Captain Phasma - Elite Series

Clad in distinctive metallic armor, Captain Phasma commands the First Order's legions of troopers.

We couldn’t be more on the fence about the Disney Store’s Elite Series line. For us, it’s frustrating when figures can look so good and so bad at the same time. And we feel that accurately describes this die cast metal collection of Star Wars figures. Modestly priced at just below $25, collectors get a larger-scaled The Black Series-type of action figure. But because of the die cast metal, these figures comes with significantly less articulation (and less premium articulation as well) and cannot remotely achieve a fraction of the positions Hasbro action figures can. Oppositionists might chime in with the fact the Elite Series figures weren’t designed for that. And that might be true to a certain extent; but these figures can barely do much at all but maintain a generic type of pose. You pose the arms up or down, but no matter how hard you try, you won’t be able to get a vast array of positions out of these figures. It’s just physically impossible. That is still fine for many, as we’re finding so few people are actually opening these up and displaying them. Most are left in the packaging where all of these figures look so much better quite honestly.

Captain Phasma however may be one of the better made figures in the Elite Series line. She is tall and imposing, but just like the Hasbro figures, her frame seems a little too thick when compared to the glimpses we’ve seen of her in the trailers and whatnot. She isn’t terrible chunky, but it is noticeable. Again, she doesn’t come with a wealth of articulation, but her ball-jointed shoulders are a nice touch here and allow for probably the most movement on the entire figure. (Her ball-socket hips spread very widely, and that’s a plus for action posing, but the hinge-jointed knees prevent a lot of that from happening sadly.) The sculpt aside from the chunkiness looks pretty darn good. The helmet is nicely tooled and the drape of her cape falls exactly where it should. The cape is a completely separate piece that is molded in plastic, but we’re unsure if it’s removable. (We wouldn’t attempt to remove the head so unless someone else is braver than us we may never know if it can be removed or not.) Captain Phasma also comes with a First Order blaster, but unlike all of the Hasbro figures, it cannot be attached to her right thigh armor. We find this disappointing, but perhaps the metal medium makes this impossible.

Captain Phasma also comes with a Star Wars logo display stand. Thankfully she can stand unassisted, but you’ll probably need the stand for some more of the aggressive poses if you’re so inclined to position her that way. Our biggest issue, however, and this crosses all collectible lines and formats, is the way the figure has been painted. So far, no one but Hot Toys has been able to give Captain Phasma her deserved chrome finish. We understand there is additional cost involved, but that should be figured into the line’s budget no matter what. Otherwise, Captain Phasma will continue to look like a half-baked effort time and again. Yes, the Elite Series Captain Phasma looks great, but she could look awesome, and that just isn’t the case here at all. And although it is seemingly unavoidable at this point, the Swiss cheese holes for the screws are still a major eyesore for us. Once again, this character’s design saves the day because her long cape hides them very well. In fact, they’re hidden completely in her case. If there was a way for Disney to add plugs into these holes, these figures would be much more aesthetically pleasing. We appreciate the entire figure, not just the front, so we will continue to hope for improvements with regards to this.