by Taylor Smart
Happy New Year mini figure faithful! Today I bring you Star Wars Fighter Pods. I originally saw this line on Facebook (Mini Figure Militia, great group, join it) and was fortunate enough to see a pack at my local Hastings. These figures are surprisingly difficult to find solid information on; they were made by Hasbro from 2012-2013 and feature a large selection of characters from across Star Wars lore. The packaging insert directs you to fighterpods.com which reroutes you to Hasbro’s Star Wars site where there unfortunately is no information on Fighter Pods.
These figures were packed everywhere from single figure blind packs up to 30 figure battle packs and just about everything in between. Some packs also came with vehicles that could hold the pods and at the push of a button deploy them into battle.
THE MEAT
The first figure, that I am most excited about, is Darth Maul. I am a big fan of Darth Maul and this little figure is a great addition to my collection. He is a nice translucent red and labeled as Darth Maul Hologram. My only gripe about him is that translucent colors make it hard to pick out any details or features of the figure. The sculpt itself is solid, robe details, small horns on his head, and a double bladed lightsaber easily identify the character.
The second figure is a Clone Trooper Commander. This figure has more of an action pose than Maul, arm outstretched looking down the barrel of a blaster. The sculpt on this figure is very good as well with a lot of detail that is more easily seen because he is fully painted. You can see the utility belt, the chest armor plates, vents and visor in the helmet. The paint is surprisingly crisp as well, yellow markings on the arms and helmet with a black visor, gloves, and blaster.
(for scale reference)
The third figure is a Sandtrooper Commander. This figure is very similar to the Clone Trooper Commander in just about everything: color, pose, and sculpt. He does have the classic Sandtrooper shoulder armor plate and backpack which is a good touch. His pose is less action looking and more posing for a picture. With one hand on his hip and the other holding up the blaster I just don’t know what they were going for. He has a belt, armor detail, and helmet detail with blue paint picking out the vents.
The fourth figure is an Astromech droid designated as R4-P17. While I don’t know if this droid is a specific droid from the movies or books they didn’t slack on the figure. Red dome and details in addition to silver and gold details and a black lens gives this figure the most colors of any in the pack. The sculpt is quite good as well with many little plates around the body plus wires on the feet and repulsor jets on the legs.
Lastly the pack contained two fighter pods. Little plastic bubbles that come apart and can hold one figure. These are used for a game which these figures are marketed. From the information I have seen this game doesn’t have a solid structure. You just roll, bounce, or toss a fighter pod at an opponent’s set up of figures and whoever is hit is out, last figure standing is the winner. The game aspect clearly seems to be directed at young kids.
THE POTATOES
While I don’t think that any modification is necessary to enhance these figures at all it would still be simple to do so. If any paint lines are not crisp or if there is a bit of overspray anywhere, the small palette of colors used would make it easy to touch them up. If you want more generic troopers you can paint over the color that shows rank. These are all simple modifications that just about anybody could do.
THE DESSERT
Comparing these figures to Star Wars Command that I talked about a couple of weeks ago I would have to say that these are better. The detail level is just as good and these have the advantage of having more than one color, with the exception of the hologram versions of characters. The advantage that Command figures have is in size, because they are bigger they are going to be much easier to see in displays.
If you are interested in picking some of these figures up you can find some (and a few on sale now) on Entertainment Earth here. Or you will probably have to look to secondhand markets as they are no longer in production. I would advise you to shop around as prices are all over the place. I saw everything from 50 cents a figure to over two dollars per figure. See you next week mini figure fans!
Day of the Slug (D.O.T.S.) from Big Man Toys go on sale tonight at 6PM EST. These four figures form series, one of four series, planned for the year. They will be available in a multitude of colors with optional trading cards. I am very excited to get my hands on these!
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