The next figure is purely for fun.
I know technically he is "Undead Geonosian" but how often do you get to use the term Zombie and Star Wars in the same sentence in which it doesn't suck (Looking at you Death Troopers).
So zombies are apparently everywhere, even the Clone Wars. That episode kind of surprised me in many ways because while labeled a kid show they went for the horror elements, pretty gutsy move IMO. Something I'm sure wouldn't even be thought of a decade ago. Is that showing how far Night of the Living Dead has come to be excepted in the public consciousness? Who knows. But the fact is I never thought I would see a zombie (or Undead) Star Wars figure in my life.
The figure has a ton of novelty value but it was in a very hard to find wave (No not a Hasbro wave that is hard to find, never). I finally got my hands on one so here he is. He's just fun which I think is the point of toys.
Probably my favorite details is the rotting wings. Really sells the figure as a zombie-er-undead. I've never been a huge fan of Geonosian even though Lucas said they were kind of an anwer to the conversation in Clerks about engineers and contractors on Death Star II in ROTJ (Seriously, check out the commentary on Episode II the Attack of the Clones, if you can withstand that movie LOL). Still just the idea warrants owning this figure, it's just too funny.
If you see it, grab it I say. Too much fun and look, zombies are beginning to come out in every line now (still want my Zombie Ninja though).
Now, (and I don't say this lightly) the granddaddy of this review-
"A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives at the exact time he is supposed to."
BULLCRAP
Let me explain:
Ever since I was 8 and read the Hobbit I have wanted a 1:18th Gandalf to hang with Obi-Wan Kenobi and share a pipe. I know its weird but seriously I have waited over 23 years for this figure and I couldn't be happier.
Although I usually avoid reviews before I get the figure I made a huge exception with Gandalf. I saw a ton of complaints about the likeness. Might be me but I feel this is pretty close to Ian McKellen. Gruff, intense but also a hint of fun in the eyes. I don't know, I felt the same way with the GI Joe ROC figures when people said they were "spot on" to actor likenesses, but in reverse.
Gandalf has is signature long hair but amazingly it doesn't effect articulation as much as it does with most figures with long hair (look at Nightwolf above). You can easily move his head to to the side with minimal struggle (but it's not instantaneous I admit, you have to work at it a bit).
Much to the shigrin of many an anal Dungeon Master, Gandalf does come with his long sword. For those not familiar with Dungeons and Dragons many Dungeon Master held hard to a "suggestion" of limiting Wizards weapons which exclude long swords. Of course the common player response was "but Gandalf had one." Of course DM's often came back with "not in my world" which usually translated as "I'm not as good as Tolkien to begin with."
A minor gripe to the figure is that the robes do kind of block articulation. Really though there is no way around it. Soft goods maybe but it would throw off the whole look of the figure. On articulation, it's really good, much better than most of the Avengers line (Even has wrists). This makes me more interested in the rest of the Hobbit figures.
The sword has a scabbard that is-surprise-removable. In fact it removes quite easily. Thus you can have wandering Gandalf as well as adventuring Gandalf (yeah, just a slight difference in the fact he is carrying the sword).
Gandalf opens up a ton of doors as well and everyone is talking about the possibility of Lord of the Rings 1:18th scale figures. I totally hope so but as it is all we really have is Gandalf and Legolas (who makes a cameo in the Hobbit film as I understand).
Another minor knock is the fact that the hat falls off kind of easy. Still I'm glad it's removable and will take a bit of difficulty with it.
So when I got Gandalf my first thought was how does he compare in scale to the larger LOTR figures. Well with the cave troll there is a problem.
I thought Gandalf would be closer to his size in the movie in comparison but really he looks about hobbit sized with the larger Troll. I now need to hunt down the Balrog and compare, that might be just right.
With the smaller version of Treebeard Gandalf looks pretty close to accurate. In fact I am willing to bet Bilbo could sit on his shoulder (will get back to you on that).
So does anyone have to ask at this point? Really, it's Gandalf, that's enough.
So that wraps up this edition of the oddities from various lines, so until next time-Have a nice day!.
