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Review |
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| Sculpt: |
| Podracers Dud Bolt and Mars Guo are among those who participate in the Boonta Eve Classic podrace in THE PHANTOM MENACE. These are two all-new sculpts based on alien creature characters realized through a combination of puppetry and computer-generated imagery. The shovel-snouted, barrel-chested Bolt is a Vulptereen, distinguished by the six tusk-like growths on the sides of his snout, and by the leather racing cap and goggles he wears. He is an unscrupulous toady, working for the equally shifty Sebulba as his mid-air bodyguard. The Dug secretly paid Bolt for any crashes he caused, but his penchant for dirty tricks while racing got the better of him, as he collided with Ark "Bumpy" Roose during the third lap of the Boonta. Unable to finish the race, Bolt recovered from his injuries at a Mos Espa med center. The figure is a pretty decent approximation of the puppet used in TPM. Some of the smaller details are lost (like the long, thin tendrel that comes off the larger "fishing-lure" tendrel on his snout), and the small metal studs on his shoulders pads, arm gauntlets, and gloves are just small, silvery nubs. Overall, though, it's a rather close likeness. The needle-nosed Mars Guo had gained valuable experience in the minor rim leagues, but this was his first time in the big leagues. In the second lap, Guo was taken out of the race by some high-speed sabotage courtesy of Sebulba. The slippery Dug tossed a piece of debris into Mars' intakes, bringing the giant racer down in a terrible crash. For new shots of him outside his Podracer, created exclusively for the Episode I DVD, Guo is also computer-generated. The likeness here is less exact. First off, his goggles are way off: instead of the wraparound, half-mirrored, green-tinted screen, we get round, fish-eyed, black lenses. The safety harness around his neck has been completely omitted. And his paint scheme isn't all that accurate, as his eyes are too red and his head is too light a green in most places. Together, they rate an 8 out of 10. |
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| Paint: |
| Dud Bolt's head, neck, arms, hands, and legs are molded in a pale blue. His head has yellow eyes with black, slitted pupils. His pointed ears have a gray along the outer rims and on the lobes. A series of small spikes between his eyes are a deep royal blue. The "fishing lure" growth on his snout has a pinkish deco to the bulbous end. The edges of his mouth are a lighter blue, and his six tusks are ivory colored. The interior of the mouth is pink. The arms have a rusty orange paint application at the leather shoulder pads and gauntlets, with a medium brown wash mixed in. There are gray markings in "Huttese" on the armor, as well, with silver decos for the studs. The exposed skin on his arms have some yellowish decos. His hands have rusty orange apps to the leather gloves and fingers, with more silver studs. His fingernails, a dark blue in photos, are unpainted. The torso is molded in the rusty orange of his jacket and short pants. There is a pewter trim to the jacket, with a black wash. The same pewter/black trim is used at the belt of his pants. The exposed skin areas on the torso have light blue, medium blue, and yellow paint apps. His legs are molded in light blue, and have yellowish decos to the skin. His toenails are a darker blue. The small leather anklets are rusty orange with silver studs. At the tops of this legs are molded details from his pants that are unpainted. His blaster rifle is molded in black, with a medium olive green strap. His racing helmet is molded in the same light blue of his head. It's painted the rusty orange of his other leather clothing, and has silver, black, and brownish-red decos. The same gray, Huttese marking on his gauntlets and shoulder pads adorns the very top. Mars Guo's head, torso, and arms are molded in a light green. His head has medium olive and light gray shading, with with gray-green decos and red eyes with slitted black pupils. His beak has a yellow paint app at the "lips." His torso continues the light gray and medium olive markings, as well as more yellow markings. His podracing suit is a medium brownish-red, with a dark tan lower section that has a yellow stripe. His arms have a medium green wash, with more yellow striping, as well as the brownish-red paint apps on the shoulder straps for his suit. His legs are molded in a dark tan, with a medium brown wash. There is yellow striping on his suit's leggings. His feet are painted a light green, with medium green bands. His goggles are molded in dark green, with black "lenses" and a tan strip between the lenses. His blaster pistol is black, with no paint apps. Both figures average out to a 8.5/10. |
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| Articulation: |
| Dud Bolt is only 2 3/8-inches tall and has a ball-jointed neck, with planer-cut arms, wrists, and hips. Mars Guo is just 3-inches tall and has a ball-jointed neck with planer-cut arms, biceps, and hips. Although their short statuses limit their articulation, this still isn't too bad for such oddly shaped characters: 8/10. |
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| Accessories: |
| Character-specific figure stand, removable helmet, removable goggles, blaster rifle (from Saga '03 Durge figure), and blaster pistol (also from Saga '03 Durge figure). Mars Guo's goggles aren't even close to being film accurate, and Dud Bolt's helmet's chin strap broke when I tried to remove it! And, do you think Durge killed them after he was revived and took back his weapons? 7/10. |
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| Packaging: |
| The same The Saga Collection card as the rest of the series, with a character-specific background image--in this case, an exterior of the Mos Espa podracing arena. The insert images are close-up shots of Bolt and Guo, and The Saga Collection logo is just to the right of the images. The figures' names sre just below TSC logo, with their collection number (Dud Bolt & Mars Guo are Saga #052) just to the right. To the left are the five white-orange triangles, indicating the position of the enclosed mini-figure. The cardback features two small film images of Bolt and Guo, with text that explains their roles in TPM, along with the diecut display area for the Exclusive Hologram Figure: 8.5/10. |
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| Availability: |
| As of this writing, these figures have been appearing at retail for three months and sell out quickly and often; they are also available from most online sources: 6/10. |
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| Conclusion: |
| Fans of the podracing scene from THE PHANTOM MENACE has been clamoring for more podracers since the last one (Teemto Pagales) was released in 2002. Since we're not likely to get their racing pods, ever, I'm not sure what the appeal of the pod racers themselves are to collectors. And, let's be honest--these appeal only to collectors; no kids are holding their breaths over them! Still, they're cool, bizarre little aliens, and that's good enough to get them turned into tiny plastic icons: 7.7/10 |
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