Hot Toys MMS390 Luke Skywalker from The Force Awakens

It's taken seemingly forever for Hot Toys to finally release I think the last figure from their series of figures from The Force Awakens. Perhaps it was all down to some marketing strategy to release it closer to The Last Jedi hype train starting.

Either way, I think it's a pretty decent release if not something that is going to be overly memorable in the scheme of my collection. It's great to have good representations of old Han and old Luke to offset the other younger versions I have from the original trilogy.

Click through the link below to check out my full video review over on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel! Scroll further down for more pics and thoughts.

The set doesn't really come with all that much to be honest. The bonus preorder stand is nicely sculpted and painted, but other than that all you really get are a few swap out hands. While we're on the hands, the relaxed hand, force gesture hand and its corresponding mechanical hand all seem slightly over sized. When the arms are at his side, the large hands really accentuate the gorilla look.

But swapping out to the more close fisted hands hides the size issue better, which is what I went with for my display pose. Those hands are more suited for posing him pulling back his hood, which is what many collectors will chose I think.

Aside from the hands, I think everything else on the figure is pretty great. There have been a few complaints about the head sculpt, but I think it matches the prototype photos well, and is a decent likeness from the movie scenes I've compared it against.

Similar to the old Han Solo sculpt though, Hot Toys went with a almost golden sheen look to the hair, whereas a much greyer colour would've matched not only te movie, but the colour of his painted beard too.

The outfit is very nicely tailored, with several layers and different materials. I like that they didn't use a wire for the hood, which makes curving it and using some water treatment a better way to pose it around the head. I still need a bit of work on mine, but you get the idea.

The magnets that hold the cloak to the shoulders could work a little better, and need decent futzing to get the material to lie realistically. I think in the last movie scene, the cloak can be seen to actually be sewn to his tunic that runs down the front of his body, which seems pretty silly. But I guess they need that to make sure it stayed on his shoulders! So Hot Toys' use of magnets is probably as best a compromise as any.

Articulation is decent, and getting the arms up for the pose was straight forward. The large and obvious wrist joint that becomes more visible is a bit of an eyesore, but not much can be done about that. Perhaps look for a smaller wrist joint from other figures that have a similar skin tone, which might work to hide it.

The torso area has some definite foam padding of some sort, that really seems to restrict the articulation in the torso area. But for most poses I was going for, it wasn't too big a deal. The material of the pants doesn't hinder the hips or upper legs, so you could go for wider action poses if you wanted.

There's not too much ankle movement though with the use of sculpted boots. The ankle is separate to the calf area, so you can can some rocking action there, but not too much on mine. It would've been nice if they went with material for the strapping and boots, similar to the previous DX07 Luke Skywalker, but it's not too big a deal.

Standing with the other heroes from The Force Awakens, I think Hot Toys has done a pretty great job with all of these figures. Each of them aren't perfect in their own right, with at least a few things to complain about with them all (eg. Chewie's snout, Finn's excessive height, Rey's lack of height).

But together I think they look pretty amazing. The only figures I really hope they make for The Last Jedi that they missed for the previous movie would be General Leia and Poe Dameron. If they make those two for the new movie, I think I'll be happy enough for the new trilogy.

Up on display with the bad guys I have from the movie, I like the overall aesthetic that they went with. Familiar of course, but at least different enough to be interesting. I'm not sure I'll be tempted to get any more trooper figures, but will be interesting to see how Captain Phasma and Snoke play out in the new movie.

So to summarise, if you were a fan of The Force Awakens and started collecting these Hot Toys figures, I think you'll be pretty pleased with this new old Luke Skywalker. I'm sure there'll be a new Luke released for The Last Jedi, but this one will do for me.

Hot Toys MMS376 Han Solo and Chewbacca from The Force Awakens

I recently received the new Hot Toys MMS376 two figure set of Han Solo and Chewbacca from The Force Awakens. I do have the previous set from A New Hope, which was fantastic, and so couldn't resist the new one.

Early pics of Chewbacca and my up close look at Frank and Sons on my USA trip made me very nervous. The snout looked terrible in those instances. But when I opened mine, I didn't think it looked as bad as I had previously seen. And of course the head sculpt on the old Han Solo looked pretty fantastic.

So overall, I'm still pretty happy with the set! Read on below or click the video review links for more details and thoughts :)

Chewbacca video review:

Han Solo video review:

The packaging is the standard Hot Toys Star Wars style, which isn't overly exciting anymore. The cardboard insert is a nice collage of images as always.

The contents of the set are pretty awesome, with all the accessories you'd expect from the movie. Just as awesome as the first A New Hope set.

