Sure, you may wonder why you should click through for this 5POA gallery and review, since Captain Dolores Phasma was released as a pretty decent collector-grade figure in the Walmart Black Series line.  Still, we went through the effort of snapping these images and doing a writeup, so you should show some courtesy and read this!

Back to The Force Awakens line, we take a look at a character that got a boost this week with the release of a deleted scene from The Last Jedi.  In that cutscene, Phasma’s death is altered slightly, with the key change that Finn flips the “traitor narrative” on Phasma, and reveals to nearby troops that it was she who deactivated the Starkiller Base shields in a moment of cowardice.  The stormtroopers begin looking at each other as they process this information.  Phasma ends up killing them all, and by the time she refocuses on Finn, he is able to blast her off the platform into the flames.

Way better than what we got, but whatevs.  Like Darth Maul, the character was underwhelmingly utilized.  Maybe she survived the battle, and Dave Filoni will resurrect her and give us a more compelling storyline.  Otherwise, we wait and see if JJ Abrams will find a way to have her back in Episode IX: There are Lots More Jedi.

As for the figure, you’d not be surprised to know that there’s nothing particularly exciting here.  The 5POA is executed as well as can be expected.  The head moves freely on the ball-jointed neck, even more so when the cape is removed.  The figure stands assuredly.  The paint applications are simple, but still have a bit of bleeding and overspray in places.  The silver is a flat paint, which is unfortunate because this is a figure that would have been amazing if it was silver vac-metal.  We tried getting some information from Hasbro on the state of vac-metal painting on Star Wars figures, but we have not heard back as of this review.  The unique weapon can be gripped tightly in Phasma’s hand, or it can snap into the hip clip on her armor, as is the case with other FO troopers.  The cape is molded plastic, but is executed well.  Not sure if soft goods would have been better, but it would have been neat to see it tried, especially if Hasbro could capture the red trim.  Phasma comes with the typical ridiculous build-a-weapon piece.  I’d like to think this one is a machine used to apply white yard lines and hash marks to a Jawa Football League field.  If that was indicated on the package, I guarantee this figure would be an instant classic.

5POA Phasma was released in a couple of other formats, including the ultra lame Rogue One 2-pack with Finn (Jakku), so there are several opportunities to get this figure.  However, we definitely recommend the Black Series version.  As long as Hasbro is making the SA versions of characters, there’s almost no reason to buy 5POA unless you’re some kind of psychopath.  Because of the existence of the TBS version, I can’t really recommend this figure to anyone.  In a vacuum, it gets a standard 4 for doing its job.  But I give it a 3.  Go get the TBS version.