Count Dooku (Holographic Transmission) - TLC - Basic (BD 21)

The former Jedi is in league with the Trade Federation and cyborg General Grievous to propel his galaxy-wide revolt. Dooku communicates with his allies via a hologram transmission to coordinate the next steps in his quest to overthrow the Republic.

Looking more like an Ice Blue Halls cough drop than a toy, Count Dooku (Holographic Transmission), based on his brief but powerful (and intangible) appearance from Volume 1: Chapter 16 in the original Tartakovsky Clone Wars, is not much more than a WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) action figure. And by this we mean he is good. He is super-articulated, thanks to his ancestor from 2005's ROTS The Sith Evolutions mold from which he was cast. But what’s a little more peculiar and perhaps a bit more interesting is that Hasbro took the cape from the figure in the 2003 SW Screen Scenes three pack, cast it in blue, and stuck it on this one. They gave him a "holographic" soft-goods skirt, so why not the same for his cape? The sparkling blue soft-goods skirt glitters and shines when the appropriate light is cast on it and we would have loved to see this vibrant effect on the cape. Despite this, all of the pieces work well together and we’re very impressed that this specific holographic figure stands out from all the previous ones we have received. Hasbro first attempted the glittery soft-goods on 2007’s TAC Anakin Skywalker’s Spirit (30 45) figure which succeeded in translating a ghost-effect pretty well, and the same is true for this figure, even though the medium is a hologram and not a spirit. The color matches the plastic parts pretty well and we certainly could have been treated to much worse. He is outfitted with his signature lightsaber (but also cast in the holographic blue hue) and that’s about it. He is what he is and this should be just enough for many collectors.

Holographic figures are the obligatory candidates for repack and repaint waves. If you recall, we have already received plenty of ice blue action figures including 2007's TAC Darth Vader (30 48), 2006's TSC Holographic Obi-Wan Kenobi (SAGA 063), 2006's TSC Holographic Clone Commander Cody (SAGA 056), 2005's ROTS Aayla Secura (III 67), and 2005's ROTS Plo Koon (III 66). And there are many more. These figure styles have also been used to round out and padding new waves of figures and some of these examples include 2006's TSC Holographic Ki-Adi-Mundi (SAGA 027) and 2006's TSC Holographic Darth Maul (SAGA 048). The lists go on and on. There seems to be on overwhelmingly indiscriminant and noncommittal opinion by collectors about these figures, but we will step up to the plate and iterate that we like getting periodic holographic versions of our favorite characters. We do not foresee this trend ever discontinuing, at least that is what we hope. They serve their purpose and are nice stand out figures in the various wave ratios. We do find fault in one aspect of the figure. The only way that this figure suffers is from too much articulation. “Blasphemy!” you cry? Well, because he is see-through, the joints are too easy to see and detract from the overall smooth aesthetic the figure should have. This is where utilizing old mold will benefits new figures better than the newer sculpts. For a tangible (real-life) incarnation of a figure, of course we would hope Hasbro would use the most articulated version possible, but when they do novelty figures like this, we hope that they rethink the best way to make this type of figure most authentic. (And the way to do this is to use a figure with not so many articulation points.)

In 2005, Hasbro changed the holographic from purple to blue and interchangeably included a fine glitter in the plastic to help the figure pick up light (it was missed on one or two – 2007’s TAC Darth Vader (30 48) comes to mind). The blue is evidently much better and we don’t think there is a way to make this look more holographic than it already does. But technology can prove us wrong down the road here. And while we can expect to receive more blue figures down the road, it would be nice if Hasbro could focus on the rest of the Jedi. It would be sweet to one day create a holographic diorama of the Jedi Council, at least we think so, just as we saw in the films. The holograph technology has also spilled over into the spirit figures as well. Hasbro uses similar engineering to create their “spirit” figures but they have a lot more color. It is a fine line to master the exactness seen in the films, but we think Hasbro has pretty much nailed it here. Again, you would have to be able to appreciate the holographic (or spirit) type figure to begin with, but if this isn’t your bag, you are most likely not going to want to be bothered with these figures. Count Dooku (Holographic Transmission) has been seen over a year after its original availability hanging at retail (but not too frequently). He may not have been the best seller, but he is certainly welcome into our collections. Oh, and since the holographic version of him was never seen in the films, but only in Tartakovsky's Clone Wars, we immediately moved him into our Clone Wars collections. And he fits well at home there; perfectly in fact.