Spotted Online – Star Wars: The Force Awakens and 5 Points of Articulation
Over in this Jedi Temple Archives post we get a close look at two upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens action figures . . . and the complaints are overwhelming in the comments section. Rumors that Hasbro would discontinue their 5 points of articulation figures from earlier this year (Amazon.com search*) turn out to be so untrue that it makes me smile; I personally find these toys far more playable and better for kids than toys loaded with ball joints, so seeing these is great.
And the legs on that Sarco Plank action figure are pure Kenner goodness. Don’t believe me? Just take a look at the photo and then compare the design to the original Sand People (rebelscum.com) and you’ll see that I’m right. Great work, Hasbro!
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I would prefer bends at the elbows and knees, but I don’t really get the hate for these figures. It’s not like Hasbro doesn’t have the 6 inch toys for folks that want heavily articulated, super detailed toys.
@Nick Ahlhelm – As near as I can determine it’s the worry that Hasbro is making fewer 6-inch because so much energy is invested in the 3.75-inch action figures.
I’ve got mixed feelings about the 5POA aesthetic. It keeps production costs down and lets Hasbro get more characters out — but as a kid, I always wanted more articulation from the figures I had. I was used to G.I. Joe levels of articulation, and the mid-90s Power of the Force figures seemed like a bit of a step backwards.
Overall, I think I would be more okay with these figures if they included elbows. I can deal without knees, but not elbows.
@Wolf – I love the classic Kenner look to these. And after the way it was tough to find Rebels and Saga toys earlier this year I believe I’m not alone. My worry is the toys will be overproduced and we’ll see the Episode I crash all over again.
It’s interesting you found them hard to come by, because they seemed to be quite readily available over here! I haven’t followed the line closely though, so it’s possible certain characters were missing, waves were missed etc.
Star Wars Black on the other hand…Greedos, Leias and Hans still clog shelves everywhere that actually stocked the things. To this day I have never seen the regular release of Boba Fett!