Since it’s Celebration Weekend, we’ve decided to go ahead and give a bonus Sunday review.  Yesterday we looked at Commander Pyre, leader of the contingent sent by the First Order to establish control, in one way or another, of the Colossus platform.  Vonreg appeared in the initial episode, as he attempted to prevent a squadron of Resistance spies from transmitting data about First Order positions.  He was unable to destroy the X-Wing piloted by Kaz Xiono, and was eventually driven off when Poe Dameron arrived with reinforcements.  The information Kaz passed on alerted the Resistance to the First Order presence on Castilon.  Kaz was sent to the Colossus on Castilon to spy on FO activities. Major Vonreg appeared throughout the show as an FO ace pilot, and periodically made life difficult for the heroes.  By the end of the season, the First Order was exposed, and the citizens of the platform fought off the occupation.  In the climactic confrontation, Kaz was dogfighting Vonreg, and shot him down.

Major Vonreg was designed specifically as a counterweight to the hero ace pilots.  Dave Filoni was inspired by the World War I German ace, The Red Baron.  Vonreg’s unique pilot uniform and red coloring were intended to make him stand out from other First Order pilots.  Vonreg carried a small stuffed Max Rebo toy in the cockpit of his red TIE Interceptor for good luck. I totally made up the part about the Max Rebo toy, but he really did have a red TIE Interceptor.

The figure sculpt is cartoony, just like the source material.  He’s true to the source, having the extra skinny limbs and proportions that are slightly off from the live version of the FO troopers and pilots.  That said, the figure is pretty striking, with all red armor and unique helmet design.  Vonreg comes with a blaster that he can grip firmly in his hand and extend awkwardly with his arm since he has no elbows or wrists.  One particular disappointment is the lack of a holster to stow the blaster.  Good luck not losing it. The figure is otherwise standard 5POA fare, and has extremely limited posing options.

Vonreg gets the 3/10 rating, which is our baseline for a 5POA figure with animated styling.  While I found all of the other Resistance figures in stores over the past several weeks, Pyre and Vonreg were the only two I did not see, and had to resort to Amazon.  It seems the line sold through inventory reasonably well, at least in my local area.  I definitely didn’t stumble upon any peg warmers.  Not sure if that was due to low distribution, or because people really liked the show or the figures.  Either way, I would have preferred realistic styling, even if they had to be POA.  While those filthy Sixers have been getting realistic versions of the Ghost crew from Rebels, it’s high time Hasbro ditched the animated figure strategy and streamlined the 3.75” figures into a cohesive line with a realistic styling focus.  This should bring together kids and collectors (both casual and hardcore) alike, just like it was meant to be.

This is the last figure for our galleries and reviews of the 1st wave of Resistance figures.  This one and only wave consisted of 6 figures, and were accompanied by a pair of 2-packs. The entire lineup is shown in the last gallery pic.  As of today, there seems to be no word on the state of the 5POA line, with nothing announced for the next line look or the identity of the figures in any potential future wave.  I doubt this means the line is done, although I for one will certainly not miss it.  I suspect, however, that at the very least, it will return with Episode IX.  In the meantime, collectors can look forward to some TVC goodness over the coming months.