Now that The Last Jedi is upon us, we see that Hasbro has switched up the focus of their most recent offerings away from Rogue One.  The standalone film had barely a year to focus on toys, and even then, offerings were meager.  Depending on how you count, you get a little more than two dozen 5POA figures, 4 SA figures, and 3 vehicles.

After a long and mysterious wait, Admiral Raddus was finally made available through online retailers as part of the final wave of Rogue One themed 5POA figures.  Was it worth the trouble?

Raddus serves the 5POA purpose well.  He meets our standards to earn the baseline 4 rating for a 5POA figure.  He stands solidly, he is painted well, and he interacts with his accessories surprisingly well.  Raddus has a great head sculpt.  Hasbro opted to skip the neck articulation and instead go with a moveable mouth.  Basically the lower jaw stays in place, while you can tip the rest of his had back to simulate the distinctive Mon Cal animatronic speaking motion.  It’s a neat feature.  Additionally, the paint applications to the head and face add personality to the character.  Overall, the paint is excellently applied, especially to the head and exposed forearms.  The uniform is sufficiently sculpted with folds and details.  Raddus comes with a pistol that he can grip firmly.  He comes with a giant Hasbro-invented fireball-ish thing rocket launcher.  Amazingly, Raddus can hold this weapon and still manage to stand upright, with a little bit of posturing.

On the negative side, the figure’s colors aren’t particularly striking, but accurate to the on-screen character.  It would have been nice if he came with a holster - I hate having to be so careful with the tiny blasters.

The only real shame about this figure is that being 5POA, he can’t sit naturally in a (theoretical) command chair.  He can sit like all the other dopey 5POA figures, so that would have to be good enough at this price point.  He was a major player in the Battle of Scarif, so it is good to see Hasbro managed to produce Admiral Raddus.  The biggest reason to own this figure is that it does not (yet) exist in super-articulated form.

Raddus gets a bonus for holding that wacky launcher without falling over, for having an articulated jaw, and for having quality paint applications.