This will probably be a short-ish review, because something unfortunate came up that is cutting into my Banthaskull time as I write this the night before publishing.  So please accept my apology in advance.

First of all, back in 2010, Hasbro launched The Vintage Collection with….Dengar as VC01.  While it was a silly character to hold such an important position in the line, it was nevertheless an outstanding figure - and one of the best as of 2010.  Even when we revisited VC01 Dengar in 2018, just before the release of the Rey wave that relaunched TVC, we still gave it a 10/10.  7 years later, it’s still a really nice figure, especially for a deep backgrounder - albeit an iconic one.  Is it up to 2025 standards?  Absolutely not.  But it’s still pretty great.

A few months ago I wrote a very slightly tongue-in-cheek (but not really) article, The Face That Launched 366 Figures…So Far.  It was a rebuttal to the naysayers that were up in arms about the gall of Hasbro to release such an outdated figure today.  My points was mostly that today’s resources are so limited, Dengar just isn’t worth the squeeze for a re-do, especially since he was so great at the time.  He’s still a top quality figure, he just lacks modern articulation at the hips, ankles, and wrists - as well as FACE! technology.  Given the conditions of today’s hobby, it wouldn’t make sense for an update to Dengar, so I am fine with this re-release.  My only real gripe with the announcement was that he’s just a random choice that didn’t really fit with anything that is available or being celebrated.

The figure itself is still pretty great, at least up to that standards we were used to before 2022 or so.  I won’t go into much detail, as you probably already know what you need to know about the base figure, but if not, feel free to check out our review of VC01 Dengar.

This time around, the main differences are the addition of PhotoReal, which is counterbalanced by the reduction of weathering and dirt - which were prominent on the original figure.  It may have been overdone at first, but I think the pendulum went too far and overcorrected here.  We now have a pristine Dengar, and it just doesn’t feel right.  Unlike Aurra Sing’s terrible re-release, Dengar didn’t lose any accessories in translation.  He still has his pistol, rifle, and backpack.  Most importantly, he still has his removable crotch.  Because of this, Dengar is Him.

The other weird thing is the card number.  I don’t really care about the cardbacks for the most part, but as a slightly OCD steward of Banthaskull’s figure menu,  VC01A is a soul-crushing decision.  I have no real idea what they were going for here.  I know there was some explanation at the time as to why a character would or would not get a new card, new art, new name, new source, new number etc.  But Hasbro’s numbering continues to confound me.  I don’t really see why this is “A”, when it’s a simple repaint update to the same character.  Hasbro obviously doesn’t care about the symmetry of our figure menu, so to them, I say, “GOOD DAY!”

In the end, I found this to be a dull release, but I think I only had one original Dengar, so a second one for my Jabba’s Palace works out well for me, even though he’s not quite screen accurate (his armor was a bit different). 

Grading is tough.  We gave him 10/10 back before the current renaissance in figure sculpting tech.  If we recalibrated, he’s probably an 8/10 at best when compared to today’s TVC figures.  I would then probably shave a point for the reduction in paint apps.  I think if you really wanted this Dengar, you’d be happier with the 2010 version, but if you can handle the cleanliness aspect, it’s still pretty nice.  7/10.