Poggle The Lesser & General Veers VC Review

 Originally, this was my planned post for May The 4th. Two figures from the center of both the Prequel and Orignal Trilogies. But, time got the better of me, and after opening both figures...well, I go on about them in my reviews. And in the Lagniappe Section, I go over some big news (rumors but let's not get too technical) that's dropped, and of course The Mandalorian and Grogu movie debuts this upcoming Friday!

POGGLE THE LESSER

I do like the card. Great image, and I like the color of the name pill. It's great! But what isn't great is the plastic tab at the front of the figure in the bubble. But, for the first time in the VC, at least on figures I've covered anyway, I don't recommend keeping him carded.

As you can see, the tab is there to "hold" the figure in place. I removed it, tipped it down and the figure didn't fall out. His cane didn't fall out either. In my opinion, it's an unnecessary peace. And if you recall a couple years ago, Hasbro wanted to ditch plastic packaging for sealed boxes, which they did for the Black Series and Deluxe VC figures. Now yes, I do chalk this up to my OCD, but in this case, I feel justified to point it out. In fact, this is my only nitpick on what is an excellent action figure. 

Pardon my spare 2002 R2-D2 in the photo directly above. Believe it or not: the electronic feature still works! Anyway, the sculpt and paint apps are EXCELLENT! None of his joints were too tight, and he's easy to move around. His wings are on a ball joint so that it's easy to move around. His wings can extend straight out in the back, if you want. I didn't photograph that, but it can be done. 

Articulation wise, he's got the standard points. His head has decent left to right movement, and his arms, and wings move without any problems. His knees are a bit higher than normal, but as you can see in my 4th photo above, no problems there. His skirt does inhibit his hip articulation, and yes, he has barbell hips, but honestly, Poggle doesn't exactly need to be active in fighting Jedi and Clones. But it's good to know he has barbell hips. My guess is with the upcoming Geonosian Warrior 4 pack, Poggle is used as the basis for those figures with some minor tooling changes. 

His only accessory is his cane, which can only be hold in his right hand. If I had the Death Star plans one of his 2002 versions had, that could fit in his left hand. Possibly. He's got no problems holding it. His balance is decent, but you're going to want to have a stand when displaying him. Of course, it depends on how and where you choose to display, or store your figure. 

I missed out on the ones from the 2002 era. Back then, I backed off due to the action feature buzz that Hasbro was on back then. The only Separatist leaders I had were the Neimoidians from TPM and Dooku. So it's nice to finally get one of these guys. Poggle is an excellent figure, and I'm glad I own him. I do hope to get a Geonosian Warrior on a single card so that he can have some extra protection in displays or play scenes. Overall, a good figure! I wouldn't say that he's essential, however. He's not a Main, and really isn't in a lot of action scenes. It would have been better if he came with the Death Star plans. If he had, I would have broken out Dooku for the photos. Having missed out on this figure in the past, he's a good pick up. And if you want him, he should be up for order on Pulse, EE, BBTS and other retailers. 

GENERAL VEERS 

The card is a callback to the Kenner AT-AT Commander from that line, and a callback to the VC 1.0 AT-AT Commander. However, this time, General Veers is in the namepill. Honestly, I would have preferred the card image of Veers inside the AT-AT. My guess is card only collectors probably feel the same way I do, some making their points known in the BanthaSkull review of this figure. Normally, a figure that's specific to a vehicle is one I would normally pass on. But since it's a named character, I had to add him. Simple. 

The sculpt is based off the Imperial Officer buck, but this time the armor is sculpted on. His articulation is hampered by the holster, so while his upper body moves without any effort, his right leg can't move well enough to pose him in action situations. His head sculpt is nearly perfect. It captures Julian Glover's likeness extremely well. My gut instinct is the Sixer Walter Donovan head sculpt was shrunk down for this figure (played by the same actor for those who haven't seen Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade). But it's excellent, which was why I wanted a close up shot to show it off. 

Accessory wise, Veers has a removable helmet, and a blaster. The blaster doesn't fit well in the holster, and easily falls out. However, he can hold it in his right hand quite well. So if you store him in a bin, like I do with my loose figures, you need to keep his blaster in a bag. If you display him loose, you may want to put him on a stand and take your chance leaving the blaster in the holster, but I would still keep the blaster in a small bag. Keep him still, and the blaster should stay in. But then again a small gust of wind would knock it out. Be cautious. 

I dug out my other 3.75 inch General Veers from the mid 2000's. While in his standard duty uniform, he comes with a removable helmet and snap on front armor chest piece. That figure came with a Stormtrooper blaster rifle, which fit in the holster. Veers hat can't be removed but the helmet fits quite well. Of course the articulation on the older figure is not up to today's standard. If you watch a MAKMCSWF video, he tosses outdated figures into the bushes of his backyard. I just put my old Veers in my modern 5-7 POA storage bin. 

I do hope we get Veers in his standard duty outfit on a Kenner card for a true Original 96 check off. This figure is close to a check off, but not quite. It's a good figure, and if you don't want the Veers head you can swap it out with another one that fits the barbell neck post. That way you get a basic AT-AT Commander, but with Veers coming, does this mean he could make a surprise appearance in an upcoming movie?! Only time will tell. He's essential to me for my collection, but if you have the AT-AT and hate the VC 1.0 version, Veers can easily be your replacement. 

LAGNIAPPE SECTION 

1. There's a rumor about a reset coming for Star Wars that would retcon the sequel trilogy into an alternate universe, similar to what was done with the original EU in 2014 by Disney. While I hope this is true, I doubt it will happen. How far would Disney go? Reboot after ROTJ (which they should do), or a full Saga reboot? I don't trust the current Disney regime to do this the right way. Which is why I stick to my personal fan canon. But if Starfighter flops, they may have to do a reset of sorts. I'll talk more about what I'd like to see later. 

2. I got 2 of my most anticipated figures in this week: Marrok and the Eleventh Brother. So far, Marrok is my favorite figure this year. The Eleventh Brother is impressive as well. If a Lord Starkiller figure ever comes to the VC, they can use his hands to help make it. Reviews coming soon. 

3. The new comic book putting the OT heroes on Batuu, aka the Galaxy's Edge park.  It's set between ESB and ROTJ, so no Han Solo, obviously. But it sets up a pre ROTJ Luke and Vader encounter (possibly). But the story is told from a flashback perspective as Rey is gathering information on behalf of the Resistance. Echoes of the Empire Galaxy's Edge issue 1 is out now with a neat cover featuring Jedi Luke. Issue 2 arrives May 27th. 

4. There's a new Star Wars movie coming this week: The Mandalorian and Grogu movie. While I thought the 3rd season was bad, there were some cool parts to it. And since this is set in the New Republic era, there's a chance for some OT era cameos. How cool would it be to see Han, Luke Leia, Chewie or Lando back on the big screen?! That probably won't happen, but it COULD happen. Which is why I will avoid spoilers and see it in the 2nd week of its release. And it's also why I won't see Starfighter. But if you want to go see M&G: go see it! 

Thanks for reading! Please share this link on your social media accounts so I can get more readers! A special thanks to Chris and Nomad at BanthaSkull for allowing me to post this in the comments section.