Vel Sartha Vintage Collection Review

 Andor has completed its first season, with Season 2 coming soon, as it may already be filming but is definitely in pre-production either way. While Hasbro did get some figures out quickly for the Black Series and a VC scaled Disney Droid Depot figure out in parks and their own stores, the first 2 VC figures for Andor came out after the season finale, Cassian Andor and Vel Sartha. Today, I am reviewing Vel Sartha's VC figure, not her character. I haven't seen much of Andor. All I know of Vel is she's Mon Mothma's cousin, and fan theories abound about her girlfriend (I think she's Cassian's sister but I have yet to see the show so I'm not sure).

What stands out to me is Vel's height, she's tiny! Due to that, she has small wrists so hinges couldn't be added to them. Which makes her holding her blaster rifle, or modified AK-47 if you want to be technical, difficult. The picture I posted was the best I could manage. Her articulation elsewhere is excellent! She has the new ball jointed hips so she can be put in neat poses, but you may want to give her other weapons to hold. Also the stock on the back of her rifle can easily come off, so you may want to store it in a small bag if you're displaying Vel loose. Her only accessory is the rifle, which she can hold one handed the best. The figure's petite size prevents her from a proper THWG (two-handed weapon grip), but you can find any spare blaster to give her. Sadly, no holster is included to house a smaller weapon. Again, I haven't seen the show so I don't know off hand where she is, or is supposed to be doing. She's got the standard 17 POA, and it was nice to not have to deal with joints that were too tight. See my Cal Kestis review on how to deal with that.

The only thing that I didn't like sculpt wise was the head sculpt, it seems out of scale and slightly too large. The face sculpt looks nice, even the hair sculpt but a giant head on a petite body just looks...off. Other than that, she is well sculpted. There's even an earpiece in her right ear! Her jacket and pants are well done, sadly the jacket isn't removable but it helps add to Vel's tough look. The paint apps aren't a lot, but they are all clean, no smudges or streaks.

Now, is she essential for your collection? If you enjoyed Andor and want VC figures your choices are limited. She is a good figure, and for me, I like adding a new female action figure into my own collection. To me, she's essential. A casual collector might pass on her since only Vel, Cassian, Cassian in Imperial Disguise and the Phase II Clonetrooper are the only VC Andor figures so far. But with all that being said, in this case I wished Hasbro had used partial tooling to make this figure instead of an all new sculpt. While as a collector I'm grateful for a new character figure, why does Vel get an all new sculpt while Light Cruiser Luke and the upcoming Endor Han are kitbashes?! Maybe they'll make a Leia out of Vel? Sorry to end on a mini rant, but you know how Star Wars collectors like to complain, LOL!