Luke Skywalker (Jedi Master)/Rey (Jedi Training)/Resistance Tech Rose/First Order Stormtrooper Officer - SW [TLJ] - Exclusives

We’re beginning to think that Kohls should be removed as a Hasbro business partner too. The exclusives they choose typically stink. And to make matters worse, they charge an arm and a leg for them. If Hasbro can’t think of a four-pack of figures with more newness than an added ammo harness and weapon, the line is hurting more than we possibly can imagine. In the case of the clumsily titled Luke Skywalker (Jedi Master)/Rey (Jedi Training)/Resistance Tech Rose/First Order Stormtrooper Officer multipack, 75% of this set is stuff you already have (and probably have multiples of as well). And 25% a revisited figure that when stripped down to its bare essentials is another straight repack of a figure you already have. His accessories alone make this entire set exclusive. How sad is that? These are just Star Wars toys and just a hobby, but we’d be lying if we didn’t say that an exclusive like this is frustrating to the point of stirring up some anger. There are so many characters to get to from any Star Wars film, so why is Hasbro rehashing them in a store exclusive no less. A store exclusive like this would have been the perfect opportunity to add aliens from Cant Bight into a “casino-themed” multipack. Heck, give us a family of porgs along with a revised Chewbacca and maybe the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon. There are SO MANY concepts that would have worked better here. We’re very disappointed with this release.

Luke Skywalker (Jedi Master), Rey (Jedi Training), Resistance Tech Rose and the First Order Stormtrooper Officer are all straight repacks of their basic carded releases from the Star Wars [The Last Jedi] Force Link line. Obvious the First Order Stormtrooper Officer has extra gear like mentioned above, but for all intents and purposes, these figures are identical. The Force Link technology has also been carried forward into all four figures. And as expected, the lines they say are also identical to their basic carded counterparts as well. Upon comparison, we couldn’t find any noteworthy differences between these figures and the ones released by themselves. Usually Hasbro would add some dirt or battle-damage to the exclusives, but in this case, they’ve done nothing to separate them from the others. The figures range from alright to “meh.” Paint operations are significantly improved, but we still find issues with many of the figures’ eyes and how they are applied. For example, the Luke Skywalker (Jedi Master) figure has a running away eye that is jarring. Rey (Jedi Training) and Resistance Tech Rose are essentially par for the course (they look pretty good), and the First Order Stormtrooper Officer is the only figure here that captures your attention. His extra gear looks great on him and fits him well. The orange pauldron is colorful and bright and catches your eye immediately. It will be interesting to see if this guy is actually in the film.

Let’s talk about the MSRP here. Well, it’s egregious. Yes, Hasbro doesn’t set the prices. The retailer does. But whatever buyer at Kohls that decided to take this train-wreck did set the MSRP, he or she should have known how far above the standard MSRP per figure this sets charges the consumer. The Force Link basic figure line retails anywhere between $6.99 and $7.99 per figure. Each figure in this set will cost you $12.50 per figure. Again, there is technically nothing new here at all. What Hasbro and Kohls are telling is “Buy these basic figures that you can get everywhere else for an elevated price!” It’s almost offensive. Yes, Kohls often has sales which bring expensive items like this down to affordable and fair prices, but why is a set like this ever conceived, produced and then released to a retailer that will inadvertently take advantage of an unknowing consumer? Perhaps these thoughts are too philosophical, and it is laughable to think something like this is malicious, but it’s frustrating too. Again, there are SO MANY characters that need to get done in the Star Wars line. The 5POA figures are cheap to make. Hasbro should be banging these out left and right and coming up with exclusives that house all-new sculpts. If these were super-articulated figures, then we’d understand the need for repackaging, but they’re not. The 5POA line is an affordable format that Hasbro needs to take advantage of by releasing all-new sculpts. This set is a rip-off. There is no need to own it. You have these figures already.