Grand Admiral Thrawn VC Review

 

In June of 1991, I bought Heir To The Empire in a grocery store, and immediately began reading it, while I was supposed to read Little Women and Tom Sawyer for summer reading. Besides Mara Jade, there was one character that had me hooked: Grand Admiral Thrawn. I wanted a Kenner version of him, and Mara ASAP! Fast forward to 1998, and both Thrawn and Mara came in the POTF2 Expanded Universe wave, which is still my single favorite wave of Star Wars figures ever. But then Disney bought Lucasfilm, and Thrawn was tossed into Legends. But thankfully, Dave Filoni liked the character, and brought him into Disney Canon for Star Wars Rebels, with Thrawn creator Timothy Zahn writing 2 new Thrawn trilogies!

Thrawn is officially the 1st VC figure from Star Wars Rebels, as he is on the Rebels card. In the picture above, you can tell he is a shrunken down version of the Black Series Thrawn. His buck is a slight retool of the new Imperial Officer figure which debuted with Piett. He has the standard 17 POA, and his movements are easy. As you can see below he can strike some poses, and can be seated, sadly I had no chair to sit him on that was handy when I took the pictures. His paint apps are well done, and there are no smudges or smears. Now this Thrawn doesn't resemble Lars Mikkelsen's live action Thrawn, and resembles him as he appeared in Rebels. The details in the overall sculpt, head to toe is amazing, down to his Widow's Peak hairline and bright red eyes with red pupils.

In the pictures above, you can see Thrawn comes with his blaster, which fits in his holster quite well. He is right handed, and the blaster fits well in his right hand. While he certainly doesn't need to be armed, if you watched Rebels, you know Thrawn liked to throw down when he felt he needed to. Honestly, I would have been happy if he didn't come with a holster and weapon, but he wouldn't be screen accurate.

In the pictures below you will see Thrawn with his 1st SA 3.75 figure from the Legacy Collection Comic Pack (he came with Talon Karrde), and that Thrawn captures his look from Legends where his white uniform wasn't unique, and his eyes were just red orbs, not really eyes at all. His skin tone is supposed to be blue, but it is a light shade. That figure comes with a Ysalamir, which in Legends could block the Force. In Disney Canon they are decorations in Thrawn's quarters on the Chimera. And as you can see, the Ysalamir fits, but you have to remove the VC Thrawn's head to do it, and it's easy. You won't damage the figure, but I wouldn't leave the Ysalamir on him too long. It fits the Comic Pack Thrawn much better.

Now, is he essential to your collection? ABSOLUTELY!!! Without Timothy Zahn's novel Heir To The Empire, Star Wars would have still been a sleeping franchise. It would lead to new VHS OT tapes, a Kenner toyline in 1995, and helped get the Prequel Trilogy made, as excitement over the brand returned in a big way, all thanks to Thrawn. Even if you don't like Legends, or Disney having this figure honors either your love of Disney Thrawn, or Legends Thrawn. As someone who prefers Legends, I still like this figure. And I wonder if more Grand Admiral's will be made? Who knows?! But what I do know, is this figure and ROTJ Vader were my 2 most anticipated VC figures of 2023, and are my top 2 favorite Star Wars villains.

All pictures were taken by me. Thanks for reading! Please share this link on your social media accounts so I can get more readers!

And have yourself A Merry Christmas!!