Star Wars The Black Series Captain Phasma

After four months of searching just about every retail store in my area on a regular basis and failing to find her, I finally ordered The Black Series Captain Phasma from Amazon (paid a 50% mark-up, but at this point, I was willing to do it).  She was the most wanted figure in my collection for The Black Series, as I just loved her overall aesthetic and presence.  As Falldownthemountain noted, she turned out to be a bit of a disappointment in The Force Awakens; barely having any lines or action sequences, but there is always the next film.

Unlike S.H. Figuarts or other high end articulated productions, this Phasma barely moves.  Sure, she has several joints and swivels, but she is hampered by a rubber/plastic cape that restricts movement of any kind, except for her right arm holding the blaster.  I haven't tried it, but I suspect if one popped off her head, the cape could be removed, and limb/joint movement would be a bit better, but not by much.  In short, she is a very blocky figure, lacking the looseness to pose her in any kind of action sequence.

What Hasbro *did* get right, however, was the accuracy of Phasma's likeness.  The sculpt is spot-on, the proportions of Gwendoline Christie's body are perfect.  Ms. Christie is a tall, beautiful woman, and capturing that in scale to the other Black Series figures is the key to a successful toy.  When eyeballing the figures on my shelf, I saw she was even a bit taller than Darth Vader, so here is a comparison pic of Kylo Ren, Phasma, and Vader for scale:

In proportion to the First Order Stormtroopers, she towers above them like a true Captain should, both in physicality and presence.  Something tells me that if Disney really lets her loose, she would be a true force to be reckoned with, provided she survived the trash compactor.

S.H.Figuarts Captain Phasma

One of the most intriguing things to be revealed in the trailers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens was a mysterious Stormtrooper in chrome armor. We were given a name - Captain Phasma. Then it was revealed this Stormtrooper was played by Gwendoline Christie (best known as Brienne of Tarth from Game of Thrones). Around the internet there was much rejoicing. And some bitching, but it is the internet after all.

Sadly Captain Phasma didn't really get to do a whole lot in The Force Awakens. She had a strong start leading the First Orders Stormtroopers as they raided a village on Jakku. But after that she really didn't do much of anything except be the subject of an admittedly funny trash compactor joke. Here's hoping she gets to play a larger role in Episode VIII.

Star Wars has had a long history of giving action figures to just about every character that appears on screen. And often many that don't. So it's not surprising that Captain Phasma has received a decent amount of merchandising despite her minor role in the film. So here's a look at the S.H.Figuarts take on the leader of the First Orders Stormtrooper army.

Packaging:

This is the same style box as the Stormtrooper figure. Simple and to the point. The window nicely displays the figure so you know exactly what you're getting. There's only one piece of tape to be cut to get into the box which makes it very collector friendly. As I said in my Stormtrooper review this suits me just fine. The sooner I can get my toy out to play with it the better.

Sculpt:

The sculpting on Phasma is fantastic. The details are sharp and clean. There does seem to be some parts recycled from the Stormtrooper but this is to be expected. Her helmet, hands, shins and feets are all new.

Her cape is also very well sculpted. All the little folds look nice and it's not quite hanging straight down. This means the shape works for some in action poses. There's plenty of room underneath for the shoulder pad but oddly enough it comes packaged unattached.

Sadly the shape of the cape means it always has to be draped over her left shoulder. This means it can interfere with the articulation. That said it's still going to look good in most poses.

Paint:

The majority of the figure has been cast in the appropriate color plastic to keep paint to detail work only. The color matching is spot on though. The areas painted silver match the areas cast silver perfectly. Slightly different details on her armor are picked out compared to the Stormtrooper. Knowing the care that goes into these figures I'm confident this is accurate to what's seen on screen.

My Phasma does have the tiniest bit of paint slop on her cape. It's near the neck and not noticeable unless you're looking right at it. These sorts of things are bound to happen on a few figures. Otherwise all the paint applications are spot on.

Articulation:

Articulation on Captain Phasma is identical to the Stormtrooper. Double jointed neck which is nice and expressive.  Ball joints in the chest and waist help make poses more dynamic. Ball and hinge joints in the shoulder with articulated shoulder pads plus swivels on the bicep and forearm and double jointed elbows give the arms great range. Double jointed knees, thigh swivels and universal hips give similarly great range in the legs. And the pouches are articulated to get out of the way of the legs as needed.

The cape can hinder things a little bit. It's made of a soft enough material that you can get it out of the way most of the time. As mentioned before the shape of the cape means it always has to be draped over the left shoulder to look natural. A cloth cape would've given her a bit more freedom when posing.

Accessories:

As pictured above Phasma comes with three sets of hands - open, fists, and a pair for holding her blaster - and her blaster. The blaster - apart from being a different color - is a slightly different sculpt from the one that came with the Stormtrooper. There is an additional stock and the grip and trigger guard are different. Her hands are also a different sculpt with armor on her fingers not just the back of her hands.

Unfortunately the combination of Phasma's trigger hand and the blasters stock make her a bit harder to pose with her weapon than the Stormtrooper. Where the Stormtrooper's trigger hand hand the fingers and thumb closed with just the trigger finger extended Phasma's trigger hand is open. This means her blaster is prone to popping out of her hand while getting her arms into the right pose.

