Grand Admiral Thrawn - TBSA - Six Inch Figures

Thrawn was a male Chiss, with striking blue skin, red eyes, and an angular face, known for his brilliant strategic mind and ruthlessness.

If we were betting people, we would have lost our shirt on whether Hasbro would ever rerelease Grand Admiral Thrawn in The Black Series Archive line. After making its debut as a San Diego Comic-Con exclusive with a host of accessories, Hasbro repacked the figure later in the fall as The Black Series [Phase III] Grand Admiral Thrawn (47) figure. The figure appeared to have enough chances at retail. But as with any George Lucas-derived Expanded Universe character, the demand is seemingly never filled, so the character became a candidate in The Black Series Archive Fans’ Choice Poll. It didn’t win, but Hasbro decided to make it part of the same assortment as the winner, Clone Commander Cody. The figure received a new paint job, fixing some areas for improvement, but hurting others. The silver background to the ranking badge was something they changed on the general marketplace version, and they copied it over to The Black Series Archive version as well. The blaster pistol is less shiny and darker this time. But most notably is the new Photo Real paint application on the figure’s face. While we’re normally pro-Photo Real with any action figure, for Grand Admiral Thrawn, it hurts the figure’s aesthetics. The original version came with bold and bright red eyes. But you cannot make out that the eyes are still red with the Photo Real paint operations. We find this altered trait on The Black Series Archive version very disappointing.

Grand Admiral Thrawn comes with the standard 28 points of articulation. This count is across 17 areas of articulation. You don’t get any double hinge-jointed elbows with this figure, but you do get an excellent range of movement from all of the ball-jointed points of articulation. His lower skirt is very pliable and allows you to pose his legs generously without being blocked. As you know well now, the “rocker” ankle joints are typically the saving grace for the center of gravity issues, and the same is true for Grand Admiral Thrawn. Although the paint operations aren’t as good this time, we’re still impressed with Grand Admiral Thrawn’s portrait. It’s different than you might expect it to be for a realistic interpretation, but Hasbro did a magnificent job in capturing the attitude of the character in this action figure’s facial expression. His arms and legs are proportionate and make sense. Some 6” figures come across as too lanky, but this isn’t the case at all for Grand Admiral Thrawn, which makes us very, very happy. For us, it has been a chronic problem. But we’re proud to see it remedied here. The figure has a permanent but functioning holster. And it comes with a blaster that can be housed beautifully in it when not in use. What’s more, the blaster pistol fits perfectly in the figure’s hands and looks natural while pointing the gun as you see fit.

Grand Admiral Thrawn is a beautiful addition to The Black Series Archive 6” line, even though we’re surprised to see it included in a “greatest hits” line like this. Hasbro hasn’t made too many characters based on Star Wars: Rebels, except for the main cast, but it seems they can’t produce enough of them to appease fans and collectors. They seem to be arriving steadily now. Grand Admiral Thrawn looks fantastic posed next to more colorful characters like Sabine Wren and Hera Syndulla. It makes us appreciate the quality of these figures so much more when we’re able to cull together scenes based on them in the 6” line. Generally speaking, it doesn’t seem like we get enough characters to build scenes. It’s great to have Hasbro focus on characters like these from Star Wars: Rebels, but it’s the accessories that make the difference. We’re just not getting enough “stuff” with our figures anymore, and it would be nice to see more in the future. The MSRP for 6” figures is $19.99, which is upsetting collectors of this line very much. But if Hasbro keeps banging out great characters like Grand Admiral Thrawn, that may quell the complaining for a little while longer. Lets’ see how long this version of Grand Admiral Thrawn satiates the market’s need for this action figure. But we still hope that Hasbro has new Rebels characters on their radar for production. They add so much to the line.