JediTricks
02-21-2006, 10:43 PM
Ah good ol' Sun WHO?!? Not surprisingly, almost nobody knew who Sun Fac was before he was added to The Saga Collection, turns out he's another Geonosian, he was Poggle's chief lieutenant and military commander during the battle of Geonosis (facts that Hasbro didn't even mention on his packaging bio). I'm also throwing TSC Poggle in this review since they're both Geonosians and in the same wave, Poggle is a reuse of the Saga line's Screen Scene 3pack's mold. The Geonosians never quite worked in on-screen for me, I thought their designs were too odd for Star Wars and they didn't really look good visually on-screen and they had silly-sounding voices, but I've liked the toys some - even if they did have problems standing and were gummy and under-articulated.
Packaging: 3.5/5 (both)
Same TSC packaging. Neither of these guys makes for an exciting packaged figure, Sun is standing in front of a Geonosian column with his staff in his hand and his blaster in its own off to the left, while Poggle stands in front of a huge hologram of the Death Star plans holding his cane with his wings spread. The movie-version photos are decent. Poggle has his cane clear-banded to his hand, while Sun has his hand clear-banded to his staff and is clear-banded himself to the tray - none of these clear-bands seem necessary though, especially when the figures pass through the tray several times each.
Sculpt-Design: 4.5/5 (Sun Fac); 4/5 (Poggle)
I don't remember Geonosians being as tall as Sun Fac here, he should be about a head shorter. Sun's head details are good but get a little lost in the paint, his right eye seems to be missing and is instead scarred over (the movie photo looks more gruesome). His body has the overall Geonosian looksand he has actual outfit details about his torso which look very nice, even a separate "skirt"; his wings are decent but not as long or as well-detailed as the Saga Geonosian figure. His pose is neutral and stands a little taller and more at-attention than the other Geos. And his feet actually have pegholes, yet he can also stand on his own. Plus, they made him out of rigid plastic - even his wings - rather than gummy stuff of previous Geos.
Poggle is exactly the same mold as the Saga Screen Scene version, so it's good, a bit wide and again too tall, but with very nice outfit details including armor, bracelets, even shoes - the front and back parts of the skirt are separate rubbery pieces glued in place. The body is pretty decent, but the head sculpting is a little soft in the details, it has a lot but they're not as sharp as the body, plus the mouth is open and the eyes are a little too big. Poggle has pretty nifty wings, they're well-detailed and rubbery. Poggle looks short but isn't just like in the movie. Poggle's pose is a tad annoying, his left hand is a closed fist, his right arm is out to the side so he can only hold his cane, and his legs are knock-kneed, but he can stand on his own and does have pegholes in his feet.
Articulation: 5/5 (Sun Fac); 3.5/5 (Poggle)
Sun has 12 POA: ball-jointed neck; standard wrists, waist and hips; and universal-jointed shoulders, elbows, and ankles... plus I didn't count that each wing can swivel - I liked the Saga version's universal-jointed wings, but those stuck out further than this which is more accurate. Sun's neck doesn't have all that much up-and-down, but other than that all of Sun's joints have nearly unhindered range of motion. The ankles are stiff and feel like they might be a problem, but so far they've been good to me. This much articulation is great for expressive and exciting poses, he can even stay standing in a striding pose! The only articulation missing are the 2 sets of knees, and I really don't mind their absence.
Poggle was good for a pack in-type figure but less so as a modern basic, he sports 7 POA: standard head, shoulders, waist, hips, and left wrist... again I didn't count his standard wings but they can move like Sun's. Why Poggle didn't get his right wrist articulated is beyond me, that plus univeral-jointed elbows and neck would have gone a long way; they should have had some way to get rid of his knock-knees too. His hips are not terribly useful and the right one his hindered some. I do like that his waist joint is inside his armor though.
Paint-Deco: 4/5 (Sun Fac); 3/5 (Poggle)
The Geonosian colorscheme is hard to nail down, it's a greenish-brownish tone that gets lost in the dark oranges and browns of the Geonosian enivronments of the movie. Previous Geonosian figures have been lighter green and orange and they just didn't look like they did in the movie.
Sun Fac is odd, his body plastic is mainly brown with a green wash, the brown is maybe a little light and on the arms, feet and torso the green paintwash is subtle and works very nicely; but on the legs and head the green wash is way over the top - on the head it's so thick that it spackles over some of the details - which badly separates these parts from the body. As if the head weren't troubled enough, they also added gold over the green on it, the shoulder horns have gold but NO green. The left eye is teeny tiny red with a black pupil, the right side has no eye because of the scar, the scar is painted black looking like it was done in ball-point-pen. The outfit is amazingly well-painted, lots of subtle little details, very good. The wings are cast in clear pink and have black veins and wing tops. If they hadn't gone overboard with the green wash on some parts, this would be close to perfect.
