I must admit, I never thought these would catch on.
I figured the serious collectors would pass them by, and kids
would favor the regular figures in their place. That being
said, I apparently was wrong. There seem to be something
with the cuteness factor of seeing your favorite Star Wars
characters cartoonized in miniature. Until
now, I'd passed up the little guys. Oh, I got a kick out of
seeing them, but just never plunked down the cash. The Han
in carbonite came close to tempting me. But, this set I
couldn't resist. The Chewie in this two pack bears a strong
resemblance to my little girl dog. Mrs. Nerd was helping
unpack groceries out of the Wal-Mart bags, and exclaimed, "It
looks like Maddie."
Appearance:
In this case, I wasn't looking for a perfect
likeness. But somehow under all the cuteness is the classic
characters. I was really kind of surprised when I got them
out of the package. But they do they stay true to the films.
3PO with the big eyes and tiny body manages to
capture the prissiness that we all know and love. The gold
vac metal finish looks great. Although, since this is
"battle damaged" 3PO maybe it should have had a wash over top.
The detailing looks great especially around his mid section, one
minor nit is that the wires on his back have no color.
Chewbacca, like I said, looks a lot like my
little girl dog. (Our little boy dog looks more like an Ewok.)
He got a cute little face with just a hint of a smile. Huge
feet and hand on this guy as well. The toe nails stand out
just a little too much, but I know there are pics out there of
Chewie that look like that. In his right hand, he's got an
Empire appropriate Stormtrooper rifle. The thing that I
really liked about him, is the way all of the articulation is
downplayed in his sculpt. There aren't any obvious joints
poking you in the eye on this guy. The bandolier
worked over his left shoulder is a great example of this. It
could look all screwed up when you move him around, but it
doesn't.
Much like Simpsons folk, Chewie has three
fingers and a thumb on each hand. Isn't that a cartoon rule
somewhere?
Fun:
The Galactic Heroes line is all about fun.
These are figures that are meant to be played with. I know
some of the bigger sets come in some cool looking boxes, but these
guys truly need to be free. Whether you're a collector who
wants to cute up part of your collection or one who wants to play
Star Wars with a young child these are a cool way to go.
I have to admit another misconception on this
line that I had. For some reason I thought they were
unarticulated. Don't ask me why I just did. To find
out Chewie could move as well as look cute was a bit of a bonus.
Chewie fairs pretty well. He's got joints
at both arms and legs. That pretty much matches the
vintage figure. As I said before, the bandolier works great
with the articulation.
The lovable Wookie gets an accessory as well.
The bag that 3PO fits in. There is even an instruction sheet
packed in that explains for the wee ones how to put in on Chewie.
I was a little concerned when I saw it in the pack. It's
packed behind Chewie, and I thought maybe it was permanently
attached.
3PO has 3 points of articulation. They are
all the points he comes apart at. Bottom of the torso, left
arm, and head. The right arm is stuck in the position it's
in. They are pretty much just straight pegs, easy on, easy
off. The little 3PO head cracks me up for some reason.
As an aside, why did Chewie put the chatty gold
droid's head on backwards? The Wookie is obviously
mechanically inclined and that seems pretty obvious.
Also, how bad was Anakin at building droids? Every time
something happens to 3PO a limb falls off.
All the pieces of 3PO fit in the bag on Chewie's
back. However, the legs fit more on one side and the body on
the other, so he's not quite a jumbled mess. But, hey this
isn't a line about getting the details perfect.
Overall:
I've had a blast looking at these guys. I
didn't think I would, and that's why I'd passed up the Galactic
Heroes stuff for so long. But, I'll probably pick and
choose a few more here and there. (Especially if they look
like one of my pups.)
Galactic Heroes are exactly what they are meant
to be; fun for little kids and big kids that are still small at
heart.
Engineernerd Score: 90/100
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