On Thursday, StarWars.com revealed a new set of Black Series action figures celebrating characters from the Legends/Expanded Universe line of books and comics…AND ONE OF THEM IS JAXXON!
Pardon my excitement, but I don’t think any Star Wars collectors (including myself and Jim Lehane) ever thought we’d see this glorious day. Jaxxon isn’t the only reason to be excited, though. All four characters represent a different era/story as part of Lucasfilm’s 50th anniversary celebration and will be feature fancy book case packaging.
The figures will retail for $24.99 (bleh) and will be available for preorder from your favorite online retailers on Friday, March 19 at 1:00 PM EDT.
Let’s take a look starting with the one that has me squealing with unbridled joy.
Jaxxon
While the character is technically canon now, Jaxxon has a long and ridiculous history that dates back to his first appearance in the 1977’s Star Wars #8 from Marvel Comics. He went unreferenced for years afterward to due to being utterly ridiculous, but has gained substantial popularity during the last couple decades.
About the only complaint I could see with this Jaxxon figure is that he doesn’t look “cartoony” enough, although that wouldn’t fit the Black Series aesthetic very well.
Whatever the case, I’ll be attempting to preorder these on day one along with many of you.
Darth Maul (Sith Apprentice)
My favorite Darth Maul look from one of my favorite Star Wars comics (Star Wars: Darth Maul) finally arrives in the Black Series. I already own the 3.75″ version of the figure, but will gladly make room for this one on my shelf — especially since Hasbro created an all new head sculpt that looks fantastic.
I really wish they’d painted the hands better, but otherwise I have no complaints. This will be a day one preorder for me, as well.
Canor Jax
Since I’m one of the Star Wars fan who dropped Crimson Empire one issue, I didn’t really know anything about Canor Jax. As far as I was concerned, this was simply a better version of the Emperor’s Royal Guard.
After looking him up, however, I gotta admit that the figure isn’t terribly accurate. This was already a pass for me, but I can imagine why fans of the Crimson Empire series would be disappointed.
UPDATE: A message on Hasbro Pulse’s product page for this figure states that it was incorrectly labeled as Canor Jax has been changed to Kir Kanos. It definitely looks more like that character, although there are still some pretty big differences (like the chest plate). It also doesn’t explain how the packaging and bio were were still set as Canor Jax. Methinks that someone at Hasbro Quality Control is never living this one down.
Luke Skywalker (Heir to the Empire)
Although I loved Heir to the Empire novel (and the subsequent stories that came out of it), this very nice looking Luke figure doesn’t still doesn’t excite me enough to drop $24.99 for it…
…although I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted by the Ysalamir its packed with. If you’re a fan of the Legends Thrawn novels, then you know how cool it would be to have one of these to drape around your Black Series Thrawn’s shoulders.
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