Captain Phasma (Quicksilver Baton) - TBS [P3] - Six Inch Figures (Exclusive)

Captain Phasma and a squad of elite First Order troopers capture Resistance heroes Finn and Rose, who have infiltrated Snoke's flagship, the Supremacy. Before Phasma can eliminate them, a series of unforeseen events leads to a dramatic battle between Phasma and Finn.

The version of Captain Phasma that we should have received in the various “The Last Jedi” The Black Series [Phase III] case assortments instead of the repacked Captain Phasma (06) figure instead is finally released…. as a retailer exclusive. It’s not that we’re not grateful to finally see an Episode VIII version of her finally, it’s just that it’s a tad too late with the brisk pace that Disney Star Wars comes at us. It may be too late for some collectors to care. After a film that is responsible (wrong or right) for splitting the community, is this the best time to for a release like this right now? Should the heat and flames dampen down a bit before focusing on characters from this film right now to maximize the best retail performance of this exclusive? This is all rhetorical and some of the things that rush through our minds. These thoughts are not about pacifying one side or the other. It’s just about what’s best for the Hasbro brand at this point. First revealed after USA Toys R Us were on their way to complete obliteration, Captain Phasma (Quicksilver Baton) is right now a Canadian Toys R is exclusive. (Editor’s Note: 2018’s San Diego Comic-Con will reveal the figure’s new home in the USA.) Again, this figure may have been more exciting if she was released instead of the Captain Phasma (06) figure that was part of The Last Jedi product launch (subsequent case assortments). Captain Phasma (Quicksilver Baton) comes with new and beautiful new tooling (including a portion of the portrait which features a beautiful likeness to actress Gwendoline Christie), new accessories, and a paint job which we’re rather agnostic about, although it feels like Hasbro could have done a tad more to make it look less like “gross stuff.”

As mentioned, the figure has a fantastic new head sculpt, and the accessories are simple but lovely. Things have obviously changed at the Hasbro office now, and if this item was released just a couple years ago, we might have expected to see a tweaked version of her in the basic assortment. But for one reason or another, Hasbro adds figures like this to their retailer exclusive program. This isn’t in and of itself terrible. But when retail doesn’t receive them, it creates frustration for the end user who is the buying collector. Hopefully, things will be different for Captain Phasma (Quicksilver Baton). In addition to a revised paint job and an all-new portrait, Hasbro graciously fabricated an all-new soft-goods cape. While we love this aesthetic and prefer it to the molded plastic capes, our sample’s arrived wrinkled, and its drape isn’t clean. We find it unfortunate that the fabric doesn’t have a natural drape to prevent wrinkling and bunching up. We’re sure a water treatment will resolve the issue, but that changes the texture of the fabric more often than not and that finish of “newness” dissipates completely. Captain Phasma (Quicksilver Baton) comes with two new accessories (in addition to her golden First Order blaster). The quicksilver batons (collapsed and activated) are very, very simple accessories, but they look gorgeous. The only issue is that Hasbro didn’t tool an all-new hand with a smaller grip to hold these new accessories with ease. The openness of the current hands doesn’t provide enough tension to hold the quicksilver batons. With a little patience, you can make it work, but it would have been wonderful if Hasbro threw collectors a bone here to make the figure as interactive as possible. We feel we were a bit shortchanged here.

Collectors may still resist Captain Phasma (Quicksilver Baton) because Hasbro won’t give their figures chrome vac-metallization), and this is a huge setback for most collectors. They’ve done a good job at capturing a metallic finish, but if we’re honest, they’re still so far away from getting it to look realistic and believable at this point. Some other issue that they didn’t resolve because an all-new sculpt wasn’t tooled is that she is still too thick. This is all from bulky armor. We wish they would have tooled her from the ground up to correct what we consider an unfortunate thing. Yes, Captain Phasma is significantly taller than the standard First Order Stormtrooper, but we don’t find her to be as “plump” as this figure makes her feel. Captain Phasma (Quicksilver Baton) comes with a fantastic 28 points of articulation across 17 areas of articulation. She has an excellent range of motion, but Hasbro’s latest figures seem to accomplish more. It’s interesting how this figure is beginning to feel a tad outdated now. We will always feel very strongly that The Black Series 6” line needs to be collector-focused and a way to ensure this is to include mixed media.... like soft-goods for example, more display options and correcting aesthetics when given the opportunity. We feel Hasbro had these opportunities here. And while they stepped up to the plate to offer some enhancements, they didn’t go all the way to deliver a perfect product. But while she isn’t perfect, we’d be remiss to say that she doesn’t look great. The stuff that Hasbro did to update her has played an important role in making this older figure look better than ever. We hope that this figure eventually has ease of availability in the USA as soon as possible.