Biker Scout [Return Of The Jedi 40] - TBS [AC] - Six Inch Figures

If you’re a 6-inch collector, you should see the “yet again” re-released Biker Scout figure as Hasbro spitting in your face. They hate you and think you’re stupid. These aren’t hyperbolic insults. They truly believe you’re dumb. How can they once again release one of the worst figures they ever produced for the line and serve it in Kenner-inspired packaging without any updates or upgrades to make its repurchase worthwhile for you? Since its first release in 2014, the laughably small hands and tiny blaster are painfully out of scale with the rest of the figure. And the now-antiquated articulation system with double hinge-jointed elbows and knees is as clunky as they are garish. It adds insult to injury to celebrate four decades of a fan-favorite Star Wars film with a figure that is as terrible as it is obsolete. While the Biker Scout does look nice packaged on its card, the figure’s mold should be broken, never to be produced again. Hasbro needs to tool an all-new sculpt for this character. The first one was bad from the start, and repeatedly reusing it is painful, especially when these figures now have an MSRP of $24.99.

Hasbro updated the paint operations, making it closer to screen accuracy this time. There is a greater use of “grays” in this release, and the Scout Trooper has a softer appearance than the original version of the harsher black and white. Some things not enhanced include the microblaster, which fits nicely into the holster on his right boot but looks ridiculously small when added to his hand. We’re not sure how many 6-inch collectors army-build like 3.75-inch collectors, but the re-release of this figure may give reason to start. It appears they followed the paint scheme of The Black Series Archive release to produce this version for the line. Not all is lost with the Biker Scout. It has a wonderfully fantastic sculpt throughout (less the wonky parts), and the paint job is remarkably excellent. You’ll find a few spots of rust or dirt accumulating in the chest area and a good portion of the boots. And the gray storage pockets stand out from the rest of the uniform. All of the deco Hasbro applied to this figure is firmly in place, which is excellent. Hasbro manufactured the original Biker Scout in a terrible quality plastic. This release also feels stronger, but it isn’t perfect.

What’s nice about this release is that the Scout Trooper has no “stretched-out” joints like the Deluxe version. But that’s because this version of the character isn’t seated on a Speeder Bike. Still, the focus of our outrage is the figure’s blaster pistol. Not only is it too tiny, but it fits terribly in his hands. And it still looks like the trigger guard is at risk for breakage because of how thin the plastic is. Hasbro still has some quality control issues with the Scout Trooper, but overall, this version enhances the older version. We wish Hasbro would tighten up all of the wrong things with previous versions before re-releasing them. It attains most poses seen in Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi and many other “off-screen” stylistic positions. And since they developed the best possible version of this character from old parts (with nice paint operations and no stretched-out parts), this is the best we’ll have for some time. What a disappointment the 40th Anniversary of Return Of The Jedi has been thus far. But this is the current state of Star Wars, and things don’t show signs of improving.