Cikatro Vizago/IG-RM - R - Mission Series (MS09)

The scoundrel Cikatro Vizago, often accompanied by his IG-RM Droid bodyguards, smuggles cargo past the Imperial blockade that surrounds the planet Lothal.

The Saga Legends and Mission Series lines got started on a terrible foot. Yes, it goes without saying that veteran collectors were completely shell-shocked and taken off guard by the sudden brisk change in kid-focused products. In the past we could utilize lines like Saga Legends to pad our ever-growing super-articulated collections with an extra Clone Trooper or Stormtrooper here and there, but on a dime, Hasbro determined that kids don’t need super-articulation and that what the Star Wars brand needed first and foremost was a budget line to meet the needs of an audience they were trying to capture. By doing this they alienated that the buying audience they already had. Sure, there are many collector who were eager to embrace the “dumbed down” lines. They saw it as a throwback to the original vintage Kenner line. That may all be true, but in an age where technology takes center stage over nostalgia (or it is via updated technology that the nostalgic becomes more impactful), it was hard for a bulk of collectors to see a line of all-new sculpts get ironically the royal treatment. (It wasn’t that the stops were being pulled out from these sculpts, but that Hasbro’s attention was being refocused into a the kids’ lines and collectors felt left on the back burner. Many of the beginning waves of Saga Legends and Mission Series are dreadful. They have some of the worst paint operations we have ever seen. Sadly it’s an ailment that transcends into the collectors’ lines too. The Black Series (both scales) have had some unfortunate missteps as well. Hasbro however has made positive strides towards enhancing the rough paint operations. We think things are honestly looking up and the latest releases are looking quite good.

So now a new TV show has been created (Rebels in case you didn’t know) and for the first time an all-new line has been manufactured for it in simple five points of articulation 3.75” scale. Disney has high hopes for Rebels and the line is definitely looking good. The articulation is limited and may not be your cup of tea. But more problems have faced the line than just what collectors prefer. For instance, Rebels is a victim of the port negotiations in California, something that has made front page news across the country. The back-up had become so bad that it was basically a gridlock and products arrived months after it was due into stores. Rebels basic figures (Saga Legends) seem to be the biggest victims in all of this and for reasons unknown they’re the last product that has the most difficulty squeezing through the awful bottlenecking. On a positive note, but inexplicably, Mission Series has had more ease with getting through the blockade. And even though wave 2 is months late as well, they started arriving to major online sellers and distributors in February of 2015. (This wave and wave 3 were all due by the end of 2014.) In this wave are some of the greatest success stories in the Mission Series line to date. Three Rebels sets are joined by a pair of Original Trilogy sets and the mix is both delightful and interesting. One set in particular that is a breath of fresh air. Cikatro and IG-RM are both excellently sculpted and beautifully painted. In fact, their paint jobs are so nice we can hardly believe they are part of the lineup which includes budget figures. Sure, the articulation is still “down in the dumps” for us, but we cannot dismiss the phenomenal sculpting that went into these figures. They really look fantastic.

Cikatro Vizago is a Devaronian scoundrel with pale yellow skin and a battle-damaged left horn. He is wearing an outfit that is quite reminiscent of Kanan Jarrus, but that must be because there is a similar style for the era the Rebels story takes place. He comes with a fancy golden blaster and it fits into a functioning holster, something that isn’t common in the Saga Legends or Mission Series lines. His head has almost no movement at all. There is a joint in place, but his thick neck prevents any meaningful movement. He also comes with swivel shoulders and swivel hips. Obviously there isn’t a whole lot you can do with him, but we just won’t deny that this figure looks great. The paint operations are relatively clean, The only spots that look a little uneven are his facial hair. Other than that you should be quite pleased with this figure. IG-RM is the standout figure of this set however. Upon a cursory glance, you would swear that it shares parts with 2009’s LC Concept Art IG-88 (BD40) figure. The head, torso, arms and legs look almost identical to each other, but it’s the hands that make you do the double take. They have been posed in the same exact manner to one another – and they were produced six years apart from each other! The paint operations on IG-RM (which we bet means IG-Ralph McQuarrie by the way) are flawless and the maroon and light yellow colors create a distinct and extremely eye-catching color palette. We couldn’t be more thrilled with the final figure. It not only fits perfectly into the Rebels lineup, we bet that it may be able to squeak by into your realistically stled collection as well. We’re very impressed with this set. Hasbro did a fine job here. It gives us a newfound energy that not all is lost with the Star Wars brand. A lot is, but not all.