Sunday, January 29, 2023

Wrapping Up 2022: Mace Windu (Clone Wars) from Star Wars: The Black Series Phase IV by Hasbro

 

   Once February hits I'll definitely be reviewing far fewer figures from 2022 unless things get slow, but I've still got a few I want to show off before I get around to doing my best of the year lists and today I'm checking out the Clone Wars version of Mace Windu from Star Wars: The Black Series. Mace Windu, along with a few other figures, are part of a special subset exclusive to Walmart based on the 2003 Clone Wars animated series that aired between the releases of Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. While they supposedly were released earlier in 2022, I didn't see them until the last two months or so. I found a pretty good deal on Mace Windu and decided to pick him up since he just looks so cool with his Clone Trooper armor on. Ready to get this party started? Then let's check out Mace Windu from Clone Wars after the break...





The Facts:

Height: 6 3/8ths inches

Articulation: Swivel/hinge ankles, double hinged knees, swivel thighs, ball jointed hips, ball jointed abdomen, butterfly pecs, swivel/ hinge shoulders, swivel/hinge elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, a balljointed neck, and a ball jointed head.

Accessories: Lightsaber (blade and hilt).

Non-Scalper Price: $28 dollars








Comparison:


* Mace Windu from Clone Wars (left) largely borrows from the Phase III Mace Windu (right), which makes perfect sense. It's the same guy in mostly the same outfit, right? The Clone armor bracers belt, and shoulder armor are new and Master Windu's robe is set up very differently here (it's also not removable).

The Positives:

* This version of Mace takes the excellent Phase III version, changes up the color slightly (his robes have some slightly different colors to them), and adds the Clone armor that many of the Jedi sported during the Clone Wars. Mace Windu has some armored bracers, a Clone Trooper utility belt, and some unique shoulder armor attached over his robe. The shoulder armor isn't removable (none of the armored bits are, actually) as it's glue in place, meaning it stays right where it needs to. It looks really impressive and gives the Jedi Master a fairly different look. I really like these Jedi variants and I'd love to see a few more.




*  This portrait looks to be reused from the previous figure, but it's still an excellent likeness of Samuel L. Jackson from the films, meaning it's an accurate depiction of Samuel L. Jackson from between 2001-2005. The face printing and sculpt are well done, perhaps even a bit better than on the original figure, and they capture Mace Windu's features quit well. 



* The utility belt is a neat addition. It's a separate piece, though not removable, and it surely has all kinds of useful gear inside. 




* The bracers are also pretty nice. Simple but you can see how they're sculpted as if they're peaking out from under Mace's tunic sleeves. 





* Master Windu's Jedi robes are permanently attached under his shoulder armor and are held in place around his upper arms. It looks fantastic and is made from a nice material that doesn't feel flimsy or cheap. It looks good, stays in place, and just appears very dynamic.




* Even with his robe and armor, Mace's articulation is fantastic. He's solid and durable and he's sporting most of the "newer" joints like the butterfly pectoral joints, swivel/hinge shoulders, and the balljointed neck and head. He's great for posing in a variety of droid defeating ways. 








* Mace Windu comes with his lightsaber, complete with a removable purple blade. It's pretty nice looking and the blade seems more durable than some of the earlier lightsaber pegs in the line. 





* There's a hole on the side of the utility belt for Mace to carry his lightsaber, too. Convenient. 

   This Clone Wars version of Mace Windu turned out to be a really nice figure. While you're getting most of the earlier figure, the newly added armored elements and the cool robe definitely help keep this version of Mace feeling fresher than most other repaints. The Black Series has way too many repaints and boring retools this year, few of which caught my eye. I actually skipped this figure a few times, but when I found him for less than half price I couldn't resist. Since the Clone Wars figures are exclusives they have the higher $28 dollar price tag, which seems pretty egregious here. Still, all things considered this version of Mace Windu is a Great figure and a nice addition to the line. Mace Windu's a cool character who doesn't have many opportunities for variants, so this one is very welcome indeed. 






If you're looking for more of Mace Windu then check out my review of the Black Series Phase III Mace Windu.

For more Star Wars: The Black Series Phase IV figures check out the following:





7 comments:

  1. I always wanted a General Grievous from the Black series, but both seem bad for me.

    Episode III one has the nice look but the cape looks more like if he got some thick bed sheets around his neck, and i don't get why the hell he uses a blaster if i never saw him using one, at least i don't remember it.

    Tartakowski's Clone Wars one looks nice but the face is a reuse of the Episode III one and that kills it for me. If they make a new version with the actual Clone Wars head surely i will get one.

    About Mace, never liked it much. Samuel L. Jackson is a great actor, but his argument of "I want my lightsaber purple to identify myself" just f****d up the character, being honest.

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    Replies
    1. Oh, yeah. Grievous definitely uses the blaster. In fact, it's his very blaster that Obi-Wan uses to finish Grievous off. "So uncivilized."

      Man, I love Mace's purple lightsaber. I mean, there was no real reason to not have multicolored lightsabers. They're all the rage!

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  2. I thought it was Commander Cody's blaster the one Obi Wan uses to kill Ol' Griefy. Will need to rewatch Episode III again.

    About what pisses me of the purple saber is that George Lucas lore for it is that "Mace Windu's saber is purple as he has total control and balance on both the light and dark sides", which actually is an incosistence, as the Dark Side lore is that it controls the Light Side powers and adds its own malevolent powers too, while the Light Side is the "pure hearts only club" style.

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    Replies
    1. Nope, definitely Grievous' blaster. Definitely a good excuse to watch ROTS again, though.

      I don't remember that exact explanation, though I've definitely heard it represents that he has studied Dark side Force techniques and fighting styles . I remember the explanation that Samuel L. Jackson just wanted to be able to find himself in the battle on Geonosis and the in-universe explanation (pre-new canon) that his lightsaber used special crystals from the world Hurikane.

      In current stuff, there doesn't seem to be anything really significant about different colors of lightsabers, right?

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    2. No, seems that no, unless the Gideon's Darksaber counts. Also, i never got if the Jedi saber colors meant anything. I knew that in-universe, the purple color meant that Mace studied the Dark Side and was in balance with both Light and Dark (also that is why Grievous coughs a lot, as Mace used his dark side to crush Grievous lungs in the Tartakowski 2003 Clone Wars), but, was there any rank or difference between green saber users and blue saber users?

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    3. There's always been a lot of lore surrounding the colors, but nothing official I'm aware of except for the red blades of the Sith being Kyber crystals that they've "bled." I've heard multiple things about the blue being the color of Jedi skilled in combat and defenders while green is Jedi who prefer diplomacy and are highly skilled in the Force, but again, that seems like headcanon more than anything official.

      The Jedi Temple guardians have yellow blades, as does Rey. Ahsoka's white blades seem to signify her being neither Jedi nor Sith. Fallen Order is also in canon, but the multiple colors of blades might just be for fun. Cal Kestis has an indigo or cyan colored blade as his main blade, right? It's a bit unusual, if I remember.

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  3. The problem with the canon is when the autor/company tries to reconnect things without making a proper coherent correlation between them. That is the issue with most of Stephen King's novels, where characters from other novels appear on the one you are reading and you realize that guy can't be on it as maybe he is dead or not even born, or worse of all, actually the character can't appear as the novel transcurs in the same timespan of the character's origin novel...

    Also, your "blue-green color" explanation funnily works for the PS2 version of Battlefront II, on that game blue saber users are defenders of the library and the Jedi Council room while green saber users mostly use the force against the clones that try to cause chaos and havoc on the map as some sort of attackers.

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