Poe Dameron was originally released in the apocalyptic Walmart Black Series line.  This release has PhotoReal tech applied in order to improve the accuracy of the face with respect to approximating that of Oscar Isaac.  It’s pretty well done, so long as you don’t look too closely, of course.  From a reasonable distance, it’s an improvement over the original - which was pretty good in its own right.  Up close, you can see the dots and it’s not nearly as convincing.  But that’s okay.  Even though I have terrible vision, I don’t need to have the figure touching my eyeball to appreciate it. 

The rest of the figure holds up well.  It lacks the most current articulation style of the cut thighs, but a lot of collectors seems to have some hesitation about those anyway.  Ball jointed wrists would be great though. 

Otherwise the figure is the same. We gave that figure a 9 out of 10.  Perhaps that’s a tad high, but it really is an excellent figure, and the addition of PhotoReal helps it solidify that score.  Oh, by the way, in case you’re keeping score, there are 5 Walmart Black Series figures of Disney era characters that remain missing from TVC.  They are Finn, Han, Leia, Rose, and FO Executioner.  We’ve gotten TVC repacks of Rey, Kylo, FO Stormtrooper, Phasma, Poe, Death Trooper, Scarif Trooper, Jyn, Cassian, Praetorian, and Luke.  While collectors might balk at the thought of those figures being repacked, I feel it’s an effort by Hasbro to purge our collective memories of the scourge that was the Walmart Black Series.  And for that, I, for one, am grateful.

At the time of this gallery and review, I have not acquired the TVC Poe Dameron’s X-Wing Fighter, so it would logically follow that it was therefore not available for use in this gallery.  Stay tuned for the X-Wing gallery sometime soon.  It will, of course, contain this Poe Dameron figure, because as you can see, I do have it.  Thank you for joining us today.  It’s been a pleasure.

Original Review by Bret 11/25/17 for the Black Series (Walmart) release.

Since we just looked at the Walmart Black Series Rey and Finn, we’ll round out the 3 next gen heroes by reviewing Poe Dameron.  We know that Poe was supposed to die in The Force Awakens, but apparently, Oscar Isaac was too awesome to kill off.  His character was not as prevalent in the movie as we thought, but it looks like he may be moving up the chain in The Last Jedi.

Poe is in his X-wing pilot’s attire for the collector line.  He also was released in more casual attire for the 5POA line.  It’s a shame Hasbro didn’t make that figure as well, although looking at the sales results of other plainly dressed human characters (Finn, Han, Leia), it’s probably for the best.  Maybe that outfit will see an SA release somewhere down the line.

This is a very good figure.  Poe has all the necessary articulation expected in a collector-grade figure.  My gripe, again, is the one-two punch of the wonky hip joints and the lack of fully ball-jointed feet.  This combination results in an unfortunate limiting of lower body poses.  The figure is pretty dynamic, but a few tweaks to the lower body articulation points would make the figure essentially perfect.  The sculpt is excellent.  The pilot jumpsuit has a nice amount of folds and texture to it.  The air hose and chest box are separate pieces, like the 5POA figure (the one pictured above is the pack-in figure from the X-wing - not the carded figure with the yellow idiot visor).  [Editor’s note - this image is not present in the above gallery.  It can be seen in the TBS Poe Dameron gallery.]  Where this one sets itself apart is that the chest articulation means that the vest looks to be a separate piece from the stomach, and therefore doesn’t suffer from any paint overspray or bleeding (although it does around the arms and neck, a bit).  The belt and harness straps are also separately sculpted, and you can see from the comparison image above how much cleaner that looks when the paint isn’t bleeding across the straps and the uniform.  This figure also has some extra metallic paint detailing on the buckles and the pistol flares below the knee.

The helmet is nicely detailed, and fits perfectly over the head.  The figure can grip the pistol tightly, or it can fit snugly in the holster, which is also a separately sculpted piece.  The face is somewhat reminiscent of Oscar Isaac, but I will say that the five o’clock shadow is very well done.  Hasbro seems to have regressed a bit when it comes to beards, but this one worked out well, I believe.  Finally, the figure fits great inside the X-Wing cockpit, better, actually than the included 5POA figure.

All in all, it’s an outstanding figure, and annihilates the 5POA carded figure, but is also far superior to the X-Wing pack in figure.  Although there don’t seem to be any left in my area, this figure can probably still be found at retail, and can easily be had for cheaper than MSRP.  Get it.  Or don’t.  But get it.