Today’s unboxing features The Black Series HK-86 6″ Figure from The Mandalorian series. We were a little slow to jump into Black Series collecting, but it was The Mandalorian that really hooked us in, so we’re trying to collect as much as we can from the show in the Black Series 6″ range. HK-87 was a fun new droid design from the show, so we’re really happy to add him to our collection.

Check out my unboxing video –

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 Mandalorian series. The colour scheme for The Mandalorian series packaging is orange, 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 accessory (blaster) is stored inside a waxy paper pouch that is sealed closed, so it doesn’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.

I was really keen to get my first in-hand look at this HK-87 droid figure – and I’m quite impressed. There is something quite striking about the colours, and that cool fabric half-cloak, it all really comes together in a neat design. Droids in particular often translate really well into action figure form, and this HK-87 is no exception.

This figure has all the standard articulation points you would expect from a Black Series 6″ figure. I was a little surprised to find that the grey shoulder ‘armour’ pieces are actually made from a soft plastic, so they can bend to allow you to pose the arm upwards without limiting movement.

Most of the different colours of this figure come from being made in different plastic colours, so there is very little paint application. The most notable painted details are the silver at the limb joints, the gold belt buckle, beige/grey stripes on the upper right arm, and some small silver details on the face – which are all quite tidy and well done on my figure.

This figure also includes a soft goods component – a dark brown fabric ‘half-coat’ worn on the left side, and held in place with a plastic bandolier-style strap. Some fabric cloaks look a bit awkward when scaled down to toy size, but the fabric used here is a good thickness and folds well when posing the left arm. The neckline edge of the half-coat is painted neatly in red, which helps to keep the fabric straight and tidy.

The hands on this figure are quite rigid for holding an accessory, but once you do get the blaster into place, HK-87 holds it well for poses. There is only one singular blaster accessory for this figure, but it looks good.

Overall, I think this HK-87 is a great figure – and now that I’ve seen it in person, I’ll definitely be on the look out for a second to build a cool Corvus scene with Din Djarin and Ahsoka Tano. Speaking of Ahsoka, I was really excited to see one of these assassin droids in the recent Ahsoka series trailer, so I’m sure we’ll see a variant figure from that show released in the future.

May the Force be with you!

The post Black Series 6″ HK-87 Figure appeared first on Villa Varykino.

To celebrate Star Wars Day on May the 4th, we wanted to include some Star Wars food. Every Armageddon Expo, Sweet Rock Candy Artists has a booth full of fabulous candy including Star Wars inspired lollipops. At the recent Christchurch event, we decided to treat ourselves and get the biggest Star Wars lollipop!

It was a great way to incorporate some Star Wars food into our May the Fourth celebrations, and of course like all food, it couldn’t last, so we took some photos and a quick video before it was enjoyed. We just wanted to record this awesome Star Wars lollipop to remember

The huge lollipop features the Mandalorian’s helmet on the front, with bright text This Is The Way. It was quite heavy to pick up – and yes it was delicious!

One final photo of the lollipop unwrapped. It was quickly consumed afterwards, and it was delicious! A fun Star Wars themed treat for May the 4th – This is the Way.

May the Force be with you!

The post Huge Star Wars Rock Candy Lollipop appeared first on Villa Varykino.

Today’s unboxing and review features N-1 Starfighter jewelry! I like to collect Star Wars jewelry, I wear it all the time, so I’m always looking out for new and fun designs to add to my collection. These Naboo Starfighter designs are just gorgeous, I knew I had to have them!

Check out my unboxing video –

I have quite a pieces of Star Wars jewelry from Couture Kingdom, which I love, so I keep an eye on their new releases. As part of a new collection inspired by The Mandalorian, they just released a necklace and matching stud earrings featuring the N-1 Starfighter. I love the N-1 Starfighter, but it doesn’t show up in merchandise much, especially jewelry. Star Wars ships show up a lot in jewelry designs, especially the Millennium Falcon, TIE Fighters, and X-Wing Fighters, but not much else featuring the other cool starships. So of course I had to get these!

