Everyone has a line in the sand when it comes to collecting.  Maybe they’ve drawn it, or maybe they haven’t had the opportunity yet.  There’s a point were we ask ourselves, is this worth continuing?  Do I receive enough joy out of this to make the time, expense, and effort worth carrying on?  For me it was MH17 Queen Amidala.  To me, this figure represented the bleak future of my hobby as it was in 2012.  And sure enough, it was followed by the Dark Times, from which the hobby didn’t emerge until 2018.  During those times, I was fading in my interest.  I have to thank Chris for keeping me on life support for a couple of years.  He would tell me whenever new black series (I can’t even dignify it with capitalization) figures were available, and whether or not I needed to add them to my collection to keep my completism going.  I more or less stopped my toy runs, and stopped paying attention even to this site.  Chris kept the lights on, doing about 90% of the work, with contributions from CJ and occasionally a few others.  At least I think that’s what happened.  I was so disconnected I never once saw a single figure from the Rebels line in stores (I did find most of the vehicles).  I did get a shot in the arm with the ST Midnight Madness events, but was as frustrated with the state of the line as I could be and still continue on.  And then we got the announcement that TVC was returning, and we got back on track.

All that is to say that this figure seems to have gotten several in the community to feel similarly as I did with MH17 Padmé.  Chris was one of them.  The official images showed what looked like a largely unpainted figure, and on the heels of such letdowns as VC311 Professor Huyang.  I was frustrated with that one too, yet I still awarded it a score of 8/10.  That’s largely because even with some missing paint apps, it was still an excellent figure, and was superior to the vast majority from prior years.  It’s the problem with our scoring scale.  It’s almost impossible for a TVC figure to score below a 7 or 8, simply because it’s the same scale applied to Monkey Face Leia.  Other figures around this time were essentially tweaks to existing ones, but missing paint apps from the original.  And prices/choices for deluxe figures continued to confound many collectors, while dropping paint apps along the way.  I very much sympathize with this sentiment, although I personally find lack of articulation more egregious than lack of paint details.  It’s all the same result, though.  Discontent in the community is real, and I’m not talking about people who love to be miserable. I’m talking about eager and invested hobbyists who feel that they see the writing on the wall.  Reduction in paints apps, for many, is like a neon billboard advertising a dystopian collecting future.

I’m not even going to touch on the should/shouldn’t it be deluxe, or the price point, or the recent deluxe packaging change, or the numbering, or whatever.  There has been enough of a pushback from the community that whatever this is, it ain’t it.  Again, I personally don’t care since I’m not a carded collector, but Hasbro has to find the sweet spot for these types of figures, and they have way more swings and misses than hits in this specific category.  The danger is that we lose that slice of the collector pie chart that prioritizes these things, and we can ill-afford this.

Fortunately, it seems that all is not lost, as images of upcoming figures seem to tout the return of paint details that took a vacation in 2024.  So let’s hope for a return to glory in 2025 and the future.

Now that I have this figure in hand, I can say that I feel exactly as I thought I would when I saw the official images.  I don’t mind the paint misses, which I personally feel are minimal.  Yes, the upper legs, inside the “hip covers” should be painted, or at least cast in a darker gray plastic.  And the figure definitely lacks an appropriate weathering wash that we should expect from a deluxe figure.  But Huyang was WAY worse, and I still liked that figure.  Huyang looks like a plastic toy, having an unrealistic plasticky sheen to it over the majority of the poorly painted/unpainted body.  It was disappointing by TVC standards, for sure.  IG-12, to my eyes, is much less egregious of a miss.  There a few parts of the droid that should be painted/weathered better. I think if the legs were cast in the same metallic color as the majority of the upper body, it would have been fine, and then painting the hip covers the appropriate lighter color would have led to way fewer complaints.  But instead, the legs seem to have been cast in that same lighter color, and it can be off putting.  Again, I understand the reaction, but it’s not a deal breaker to me.

While the perceived severity of the paint problem will vary from collector, what I don’t think would be all that debatable is the success of the figure in all other aspects.  Chris gave IG-11 a 10/10.  This is essentially the same figure, but the chest now has a “cockpit” with a removable cover in order to accommodate either of the included characters of Grogu and the Anzellan.  IG-12 has all the same remarkable articulation, and is one of the most fun droids ever to pose.  You can see from the pics how well balanced he is, even without rocker ankles.  He is every bit an “action” figure.  He comes with a rifle, for reasons, as IG-12 was weaponless when piloted by Grogu.

Grogu is a little on the small side when compared to most previous incarnations.  He’s already tiny as it is, but this one is a bit shorter and looks thinner, so that he can successfully fit into IG-12’s chest cavity.  His arms are swivel - a departure from the tiny ball joints that most Grogu’s have.  But he fits perfectly in place, and his hands sit right onto the controls so he looks great doing his thing.  I thought it was clever that there are little holes inside the sides of the chest, where Grogu can stick his pointy ears.  Weird Al would be proud.

In a first for the line, we now have an Anzellan.  He’s only got swivel shoulders for articualation, but that’s enough.  This guy is like half the size of Grogu.  I was thinking he must be the smallest character in the history of the line, but he may have to have the asterisk of smallest meatbag, as HK-47 would call call him.  For comparison, he is next to Leia’s super tiny L0-LA59 that came with Obi-Wan from the D+ series.  He also is able to pilot IG-12.  I just wish we had all three Anzellans.  That means we have YET ANOTHER incomplete crew.  Sigh!

Between the sculpt, the poseablity, and the absolute adorableness of both Grogu and the Anzellan taking turns as pilot, this set is a delight.  I give IG-12 an 8/10, dutifully deducting points for the missed paint apps, and while super cute, Grogu and the Anzellan are each barely more than a tiny accessory with limited articulation so I gave them each a 5/10.  But this is a classic example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.  I will give the set a 9/10, and only the missing paint apps on the legs would make this figure incrementally better.