Today we open up the Hasbro The Vintage Collection Obi-Wan Kenobi action figure 2-pack, which includes Obi-Wan Kenobi (Showdown) VC290, and Darth Vader (Duel’s End) VC291, for a closer look at their details, articulation, and accessories.

We both really enjoyed the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, especially the climactic battle in the final episode. When this TVC box set was announced, we knew we had to add it to our collection!

Check out our unboxing video –

Obi-Wan Kenobi (Showdown) – VC290

The Obi-Wan figure is wearing his dark brown Jedi robes from the end of the series, and comes with three accessories – blaster, lightsaber hilt, and lightsaber ignited with blade. The accessories fit well into their attachment points (hilt on belt, blaster in holster), and the figure holds the lightsaber well.

I think the facial sculpt does a good job at capturing Ewan McGregor’s likeness, and the hair is styled just like Obi-Wan. The figure has good articulation, and can hold a variety of cool lightsaber combat poses – though I will put this figure on a stand for extra stability.

Darth Vader (Duel’s End) – VC291

The Darth Vader figure has unique battle damage from the series finale – a slashed open helmet revealing Anakin’s face inside, burn/slashes to the chest box, a slashed hole across the back of the cape, and a weathered cape edge. The figure comes with two accessories – lightsaber hilt, and lightsaber with blade (though the peg for the lightsaber hilt didn’t fit into the attachment hole on this figure’s belt).

I really like the unique battle damage on this figure – but the best feature is the broken helmet. Inside we can see Anakin’s yellow Sith eye and scarred head, and the top of the helmet is removable to see the full head sculpt underneath. Really great detail and painting here!

I wish the Darth Vader figure in particular stood up better (my figure will definitely need a stand), but overall, I really like the details and sculpting of these two figures. That slashed open Vader helmet especially looks amazing! What a great way to add that climactic fight scene to our action figure display!

May the Force be with you!

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Today’s unboxing features The Black Series NED-B 6″ Figure from the Obi-Wan Kenobi series. We really enjoyed the series, so we’re keen to build up an Obi-Wan Kenobi series action figure display with both TVC 4″ and Black Series 6″ figures. NED-B was a neat character in the series, and a fun new droid design so we’re really happy to add him to our collection.

Check out my unboxing video –

• Affiliate Link – Buy The Black Series NED-B 6″ figure on Amazon.com

This figure is part of Hasbro’s recent ‘plastic free packaging’ initiative, which means it has a windowless box. You can’t see the specific figure you are buying – which is not an issue if you predominately order online, but we mostly get our figures from local store shelves. Personally I like the opportunity to see the figure I’m choosing, and comparing the details, especially the paint job, with other figures on the shelf.

The windowless box also causes some headaches for collectors who keep their Black Series figures boxed – you can’t ‘display’ the figure anymore, it’s just a picture on the front. For the most part, we open our Black Series figures, but we appreciate the option for those rarer/collectible/exclusive ones we would choose to display sealed in the box.

Apart from the front missing the classic window, the rest of the packaging matches the modern Black Series boxes, with artwork on the right side slanted panel that forms a wider picture when displayed alongside other figures from the same series – in this case, the Obi-Wan Kenobi series. The colour scheme for the Obi-Wan Kenobi series packaging is a light blue, which we see in the stripe across the front with the series name, and used to accent the side panel artwork.

As the box notes, the packaging is free from plastic, with the exception of tape and glue. Inside, the figure is wrapped in ‘The Black Series’ branded tissue paper, held in place in a brown cardboard insert with some thin cardboard bands taped closed. The accessories are stored inside a waxy paper pouch that is sealed closed, so they can’t fall out. All in all, this holds the figure well, and is easy to open – similar to how starships are packaged, but of course this only works in boxes without windows.

The NED-B figure is primarily made in two colours – grey plastic at the joints and yellow plastic for the main body parts. This colour scheme is accented with dark grey/metallic weathering, and some blue painted details around the neck, left forearm, and backpack.

