Takodana Encounter - TFA - Multipacks

Maz Kanata is Sophia Petrillo from The Golden Girls. There. It needed to be said. Now that Ii t has been said we can move on from it. The Takodana Encounter multipack is unique for many reasons. Typically, if figures didn’t fit into some format of the Build A Weapon, Armor Up or Two-Packs assortment, they’d likely be a store exclusive. But this four-pack of figures will see general release. The reason this is the case is because this is a faux “Commemorative Edition” multipack and it has been sized and packaged to fit into the same assortment as 2015’s Rebels Digital Release Commemorative Collection sets (whatever that whole thing was about – there is STILL no official confirmation from Hasbro that these were released or why they were ever released). So, for those that collected the first six, now you have a volume for Episode VII although the packaging artwork doesn’t fit in with the first six released in early 2015. Clearly, the point of purchase here is the included all-new Maz Kanata figure. As expected, Hasbro has been faithful about bumping up the quality of the figures in The Force Awakens line, and Maz Kanata brings a new level of excellence to the line. But the huge misstep here is that the other three figures are straight repacks and collectors are sick and tired of buying repacks. We foresee lots of theft or just blatant indifference toward this set because of this fact. We hope that doesn’t come to fruition of course, but we know unscrupulous people out there don’t live by a moral code that will prevent them from doing such things.

Simply put, Maz Kanata is fabulous. As a character, she is a pure Yoda rip-off, but that is neither here nor there when talking about the action figure. She looks like a shriveled up nectarine and her goggled glasses give her a particularly bizarre look. It befits her well. She’s short in stature and is about half the height of the two human characters in this multipack. She is very colorful and beautifully painted. The sculpt is excellent and aside from a pitiful five points of articulation, Maz Kanata will be an action figure that everyone will want for his or her collection. One neat feature about Maz Kanata is that her glasses actually work like magnifying glasses right on the action figure. Her eyes actually look bigger through the lens.... in an amplified manner. Hasbro did well here and we’re proud of them for not going cheap by giving her opaque yellow lenses in her glasses. She comes with a hefty light silver gun and she can hold it well in both hands. However, there is no place to store it on her when not in use. This may irritate some collectors. The best accessory however is the storage chest which is completely reminiscent of the one that came with 2006’s TSC Luke Skywalker (SAGA 036) figure. It doesn’t come with any loose accessories inside, but there is a large amount of detail etched into this accessory and collectors are going to love it. The chest lid will close and stay closed thanks to a functional fastener. And there is enough room inside of it to stowaway Rey’s lightsaber hilt if you so desire. She has been given a very Native American color scheme, but her red pearls helps to reinforce she is of age. Yeah, it’s a stereotype, but that’s what comes to mind.

Rey is a slight repaint of 2015’s TFA Rey (Starkiller Base) (Snow) Build A Weapon figure. But this time she has been given a new name [Rey (Takodana)] and has been given a lightsaber hilt and a fully lit lightsaber in addition to the original accessories the first figure had. The paint operations are slightly different but look a little bit messier this time around. Rey (Takodana) may be another selling point in this set since Hasbro didn’t get a lot of the basic figure out to the market. And let us not forget that this one comes with two lightsaber accessories. What more could you ask for here? Finn (Takodana) is a slight repaint of 2015’s TFA Finn (Jakku) (Desert) Build A Weapon figure. His paint operations are also a little bit sloppier this time around. He comes with a Resistance blaster rifle in addition to a removable jacket shell. BB-8 is the “golf ball” version. He is heavy and weighty but comes with a pretty clean paint job. We wish Hasbro would have tweaked the sculpt a little bit and given us the “thumbs up lighter” version of the droid instead. This same sculpt is getting VERY boring with each successive release. Overall, it’s hard to all this set a total value. Three repeats and one all-new sculpt for $24.99 is no bargain, but Maz Kanata may be a strong enough character to warrant the repurchasing of so much rehashed merchandise here. We’d suggest to Hasbro to just keep the all-new sculpts single-carded in the Build A Weapon line (however long this format lasts). We’re all for giving us something new, but we’d say that most of us won’t want 75% repetition to get 25% new. But that’s just our own two cents of insight.