From the first pictures of the 2 variations of this figure that were standing up at SDCC, I always just figured I'd get them because I like Cloud City stuff (and we don't get much of it in the toyline) because I love the whole "city in the clouds" and the escape from it sequence in ESB. I skipped the POTJ Bespin Guard from 2000 because of the goofy opened jacket and I know I wasn't missing out on not having that one. Anyways, I think it was just awesome to see the Cloud City personnel in the toyline weren't ALL going to be human and I didn't even find out until later that the other guy was actually just cut from the final movie though I'll never understand WHY. And I must add that I LOVE that this new security officer figures were officially going to be called CLOUD CITY WING GUARDS and *NOT* Bespin Guards finally after 29 years, that's ALWAYS annoyed me because, well, we know that Cloud City is definitely not the ONLY thing on the planet Bespin. Right?
But anyways, onto the actual CCWG figure I'm trying to review here. I knew I'd buy the figure when I saw it but I didn't know how freakin' much I was going to like it. The relatively simple uniform is beautifully scuplted here, body's articulated well enough to be versatile for dios and action . Yeah, the Star Wars "standard" of super articulation isn't always enough for some characters but it is here. And he has a holster to stash his baton in and one for his pistol which is nice because the rubbery palstic they're both made from has both so twisted and warped that concealing them is all that can fix it. (I'm trying to talk Clonehead into casting them up for me though so they can actually stay looking like weapons instead of sculptured art in the WG's hand.) This Wing Guard is definitely one of my favorite surprise figures of the year in terms of it being much cooler than I expected it to be and I hope to find like 3 more of these figures even before Utris M'Toc is released, at which point I'll get 2 or 3 of that one too. Yeah, I actually want the entire damn Wing Guard itself now.
It's NOT an update on either of the 1980 vintage Kenner Guards but I don't care because I can make both of them and I will. This figure is SUPPOSED to be a new version of the AA original but the head sculpt looks NOTHING like the card art based off the actor that waS the model for the vintage one, if anything this one looks like it should be a whole new character so that's how I'm going to be using him.
This figure may not be to everyone's tastes, it's not super exciting, but it's the best version we'll ever get and mostly certainly IMO as good as it needs to be, just the same. I love it and I can't wait to get a few more.