• Shop the Star Wars N-1 Starfighter jewelry at Couture Kingdom

The necklace description from the Couture Kingdom website –

Get ready to take your love for Star Wars to new heights with the Couture Kingdom N-1 Starfighter Necklace!

Crafted with precision and care, this stunning necklace features a beautifully detailed replica of the iconic N-1 Starfighter from the Star Wars franchise The Mandalorian. With its intricate detailing and impeccable design, this necklace is a must-have for any Star Wars fan.

Made with high-quality sterling silver, this necklace is both durable and beautiful. The adjustable chain design makes it easy to find the perfect fit, while the sleek and modern design adds a touch of style and sophistication to any outfit.

The website notes that this jewelry is made from Sterling Silver 925, with rhodium or14k yellow gold overlay – so you can choose from either a silver-tone rhodium finish or yellow gold finish. I had a hard time deciding which version I liked – Din Djarin’s N-1 Starfighter in The Mandalorian has a silver-tone finish, but the N-1 Starfighters in The Phantom Menace are yellow. In the end, I decided to get the yellow gold versions first, as there is just not as much prequel-themed jewelry available, and I’m sure I’ll be back soon to get the silver-toned versions as well!

First up, a quick note – my order qualified for free shipping, which is always nice. To my surprise, my order arrived in less than 24 hours from Australia! I know New Zealand is pretty close to Australia, but even domestic shipping tends to take a few days, so I was expecting to wait at least a week for these to arrive. It was so exciting to get up the next day, check the mail, and open up my brand new Star Wars jewelry.

These designs are gorgeous! I’m so glad I went with the yellow gold – it is such a beautiful finish, accented with black antiquing to really highlight the details.

Of course I wanted the set, but if I could only pick one, the necklace would be my favourite. The necklace is just so beautiful, and a lovely size for everyday wear. The pendant reads really well as a Naboo Starfighter, Star Wars fans can instantly recognise it.

The pendant is part of the chain, attached at two points, rather than hanging off the chain with a singular ring attachment. I quite like this style of necklace – I find it doesn’t swing around as much when wearing, and it stops the pendant from flipping over to the reverse side, which is often blank (the back of this pendant is flat and smooth, so it sits comfortably against the skin).

The website notes the necklace is 55cm, with a pendant length of 22mm.

The stud earrings are a lovely size – large enough to have good design detail, but not too big as to be uncomfortable to wear. They have a good post length, and classic ‘butterfly’ style backings, so they should stay put well when wearing. Personally, my ears get irritated with plastic backings, so I’m always happy to see earrings with metal butterfly backings – I know I can wear those all day without any issues.

I am so happy to add these beautiful N-1 Starfighter pieces to my Star Wars jewelry collection. While I know these are part of The Mandalorian collection and aren’t technically from The Phantom Menace, I am always excited to see Naboo-inspired anything these days! Also, Padme’ Amidala is flying a N-1 Starfighter when she arrives on Coruscant at the beginning of Attack Of The Clones, and I love anything and everything Padme’ related. I know these are going to be wearing these a lot!

May the Force be with you!

The post Couture Kingdom N-1 Starfighter Jewelry appeared first on Villa Varykino.

Today’s unboxing features three Grogu figures from The Bounty Collection by Hasbro. This is an ongoing series of cute non-posable figures of Grogu (and more recently other characters), in a variety of poses inspired by his appearance in The Mandalorian.

When this series first launched, we weren’t sure if we wanted to start another collection – we already own a few Grogu figures from the Funko Pop! Vinyl range. We were gifted a couple of figures from series 3, and were pleasantly surprised by how much we liked them. We recently picked a few more from series 4 and 5 so we unboxed them on video – and can already see ourselves adding more to this new collection!

Check out our unboxing video –

While the earlier series had window boxes, these figures from series 4 and 5 are part of Hasbro’s new ‘plastic free packaging’ line and are just packaged in cardboard boxes. The images on the front of the box are a pretty good representation of the figure inside – this is not a random ‘blind box’ line, so the lack of a window for these isn’t an issue.

