Death Star Briefing - TSC - Exclusives

Why doesn’t anyone ever listen to the guy whose glass is half empty? If Grand Moff Tarkin and company imbibed the cautionary words of General Tagge, perhaps more could have been done to save the first Death Star. But the will of the Force had other things in mind (obviously). And perhaps if Admiral Motti was more reticent in his opinion that the Death Star was now the ultimate weapon in the universe, maybe he wouldn’t have been choked out by Darth Vader. But one thing is for sure and that’s Hasbro inevitably would bring us a multipack based on this very popular Death Star Briefing scene in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. This Previews exclusive multipack is pretty much what you would expect it to be including cobbled together action figures, repainted ones and straight repacks. And despite its simplicity, it really turned out to be better than we expected. Sure, the officers don’t have the best articulation, but the likenesses of the portraits are quite impressive. You can tell who each character is immediately and because of that we have to give credit to the excellent sculpting. The Death Star Briefing multipack may not be for everyone, but hardcore collectors should be thrilled to get six officers (four for the very first time) all at once plus the obligatory Darth Vader. It’s quite the package deal here.

Chief Bast, Officer Cass, Colonel Wullf Yularen and General Tagge are all made of up of the same parts (for the most part). Hasbro took the legs of 2004’s SW Admiral Ozzel (Executor Assault) ('04 #16) figure and then the skirt, arms and a slightly retooled torso of 2006’s TSC Moff Jerjerrod (SAGA 040) figure to create the basis for their bodies. And then of course each Imperial officer comes with his own unique (and phenomenally sculpted) portrait specific to his character. These sculpts don’t have any articulation below the hips and their arms contain swivel joints. This severely limits what can be deemed as a definitive figure, but to be honest it’s so great to have these Imperial officers in our collection even if they’re this under-articulated. We are sure you can echo the same (or similar) sentiments. Colonel Wullf Yularen is the first Imperial Officer to don the creamy white uniform. With a long history in The Clone Wars, it’s cool to seem him in his aged form in the 3.75” scaled action figure line. And although Yularen stands out from the rest, all of the included Imperial officers (except for Admiral Motti really) have excellent proportions and fit well into the modern line. We are in desperate need of a more modern and better proportioned Admiral Motti action figure. The 2000 POTF2 version doesn’t cut it any longer and he basically stands out like a sore thumb in this collection of figures.

A good “young” version of Gran Moff Tarkin (known as Tarkin (III 45) in the Revenge Of The Sith line) was released in 2005 and Hasbro used this figure to make the “older” version of him. To be honest, we don’t know if this works or doesn’t work. Grand Moff Tarkin severely needs a definitive modern update, so it’s hard to give credit to a repainted figure that is limited in flawless sculpting and superior articulation. But we suppose he fills the need of this set just fine for what this is. It would have been preposterous to assume Hasbro would include all-new sculpts here. Darth Vader is another “old” figure in the Death Star Briefing multipack. Hasbro dug out the 2000 POTJ Masters Of The Dark Side two-pack and threw him in this package. Vader doesn’t need to do much in this scene so we suppose it’s a passable version of Darth Vader, but this figure is aging rather poorly also. Is the Death Star Briefing multipack flawless? No, and not by any stretch of the imagination. It would be wonderful to get definitive updates of all these officers on much better sculpted bodies, but it may be very unlikely at this point. But if Hasbro never made any of these characters again, this set will absolutely remain a cherished collectible by fans. We think the set is pretty great and the great head sculpts lone should wow you in every way. But if you’re not into the political aspect of Star Wars, you may suit yourself better by avoiding this set altogether.