It’s taken a while, but Wave 2 of the Force Awakens 3 3/4" line of figures has finally started turning up in Farmers stores throughout New Zealand. This wave of twelve figures includes nine characters from The Force Awakens—seven of which are brand new to this line. It’s clear that we’re going to be seeing a barrage of figures from this film, so I’m doing my best to stay true to my collecting focus of main characters and military figures. With that in mind, I recently picked up First Order General Hux, the First Order Snowtrooper, PZ-4CO, and X-Wing Pilot Asty.
I know what you’re thinking: PZ-4CO doesn’t exactly fit my collecting brief. The junior novelisation Moving Target reveals that she plays some sort of role as an assistant to Leia, but other than that we don’t have a lot to go on. Nevertheless, Farmers currently has a “buy-one-get-one-half-price” deal on, and it was hard to turn down such an interesting figure at half-price.
Most of my concerns about the move to 5POA were banished with the first wave of Force Awakens figures, and this second wave only serves to reinforce that opinion. The sculpts on every one of these figures is exquisite. In fact, I’d say it even trumps the sculpting we saw on many of the super-articulated figures. I have to assume that when you’re not trying to cram in as many ball-and-socket joins as possible, there’s more freedom to design figures in a way that looks authentic and natural. And that’s the key to this line. While they don’t offer a lot of opportunity for dynamic poses, they do look phenomenal when displayed in their neutral poses.
