Scoring this item has been perplexing me since I first opened it.  We’re between worlds now with the Black Series 6” line.  Are these meant to be toys or are these meant to be a budget line of Sideshow collectibles?  On the one hand, it’s a nice display piece that in certain poses looks like a decent facsimile of a model that could be used on-screen.  On the other hand, it’s a toy with shoddy rubbery plastic throughout.  If you look closely at the final picture of the Scout firing his blaster, you will see that the trigger guard snapped loose.  I assure you that I did not exert an undue amount of pressure.  It snapped as if it was designed to break free like the plastic strip used to open a package of gum.  I can forgive fragility when it’s at the cost of hyper-realism in the materials used.  But when this fragility is the direct result of shoddy materials, it doesn’t sit well.

The plastic used is exceedingly rubbery.  If I were properly motivated, I would have made a video showing just how far the legs can be bent without engaging an intended point of articulation.  There is a lot of give.  This seems to have given my sample a permanent bow legged appearance due to it retaining the shape it was coerced into in the package.  The inner tray also warped the visor of my sample, but in this case, the pliability of the plastic allowed me to reshape it with a little pressure.  The rubberiness and the warping leaves me with a figure that I’m not satisfied with when it is divorced from its conveyance.  That Speeder Bike is also fraught with rubbery plastic.  The figure is more likely to bend the handle bars as opposed to striking a realistic riding position.

When combined, however, the two items make for a compelling display piece.  The simple yet innovative hover stand allows you to capture a decent degree of dynamism when displaying the bike and rider together.  The legs of tripod stand are not equidistant in length.  This offers two advantages.  One is that you can display the bike at varying degrees of height off the ground.  The 3.75” Speeder Bike’s hover stand forced the bike into single riding height that was too far off the ground.  The 6” stand eliminates this problem.  An additional benefit is that by virtue of positioning the longest leg along the ground, you can compensate greatly for a shifting center of balance on the piece.  You could permanently pose the bike in significant banking angles without fear of it falling over.  Sadly there is no option for posing the bike in a landed or resting position.

The quality of the materials is where this item is going to suffer for a grade.  I could easily see this earning an 9 or even a 10 score if sturdier materials were used because it does display very well.  The low quality materials relegates it to a mere 7.  There is a point at which every business must decide that if it can’t conduct its business under certain parameters, it can’t conduct business period.  If Hasbro can’t deliver quality in the collector line, it can’t deliver a collector line period.

7/10 Bantha Skulls