This figure is quite articulated as we would expect from a Black Series figure. Interestingly, I couldn’t get movement at the waist, instead the figure moves at the mid-torso join instead. Otherwise, it has all the joints and movements needed to pose for display.

It’s a little hard to show in photos, but the circular joints in his elbows, knees, and ankles have a clear plastic center, to give the effect of being hollow. A good option to maintain stability for poses, but still looks accurate to the original droid design. Considering the top-heavy nature of NED-B, he needs good stability in his legs so he doesn’t topple over.

For me, the frustrating part of this figure is the backpack. This was separate to the figure, and needs to be assembled to display. Putting the backpack on was relatively easy, it connects to the back of NED-B with a simple peg-and-slot attachment, but the problem is the small tubes on lower sides.

The tubes are attached to NED-B’s back and insert into the backpack once the backpack is attached in place. Simple in theory, but very tricky to actually do! Honestly, it took the both of us quite a few minutes to get those tubes into place – the dark grey knobs just below the attachment point really get in the way of your fingers. But anyway, once we finally wrestled them into place, it looks good.

NED-B comes with two accessories to hold – a hammer, and battle droid blaster. He holds the hammer really well, and it’s my favourite of the two accessories. His right hand has a finger pointed out like it would fit into the trigger section of the blaster, but his hands are bigger than a standard Black Series figure, and it looks like they used a standard blaster accessory, so he does hold it, but it’s a little awkward.

While there were a few frustrating notes with this figure (the windowless box and hard-to-put-on backpack), I think it looks really cool. The expression in the face captures the character well, he looks great holding his hammer, and the paint job really makes him look like a worn, beaten up old droid. I can’t wait to start building up our Obi-Wan Kenobi display – he is a fine addition to our collection.

May the Force be with you!

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An exciting mail call – our LEGO Star Wars May 4th order has arrived! As usual LEGO had a great promotion for Star Wars Day, with special free promo sets – the perfect time to grab some of the new sets that we had seen on display at Star Wars Celebration Europe.

We picked up three LEGO Star Wars sets, which qualified us for two Star Wars Day May 4th special ‘free gift with purchase’ sets. There was also a third Star Wars Day promo, a Death Star coin, but we suspect NZ did not get a lot of stock of that one because it was gone by the time we were able to place our order. We don’t mind – we were most excited about the two promos we did get, as they are actual LEGO sets.

Check out our LEGO Star Wars haul video –

First up, the new LEGO Star Wars Brick Headz Battle Of Endor Heroes (set 40623). This was originally released as a ‘first to market’ item at Star Wars Celebration Europe, where we got to see it in person. As it was not a convention exclusive, we preferred to wait and buy it at home rather than try to get it home in our suitcase. It was great to see the set built up in person at the convention, so we’ve been eagerly awaiting the moment we could get our hands on it.

The set includes five Brick Headz figures, all from Return Of The Jedi – Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, Lando Calrissian, Wicket, and Princess Leia. I have a few LEGO Star Wars Brick Headz figures already, including the classic white dress Princess Leia from A New Hope, so I’m excited to add five more to my collection.

Next up, another new set celebrating Return Of The Jedi – the Endor Speeder Chase scene (set 75353). This set features a Biker Scout on speeder bike racing through the trees on Endor, being followed close behind by Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia on another speeder bike. I can’t wait to build this set – so many great little details.

The third set we picked up was from Attack Of The Clones – Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Jedi Starfighter (set 75333). I first started collecting Star Wars during the prequel era, so I’m very fond of collectibles that really take me back to that time. As well as Obi-Wan’s Jedi Starfighter, the set includes three mini-figures – Obi-Wan Kenobi, R4-P17, and Taun We.

Those three sets qualified us for two exclusive giveaway sets – the first, and the one we are the most excited about, is Death Star II (set 40591). The box for this is bigger than we were expecting for a free giveaway set!

