Bossk - TBSA - Six Inch Figures

Bossk is one of the bounty hunters hired by Darth Vader to search for the Millennium Falcon and its Rebel crew.

The Black Series Archive line is re-releasing some of the most-requested figures from Hasbro’s past The Black Series 6” lines, repainting them to look better than ever, and then placing them on card instead of in boxes to give the Star Wars collecting community another chance at securing these wonderful action figures. Bossk is the next figure in this line, and he might be the only figure from the first wave that’s received the fewest amount of changes. We’ve struggled to find specific things that Hasbro updated on this figure. Aside from a slightly different shade of skin color, not much else is different from 2015 Bossk than 2019 Bossk. Honestly, we were never crazy about the 6” version of Bossk. It was painful to point out what made him imperfect back in the day. And none of those issues are rectified when a figure is a straight repack. Sadly, Bossk needs retooling to see improvements. Generally speaking, Bossk is a fine figure. The Black Series 6” hits it out of the park as far as articulation is concerned. And we’d even claim for the most part Hasbro does an excellent job of working the complex articulation into the sculpts. So if they can master these difficult things, then how can some things like “much too small body parts” and “incorrect paint operations” (for a second time) plague an otherwise perfect action figure? For that, we are without speech.

There is no doubt at all. Bossk at first glance looks rather excellent. It’s probably only under close inspection where things have gone awry. What is up with his tiny hands? Is it because we’re so used to seeing Bossk with articulated forearms that we have never noticed this before or is it that Hasbro tooled hands (that articulate at the wrists for the first time) that are distorting our view? No matter the point of view, there is no way anyone can say otherwise that his hands needed to be larger. To a lesser extent, his head is also too small. This issue is much less pronounced thankfully, but it still needed to be a tad larger. We don’t understand the opening jaw gimmick. Hasbro sculpted just a few toy versions of Bossk where his mouth is in the shut position, almost smiling. But most others have his mouth open which is the state we (and many other collectors) prefer the most. Upon close inspection, Bossk has an excellent head sculpt. There is an incredible amount of detail worked into the sculpt, and it’s nice to take it all in again. Bossk’s teeth are too white still, and yes, it looks like he could pose for a toothpaste commercial. His teeth are nearly yellow in the film. Also of an issue, the collar interrupts the full range of movement of this point of articulation, so the inclusion of this hinge-jointed jaw seems backward.

Hasbro seemed to improve Bossk in one way, and that would be the final wash. It feels as if they applied it more evenly this time around. The good news here is that there is little to no over-spray or running on the figure which would have been a huge issue for this figure, but he looks to be painted very nicely. Hasbro did a good job here except for one or two issues. The sculpt of Bossk is excellent as well. The costume is essentially perfect. The white bib lays against his unforgettable yellow flight suit, and there are a ton of wiring, tubes, and costume details that have been expertly replicated. His feet are amazing. They’re appropriately large and well-articulated with “rocker” ankles and allow the figure to balance itself for many aggressive positions. That leads us to the rest of the figure’s articulation. The articulation system is quite impressive. We wish that Hasbro would abandon the ball-socket hips and go with ball-jointed hips instead because they don’t give the movement we want them to give us, but overall we have very few complaints with how Hasbro articulated Bossk. He comes with his signature strapped blaster rifle which can be held in his left hand effortlessly. It’s his right hand that is essentially useless. But it doesn’t hang nicely over his shoulder as the 3.75” figures do. Overall, Bossk isn’t terrible. But he should have been perfect. And that he’s not.