I've found she'll grip her blaster solidly if held single handedly or with two hands when firing from the hip. But I haven't been able to get her to securely hold her blaster with both hands and the stock shouldered. The cape plays into this too limiting the movement of her left arm for support. It's not a big deal but it is a little bit of a step down from the Stormtroopers.

Final Thoughts: 

Captain Phasma does have a few minor limitations but is overall another fantastic figure. She looks great paired with the S.H.Figuarts Stormtroopers and Kylo Ren. And I think you get the most out of her with a couple of Stormtroopers to lead.

Like the Stormtroopers she's going to set you back more than the Black Series figure but I do think you'll get a lot more out of her. The shiny silver plastic/paint used her look gorgeous in person and in my opinion is nicer than the darker silver of the Black Series figure (which is by no means a knock against the Black Series toy!). I don't own the Black Series toy but from what I've seen I believe it is slightly taller which might make a difference to some.

I'm very happy to have her to lead my Stormtroopers. She looks great, poses well, and should fit in to any 1/12 Star Wars display well.

S.H.Figuarts First Order Stormtrooper

Last year saw the triumphant return of Star Wars to the big screen with the first of Disney's sequels, The Force Awakens. Thirty years after the events of Return of the Jedi the Galactic Empire may be gone but in it's place the First Order has risen to follow in the Empire's footsteps. With it is a new generation of the ubiquitous Stormtrooper.

And I do mean ubiquitous. Not just on screen. There's Stormtrooper merchandise at every scale and price point. At the 1/12th scale there's Hasbro's Black Series, Bandai's model kit, the upcoming Mafex figure and the subject of today's review - S.H.Figuarts take on the First Order Stormtrooper.

Packaging:

The S.H.Figuarts Star Wars line has gone with the bare bones when it comes to packaging. A big window in the box shows you the figure you're getting. There's enough space to fit in the swappable hands and the Stormtrooper's blaster. The back has a few pictures showing off the toy. And that's it.

I'm personally not a MINT collector. I play with my toys. So for me this sort of minimal packaging is great. Cut one piece of tape, slide out the tray, remove the figure and you're good to go. Little fuss, straight to the fun stuff.

Scult:

The sculpt on the Stormtrooper is very sharp. All the little clasps holding the pieces of armor are molded in. The belt and undersuit have been given a ribbed texture when they easily could have been left flat. For the most part the armor hides the joints giving the Stormtrooper a very clean look.

Paint:

Most of the figure has been cast in the appropriate plastic colors. The main armor in white and the joints and undersuit in black. This helps keep everything very clean. Paint has only been used to pick out the small details on the armor. Most of the applications are very clean. The only place I've noticed obvious smudging is on the Stormtroopers belt and it's present on both of the Stormtroopers I bought.

Articulation:

Like all S.H.Figuarts toys the articulation on the Stormtrooper is excellent. Two joints in the neck give the essentially faceless Stormtrooper a lot of ability to express itself. The shoulders are ball jointed where they meet the torso the hinged for outward movement. The shoulder pads themselves are on their own dedicated joints so you can move them out of the way when raising the arms. Swivels at the bicep and forearm work with double jointed elbows allow the arms to move in a very natural way. A similar set up with the legs works just as well.

One of the most impressive things is the face that the pouches on the hips are each on their own dedicated joint. This lets them be moved out of the way of the legs where they'd otherwise hinder the figures poseability.

Any limitations on poseability rise more from the design of the suit than the articulation of the figure itself. There are other toys whose double jointed knees bend further. The Stormtroopers leg armor only allows the knee to move so far before the plates collide. The biggest hindrance is on the ankle articulation but I feel this is again due to the armor design rather than the engineering of the toy. That said I haven't found a pose I can't get the Stormtrooper to do.

Accessories:

The Stormtrooper comes with the bare minimum here. Three pairs of hands - fists, open grip and trigger hands - and the F-11D blaster. The hands pop on and off of ball joints of the Stormtroopers wrist easily. At no point have I been worried the joint can't handle the stress of swapping hands.

The blaster is nicely detailed but seems a little oversized. It's not a big deal though. The Stormtroopers still look fantastic holding it. The blasters foregrip also folds down which is not something I remember seeing in the movie. I honestly think the Stormtrooper looks silly holding the blaster with it folded down so that's a feature that's going to go unused.

Sadly the blaster cannot be holstered on the Stormtrooper's leg armor. As far as I know every other First Order Stormtrooper at this scale is able to holster it's weapon. I'd say this was done to keep the sculpt as accurate as possible but it's a real shame this feature wasn't included.

Final Thoughts:

I'm really happy with S.H.Figuarts take on the First Order Stormtrooper. On their own they look great. Their size means they'll fit in well with other 1/12 scale Star Wars lines. As the Stormtroopers of the First Order were conscripts taken at birth you can mix and match from different toy lines without too much worry.

They are more expensive than the other options. A premium price for a premium figure. It all depends on what you're looking for. They easily beat the Black Series figure in terms of poseability but the Black Series is certainly easier to army build. I certainly don't regret buying them and am very much looking forward to getting S.H.Figuarts Captain Phasma to lead them.