Editor’s Note:  This review has been updated with a second look…

Original Review:  Chris - 2/13/2014 12:00 PM

This figure looks nothing like Lawrence Fishburne.  What is wrong with Hasbro?  If you looked at the first picture and said to yourself “Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest”, I only have one thing to say to you:  Hi, CJ.  NERD!!!!

When the Legacy Collection volume 2 was announced at Celebration VI, fans were excited to see the continuation of the realistically styled Clone Wars figures which were introduced in the Vintage Collection.  The figure garnering the most excitement was the realistically styled Captain Rex (Phase I) (Editor’s Note: this figure still hasn’t been released as of the time of this updated review).  Naturally Hasbro skipped that figure in favor of the General Mace Windu figure which was largely greeted with “meh”.  As of the time of this review, there is no known release date for the Captain Rex figure.  Hasbro has a serious case of hero worship.  We keep seeing a disproportionate number of hero releases in the “collector line” which feels like the “kid line” sensibilities are encroaching into the supposed adult targeted line.  Just admitting that there’s an “adult” toy line (outside of the realm of deviancy) makes me shake my head a tad.

In traditional Bantha Skull review style, we’re two paragraphs into the discussion without even talking about the figure itself. While I would like very much to stay off topic and tell you about the guy at work who accidentally farted during a meeting this week, I’d best get onto the figure.  Here’s a shock.  I don’t hate it.  I sometimes feel like I should rip on figures that aren’t exactly burning up the cash register (I think this was the only figure from wave 3 that did not sell out during the initial offering on Hasbro Toy Shop), but despite what some may think, I won’t prostitute my integrity for the sake of pandering.  I will only prostitute my integrity for money. I have my honor.  I’m going to skip right to the grade of this figure because I feel like I’m turning into a broken record with this number.  It’s an 8 out of 10.  In other words, it’s right on the mark for a super articulated figure. It’s not overly impressive nor overly flawed.

I’ll start off where the negatives appear.  The torso is ball jointed, but it’s vaguely reminiscent of the 2004 VOTC Stormtrooper. If you articulate the joint even slightly back or forward, it exposes the joint itself. The head does not have great range of motion up and down. This is bad news if you’d like to pose Master Windu as if he’s menacing above a cowering Palpatine.  The irises on my sample appear more orange than brown.  One thing that’s becoming a bit annoying on Jedi figures is that the plastic sculpted upper tabard really interferes with the range of motion of the arms inward.  I’d like to see Hasbro solve this issue at some point.  Lastly, the unlit hilt is weird.  It’s much longer than the hilt on the lit saber.  Both are inaccurate.  The unlit saber is missing the gold accents at the base of the hilt and the lit saber is missing the gold accents in the middle.  I’m not bothered by this lack of hyper accuracy in a toy as much as the overly large unlit hilt which just sticks out. 

The good is that I really like the expression on the head sculpt.  The furrowed brow really conveys a lifelike Sam Jackson expression.  I assume the forearms borrow from the VC41 Clone Trooper tooling and as such the wrists are ball jointed.  As Vanessa Bayer impersonating Miley Cyrus might say, “That’s rilly kewl.”  Speaking of the women of SNL, have I told you how brilliant I think Cecily Strong is?  Oops.  I’m getting off topic again.  The added articulation at the wrists increases the dueling poses that can be achieved.  Ball jointed hips on this figure would have allowed the positives to overwhelm the negatives to improve the score, but unfortunately this Windu figure comes with the standard swivel hips.  On the plus side, the incorporation of soft goods in the lower tabard ensures this point of articulation isn’t limited.  If you’ve made it this far, you already know the score, so I’m not going to repeat it.

Also I’m going to repeat the score.  8 out of 10.

Updated Review:  Bret - 11/13/2018 07:05 AM

I love it when Hasbro gives us realistically styled figures from the cartoons.  I will never forgive Hasbro for splitting the 3.75” line into realistic and cartoon figures.  NEVER!  But on the fairly infrequent occasions when they do it the right way, it’s a good day.  This figure isn’t particularly exciting, but it adds to the recent Clone Wars lineup from TVC, which included Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka.  It was followed by Captain Rex, which was probably the most disappointing of the bunch.  I would love more figures in TVC from The Clone Wars, and hope Hasbro has plans to deliver once the series restarts.

We got a Mace Windu figure in TVC.  That figure was the film version of Mace.  The only real difference in the costume here is the armored elbows and forearms.  The head sculpt is all new.  Interestingly, I like both, even though they look nothing alike, but both are a decent likeness to Sam Jackson.  This figure has added wrist articulation, since these are ball jointed,  This figure also has a ball jointed torso, but as Chris pointed out, it’s a double-edged sword because enabling the joint exposes the inner workings and ruins the aesthetic of the figure.  This figure lacks a Jedi robe, but that’s just as well, since the one that came with the TVC version was particularly large.  Mace also comes with a Jango Fett helmet accessory.  I know that there was a story in TCW where the helmet was planted as a bomb to kill Mace.  But I thought it was funny to think of the helmet as a trophy that Mace keeps in his quarters, and when he has some downtime, he’ll reenact the moment.

The sculpt is very good, along with the added articulation.  Chris gave this figure an 8, which at the time represented our baseline score for an average collector-grade figure.  I’m going to leave it at an 8, because we gave the TVC Mace Windu our new baseline score of 7, and this figure is better, even though it’s obviously not the same outfit.  Ball jointed hips would have given this figure the full complement of Jedi Level Articulation (JLA).  I’m going to leave it at an 8.

Verdict: No Action 

Other than ball jointed hips, it’s basically the definitive version of a realistically styled Clone Wars Mace Windu.  It’s fairly inexpensive on eBay, so there’s no real reason to re-issue, unless Hasbro is thinking of some kind of exclusive multi-pack featuring repacks of the previously mentioned Clone Wars figures.  I’d rather Hasbro consider making more figures from this source.

Verdict Guide:
Re-sculpt = The figure is not definitive, and a new version should be developed.
Re-issue = This version is definitive (or close enough), and shows sufficient secondary market demand to warrant a straight repack.
No Action = This release does not require new attention.