As predicted, HasbroToyShop's allotment of Vintage Collection 3 3/4" Doctor Aphra Special Action Figure Sets arrived to a storm of tab refreshing, website crashing, and fans desperate to get their hands on this highly desirable exclusive. The set was slated to be made available online at some point on August 13th, so I spent that morning watching the Hasbro website like a hawk. At around 11.00am CST, she was available - right when I had to leave for work. Fortunately, my one-in-a-million fiancée took over the reins: trying on no less than three different devices to push an order through the severely overtaxed Hasbro servers. Despite her best efforts - and even, at one point, receiving an order number and having the funds (momentarily) removed from our bank account - luck was not with us. Ours was among countless orders that were confirmed in error and never honoured. It was a huge disappointment to us both, and we quietly resigned ourselves to the fact that we wouldn't be adding this particular set to our collection.
It therefore came as a huge surprise when HasbroToyShop - with no fanfare whatsoever - made a new batch of Aphras available in their online store last week. I secured my order within minutes, and was overjoyed to have her arrive just a few days ago.
Before even opening this set, I was already floored by the exquisite packaging. Not only does it come in the retro 'vintage' multi-pack design, but the artwork and labelling is all rendered with beautiful metallic foil. As any regular reader of this blog will know, I'm an unabashed opener; but this was one of the hardest items I've ever had to pull from its packaging. Fortunately, the design is such that - with the adroit use of a sharp blade - the figures can be removed with no visible damage to the packaging. (In fact, the above in-package photo was taken after the figures had already been removed and replaced once.)
The figures themselves are damn-near perfect. Aphra is wonderfully nimble, featuring a total of sixteen points of articulation. The joints are much better than on many other figures too, affording her a wider range of motion. Her hips - for one - are ball-jointed, and her elbow is nimble enough to allow her to actually holster and unholster her included pistol. Triple Zero is a straight-up repaint of the Vintage Collection C-3PO figure: but given that this is my favourite protocol droid sculpt so far, I'm more than happy to see it reused. Specifically, this sculpt comes with four pieces of removable plating (face, chest, back, and right thigh) that open up all kinds of battle damage and display options. BeeTee is a little more novel. While we've seen his trunk and legs countless times before (most notably in the pack-in Build-A-Droid line), his head is all-new. He can be left in his understated astromech mode, or two pop-off side panels on his head can be removed to provide mounting points for a cannon and missile launcher - thus allowing him to be displayed in "all guns blazing" mode. It's a small thing, but I particularly love the way the removed panels are made to reattach to the weapons themselves, leaving no parts spare.
All up, I'm rapt with this set. Doctor Aphra has been a must-have for me ever since her announcement, and what would the intrepid archaeologist be without her (slightly psychopathic) droid companions?
