Captain Rex (Phase II Armor)
Clone Captain Rex is a character that has been made into action figures a few times now in the Clone Wars collection by Hasbro, starting with a really cool wave 1 release and sprinkled throughout subsequent waves up until this last one.
The wave this Rex comes from is the last Hasbro is doing for the Clone Wars animated series, but due to distribution issues this wave was meant to be available anywhere but the USA, although I must say that even in the places it was meant to ship, this figure was not particularly easy to come by.
Rex is depicted wearing his Phase II armor, which other than the helmet, is very similar to his original gear. However, the sculpt looks crisper and the body proportions were worked over to better match the digital models used for the show. I still would have liked it better if his helmet had been removable, but considering that Hasbro was clearly looking for ways to reduce costs on these figures, the trade-off doesn’t bother me that much.
Initially, I had just dismissed these last wave figures as repacks of what was seen at stores last december, but as it turns out, Hasbro made some significant changes to existing molds.
Fundamentally, Rex here is something of a kitbash of the version that came immediately before with the legs used for the Phase II Clone Trooper from that same wave. The end result is much more useful articulation model consisting of:
• Ball jointed neck.
• Pegged hinge shoulders.
• Pegged hinge elbows.
• Swivel waist.
• Swivel hips.
• Pegged hinge knees.
So, no ankle or wrist joints. But we get knee joints, which is something the previous version lacked; so overall I’m fine with the articulation Hasbro gave Rex. Of course, some of the other joints get a little restricted by the extra accessories, like the pauldron or the kama, but as a whole Rex gets a fairly decent range of motion.
The overall look of the armor is fairly clean, as the paint job on Captain Rex is very neat and surprisingly complex, including kill marks painted on his helmet and leg armor as well as the corresponding blue 501st Legion markings. There are some light-blue lines painted on the helmet and torso, which I’m not sure if they are also meant to be some sort of decoration or simulated lighting effects, but the end result looks rather nice.
As far as accessories go, Captain Rex comes with a couple of small blaster pistols he can carry on the holsters molded on his kama and a newly tooled rotary blaster that lacks the projectile-firing gimmick these weapons usually had, but looks much better and sports an adjustable handle which allows Rex to grab it naturally even with his lack of wrist joints.
Although this version of Captain Rex is a definite improvement over his previous release, it is also not as good as the first version in terms of articulation. On the other hand, this is the better version of the character wearing his phase II armor and the new rotary blaster looks cool, so it is difficult for me to decide on a rating.
Bottom line, Captain Rex is a nice figure for fans of the character and/or the show, provided you don’t have to jump through too many hoops or pay too much to get it.
Errex Score: 79/100
Category: Featured, Star Wars, Toy Reviews
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