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Review |
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| Sculpt: |
| The volcanic planet of Mustafar has spawned sentient insectoid bipeds, who mine the planet's hot lava flows for precious metals and minerals while wearing armor fashioned from the castoff shells of their lava flea mounts. This armor can withstand the extreme heat and splashes involved in their mining processes. Based on the character from REVENGE OF THE SITH, this is an all-new sculpt for the very first figure of this character. The Mustafarians were only briefly glimpsed in ROTS, but their insectoid biology has gained them a small fanbase amongst collectors. The complex, computer-generated design wasn't very easy to translate into a three dimensional sculpt, and some of the hoses and wires in the outer armor are cheated by grouping them together. Also, the figure is sculpted in a somewhat static pose, especially in the legs. Otherwise, this is a great figure and rates an 8.5 out of 10. |
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| Paint: |
| The figure is molded in two colors, gold and blue. The helmeted head, arms, legs, and belt are molded in gold. The head has silver, gray, and blue paint applications to the hoses, with a black deco to the eye slit. The arms have weathering to the gold armored areas, and the undersuit is painted blue. There are gray paint apps to the hands and undersides of the gold gauntlets, simulating ash. The legs below the knees some blue decos to the undersuit region, then some silver decos to rounded knobs of some sort. The primary paint decos are silver, gray, and black to areas representing lava damage. The belt has blue paint apps to the belt and pouches, with black and silver decos to the gold armor pieces representing lava "melt." The upper legs are molded in blue, with no paint apps; the same goes for the pelvis. The torso has gold paint apps to the armored sections, with gray decos to the hoses that lead to the helmet. There are two areas with silver apps, which appear to be additional support for the belt pouches: 8.5/10. |
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| Articulation: |
| Ball-jointed neck, shoulders, elbows, waist, knees, and ankles. Hips and mid-forearms (at the gauntlet edges) are planer-cut joints. This 14-point articulation has become the standard for "Super Articulation" in the STAR WARS toy line, but the figure's blocky build and oddly wide stance limits the poseability of the legs: 8.5/10. |
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| Accessories: |
| Lava collection pole and character-specific collector coin: 8/10. |
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| Packaging: |
| The new 30th Anniversary Collection card uses painted imagery of the characters on the individual cards, with the new STAR WARS logo in stark white and cut in on an angle. It's a design that has divided collectors: you either love the new look or hate it! The film each figure comes from is at the bottom right edge of the card, while the character's number in the collection is on the blister insert. The Mustafar Lava Miner from ROTS is figure number 3. The cardback features the same promo shot of the Lava Miner from the cardfront, reversed, and has text that explains the character's role in ROTS and a "Character Profile": 8.5/10. |
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| Availability: |
| As of this writing, the figure has been appearing at retail for almost two months. It sold out instantly on initial release, but seemed to reach a saturation level early. While not quite the pegwarmer that R2-D2 and Obi-Wan Kenobi became, it's readily available now both at retail and online sources: 8.5/10. |
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| Conclusion: |
| An interesting alien that seemed unlikely for figure immortalization once the REVENGE OF THE SITH line ended finally gets its due: 8.4/10. |
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