Fi-Ek Sirch (Jedi Knight) - TVC - Basic (VC49)

If God forbid Hasbro said that going forward they would not be producing any more aliens from A New Hope or Return Of The Jedi, we would be somewhat content if they were still able to bring us the alien Jedi from Attack Of The Clones. While it wouldn’t be the ideal situation, it goes without saying that many of the species which were first seen in the Original Trilogy have inched their way into the prequels. Hasbro has made some incredible alien Jedi from Episode II. 2009’s TLC Tarados Gon (BD 49), 2009’s LC Agen Kolar (BD43), and 2006’s TSC Sora Bulq (SAGA 015) are all incredible figures, not to mention the many alien and human Jedi contained in TARGET’s exclusive Geonosis Arena Showdown sets. You are probably already aware of our own affinity towards the action figures Hasbro makes based on Attack of The Clones, and their stunning Fi-Ek Sirch (Jedi Knight) reinforces our opinion that they really know how to make some incredible detailed characters from Attack Of The Clones. This isn’t the first time that collectors have seen Fi-Ek Sirch in the basic figure line. He was originally released as Nikto (Jedi Knight) ('02 #21) part of some of the earliest figures when the 2002 Star Wars line got released in April of that year. He functioned more like a statue because he had little articulation and we don’t even think that most of us could claim that he was a good figure in 2002. Still, the new figure can’t really cover his head with the included soft-goods cloak, and this was easily attained with the previous version thanks to a molded plastic robe. (But with an incredible sculpt and a ton of articulation, do you really care if he can cover his head easily? Actually, some of you may feel exactly this way.) Fi-Ek Sirch (Jedi Knight) will be appreciated by those who are fans of the various Jedi in Episode II. And perhaps most importantly, he’s an incredible update to the character we last saw almost a decade ago in the Hasbro line.

Fi-Ek Sirch may just be the best figure in wave 6 of The Vintage Collection. And the terribly sad thing is that he will most likely (certainly) be overlooked by many collectors since he was a barely seen background character in Attack Of The Clones. Modern collecting has a different spirit than the vintage days. In 1983, we were just as excited to get Nikto or Klaatu as we were to get Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight). Today, that is not so much the case unless you’re keeping that spirit alive. No, unfortunately today obscure background characters just don’t sell as well as years ago and quite a few collectors are looking to update the core characters rather than pad a diorama with a relatively unknown Jedi. Apparently, Hasbro has a sense of humor (or pathological vengeance) with this mentality and they give their background character action figures some of the best sculpting and treatment than many of the more popular heroes and villains in the line. (You know they're laughing, saying, "Oh, you're not going to buy this figure? We'll show you. We'll make him totally awesome!")The character in Episode II is barely noticeable in the film. We don’t even think his face can be seen, just in publicity stills, so the fact that he is even an action figure (technically for the third time) is quite an astonishing accomplishment for him. Fi-Ek Sirch is action figure making at its finest. He has a gorgeous paint job in the face and the portrait has many textures in it. This allows the paint job of many colors to bring this texture alive in the sculpt. From all the lines in his face to the shape of his head, the paint job breathes life into this small scaled action figure. One noticeable detail that looks different this time around are his eyes. They look a little bit bigger than before, but they don’t look out of scale. And the two Star Wars “Saga” versions both have black eyes while this new version has blue eyes. We’re perhaps however most impressed with his hands. They are new sculpts and show the slithery style of his skin with extra folds making it look more alien. Hasbro knocked this detail out of the park.

His soft-goods robe is incredible. It’s crafted from linen (or some synthetic version of linen) and Hasbro has sewn in pleating to help it form the shape of his body to perfectly silhouette it. The robe is very distinct when compared to the many other Jedi at the Battle of Geonosis. It may be a little too stiff for the liking of many, but we love it and hope Hasbro makes use of this fabric more often. It has such a real world feel to it and much better looking than many of the brown polyester robes we still receive even today. Fi-Ek Sirch (Jedi Knight) comes with 14 points of articulation including many premium ball-joints. The soles of his feet are a little too narrow, a trend we see happening more and more with Hasbro’s newly sculpted figures as of late, and it made balancing him a little bit of a chore. But thanks to incredible articulation, you can remedy his instability rather easily without too much blood, sweat and tears. He comes with a blue lightsaber as well as a separate lightsaber hilt which nicely plugs into the hole at this belt. For some reason, Fi-Ek Sirch looks better with the lightsaber hilt hanging from his belt than holding a lit lightsaber for some reason. And just like wave mate Luke Skywalker (Dagobah Landing) (VC44), his lightsaber is essentially crystal clear blue. Someone at the factory must be rationing the blue food coloring with these accessories. (We still think that lightsabers in general are not approached correctly. Lightsabers burn white hot in the middle with the color running along the perimeter of the white hot blade. Hopefully Hasbro will try to attempt this one day before the line ends. We digress.) Fi-Ek Sirch is an absolutely gorgeous figure and the details captured in the face sculpt and hands should only show you how far Hasbro has come even from a few years ago. Again, this is some of the finest action figure making we’ve ever seen. Make sure you’re able to enjoy Fi-Ek Sirch (Jedi Knight) at some point also.