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Bossk and Dengar

Tonight, Andy (also known to many of you as S-mart Manager) steps in with a great guest review of the two new versions of these very old bounty hunters.  It's all yours!

As far back as I can remember, I’ve been a Star Wars fan(geek). Who doesn’t know the classic tale of good VS. evil…in space? It’s not only the great main characters that have made these movies timeless, but also the smaller characters with only a few seconds of screen time. I myself have collected Star Wars figures on and off for some time, and had actually not purchased any for quite some time. While perusing the toy aisle at the local K-Mart, I saw a new Dengar and Bossk. Both figures were a nice surprise to me, as I knew nothing of these updates to some favorite barely on screen characters. I picked them both of pronto, and talked to everyone’s favorite toy reviewer Michael Crawford to see if I could do a guest review, and here I am…







Packaging - ***1/2
Though we’ve seen this card for quite some time now, I must say that I am a fan. It has a very classic Star Wars look to it. The blue littered with stars and topped of with the classic logo all works well together to make an attractive card. Not to mention you can see the figure and all of the accessories well. The addition of the movie in which the figure is from along the side of the card also makes it easier to spot certain figures, which is always a plus.

Sculpting - ***1/2
What can I say, both of these figures are done extremely well, especially for such a small scale. Bossk has some great details from the wrinkles in his flight suit to all the tiny scales in his skin. All the little details on the suit are present as well, with excellent texture for such a small figure. Dengar is the same way, if not more extraordinary. The bandages on his head and panels on the front of his armor are done especially well. Both have great likenesses, with Bossk’s open-mouthed snarl and Dengar’s grossly scarred face. The only thing holding them back from the extra half star is some of the larger areas being somewhat smooth.

Paint - ***
Ah, the section that could possibly ruin the already mentioned wonderful sculpts. Not to say that the paint is bad, because it certainly isn’t, it just seems to be a bit lacking. The applications are quite solid aside from a little slop, which is more than can be said for a number of companies out there (*cough*toybiz*cough*). Dengar has some nice shading on his bandages and some great wear on his chest armor. Bossk has some excellent details such as the patches on his sleeves and the metal accents on his flight suit. The one big fault is the large solid colored areas that have little variation. The large yellow and light gray portions of the outfits could have looked a lot better with a little wash over them to bring out the details and give some value to the figures. Like I said, they don't have bad paint, it could just use a bit more variation in some areas.

Articulation - ***
First let’s cover the points: Bossk has neck, waist, cut shoulders, elbows, forearms, and hips. Dengar has Neck, waist, ball-jointed shoulders, cut forearms, a cut wrist on his left hand, and hips. The cut joints at Bossk’s elbows allow for some nice variation in posing. Dengar’s ball-jointed shoulders look great and have a large range of motion. It is too bad that they cannot be used much with the somewhat restricted articulation in the rest of the arms. As per usual with Star Wars figures, there is little that can be done with the below the waist articulation. Neither figure is made to be super poseable, but both have a decent amount at a smaller scale.

Accessories - Bossk **1/2, Dengar ***
For these two figures, this is a somewhat hard area to grade. Each figure comes with a gun and the standard base we’ve seen lately, which I like. Dengar also has a very nicely detailed backpack that fits well and stays in place. The accessories are all sculpted very well, but are made of a very soft material. Dengar’s gun was slightly bent when it came out of the package, and is staying in that position because of the soft material. The accessories are sculpted and painted well and accurately, but I feel that there could have been more included. They’re bounty hunters for cryin’ out loud, give them some more weapons! Maybe something like a pistol for Bossk and a thermal detonator for Dengar. Something extra would have been nice. Soft material and somewhat lacking number aside, they’re quite well done. 

Value - ***1/2
I snagged these at K-Mart for 5.49 plus tax. These are quite small figures, but also fairly detailed so I think this is a fair price. Snag them for under 5 bucks and I’d give it a full 4 stars.

Overall - ***1/2
Two very well done (and much needed!) updates of some kickass Star Wars bounty hunters? Yes, please. Both of these figures are excellent representations of some great characters from one of the greatest sci fi tales of our time. I highly recommend both figures and suggest anyone who is a fan of the movies and these characters especially to pick them up as soon as they get a chance. Bravo, Hasbro…bravo.

Where to Buy -
As I said, I found these at K-Mart, and I’m sure other brick and mortar stores like Wal-Mart and Target will have them as well.

KEEP SCROLLING DOWN FOR MORE PHOTOS, INCLUDING A COMPARISON OF OLD AND NEW!



Figures from the collection of Andy.

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