The Death Star II set includes a little plaque for the 40th Anniversary of Return Of The Jedi, which is a great match for the other two ROTJ sets we picked up.

Our second ‘free gift with purchase’ promo set is the polybag X-Wing Starfighter (set 30654). Not as exciting as the boxed Death Star II set, but hey, you can’t go wrong with a cute little X-Wing Starfighter! While X-Wing Starfighters are seen throughout the Original Trilogy, this polybag also features the ROTJ 40th Anniversary logo.

We are very happy with our LEGO Star Wars haul for May the Fourth – five sets in total, with a focus on Return Of The Jedi – very fitting as we are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the film this month. I can’t wait to get stuck in and start building – now I just have to decide which set to build first!

May the Force be with you!

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The time has come – we opened up the brand new TVC Darth Vader figure!

After we featured the new Obi-Wan Kenobi series figures online, we had many collectors ask about the VC241 Darth Vader figure in particular, and if we could show him uncarded to see all the details. The iconic Star Wars villain has been made countless times in the 3.75″ action figure line, with so many different sculpts and repacks – so how does this one compare? After initially deciding to keep our Obi-Wan Kenobi series figures carded, our curiosity got the better of us, so we decided to open them for a closer look.

Check out our unboxing video –

We are still quite shocked to find these figures available on local store shelves. International retailers like Entertainment Earth (affiliate link) and Big Bad Toy Store have these figures available for pre-order, with a release date of November 2022 – that’s still months away. Here they are at our local Farmers department store, sitting alongside the current range of locally available Star Wars toys.

Here in New Zealand, these TVC figures retail for NZ$29.99 each – which is approximately US$20.

Here he is – “The Dark Times” Darth Vader VC241. I found the variant title quite interesting – this version of Darth Vader is “The Dark Times” – just as Obi-Wan Kenobi mentions when talking with Luke Skywalker in A New Hope… “Before the Dark Times, before the Empire”.

The back of the card shows the other figures in this wave, including Obi-Wan Kenobi “Wandering Jedi” and Reva “Third Sister” from the Obi-Wan Kenobi series. It’s kinda funny that a couple of the other figures pictured here, like the Ahsoka Clone Trooper, are still not available here yet. It really is quite exciting to have these new figures available while the series is still airing on Disney+, we are so excited for the final episode!

So, our first look at the figure loose and up close.

This Darth Vader figure comes with four hands – two left hands and two right hands, for a variety of poses.

• An open grip left hand, capable of holding a lightsaber
• A closed grip left hand, in a fist
• An open grip right hand, capable of holding a lightsaber
• An half-open grip right hand, as if pointing or using the Force

As expected, the figure also comes with two lightsaber accessories – a lightsaber hilt with peg that can attach to a hole on the left side of the belt, and an “activated” lightsaber with red blade, that can be held for action poses.

This figure has two soft goods components – a large flowing black cape, and a lower “skirt” robe. The soft goods are made from the same material, and suit the scale well. The edges are not sealed, they are left raw, so do be careful not to cause any fraying with handling.

I really like the cape in particular – it is pleated at the back, to give extra fullness. This means that you can open the cape up for a full wide shape, like when Darth Vader strides down hallways.

There is a great level of articulation in this figure, which means he poses very well, and I found he is quite steady when attempting to stand him without an additional base stand (not included). There are articulation points at the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrist, waist, hips, thighs, knees, and ankles. The joints all feel nice and tight, so the poses hold well.

The helmet has some really nice sculpting and details. The lenses have a red tint, to match Darth Vader’s appearance in Obi-Wan Kenobi. There are also nice accurate silver/grey touches on the cheeks, nose, and tusks of the helmet (as used on the full-sized filming helmets to increase the contrast and visibility of dtails). One aspect which I found interesting – the helmet dome is made from flexible plastic, so the sides can be flexed (it feels like the same plastic as the cod piece, which can also bend). Perhaps this helps when assembling the figure with the soft goods components? In any case, I only noticed it when checking the neck articulation movement.

