The second season of The Mandalorian introduced fans to a new ice planet called Maldo Kreis. As another bonus, the world was inhabited with knobby white ice spiders based on Ralph McQuarrie’s artwork for The Empire Strikes Back. Hasbro decided it would make an excellent The Vintage Collection exclusive to include the main characters from these scenes into one package. So, they developed The Mandalorian & Grogu (Maldo Kreis) multipack. As an exclusive, it’s lovely and The Mandalorian comes with enhancements. But as a TVC carded figure, it’s an abomination. Hasbro MUST STOP creating these “deluxe” figure packs and numbering them as part of the mainline, especially when the packaging is skewed and doesn’t fit the template of the other action figures in the line. Hasbro didn’t break much new ground in The Mandalorian & Grogu (Maldo Kreis) multipack. Sure, they developed a giant ice spider with articulated limbs and two baby ice spiders to help recreate the swarm that chases them back to their crashed vehicle. But both The Mandalorian and Grogu here are repacked figures with new paint operations. And to make matters worse, the set is double the price of a standard The Vintage Collection figure. Hasbro can release FOUR basic figures for $40. So, in that case, it rattles our brains that they’d expect s to pay almost $27 for one standard-sized 3.75-inch action figure, a pitiful Grogu action figure, and then a mildly articulated knobby white ice spider accessory. Something’s missing here.
The Mandalorian is a retool and repaint of 2020’s TVC The Mandalorian (VC181) figure. This time, Hasbro gave the figure an entirely new right leg to change the armor. They also added "rocker" ankles to both legs. Hasbro added “snow” detail throughout the figure to recreate the look and feel of the character from Chapter 10 of The Mandalorian. At first, and if you didn’t see the episode, you might think for a minute that The Mandalorian is covered in cobwebs. But upon closer inspection, you’ll see that the deco is snow detail. Hasbro included the cape and blaster with The Mandalorian figure, but they didn’t include the ray gun for this release. We find its omission to be disappointing. This set is expensive, and Hasbro should add everything here but the kitchen sink to help collectors feel like they’re getting value here. The tooling is holding up well. The figure articulates easily and maintains its poses rather effortlessly. Also included is a repaint of 2021’s TVC The Child (VC184) figure. Hasbro decided to allow the character “Grogu” in this set, and the action figure also has snow detail on its clothing. Together, The Mandalorian and Grogu look excellent. They both have snow on them and fit the theme of this exclusive set well. But we’d like to reiterate that Hasbro didn’t include enough accessories with these characters, and the three knobby white ice spiders don’t seem to make up for the lack of accessories with the main characters here. Hasbro also included a hatching egg of a knobby white ice spider which makes this set feel like we getting all stages of this creature.
Speaking of the knobby white ice spiders, they’re well-designed but look terribly out of scale. Hasbro included one large one with articulation. The detail is excellent, and the likeness matches the on-screen creature well. However, after the large knobby white ice spider, we get two “baby” versions without any articulation at all. Since these creatures come in all sizes, TVC collectors should grab the 6-inch version too. So, how does this set feel like a deal when it feels like it’s The Mandalorian with a few extra pieces? There isn’t value here, in our opinion, and we’re disappointed to assess this set that way. It feels like a rip-off, honestly. That said, those who love The Mandalorian, Ralph McQuarrie, or this episode should love what Hasbro put together for you here. Let’s talk about the packaging. We hope and desire to see Hasbro keep The Vintage Collection’s basic figures as pure as possible. We do not like when they produce oversized cards for the line. It skews what The Vintage Collection is about and cheapens it. If Hasbro wants to make multipacks like this, they should create special packaging and release them in boxes or something similar, almost like the Special Action Figure Sets. But a basic The Vintage Collection figure should fit the pattern of a basic carded figure. An exclusive to Walmart, The Mandalorian & Grogu (Maldo Kreis) set has an MSRP of $26.49 and seems to sell out every time it goes back in stock consistently. This set is bittersweet. It's incredible to get an updated version of The Mandalorian, but perhaps not for this price.
Collector Notes
Mandalorian & Grogu (Maldo Kreis), The
Assortment Number: F5322
UPC: 5010994112103
Retail: $26.99 USD
Market Value: Click here to check the latest prices based on listings.
The Mandalorian
Status: The Mandalorian is a retool and repaint of 2020's TVC The Mandalorian (VC181) figure. This time the figure has new right leg including updated thigh and knee armor and new knees/ankles on both legs which nowinclude "rocker" articulation.
Articulation Count: 30 points (17 areas of articulation)
Articulation Details: ball-socket head (1), reverse ball-socket neck (1), ball-jointed left shoulder (2), ball-jointed right shoulder (2), ball-jointed left elbow (2), ball-jointed right elbow (2), ball-jointed left wrist (2), ball-jointed right wrist (2), ball-jointed torso (2), ball-jointed left hip (2), ball-jointed right hip (2), swivel left thigh (1), swivel right thigh (1), ball-jointed left knee (2), ball-jointed right knee (2), ball-jointed/"rocker" left ankle (2), ball-jointed/"rocker" right ankle (2)
Accessory Count: 6
Accessory Details: removable cape, blaster, large knobby white ice spider, 2 small knobby white ice spiders, egg
Date Stamp: N/A
Grogu
Status: Grogu is a repaint of 2021's TVC The Child (VC184) figure.
Articulation Count: 5 points (5 areas of articulation)
Articulation Details: ball-socket head (1), ball-socket left shoulder (1), ball-socket right shoulder (1), swivel left wrist (1), swivel right wrist (1)
Accessory Count: None
Accessory Details: None
Date Stamp: N/A