Here’s a strange figure choice.  Maz Kanata played a key role in The Force Awakens, but her action figure was late in coming, and was part of the not-so-great Takodana 4-pack.  In fact, she was basically the only reason to get the set.  Now, we’re past the short-lived TLJ line, and already into the Solo look.  What we get here is essentially a repack, with a strange, and possibly unwelcome, twist.

The first Maz Kanata figure in the 3.75” line arrived in Home Entertainment Takodana Encounter 4-pack, that contained 3 figures you could find elsewhere, leaving Maz as basically the sole reason to shell out money for the set, if you were even interested at that point at all.  Maz was pretty good for a budget figure, with some nice sculpting details, complex paint applications, a solid face sculpt, and well executed goggles.  Another cool thing about the set was that you got the little wooden chest in which Rey found Luke’s / Anakin’s lightsaber.  She went to a lot of trouble to find it, just so Luke could eventually toss it over a cliff.  Rey then found it again, and then destroyed it in a test of Force-wills with Kylo Ren.  She recovered the pieces, and now has them for whatever reason.  But I digress. 

So why did Hasbro re-release the figure in the Solo line?  Well, for one thing, the TLJ line was super short, lasting only about 7 months, between Force Friday II and the poorly coordinated Solo launch.  Amazingly, in those 7 months, we only got 2 barely full waves, along with a few exclusives to finish it out.  (Let’s not get started on the single SA wave of 4 Walmart figures that was nearly impossible to find.)  Solo looks to be a healthier line, as we already have 4 budget figure waves planned out, and several Solo figures will be sprinkled into the 2018 TVC waves.  Again, I digress.

Maz made a cameo appearance in The Last Jedi, as a jet-pack wearing hologram.  That might have been an interesting take for a figure, but alas, Hasbro gave us the same figure as from TFA, but with a jet pack and a gun.  Here’s the rub:  the jetpack is not removable.  So this is specifically from TLJ, but not in hologram form.  So it’s not quite anything, actually.  The figure, as mentioned in our original TFA review (and above), is pretty good.  I just feel the decision to glue on the backpack was a bad one.  If you’re a Maz fan, you’ll probably want to pick this up, but it’s a bit of a raw deal.  One other thing - the goggles on the sample in these images seems to pull away from the face.  In another sample, the goggles stayed put, and were much better.  Apparently, your mileage may vary.  You could always try to glue them in place, but that would qualify as some kind of permanent customization, and we don’t need to cause any groin injuries here, so just look for a sample that suits your needs before buying.

Oh, and the other difference is the inclusion of Force Link 2.0 dialogue and sounds.  If you fought through the nightmare of enabling the 2.0 gauntlet, then you get to hear those phrases.  Personally, I think the Force Link feature is one of the best things Hasbro has done in, like, ever.  However, the upgrade to 2.0 was costly, time-consuming, frustrating, and poorly timed.  At one point, I thought I liked the idea of Force Link more than I actually liked it.  But now that it’s working, it’s back in favor with me. 

I am going to give this a 5.  It’s a good figure, but the added Force Link isn’t enough to make up for the glued-on jet pack.  It could have been a 6.