All up, a fantastic action figure – and I’m glad we opened it up to take a closer look. I know for many collectors, when it comes to a character that we all own several versions of, sometimes getting yet another double doesn’t always fit into the budget alongside new characters being done in the action figure line for the first time. Personally for us, this VC241 Darth Vader is a must-have figure, and in our opinion, one of the best versions Hasbro has ever made.

May the Force be with you!

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Very exciting news – the first three Star Wars The Vintage Collection 3.75″ figures from the Obi-Wan Kenobi series are now available in NZ! They just showed up on store shelves, unannounced, and fans were running out to grab them before they all disappeared. We were very fortunate be to able to get ahold of all three figures at our local store.

These figures were not expected to be released until much later in the year (or even early next year), well after the series had finished airing, so it was a complete surprise to find them available now, let alone locally – even before the US! These figures showed up at local Farmers stores, which had a toy sale on at the time, so fans could grab them at a discounted price as well.

While these figures are already must-haves for our collection, the figures themselves are very well done. The Darth Vader sculpt is one of the best Hasbro has done in recent years, complete with lightsaber hilt, activated lightsaber, and two alternate hands for different poses. Obi-Wan Kenobi comes with a blaster, lightsaber hilt, activated lightsaber, and two versions of the little Lola droid. Reva comes with four lightsabers! One hilt, one activated double-bladed lightsaber, and two single-bladed activated lightsabers, for all your posing needs. All three figures also have soft goods cloaks, which I personally really like for this scale.

I found the variant notes quite interesting – this version of Darth Vader is ‘The Dark Times’ – just as Obi-Wan Kenobi mentions when talking with Luke Skywalker in A New Hope... “Before the Dark Times, before the Empire”. This version of Obi-Wan Kenobi is ‘Wandering Jedi’, while Reva is ‘Third Sister’.

• Darth Vader ‘The Dark Times’ – VC241
• Obi-Wan Kenobi ‘Wandering Jedi’ – VC245
• Reva ‘Third Sister’ – VC242

We may eventually open these figures up, as our 3.75″ figure collection is predominately loose (rather than carded), but right now, these are the only figures with the Obi-Wan Kenobi series backing card design, so we’ll keep them carded for now.

Such a great opening line-up for our Obi-Wan Kenobi series collection – I really hope additional figures aren’t too far way. I definitely need a young Princess Leia and Tala, as well as Bail and Beha Organa!

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Following on from our previous Twitch streams after last weeks episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi, we’ve continued with our tradition of jumping online to play Star Wars: The Old Republic and discuss episodes after each Obi-Wan Kenobi instalment concludes. We’re uploading the streamed video and conversation, where we break down our immediate post-episode thoughts for each week, to the Villa Varykino YouTube channel.

Episode 3 is up now, and we’ll be going live again in the middle of this coming week for episode 4. Join us on the Villa Varykino Twitch channel as we run through planetary heroics as a background to a deep dive into Obi-Wan Kenobi straight after the credits wrap. You don’t need a Twitch account to lurk and read chat, but sign up if you want to participate in the live chat.

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Following on from our previous Twitch streams associated with the weekly episodes of The Book of Boba Fett, we’ve continued with our tradition of jumping online to play Star Wars: The Old Republic and discuss episodes after each Obi-Wan Kenobi instalment concludes. We’re uploading the streamed video and conversation, where we break down our immediate post-episode thoughts for each week, to the Villa Varykino YouTube channel.

Episodes 1 & 2 are up now, and we’ll be going live again in the middle of this current week for episode 3. Join us on the Villa Varykino Twitch channel as we run through planetary heroics as a background to a deep dive into Obi-Wan Kenobi straight after the credits wrap. You don’t need a Twitch account to lurk and read chat, but sign up if you want to participate in the live chat.

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