VC Hunter Review

 

The Bad Batch isn't the best Star Wars animated series, but as a fan of the A Team, it's interesting to see how that concept plays out in the Star Wars universe. But while the Black Series and Mission Fleet have the entire Clone Force 99 made, the Vintage Collection, sadly, doesn't. But the team leader, Hunter is finally in the Vintage Collection, and it's well worth the wait!

Recently, Hasbro announced a new Clonetrooper buck (Phase II Clonetrooper review coming soon), and Hunter is made from that buck, with a few differences. The first is he has a knife sheath on his left forearm, and a hole in his back to fit his backpack. He has 17 POA and utilizes the new barbell hips. He has excellent articulation and has no trouble moving. No stiff joints at all. Hunter is shown in his 1st season look, and this figure does an excellent job in capturing that. Sadly, the figure doesn't have great balance, mainly due to the backpack. But there are no peg holes on the feet so if you display him loose, most stands can't help. 

The paint apps are well done! Especially on the head sculpt as when unmasked, Hunter has a unique look, sort of like Sylvester Stallone's Rambo, and Billy from Predator. A nice feature is the soft plastic on the shoulders which allows a full range of shoulder motion, helping with posing, and this is a welcome addition! This isn't what many would call a colorful figure but Hasbro has done a great job with it. The head sculpt is incredibly well done, giving you options on how to display him: with or without his helmet.

Speaking of helmets, this figure has a removable helmet, which is way too large for his head. Hunter comes with a blaster rifle, a pistol, backpack and knife. Hunter has a sheath to store the knife, bit no holster for the pistol, so if you store this figure loose you'll need to place that in a bag. But, his backpack can store his blaster, but it takes some effort to plug it in. Don't worry, you won't damage either item doing this! It's one benefit of the rubbery plastic now used as the source of weapons. All of his weapons fit well in both hands.

While Hunter's appearance in the line is welcomed, it does touch off a troubling trend with the Vintage Collection: lack of world building. Just as with the Knight of Ren, the Praetorian Guard, and Carbon Freezing Chamber Playset, there isn't anything to build this around. If this is the world building scale, it isn't treated like it. The Black Series already has the Bad Batch in their 2nd season outfits. Yet none are in the Vintage Collection, except Hunter. Collectors have done their part by quickly getting this figure off the racks, now it's up to Habro to finish the squad. It would be a shame if Hasbro doesn't. Rant over!

Now is he essential to your collection? Not to a casual collector. But if you enjoy Clones, Clone Wars and Bad Batch, then you'll want this figure. I got lucky finding him in a store, and had been on the fence, and my reason why is in the paragraph above. If collectors want more Bad Batch crew figures, they need to buy Hunter. Hopefully Hasbro doesn't make Hunter wait long for more members of his team. But this is an excellent figure, and the sooner other CF 99 figures drop, the better.

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