m genuinely happy about it, but in hand, it’s not the most exciting looking design, it doesn’t push any boundaries, and it has some minor, but frustrating, flaws.  I’ll give it an 8, and as of this moment, I look forward to the show and more characters from it.