It's no secret that demand far outstripped supply on Force Friday. For that reason, it's taken several weeks for items like the 3 3/4" two-packs to be widely available in the wild. Fortunately, our turn came over the weekend, and I was able top pick up the BB-8, Unkar's Thug, and Jakku Scavenger pack for the reduced price of $23.99 from my local Farmers store.
Let's be honest. There's one reason and one reason alone why anyone is interested in this pack - BB-8. In fact, unless you're willing to part with a huge chunk of cash for the Battle Action Millennium Falcon, this pack is currently the only way of getting your hands on a 3 3/4" scale version of the character. For what is a very simple figure, BB-8 doesn't fail to impress. Instead of opting for a swivel head, the designers have included a nifty ball-jointed mount that gives BB-8 a surprising amount of movement and expression. Hasbro has also nailed the sculpt and paint app - even though he might have been 'dirtied-up' a little bit to make him appear more realistic. (Which, it appears, is what's been done with the 'exclusive' BB-8 that comes with the Falcon.)
BB-8 comes with two other figures - Teedo (who we first saw riding his Luggabeast in Entertainment Weekly's Force Awakens feature) and Unkar's thug. Both figures come with the standard 5POA, but - like many other of the figures in this new line - they're sculpted in a way that makes this limited articulation very hard to spot when on display. Teedo comes with his screen-used staff, and the thug is armed with a nicely sculpted blaster pistol.
While I may have made peace with Hasbro's move to 5POA, I'm still very sceptical when it comes to their choice of pack-in accessories. The real elephant-in-the-room here is, of course, that giant net-launcher. At first I thought it was a backpack for one of the figures. But no, it's a gun. Perhaps the biggest gun we've ever seen with a 3 3/4" figure. There's no way either of the figures could hold this while on display - and even if they could, they'd look utterly ridiculous doing so. Judging by the Entertainment Weekly image of Teedo, it appears that the scavenger captures BB-8 in a net at some point - so the motivation behind this accessory makes at least a little bit of sense. But I can't help looking at the amount of plastic and moving parts in the weapon, and wondering if Hasbro couldn't have made better use of the resources. Perhaps they could have included a decent-sized net that could really hold BB-8? Or some 'desert salvage' that could be added to a diorama?
While I may have made peace with Hasbro's move to 5POA, I'm still very sceptical when it comes to their choice of pack-in accessories. The real elephant-in-the-room here is, of course, that giant net-launcher. At first I thought it was a backpack for one of the figures. But no, it's a gun. Perhaps the biggest gun we've ever seen with a 3 3/4" figure. There's no way either of the figures could hold this while on display - and even if they could, they'd look utterly ridiculous doing so. Judging by the Entertainment Weekly image of Teedo, it appears that the scavenger captures BB-8 in a net at some point - so the motivation behind this accessory makes at least a little bit of sense. But I can't help looking at the amount of plastic and moving parts in the weapon, and wondering if Hasbro couldn't have made better use of the resources. Perhaps they could have included a decent-sized net that could really hold BB-8? Or some 'desert salvage' that could be added to a diorama?
Granted, I'm thinking like a collector, and I have to remind myself that this is a line primarily aimed at kids. Action features are what will sell - not static accessories that can only be used for display purposes. It's also worth noting that this pack already includes two figures and BB-8 (compared with the other packs in this line, which only have two figures and a pack-in accessory). In light of this, the net launcher is really only an added bonus - and even without it, the pack would still be great value.