Each series has 6 designs to collect – these are pictured on the side of the box, so you can see which designs to choose from, or use it as a checklist to collect them all! Personally, I think these are some of the better designs from series 4 and 5 – some figures are just a simple pose, while other figures include extra elements like a helmet or creature.

Unboxing these figures and getting to see them up close in person, I think they are really well done! Each figure has a good level of detail for the cute stylized design, and I already want to collect more from this line.

Here are our three new The Bounty Collection figures –

• Series 4 – figure #22 Grogu with blue butterfly
• Series 5 – figure #27 – Grogu with Loth-cat
• Series 5 – figure #30 – Grogu with Beskar

We already own two figures from series 3 – when the packaging still had plastic windows, so you could clearly see the figure inside before purchasing. These figures were gifts, and as you can see, we liked them so much we ended up getting more!

• Series 3 – figure #16 Grogu meditating
• Series 3 – figure #18 Grogu with Mando helmet

Overall, my opinion has changed on this series – at first I wasn’t that interested, but now I really want to collect more! Some of the designs are more interesting than others, but once you get a few together on display, I can see how the simple poses work within the whole collection.

May the Force be with you!

The post The Bounty Collection Unboxing appeared first on Villa Varykino.

Today’s unboxing and review features the Outland TIE Fighter from the Micro Galaxy Squadron collection. We are big fans of this range of scaled Star Wars vehicles and would love to add as many as we can to our collection.

We really enjoy The Mandalorian series, so it was very exciting to see several vehicles from the show included in wave 1 for the Micro Galaxy Squadron line. This particular Outland TIE Fighter comes with a Moff Gideon figure, and is one of the rare chase variant vehicles in wave 1 – the silver sticker notes 1 of 15,000.

The assortment number for this pack is SWJ0017-BC-US

Check out my full unboxing video –

The packaging for this ‘starfighter class’ vehicle is standard for this range – a big clear window bubble on a cardboard backing card. The lower front window insert has the name and number for this specific variant – Outland TIE Fighter #0017. The bubble has a silver foil circle sticker noting that is a rare chase variant – 1 in 15,000. As this vehicle is part of wave 1, there is also a gold foil ‘launch edition’ sticker on the top right hand corner of the backing card.

The backing card has colourful space battle artwork behind the bubble (the Razor Crest vs TIE Fighters), while the back has a blueprint style image of the vehicle, a few insert shots of moveable parts, and a collectible card that you can cut out if you want to – I will be leaving my backing card intact.

The Outland TIE Fighter is from the Disney + series The Mandalorian – as seen in season one. It is pretty much like a regular TIE Fighter, but with one major difference – the wings can fold down to lower the cockpit when landing. We see this used to dramatic effect when Moff Gideon arrives on Nevarro in The Mandalorian chapter 7.

Unlike the regular TIE Fighter vehicle from this wave, this variant includes a small stand to support the vehicle in a landing position. To be honest, I wish that all Micro Galaxy Squadron vehicles came with stands, but at least this one does, so it doesn’t put tension on the wings to display it in this landed position.

While of course we don’t see the Outland TIE Fighter use a stand in The Mandalorian, I appreciate the effort put into making the stand a little more interesting than just a clear plastic piece. There are three small upright struts to support the cockpick that are painted in matching Imperial grey. When in position, they almost look like landing gears (or little legs).

The wings move in and out of this folded position quite well – there are a few stages between folded down and fully straight, that can be felt as little ‘clicks’ when adjusting. They don’t feel loose, and hold the position quite well – but I’m not going to fold-and-straight repeatedly to test out how well they would hold up to frequent positioning or play.

The Outland TIE Fighter comes with a small Moff Gideon figure, complete with cape. As with other figures in this line, he is articulated at the shoulders and hips, so he can posed in a sitting down position to put inside the cockpit.