Poggle was a shiny emerald nightmare when last we saw this mold, so anything would be better. Poggle is cast in a forest green with metallic brown paint accents - it works for the most part, but Sun's look is better. Poggle's green is not as bad as before, but it just doesn't seem right, not enough brown was added. Also, the head has a different, thicker, matte brown paint that's just in some places and not subtle and generally not right; plus they used a darker, more subtle color on the "beard" when it's supposed to stand out the most. Poggle's outfit is nice with good accent work, it's painted gold and gunmetal, very effective. The wings are clear yellow which looks alright but they didn't paint the veins or top parts at all.
Accessories: 3/5 (Sun Fac); 2/5 (Poggle)
Like all TSC figs, these guys come with a movie-title stand and a holo minifigure, but neither count as accessories to me.
Sun Fac has 2 accessories, first his staff - it's much longer than the figure, cast in dark gray plastic with almost no details but a couple rings and a handle painted black. The staff fits well in either hand and both hands, and it's not especially gummy. He's also got a Geonosian blaster, the one that shot those green energy blobs, this is a slight retool of the one that came with the Saga Deluxe Geonosian - no spring gimmick or holes - and it's painted orangey-gold with brown and a green dot in the middle, the gold seems a bit garish. My problem with this gun is that it's a little too big so the stock is too long, plus the original design has the wrong handle situation entirely, but he can hold it ok if the handle is at the top.
Poggle comes with his same cane, it has a boney shape with a ringed handle, it fits well in his right hand and doesn't fall out. The dark bronze paint accents look good if a little sloppy, but the main white plastic is too clean. The material is hard but not brittle. That's it though, another accessory might have been nice, even if they just remolded the Death Star holo from R2-Q5.
Value: 2.5/5 (Sun Fac); 2/5 (Poggle)
TSC figures are overpriced at MSRP $7, they'd be overpriced at $6 but that'd be more tolerable. At this much money, they should really have gotten the paint totally right, Sun Fac should have gotten a more accurate gun, Poggle should have gotten more articulation. I want the "overall" rating to reflect the toy, not the inflated pricetag, so if the price is a heavy issue to you then lower their overall ratings below by a half- to full-rating level.
Overall: A- (Sun Fac); C+ (Poggle)
Sun Fac is pretty good, true they messed up the paint a bit and he is too tall and his accessories should have been better, but he has a nice sculpt and great articulation. Poggle the Lesser is ok too, the paint is an improvement over the Screen Scene version, but it's not hot stuff or anything.
Packaging: 3.5/5 (both)
Same TSC packaging. Neither of these guys makes for an exciting packaged figure, Sun is standing in front of a Geonosian column with his staff in his hand and his blaster in its own off to the left, while Poggle stands in front of a huge hologram of the Death Star plans holding his cane with his wings spread. The movie-version photos are decent. Poggle has his cane clear-banded to his hand, while Sun has his hand clear-banded to his staff and is clear-banded himself to the tray - none of these clear-bands seem necessary though, especially when the figures pass through the tray several times each.
Sculpt-Design: 4.5/5 (Sun Fac); 4/5 (Poggle)
I don't remember Geonosians being as tall as Sun Fac here, he should be about a head shorter. Sun's head details are good but get a little lost in the paint, his right eye seems to be missing and is instead scarred over (the movie photo looks more gruesome). His body has the overall Geonosian looksand he has actual outfit details about his torso which look very nice, even a separate "skirt"; his wings are decent but not as long or as well-detailed as the Saga Geonosian figure. His pose is neutral and stands a little taller and more at-attention than the other Geos. And his feet actually have pegholes, yet he can also stand on his own. Plus, they made him out of rigid plastic - even his wings - rather than gummy stuff of previous Geos.
Poggle is exactly the same mold as the Saga Screen Scene version, so it's good, a bit wide and again too tall, but with very nice outfit details including armor, bracelets, even shoes - the front and back parts of the skirt are separate rubbery pieces glued in place. The body is pretty decent, but the head sculpting is a little soft in the details, it has a lot but they're not as sharp as the body, plus the mouth is open and the eyes are a little too big. Poggle has pretty nifty wings, they're well-detailed and rubbery. Poggle looks short but isn't just like in the movie. Poggle's pose is a tad annoying, his left hand is a closed fist, his right arm is out to the side so he can only hold his cane, and his legs are knock-kneed, but he can stand on his own and does have pegholes in his feet.
