Toybox REVIEW: Star Wars Black Series Pre Vizsla

Release Date: October 2023

RRP: $24.99/£24.99

If there's one thing that can be guaranteed about this era of Star Wars it's that Mandalorians won't be going away any time soon, and when it comes to action figures the more Mandalorian variants the better as far as Hasbro are concerned. Thankfully they've got plenty of instalments across the Star Wars galaxy to pull from, with certain characters long overdue immortalisation in the current collector lines. Black Series Pre Vizsla is one such example, being a key player in Star Wars: The Clone Wars whose involvement set so much in motion that's still in play today. Death Watch, Bo-Katan, Darth Maul's rule of Mandalore, the Darksaber...it all started here.

"Pre Vizsla was the governor of Concordia, a moon of Mandalore, during the Clone Wars. Behind closed doors, he led Death Watch, a secret group of commandos seeking control of Mandalore."

After a brief dalliance with plastic-free packaging, Hasbro has bowed to the negative reception it received and returned the Black Series to the status quo. This means moulded plastic trays are back, complete with a window section on the box that shows off the figure inside. Hell hath no fury like a mint-in-box Star Wars collector, or anyone who wants to see that the figure they're buying doesn't have any obvious QC errors for that matter. The 17th release in the yellow-bordered Star Wars: The Clone Wars range, Pre Vizsla's packaging features some great artwork of the Death Watch leader on the back and connecting-mural spine of the box. The tiny Darth Maul in the background of the spine is a particularly nice little touch. The back of the box also features a small bio about the character, which also feels like a luxury after all the Obi-Wan Kenobi releases were lumped with the same series blurb.

Despite the leaps and bounds the Black Series has made in recent years when it comes to sculpting, there are some old moulds that just refuse to go away.  The 2016 Jango Fett mould is one them, being used as a base for Pre Vizsla here seven years later. There are plenty of negatives that come from using an older mould but if there's one positive that can be said about it, it's that the proportions here are good and Vizsla has some nice bulk him. This figure is based on Pre Vizsla's appearance following his failed coup where Death Watch has relocated to Carlac. At his point he loses the shoulder cape from his original look, adding new shoulder pads to his armour as well as antennae to either side of his helmet. Overall while the colours and paintwork on the figure look fantastic, at this point in the story Vizsla's armour has taken on a more battle-worn look. This isn't really reflected in the figure, with the shriek-hawk symbol on the chest vibrant and the armour lacking any sort of wear and tear. Naturally the figure also has a brand new head sculpt, which in the usual Black Series style attempts to take Pre Vizsla's animated look and morph it into something more "real world" that will fit with the rest of the line. The end result is a bit of a mixed bag really, getting the general look close enough that you can tell who it's supposed to be but losing a lot of the ferocity as the details become more rounded and "soft". That scar underneath the eye looks great though.

The old Jango Fett mould might still have it when it comes to looks, but the articulation is a definite reminder of just how long this body has been around. Altogether Pre Vizsla features;

-  Ball jointed head, torso and hips

- Single hinge neck

- Swivel hinge shoulders, elbows, wrists and ankles

- Double hinge knees

- Bicep, gauntlet and waist swivels

Once upon a time all of this might not have seemed so bad, but now that we have a now fantastic new Mandalorian moulds like the Return of the Jedi Boba Fett and the Death Watch Mandalorian this thing is really struggling to keep up. The fact shoulders are cut in a way that allows them to fold up into the torso when lifting the arms is nice, but that butterfly joint that's standard on most current Black Series figures is sorely missed. On a more positive note, the bicep and gauntlet swivels are much appreciate as they give the arms plenty of movement without having to rely on the elbow's own swivel - doing so could easily lead to the cables connected to the gauntlets snapping. But if it isn't the outdated articulation that frustrates you on this release, it's how unrelentingly stiff everything is. The knees especially need a good bit of force behind them to get a good bend, particularly if you want to use the upper half of the joint as well. The stiffness of the legs can make Pre Vizsla look quite awkward in some poses, and in a worst case scenario (like mine) lead to some rather irritating balancing issues.

Pre Vizsla comes packaged with his helmet, jet pack, twin WESTAR-35 blaster pistols and of course the Darksaber. With plenty of new tooling gone into both the helmet and jetpack, the rest of the weapons are pieces we've seen before (the blasters with various Mandalorians, and the Darksaber with both Moff Gideon and the Mandalorian himself) but both acceptable and essential pieces for character. As the first character we see in the Star Wars universe wielding the Darksaber, any Pre Vizsla figure that didn't have it would have been unacceptable. Both guns fit into the figure's hands perfectly, and can be stored in the holsters on his upper legs when not in use. The Darksaber is a slightly less tighter grip, but still enough to pose well. The new tooling on both the helmet and jetpack also bring along some fun new features - the antennae on either side of the helmet can rotate a full 360 degrees, whilst the jetpack has a removable missile piece. Even though it's essentially things we've seen before here, it's nice that Hasbro were able to throw in a few surprises.

As one of my most wanted figures in the line, it's a bit disappointing to see Black Series Pre Vizsla come out as something of a mixed bag. While there's some logic to Hasbro using the old Jango mould here, the overall execution should be enough to convince them that it's time to retire it for good. The articulation issues are just too much to ignore now, and the figure just pales in comparison to some of the more modern moulds being released alongside it. That said - the overall colours and paint apps on the figure are absolutely gorgeous, and conflicting as the head sculpt may be the tooling on the helmet and jetpack are enough to overlook its faults. While it's very unlikely that the line will be doing another Pre Vizsla figure any time soon, if they ever attempt his pre-coup look it would be great to how the character fares on a much newer body.