The small plastic cape is removable, thankfully, as it affects the ability to pose this figure sitting down – though there isn’t really a useful place to store his cape. If you worry about losing small accessories like I do, I think the best place to store his cape is in the little plastic bubble the figure was packaged in – though I guess you could just stick it inside the cockpit as well?

Now, let’s take a look at the TIE Fighter with the wings straightened out! This is of course how the Outland TIE Fighter appears when in flight – just like a classic TIE Fighter. This variant is in the ship class above the standard TIE Fighter, and so costs just a little bit more – but it does have that addition movement feature and bonus stand, so it makes sense.

The Outland TIE Fighter does end up looking like a regular TIE Fighter when clicked into its upright position, but then that is the proper idea. I don’t think I will display the Outland TIE like this though – if I want more regular looking TIE fighters for my collection, I can pick up a few standard edition vehicles. This is a chase variant and I want it to look like a chase variant alongside my other MGS vehicles.

I’m quite impressed with the execution of this design – the movement feature almost disappears when in flight mode, I was worried it might really stand out or show a gap between the two halves. Nope – the wings are nice and tight

The top cockpit hatch opens nicely, so you can fit a figure inside. Technically the front window allows you to see inside, but it’s very small and a bit dark, so I find it very hard to really make out the detail of a figure placed inside. Still, a lot better than if the window was painted opaque plastic.

It’s a little difficult to demonstrate in a photographs, but there is a simple push button mechanism on the underside of the cockpit, that basically raises the internal section. This helps you get any small figure back out of the cockpit, so you aren’t resorting to tweezers or shaking it upside down. A useful feature.

Overall, this is a fun TIE variant for the Micro Galaxy Squadron line. Wave 1 included three vehicles from The Mandalorian series, including the Mandalorian’s Razor Crest, so you can set up a neat chase scene on your collectible shelf.

We know realistically, with chase variant scarcity in the mix, it’s going to be hard or very expensive to be completionist with this range (as with so many Star Wars collection lines these days) so I was really happy to find this one instore ourselves.

Stay tuned for more reviews of Micro Galaxy Squadron vehicles coming soon – you can check out all of our reviews of our MGS collection so far here.

May the Force be with you!

The post Micro Galaxy Squadron – Outland TIE Fighter appeared first on Villa Varykino.

Today’s unboxing features the Jazwares Star Wars Micro Galaxy Squadron blind boxes!

When the Micro Galaxy Squadron line was featured at Star Wars Celebration earlier this year, we were so excited. We both love Star Wars starships, and have collected them across various formats and manufacturers. For the older lines, like Action Fleet, Micro Machines, or Titanium Series, the vehicles are all pretty much the same size. For this new range, the ship are all in scale to each other, which hasn’t really been done before!

Then of course, we had no idea if the range would even be available locally – so it was fantastic news to find the Micro Galaxy Squadron range stocked at a number of different retailers here in NZ! Of course we were going to dive in and grab our favourites.

One interesting feature of this line – blind boxes for the smallest ‘scout class’ vehicles. We don’t usually go for blind boxes, but we knew we wanted to collect this line, so in we went, grabbing three blind boxes to start with.

We didn’t get scientific when choosing boxes – just picked three and left it to luck. Each box has a case assortment number on the side, and fans have begun to figure out which vehicles are available in each assortment, but we wanted our first experience to be authentic and just see what we got. Subsequent boxes, we’ll take note of the assortment number as we try to narrow down and fill gaps in our collection.

Well, as luck would have it, the first and second boxes contained the same figure – Darth Maul with his Bloodfin speeder bike, as seen in The Phantom Menace. A very cool figure, and definitely one I was keen to get, I just don’t need two.

Minimal paint job on both the figure and vehicle, but very much expected considering the small scale of this scout class range. This vehicle reminds me of the old school Star Wars Micro Machines range, which I love.

The third box contained the Mandalorian! Glad to get a different figure, and one that I really wanted. Again, simple paint job, but more detailed than the Darth Maul figure, with more varied colours to show Din Djarin’s original mix-matched season one brown armour.

