Vice Admiral Rampart - TBS [P4] - Six Inch Figures (TBB08)

After the fall of the Republic, Vice Admiral Rampart is assigned to oversee the clone troopers on Kamino by Governor Tarkin. Rampart has eagerly taken to his role in the new Galactic Empire as it aims to instill order in the galaxy.

Did you know that Grand Moff Tarkin and Vice Admiral Rampart are the same characters, save for their differing heads? Well, according to Hasbro, that’s how they assess the situation. With The Bad Batch Disney+ series in full effect, Hasbro scrambled to release some of the various characters from The Bad Batch by using previously existing tooling to generate new action figures for The Black Series [Phase IV] 6-inch line. But frustration is mounting, as longtime collectors of the line want continued newness instead of rehashing, repainted, and reusing old figures. While we can’t necessarily fault Hasbro for using the Grand Moff Tarkin’ buck’ to produce Vice Admiral Rampart, they could go above and beyond and update the parts that are obsolete or antiquated by today’s standards. For instance, the double hinge-jointed knees are awful in 2021, and Hasbro should have updated the legs to make Rampart more in line with the high-quality figures released in the latest phase of The Black Series 6-inch lineup. Also, collectors tend to grow weary of a figure that only has a new head sculpt because all the action figures start looking the same.

As mentioned, Vice Admiral Rampart is a retool and repaint of 2018’s TBS [P3] Grand Moff Tarkin (63) figure. At the time of release, collectors felt Hasbro did a remarkable job on the figure. Also, we had difficulty criticizing the figure, but we think it’s becoming a little bit outdated now as time moves on. Vice Admiral Rampart has a decent head sculpt, but it’s not all that impressive either. Hasbro took an animated likeness and attempted to translate it into a realistic style, and we suppose they succeeded. Unfortunately, the character has a forgettable face and isn’t all that interesting in The Black Series line. The Photo Real paint operations look good, but you may notice some oddities here and there, almost as if the application was poorly applied in parts. Also, the character’s expression is quite ‘scene agnostic.’ That decision isn’t terrible, but it makes for a very dull action figure. That said, Vice Admiral Rampart’s profile and silhouette look excellent and proportioned. Noticeably, the uniform is a darker green than Grand Moff Tarkin’s. But the black boots are still shiny, and the colorful ranking badge show where the character rates compared to others in the Imperial Navy.

Accessories are not terrible here either. Hasbro included a MSE droid. We would have loved to see the MSE droid paired with Grand Moff Tarkin instead, but at least we have it with this character now. We also get a blaster pistol which fits into the figure’s right hand perfectly. And you can see in our Photo Gallery how well all of the included “stuff” work well together. Getting another “character” is a lovely addition to The Black Series line. The MSE droid is a nicely detailed figure. It comes with functioning wheels and a beautiful worn paint job. Most importantly, the shape, size, and scale of the MSE droid are perfectly matched for the 6-inch figure line. So, what we have here is a quality action figure, but it’s hopelessly boring. Your opinions may vary on this. All in all, Vice Admiral Rampart may not be a long-awaited as other Star Wars characters, but it’s a solid addition to The Black Series [Phase IV] line. Exclusive to Walmart, the figure hasn’t necessarily sold out, which shows that either The Bad Batch hasn’t gripped a large enough audience yet, or that other collectors prejudged this action figure as a little too uninteresting as well. Time will tell how well this figure does. But we hope that Hasbro works a little harder to update old sculpts whenever possible.