Ben Quadinaros & Otoga-222 - TVC - Basic (VC81)

Celebrate the legendary Star Wars saga that changed the universe forever! This collection brings to life the incredible story of good versus evil that captured our imagination and took us to a galaxy far, far away. Iconic Star Wars heroes and villains are captured with incredible detail and premium features to commemorate each epic tale in the Star Wars saga. May the Force be with you!

If you peruse our Research Droids Reviews with any regularity, you probably are aware of the trend (that for reasons unknown) we despise pretty much anything tied to the Boonta Eve Classic podrace sequence in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. We probably couldn’t give you the specifics on why it’s such a torturous section of the film for us, but between the silly-looking aliens and the endless looping of the race course, it’s just something we deem that should have been heavily chopped down in the editing room in our opinion. (Seriously, we get a severely abridged Battle of Kashyyyk sequence in Episode III, but the Episode I podrace scenes go on and on and on without relief?) The aliens that drive (fly?) the podracers tend to be ridiculous looking while some of the others look cool. But overall we feel it is a very overdone/overproduced scene and it didn’t deliver the way it should have. We’d even go so far as to say that it may have a subliminal effect on Star Wars fans to add some extra disdain towards Episode I even though on the surface it’s one of the most action-packed scenes from the film. As has been Hasbro’s practice for years, they’ve faithfully thrown in a new podracer into the basic figure line for years. Now, The Vintage Collection brings us two all-new podracers for the first time, one of which has a history of being a chronic Fans’ Choice Poll candidate since 2000. Since technology has caught up with action figure design, we have instantly grown fond of the Ben Quadinaros & Otoga-222 two-pack and while we still haven’t warmed up to podracing, we do have to say that Ben and company are very enjoyable as action figures. In fact, Ben Quadinaros ranks pretty high as one of the better figures from The Phantom Menace wave.

Ben Quadinaros is an all-new figure. He obviously gets his name from the quadrilateral shape of his head. Granted, this figure is so silly looking, but that’s not Hasbro’s fault. They are merely translating the silliness from the film into a very cool action figure. And Ben Quadinaros is very cool indeed. Hasbro has worked in an astounding 12 points of articulation, most of which are ball-joints, and while no articulation was added to his head or body (it’s one of the same so where could they put articulation?), there is plenty of quality articulation elsewhere to make you very happy. Ben Quadinaros is getting unfair critical publicity already. We have come across comments and the like that rip this figure apart. But to be honest, those aren’t fair assessments at all. Again, coming from those that absolutely despise the whole podracing scene in Episode I, this is a gorgeous action figure. The paint job is incredible and Hasbro used an expression that makes Ben look partially angry instead of dopey (the way he seemed to appear in the film). He has redness in the eyes which reminds us of a Sith-eyed version of Anakin Skywalker and whether this was intentional or not, it looks plainly sublime. We’ve also seen early reports that this figure has balancing issues. Interestingly, we have to disagree with what we’ve read on this. We had more difficulty balancing Anakin Skywalker (VC80) and Darth Sidious (VC79) than Ben Quadinaros. There is no denying that he is top heavy, but his legs can be posed perfectly equidistant from each other to be flush against a flat surface. Then the ball-jointed ankles can help to reinforce the balance to ensure gravity doesn’t pull him down to the ground.

Ben Quadinaros comes lightly accessorized. Only a small blaster pistol accompanies him here, but do we really need anything else? Did we even see any of the podracing pilots wield blaster pistols? Well, maybe, but we're not sure. Overall, Ben Quadinaros is very well sculpted. The three antennae on top of his head are a little too thick, but there is not way Hasbro could have made them as thin as they appear in the film, otherwise there would be no way they would be able to stick straight up because the thickness wouldn’t be there to support them. Ben’s included Otoga-222 is nothing special. Hasbro dug deep into their own archives and pulled out the figure from 1999’s EI Ody Mandrell With Otoga 222 Pit Droid two-pack. The figure has limited articulation of course; it comes only with two swivel shoulder joints and two swivel hip joints. But this was standard back in the day and since it functions more like an accessory than an action figure, we can let this go. The 1999 version of the droid was painted very well for the time and it really doesn’t look any better in 2011. That’s not to say it doesn’t look good but rather that Hasbro mastered the paint job back in 1999. Otoga-222 has no problem standing up and interacts very well with Ben Quadinaros. You can pose them in some slapstick moments and small things like this add new dimension (and humor) to Star Wars collecting. (We need a little bit of humor in our lives, right?) Ben Quadinaros & Otoga-222 has been a long time in the making. Fans who have voted for him for more than a decade can now smile that their determination paid off big time. (The longer we wait for a figure we want, the better the figure will turn out one it is released because technology allows figures to become better and better as the years go by.) Ben Quadinaros is one of those “better” action figures. We love him.