Poe Dameron - TFA - Build A Weapon (Space)

An ace pilot, Poe Dameron is a leader in the Resistance's fight against the evil First Order. He soars into battle behind the controls of a modern X-wing fighter.

He’s supposedly a main character in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens and this could easily be proven with the vast amount of merchandise that has been made across all the Star Wars licenses and scales. Poe Dameron represents the “modern” take on the classic Rebellion’s X-wing pilot for the Resistance, or so the packaging says. There are many similarities between the Rebel Alliance’s uniform and the Resistance’s uniform, yet there are also many differences. The obvious familiarity is the bright orange flight suit with white bib. Even the black gloves and boots have been “recycled” for this new pilot. Hasbro made Poe Dameron one of the figures in the first wave of the Build A Weapon assortment of figures, and there was reason to get him out in the various formats so quickly. Not only is he in the Build A Weapons assortment, he is also part of the Armor Up assortment and additionally a pack-in figure for the Class III vehicle line. And if you just glance the shelves of any retail store, you’ll see him in many other types of mid-range collectibles like Jakks’ large figure lines and LEGO. Clearly he is anticipated to make a big splash in Episode VII just gauging from the toy lines. It will be interesting to see just how relevant his character is in the film.

Sadly, the Hasbro Build A Weapon Poe Dameron isn’t a great action figure. Maybe it’s not fair to jump on this figure so quickly, but the head sculpt is sort of a nightmare. Hasbro went cheap here and didn’t give Poe Dameron a removable helmet. What’s worse, the visor to his helmet is painted bright yellow and is in the shape of a banana. Yes, people are calling his banana-helmet already. These cheap shortcuts aren’t really acceptable. Hasbro has cut costs with the articulation. How hard is it to give the figures a little bit extra in terms of accessories? Heck, even the original Kenner action figures came with multiple accessories and removable helmets. To be completely balanced here, Poe Dameron does come with a removable holster and blaster pistol. But we believe most collectors would agree that a removable helmet would have been the best approach here. If you can get past the cheapness of the head sculpt, Hasbro did apply the paint operations admirably. The insignias and stripes and straight and clean. And the details on the reduced-in-size chest box are pretty much flawless. It’s really the goggles and the porcelain skin that are really irritating us. This figure had potential (even in spite of simple articulation). And we think Hasbro cut its promise short by not going the extra mile here on the head sculpt.

Poe Dameron is part of the “Space” assortment of figures in The Force Awakens line. This means his packaging is highlighted in an dark blue/indigo type of color scheme. And he comes with a Build A Weapon part that when assembled with parts from two other figures creates a special “weapon” that we don’t know if or if not it’s in The Force Awakens. (It’s likely not.) Many collectors are pondering why Hasbro didn’t take the opportunity to bring back the Build A Droid pack-in premium because it was such a huge hit for both kids and collectors. Now it seems they downgraded to a more simpler building block type of thing with the Build A Weapon feature. That being said, Poe Dameron may not be a hit with action figure collectors. He is really weak when compared to the other figures in the line. But again, it’s all because of the helmeted portrait. It really looks terrible. We feel that even in the budget line that Hasbro may need to consider the need for interchangeable head sculpts if it costs too much money to tool removable helmets now. With the inclusion of ball-socket head sculpt, this would be an easy and simple addition for these figures. Poe Dameron is good and bad at the same time. We just hope that Hasbro will abandon the solid bright yellow visors because they’re horrible.