Review : Chewbacca (The Force Awakens)
Star Wars Black Series (Hasbro)
Wave/Series : Figure #05 (Phase 3 Wave 1)
Released : 4th September, 2015 (Force Friday)
Price : £22.99
The Episode 7 Chewbacca was one of the 5 debut Force Awakens figures that hit store shelves on Force Friday (4th September 2015). He was initially a peg warming figure as many collectors, including myself, opted to pick up the other characters first ahead of Chewie who was very similar to the original trilogy release in phase 2.
Chewie arrives in the black and red phase 2 packaging with grey lined art of the character front and back. It is interesting that after Chewie was pulled from phase 1 (the phantom #13) because he wouldn't fit in the box naturally to then see that when you open this TFA Chewie that his legs are all awkwardly bent and stuffed to get him into this new red trim packaging.
Out of the box and you get Chewie alongside his Bowcaster, supplied in two parts like the original trilogy version.
Chewie stands an impressive 7 3/4 inches high, perhaps a tad too high against other characters - a complaint levied also against the original trilogy version. Sculpt is really good, with the fur being layered down from the head into the body and down the arms and legs. The fur obscures the joints, which kind of improves the overall asthetics of the figure.
The head is the first change vs the original version with the sculpt re-done to give Chewbacca a closed mouth. This amended facial potrait much improves the figure but sadly is let down with a lack of paint applications and some very cartoony eyes.
Down into the body and the whole body area is the same as used on the original Chewbacca. Sadly, the paint applications on this TFA version is inferior to the orignal paint job. As mentioned there is absolutely no wash or depth at all in the head area, and varying lighter tones across the rest of the body with the odd grey dry brush here and there to try and add age to the figure. I much prefer the darker fur tone they achieved originally.
The bandoleer is amended to the new look, as is the saddle bag. The bowcaster has also had a makeover and is a new sculpt. This means the original issue with the bow part popping off has been fixed - hurray - but it also means that instead of a nice drybrushed gun metal finish all you get now is black plastic.
Articulation is identical to the original. The head is pretty much fixed due to the fur down into the chest. Arms are ball jointed and can swing out to the side or up above the head. Elbow joints with swivel and a small movement in the wrist means Chewie can hold his Bowcaster in his right hand, but won't get close to that two handed weapon pose you saw as he and Han entered the Falcon in the movie.
The hips are also restricted by the fur, so Chewie will never kneel or sit. But as we saw with his packed position there is some knee movement so you have some display options in terms of his stance.
Chewbacca is sadly a figure that shows how the Black Series has deteriorated since its launch and promise of a true collectors line. He is rammed into a box that two years ago Hasbro wouldn't accept due to how it looks. The paint applications are worse, not better, than the original figure and although the bowcaster has been fixed it has no paint applications at all.
Thank fully some of the newer figures (I am thinking about Han and Jango) have restored our faith a little and perhaps these first TFA figures were rushed out of the factory too soon. It will be interesting to see if Chewie gets a repack at some point and like Finn and Rey at that point gets a paint application upgrade.
I score Chewbacca 2 out of 5
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