photo 1 (37)When it comes to the Saga Legends/Mission Series, Hasbro’s 5 points of articulation line of figures, its very easy for Hasbro to hit or miss.  Hasbro has stated that their limited amount of articulation would translate to producing some of the best figures sculpts out there.  And true they have had some clear hits lately with their Stormtrooper, Boba and Jango Fett figures.

But unfortunately their misses are starting to overtake their hits.  Now this is hard to admit because we are huge fans of the 5POA concept and its nod to the vintage toys we grew up with. A good example of this is the recent release of their Mission Series: Bespin set featuring Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.  Here you can see that they just do not live up to their 5POA counterparts that were released in 2012 as part of the Movie Heroes “Vader” line.

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Now the Movie Heroes take on the Bespin Luke and Vader were excellent! Luke was a good likeness with even a bent elbow to simulate his sneaking around Cloud City.  The Dark Lord came with a nicely sculpted and removable plastic cape and an outreached hand for offering power to the Jedi trainee.  The Boba Fett was a slight misstep in regards to his bulkier Power of the Force 2 proportions. So by our estimates it was two hits and one miss for the Movie Heroes versions.

When it comes the recent Mission Series set we must reverse our ratings of the previous take, as this set includes two misses and one hit.  The Luke this time around appears too lean, has an considerably less flattering face sculpt and a terrible holster.The Vader includes the vintage design of molding the cape  to the photo 1 (35)legs (much like 1978’s Obi-Wan Kenobi figure) but in this instance it does not capture the feel of the Kenner line.  The cloth cape returns which is usually a poor choice for figures this small and the chest and helmet sculpt seem bit flat compared to the previous version.  Boba Fett, which of course is not part of the Mission Series: Bespin set but instead came carded in the Saga Legends line, is a hit for us as he has been slimmed down to include a more accurate portrayal of the character.

Now whether or not we continue to see 5POA figures from the Original or Prequel Trilogies beyond what we have shown already is still yet to be known.  The most recent wave of Saga Legends figures have only appeared in Canada and no online retailers have pre-orders or release dates for them.  One could speculate that this is line is ending as Canada and Europe have in the recent years have received exclusive releases of the final waves of both the Vader and Yoda Movie Heroes lines.  It would also make sense that this line would be finishing up as the Star Wars Rebels line is set to launch in August, according to Variety, and they will be also continuing the 5POA concept making it a possible replacement line for the current Saga Legends.

Time (and San Diego Comic-Con next month) will show what we are too except in the future so until then,

May the Figures be with you!