Articulation: 5/5 (Sun Fac); 3.5/5 (Poggle)
Sun has 12 POA: ball-jointed neck; standard wrists, waist and hips; and universal-jointed shoulders, elbows, and ankles... plus I didn't count that each wing can swivel - I liked the Saga version's universal-jointed wings, but those stuck out further than this which is more accurate. Sun's neck doesn't have all that much up-and-down, but other than that all of Sun's joints have nearly unhindered range of motion. The ankles are stiff and feel like they might be a problem, but so far they've been good to me. This much articulation is great for expressive and exciting poses, he can even stay standing in a striding pose! The only articulation missing are the 2 sets of knees, and I really don't mind their absence.
Poggle was good for a pack in-type figure but less so as a modern basic, he sports 7 POA: standard head, shoulders, waist, hips, and left wrist... again I didn't count his standard wings but they can move like Sun's. Why Poggle didn't get his right wrist articulated is beyond me, that plus univeral-jointed elbows and neck would have gone a long way; they should have had some way to get rid of his knock-knees too. His hips are not terribly useful and the right one his hindered some. I do like that his waist joint is inside his armor though.
Paint-Deco: 4/5 (Sun Fac); 3/5 (Poggle)
The Geonosian colorscheme is hard to nail down, it's a greenish-brownish tone that gets lost in the dark oranges and browns of the Geonosian enivronments of the movie. Previous Geonosian figures have been lighter green and orange and they just didn't look like they did in the movie.
Sun Fac is odd, his body plastic is mainly brown with a green wash, the brown is maybe a little light and on the arms, feet and torso the green paintwash is subtle and works very nicely; but on the legs and head the green wash is way over the top - on the head it's so thick that it spackles over some of the details - which badly separates these parts from the body. As if the head weren't troubled enough, they also added gold over the green on it, the shoulder horns have gold but NO green. The left eye is teeny tiny red with a black pupil, the right side has no eye because of the scar, the scar is painted black looking like it was done in ball-point-pen. The outfit is amazingly well-painted, lots of subtle little details, very good. The wings are cast in clear pink and have black veins and wing tops. If they hadn't gone overboard with the green wash on some parts, this would be close to perfect.
Poggle was a shiny emerald nightmare when last we saw this mold, so anything would be better. Poggle is cast in a forest green with metallic brown paint accents - it works for the most part, but Sun's look is better. Poggle's green is not as bad as before, but it just doesn't seem right, not enough brown was added. Also, the head has a different, thicker, matte brown paint that's just in some places and not subtle and generally not right; plus they used a darker, more subtle color on the "beard" when it's supposed to stand out the most. Poggle's outfit is nice with good accent work, it's painted gold and gunmetal, very effective. The wings are clear yellow which looks alright but they didn't paint the veins or top parts at all.
Accessories: 3/5 (Sun Fac); 2/5 (Poggle)
Like all TSC figs, these guys come with a movie-title stand and a holo minifigure, but neither count as accessories to me.
Sun Fac has 2 accessories, first his staff - it's much longer than the figure, cast in dark gray plastic with almost no details but a couple rings and a handle painted black. The staff fits well in either hand and both hands, and it's not especially gummy. He's also got a Geonosian blaster, the one that shot those green energy blobs, this is a slight retool of the one that came with the Saga Deluxe Geonosian - no spring gimmick or holes - and it's painted orangey-gold with brown and a green dot in the middle, the gold seems a bit garish. My problem with this gun is that it's a little too big so the stock is too long, plus the original design has the wrong handle situation entirely, but he can hold it ok if the handle is at the top.
Poggle comes with his same cane, it has a boney shape with a ringed handle, it fits well in his right hand and doesn't fall out. The dark bronze paint accents look good if a little sloppy, but the main white plastic is too clean. The material is hard but not brittle. That's it though, another accessory might have been nice, even if they just remolded the Death Star holo from R2-Q5.
Value: 2.5/5 (Sun Fac); 2/5 (Poggle)
TSC figures are overpriced at MSRP $7, they'd be overpriced at $6 but that'd be more tolerable. At this much money, they should really have gotten the paint totally right, Sun Fac should have gotten a more accurate gun, Poggle should have gotten more articulation. I want the "overall" rating to reflect the toy, not the inflated pricetag, so if the price is a heavy issue to you then lower their overall ratings below by a half- to full-rating level.
Overall: A- (Sun Fac); C+ (Poggle)
Sun Fac is pretty good, true they messed up the paint a bit and he is too tall and his accessories should have been better, but he has a nice sculpt and great articulation. Poggle the Lesser is ok too, the paint is an improvement over the Screen Scene version, but it's not hot stuff or anything.