I know that the large Razor Crest vehicle also comes with a Din Djarin figure, but that figure appears to be the silver-toned beskar armour version, whereas this speeder bike version is his early season one brown-toned armour. It looks like the chase variant of the Razer Crest (Arvala-7 version) comes with the same figure as this one, but then if you’re collecting chase variants, you probably don’t care about the doubling up on one small figure.

So all up, I think these are great little vehicles from the Micro Galaxy Squadron line, but the nature of mystery boxes make this unboxing a bit of a mixed bag. When starting a new collection, you hope to get a good variety of items before hitting a duplicate or two when trying to complete the set but oh well. At the end of the day, I had fun opening these blind boxes, I like the figures and vehicles, and I know I’ll be back for more to add to our collection.

May the Force be with you!

Check out my full unboxing video below –

The post Micro Galaxy Squadron – Scout Class Unboxing appeared first on Villa Varykino.

As long-standing 3.75″ action figure collectors, we historically only tended to pick up selected characters from Hasbro’s 6″ Black Series line. That changed when Disney+ launched and the hype of season one of The Mandalorian hit… it didn’t take long for us to find ourselves falling down the Black Series rabbit hole, chasing all of the characters from that hit show. This may have been in part due to the lack of 3.75″ Mandalorian representation early on. Either way,

During the early days of The Mandalorian series in NZ, the main characters were, on the whole, fairly easy to source, including the Carbonized versions. In fact, briefly, it was easier to grab hold of a Carbonized Mandalorian than a regular release version.

Following on from grabbing key characters like Din Djarin and IG-11, we made sure we got hold of Carasynthia “Cara” Dune, the Rebel Alliance shocktrooper from Alderaan.

As many will know, the Black Series 6″ Cara Dune is now a little harder to find, and it looks like that will be the case moving forward. Nevertheless, she’s a great representation of the on-screen character, complete with heave assault blaster, blaster pistol, and vibro-knife, and we’re very glad to have all the main heroes from season one all locked in to our collection. Coming soon to our Villa Varykino YouTube channel we’ll be doing a bit of an unboxing of more season one and season two characters as we fill out our Black Series Mandalorian line-up.

The post Black Series 6″ Cara Dune Action Figure appeared first on Villa Varykino.

Boba Fett has arrived in Disney Magic Kingdoms! The latest game update to the Disney Park app game is themed on season 2 of the popular Disney + series The Mandalorian. As a longtime Disney Magic Kingdoms player and Star Wars fan, I was so excited to see more of my favourite characters added to the game!

The game already has characters and content from The Mandalorian. A prior event featured characters from season 1 – The Mandalorian, The Child, Kuiil, Cara Dune, and Greef Karga. This new expansion includes three prominent characters from season 2 – Ahsoka Tano, Fennec Shand, and of course Boba Fett.

• Check out the update details from the official game website

Rather than a standard style event with a storyline, these characters are available through a ‘Cascading Critters’ event, where you battle three tiers of creatures to earn milestone prizes including Fennec Shand and Boba Fett, while Ahsoka Tano is the ‘premium’ character, available via in-game currency or direct app store purchase. The event runs for 9 days, and requires a fair amount of game time to complete – as it takes time to manage the three tiers of activities, each earning tokens for the tier above, which ultimately lets you unlock Boba Fett as the final grand prize. There are also leaderboards for each tier, where your progress is ranked against other players for the chance to earn additional prizes.

I purchased Ahsoka Tano – as a favourite character of mine, I had to have her in my park. She helps a lot with completing the event on time, and I really didn’t want to miss out on the final prize. I have all of the Star Wars characters and attractions in the game (including the rare Marauder Shuttle attraction), so I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss out on her or Boba Fett for my collection.

The first tier requires a simple tapper – 5 blurrgs appear in the park every two hours, and tapping/collecting 50 of these grants the milestone reward of Fennec Shand. She is an awesome new Star Wars character – she first appeared in season 1 of The Mandalorian, then the animated series The Bad Batch, and will be a central character in the upcoming series The Book Of Boba Fett.

