Imperial Gunner - TVC - Basic (VC232)

What the frack?! What a piece of junk! Does Hasbro honestly believe they can repack of character from Rogue One, have the packaging “hide” the fact that it’s still a Rogue One character, and still pass it off as the modern counterpart of 1985’s POTF Imperial Gunner figure? Yup. This Hasbro is the Hasbro we deal with today. They think their customer base is too stupid to notice. But the fact remains that we still don’t have a proper The Ninety Six update, although all of us know deep down inside that this is the last bite at this apple in vintage Kenner packaging. And that upsets and frustrates us beyond comprehension. The vintage Kenner Imperial Gunner action figure appears exclusively in Return Of The Jedi. The Rogue One version closely imitates the character from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, as evidenced by the radiation vest. A proper Imperial (or Death Star) Gunner from Episode VI should have an outfit that mirrors an Imperial Technician more closely. So, it’s salt in the wound that Hasbro decided to be so lazy for this The Ninety Six update. Admittedly, the card art looks fantastic, which might be enough to satiate the need to have a modern counterpart of this character in our Star Wars collections. Hasbro didn’t choose the same reference image as the vintage Kenner release, but they picked one that closely resembles the original card art yet refreshed for the modern line. But imagine if Hasbro included an accurate interpretation of the action figure inside of the bubble. Now, that would have been incredible.

We’ll be entirely forthright with you. The Vintage Collection Death Star Gunner (VC147) figure didn’t do it for us. It wasn’t close either. We never denied that Hasbro put a lot of effort into the original Death Star Gunner figure, but what makes this especially painful is that the Death Star Gunner is a figure that has almost everything we’d want to see implemented in a figure for the 3.75” super-articulated line (like 30 premium points of articulation), but it falls short in its final execution and finer details. Why did the Death Star Gunners from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story look so different from the ones we see in the Original Trilogy? There are differences, indeed, but are there enough differences where the action figure of this character in 2019 looks almost nothing like its other 3.75-inch ancestors? We’re unsure if it will meet the collectors’ standards, especially when Hasbro reused it to represent a different character. We don’t take issue with Hasbro producing a “Rogue One” version of the Death Star Gunner for The Vintage Collection, but the figure still has problems that Hasbro never addressed. We would have much preferred to see an Imperial Gunner/Death Star Gunner from A New Hope or Return Of The Jedi (or both) instead, with interchangeable parts like Hasbro did for 2006’s TSC Death Star Gunner (SAGA 041) figure. And what about that dang SCUBA diver antennae on the helmet? And let’s not forget about those annoying ball-jointed hips with swivel thighs. Is anything else more annoying in this line?

Oh yes. And the helmet is too small for this action figure. It’s glaringly inaccurate. We’re frustrated with The Vintage Collection Death Star Gunner from Rogue One being used for the Return Of The Jedi Imperial Gunner. We hope others will join in with us to voice their frustrations too. Is no one else upset that we have two of the exact action figures on two different cards with two different VC numbers? Did IQs drop sharply in that short time? Do we all have amnesia? The Imperial Gunner comes with a “Bespin” blaster, which we still find odd, and the action figure doesn’t come with a holster. So, you’ll likely have your sample hold the included blaster at all times, so you don’t lose it. While this release will meet the basic needs of some TVC collectors, we’ll hold out hope that Hasbro treats this character right for The Vintage Collection. Although, we don’t anticipate that happening ever again. However, we hope for a future OT Imperial Death Star Gunner action figure on a ROTJ or POTF card with corrected details and better tooling. We’re happy that Walmart agrees to put out many O96 action figures. We’re not pleased about their exclusivity of them. But if we’re honest, if Walmart didn’t take them on as exclusives, it’s likely these characters would never see the light of day for our collections. Hasbro is fixated on Disney Star Wars and producing as many ARC Troopers and Mandalorians as possible to support the current content. But there is still a significant facet of collectors waiting for the day when all the original Kenner figures have proper modern counterparts.