C’ai Threnalli - SW [TLJ] - Basic

Woe is the Star Wars basic figure line. No matter how hard Hasbro tries, the rushed schedule of the Disney Star Wars film, the hush-hush secrecy of the characters and the short retail life the line sustains just isn’t anywhere close to being a good formula to make these line a success. It’s almost routine now. Hasbro can get out Force Friday (or whatever the retail equivalent of that is) products on time, but any subsequent case assortments either arrive in minimal numbers or are altogether canceled because of what is already bottle-necked on store shelves. Such is the fate of one of the finer waves of Star Wars [The Last Jedi] Force Link figures. It had to be saved by Entertainment Earth once again, and not even they wanted all of the repacked figures. They simply ordered solid case assortments which boils down to two-thirds of the three figures that make up this wave: C'ai Threnalli and First Order Flametrooper. If you want Emperor Palpatine, you’ll have to get him either via the awesome TARGET exclusive three-pack or through alternate routes, most of which are international sources. We’re happy that C'ai Threnalli will be offered to American collectors through Entertainment Earth because he is a nice figure. From the separately sculpted flight straps to the simple but nicely designed Resistance uniform, C'ai Threnalli has turned out better than expected.

Did we hear this character speak in Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi? We don’t recall any dialogue. But the character speaks five phrases in English thanks to the Force Link technology embedded in him. He has a gruff speaking voice, almost like the voice of the character that blew up C-3PO on Bespin after getting lured by the sound of an R2 unit into an assembly room. (Hey, who blew up C-3PO anyway? A Stormtrooper? An ugnaught? IG-88? Did we ever get an answer to this question? We digress.) The point is that we were quite surprised by C'ai Threnalli’s voice. It seems to fit him well; we’re just surprised he speaks English. Perhaps all Abednedos speak English. The C'ai Threnalli action figure is about as good as a 5POA action figure gets. He has an excellent sculpt, nice accessories and a decent paint job. Plus, Hasbro has added more articulation to him which is a nice gesture but sadly doesn’t make him that much more practical for posing in cool ways. He is still a static action figure, but perhaps one of the nicest ones we have seen. The paint operations are executed extremely well. His face is two-tone with a base gray color accented with “dot matrix” tan. His eyes look a little wonky, but we have seen worse in this format in the past. The rest of the figure is decorated beautifully too.

C'ai Threnalli comes with nine points of articulation. His swivel gloves and boots bring this figure’s total articulation way above the standard 5POA format. But as we briefly stated earlier, these extra points don’t do too much to aid in posing him in any meaningful positions. The swivel boots certainly help with balance, and the gloves help when it comes to him holding his blaster, but other than that these extra points of articulation don’t offer all that much else. C'ai Threnalli is Episode VIII’s version of Ello Asty. Interestingly, and not well known, C'ai Threnalli made his first appearance in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (but only because of retconning). He is seen at the end of the film, and he is wearing Ello Asty’s costume. His appearance in Episode VII was determined/believed to be a gaffe or a continuity error. This error came to light because a character of this species was wearing Asty's costume at the end of the film. The canon quickly changed, and this became C'ai Threnalli as Ello Asty had been killed during battle earlier in the film. Perhaps we wouldn’t have even had C'ai Threnalli were it not for this situation in Episode VII. C'ai Threnalli had a significantly larger role in Episode VIII than Ello Asty did in Episode VII. These aliens are one of the few and very cool aliens that are found in the Sequel Trilogy. They have an "Original Trilogy Special Edition" feel to them. One thing is for sure. C'ai Threnalli turned out infinitely better than 2015’s TFA X-wing Pilot Asty. Hasbro has come a long way with their 5POA action figures.