Collecting tokens from the first tier blurrg tapper event, players can work on the second tier – ice spiders. This is where Fennec Shand is really useful, working alongside Kuiil and C-3PO in this phase. Milestone rewards for ‘thawing’ 90 ice spiders for this tier include x2 Star Wars legendary chests, which may contain Star Wars characters, attractions, and concession stands (if you have all the existing sequel trilogy and Mandalorian characters/attractions, then these chests only contain concession stands).

Tokens earnt from tier 2 are then used to fight the 3rd and final tier creature – Reptavians. The milestone reward for wrangling 50 reptavians is Boba Fett himself. This is where Ahsoka Tano is very helpful, used alongside C-3PO and the Mandalorian. These flying creatures are quite large within the game, certainly one of the biggest ‘temporary character and/or tapper’ additions I’ve seen (along with the Heffalump Balloons).

As this event is themed on season 2 of The Mandalorian, Boba Fett wears his outfit from that series – but as this game has a system for different outfits/costumes, I would love to see a classic original trilogy version (ESB/ROTJ etc) or his new outfit for The Book Of Boba Fett.

I was really happy to be able to complete this event with time to spare. Obviously it takes a bit of time and dedication to achieve the final character in Disney Magic Kingdoms events, so now I can take it easier now with my 3 new Star Wars characters unlocked. The token quests to level up these new characters conflict with the event tasks, so for now I am still collecting the three tiers of creatures in the hopes of earning some leaderboard rewards. When the event ends, I’ll get stuck into leveling these characters up!

May the Force be with you!

The post Boba Fett in Disney Magic Kingdoms appeared first on Villa Varykino.

Even a couple of seasons in to The Mandalorian, I’m still in two minds as to whether the first episode version of Din Djarin’s armour is the coolest, or if his shiny Beskar version is the most aesthetic. Although there’s something curious and interesting about the piecemeal ensemble he wears when the series opened, that prompts us to wonder what adventures he may have had prior to his encounter with Grogu, I guess we have to respect the maturation of his appearance to fully reflect his Mandalorian heritage.

Anyway, having said all that… the Beskar Armor version of the Mandalorian mini-bust from Gentle Giant/Diamond Select Toys, complete with a truncated version of his iconic Amban phase-pulse blaster rifle is a very tidy representation of the character. It was released as a 2020 SDCC convention exclusive.

This collectible was limited to a run of 3,000 pieces. It’s a great companion piece to the original pre-Beskar version if you also happen to have that mini-bust (either the original Mk-1 iteration, or the second version otherwise unchanged version that came with a Beskar pauldron for his right shoulder). Minimal assembly is required, with his right, blaster-holding hand snapping into place thanks to a magnetic attachment.

This mini-bust has Din Djarin in a simple pose, but it captures the mix of fabric and metal textures in his costume, as well as all the accessory details like grenades, ammunition, and belt pouches. It’s nice to have matching representations of his armour evolution, and we suspect that this might not be the final Mandalorian mini-bust that we see from Gentle Giant/Diamond Select… hopefully we’ll see a season 3 sculpt sometime in 2022.

The post Gentle Giant The Mandalorian (Beskar Armor) 1:6 Scale Mini-Bust appeared first on Villa Varykino.

It’s Star Wars Day for 2021 – May the Fourth be with you!

We enjoy incorporating Star Wars into our life on a daily basis, but dial it up for fun on May the Fourth… just because we can. Starting up the day with this officially licensed The Mandalorian breakfast cereal. It wasn’t actually released in New Zealand, but a few food/confectionery importers brought it into the country, and it was actually available at retail stalls at a recent Armageddon Expo.

Tasty, but somewhat sweet, it’s more than fine for a one-off Star Wars celebratory meal for the whole family. But we also particularly love the packaging, and will add it to our small collection of other Star Wars cereal boxes, which includes all the previous Kellogg’s brand breakfast foods we’ve encountered locally.

The post May the Fourth – Star Wars for Breakfast appeared first on Villa Varykino.