Straight out of the box, Chewbacca definitely needs some work, but mine is not as bad as some of the other horror pics posted in the Facebook groups. I think overall, the Chewbacca is every bit as good as the previous ANH Chewbacca. As for Han, out of the box the neck collar is a bit weird, but some water futzing will help that.

The accessories are great quality, and I love Han's blue winter jacket. The tailoring is really nice with a nice material used too. The weapons are nicely painted and weathered. The only part I don't like are Chewbacca's hands. They are just far too orange in the fur and it makes it look like orangutan hands more than a Wookie!

Here's a comparison pic between my two versions of Chewbacca. The ANH version I find far too dark, and the TFA version too orange around the hands and feet. But overall, I'd say I prefer the fur colouring of the new TFA.

And from this pic, you can see the face on both versions is far from perfect. I'm not the best futzer, and other collectors could improve the look of both significantly with futzing skills. But in the end, I think both still look great on display and I'm happy enough with the way they look.

Closer pics of the face. Using a comb to tease out the fur around the snout and chin definitely improves things. People have done significant mods to close the gap between the nose and upper lip, but there's no way I'm doing such mods to totally reconstruct the face!

Han's head sculpt is right up there with the best from Hot Toys I think. The likeness was captured very nicely, although a touch more white in the hair would've been nicer. The smuggler outfit and quality of the jacket and holster is also up to the usual high Hot Toys standard.

My holster did have a missing silver stud, but thankfully they include spares that I just glued back into the spot. The little cylinders that go into Han's jacket are easier to insert from the bottom, so just go slow to avoid tearing the jacket!

And here they are below together with Finn and Rey. They certainly look great displayed together. I just hope they announce a Poe for The Last Jedi, and perhaps Leia too. It would round out these characters nicely.

So overall, I think if you liked the previous ANH set, you'll be equally impressed with this new TFA set. And if you're a TFA fan, I think you'll like the set too of course. Try to look for a bargain at various retailers, and I think you'll be able to pick up the set for a good price!

Hot Toys MMS345 Finn from The Force Awakens

I received the Hot Toys Finn figure a while back, but only just recently found time to give it a review. Check the link below to head over to the Kool Kollectibles channel for the full video review. I do go through the ankle mod, so check it out if you're thinking of doing it too.

The set comes with a fairly decent array of accessories. I especially like the rifle and bag, with both having lots of nice details.

The ankle mod I mentioned is specifically to remove the clear ankle pieces and mod the ankle joints so that they fit into the lower leg. This reduces the height of the figure to bring it more into scale with the other characters such as Rey and Han. Check out the video review for the full details.

Once all setup, the figure is actually very nice, and looks great on display. The jacket in particular is very nicely tailored, and has great quality materials and tailoring. Really looking forward to Rey and BB-8 now!

Hot Toys MMS322 First Order Snowtrooper Officer

When I received the my first Hot Toys figure from The Force Awakens in the Stormtrooper Squad Leader, I was pretty disappointed due to the restrictive ribbed undersuit. Fortunately, there's no disappointment in that regard with the new Snowtrooper!

For my full video review, which also compares it to the previous Sideshow Snowtrooper from The Empire Strikes Back, click the link below to head over to the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel.

The packaging is the usual classy style in this price range of Star Wars figures. Again, the artwork on the cardboard insert is nice and shows off the figure well.

The figure comes with an adequate array of accessories, all nicely painted and designed. I only got the single figure release of the Snowtrooper Officer, and not the two pack with the Officer and regular Snowtrooper. So I only got the longer rifle and not the standard short blaster. But that's not too big a deal for me.

The binoculars are nicely designed, and fold up almost like a handbag. There are hands that can be used to grip the side handles of the binoculars if you want to pose it with them. The backpack is also nicely molded, and fits onto the back armour plate with a simple hook mechanism. The hands themselves swap out fairly easily, and are nicely molded with details that really make them look like thicker gloves ready for snow.

The pauldron is glued to the chest plate and can't be easily removed unless you break it off or heat up the glue somehow. It may damage the armour so I wouldn't recommend it. I do like this design of the helmet, although such a thin visor to see through seems counter-intuitive to seeing your enemy clearly. But the glossy white paint app and black panel-lining all seems good on mine.

The outfit tailoring and design is definitely the best thing on the figure for me. The various layers and different material used is very nice, and all fits well to complete the overall look. The only nit-pick I could have is to say everything on the outfit looks a little too white and clean. A little bit of weathering would have added a bit to the realism, much like it was used pretty well on the old Sideshow Snowtrooper.

Overall, this is another solid release from Hot Toys in the Star Wars line. They've definitely made the Star Wars line their own, which the awesome figures from A New Hope and then this range of good figures from The Force Awakens. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how they go with Rey, BB-8, and Finn to complete my TFA collection :)