I'm not a huge Clone Wars or Clone Trooper fan, and actually sold all my previous Sideshow Clone Commander figures a few years ago. But the recent Hot Toys Clone Troopers with head sculpts, namely Cody and Rex, looked too good for me to pass up.
The previous Cody was a nice figure, and this Captain Rex is no exception. Click through below to watch my review over on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel. Make sure to give the video a thumbs-up, and subscribe too for all my latest videos.
The set is the usual Hot Toys packaging, with a decent array of accessories. If you have the Cody figure, then you'll be pretty familiar with what you get with Captain Rex. The biggest improvement for me over the older Sideshow figure is definitely the underlying body, as well as some of the fine detailing in the armour and weapons. Hot Toys really does know how to make some things look very realistic.
Of course the other massive improvement is in the unhelmeted headsculpt. The old Sideshow version was actually one of their better sculpts, but the Hot Toys paint application and fine sculpting really take it to another level. I dont't think there are any other companies out there that release the consistent high standard across so many releases like Hot Toys does.
The magnetic chest pouch and jetpack make for very easy assembly when decking out the figure. The shoulder pauldron seems to be very securely glued in place, whereas I thought the Sideshow version was more of a floating piece. Either way, it's not too big a deal, and the articulation is not really hindered in any way.
The articulation has the usual constraints due to armour suits like this. But you can still get some great action or static poses that are more realistic and organic than the older Sideshow figures. I wish Hot Toys would provide a hand sculpt that better holds the helmet, but you can make do with one of the more relaxed hands despite it being a little loose.
Posed up next to Cody, these two do look fantastic. I got the two to complement the prequel Obi-Wan and Anakin figures, and they'll look great in the cabinet. The head sculpt are similar, obviously as they're clones, but there's enough difference to still make them interesting.
I think these will be all the Clones I need in my collection, But for those getting all variants, I'm sure they'll look pretty amazing in any collection. Certainly with a whole army, these make for a great centerpiece in many Star Wars displays.
The recent Sideshow Jango Fett 1/6th scale figure has been such a long-awaited release. The preorder period was over 12 months, and it wasn't clear if more delays were imminent. But it has released, and to be honest, I am more disappointed than excited about the figure.
For my full video review going over why I feel this way, click through on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel review below.
Straight out of the shipper I had bad vibes, with the inner clam shell inserted the wrong way in the artbox! I have no idea what the factory workers were doing that day, but someone in Sideshow's quality control department really needs to check and audit what the hell they're doing over there!
But once everything is out of the box, it does come with an impressive array of accessories. And this is the dilemma I'm in - lots of accessories are nice, but if the core figure and main components are sub-standard, then no amount accessories will fix that.
There are a number of smaller issues that I go through in my video review, such as the delicate plastic, armour pieces that come off etc. But the three biggest issues for me that really should have defined the figure are the head sculpt itself, the manner in which it is swapped out with the helmet, and the chest armour.
Sideshow has never had facial paint apps to the same high standard as Hot Toys. But when their prices increased to the same, and sometimes exceeded, the level of Hot Toys figure prices, that's when the quality must absolutely match Hot Toys. With high profile figures such as Jango and Pilot Luke that come with high prices and human head sculpts, the expectation is that the sculpt and paint app have the same wow factor as Hot Toys.
Unfortunately again, the Sideshow paint application essentially ruins a perfectly good sculpt! The facial paint app is far too dark - yes, I realise Temuera Morrison has a Maori background, but despite that the skin tone on the figure is still too dark. Not only that, it lacks all the realistic skin texture and detail that is now standard by Hot Toys. It is flat and in many ways just looks plasticky. It's been a consistent problem for Sideshow for so long, and they do not seem to have any idea on how to fix it during their factory production.
The other huge frustration is swapping out the head sculpt with the helmet. The whole process of taking out the neck joint etc was bordering on me just wanting to throw the figure in the damn bin!! It is so hard to do, and runs the risk of breaking the figure, it's probably not even worth doing considering the head sculpt paint app itself is pretty poor.
The other main issue is the manner in which the chest armour has been glued onto the suit. There have been so many cases, mine included, that the armour pieces just do not look aligned or centred. It just seems like some lazy arse factory worker just glued them on in sort of the right orientation, and didn't care if things actually looked decent!
To make matters worse, Sideshow's response to some customers asking for replacements was that all the figures have some sort of alignment issue with the chest due to factory production, and a replacement won't be guaranteed to be any better! To me that sort of response is pretty poor, and Sideshow really need to rethink their factory and the quality control over there.
All in all, I wanted the Jango figure to complete a group of 10 figures of the current Clone Commanders and their father figure. It's such a shame that a figure we waited so long for just seemed to be rushed out the door at the end. After releasing a great figure in the Scout Trooper, it's so disappointing to get such a lacklustre Jano Fett.
Sure after it's posed up it look OK on display, but it's all the little defects and issues that really sour my feeling towards the figure. I'm not a big fan of the prequels, but I love the Clone Trooper figures. But this Jango Fett is perhaps the first Sideshow figure that I regret buying.
For now, I just hope the upcoming Pilot Luke is up to standard. If it's not, it will definitely be the last Sideshow figure I buy with a human sculpt (if I don't actually cancel the preorder before then!)
Just some quick pics of the new Sideshow Captain Rex figure that I finally received! It's been a long time since I got a new 1/6th scale figure due to the delays, so glad they're finally coming in. Stay tuned for the full video review :)
Standard sort of packaging as with previous clones, although they have minimised the size by putting the accessories tray underneath the figure tray instead of in its own section of the box.
Comes with quite a few accessories, although they are all to be expected now for clone troopers.
Clones look best in groups! Here is the new Rex with the other clone commanders. Remember to subscribe and stay tuned for the video review soon :)
