Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Eminently Poseable, The Vintage Collection Kit Fisto Is Another Worthwhile Jedi Figure!


The Good: Wonderful coloring detail, Good accessories, Wonderful articulation, Decent balance!
The Bad: Cloak is ungainly and looks ridiculous, Articulation points that are undone by the cloak.
The Basics: The Vintage Collection retools Kit Fisto as VC29, a figure whose best qualities are revealed when the cloak comes off!.


It only occurred to me as I finished evaluating the Kit Fisto Vintage Collection action figure that it had been a long time since I added a new Jedi figure review to the Dead Jedi File. I realized there was a good reason my mind was resisting the old trend with the Kit Fisto figure; this it a toy that makes the character feel alive and vibrant, not one that makes the consumer recall that the character met an untimely end from the galaxy’s most badass geezer. That makes sense because this version of Kit Fisto, with the cloak and packaging, is intended to upgrade prior Attack Of The Clones versions of the character.

For those unfamiliar with the Kit Fisto, he was one of the more distinctive Jedi in Attack Of The Clones (reviewed here!). Kit Fisto is a Jedi Knight who appears briefly in the Battle Of Geonosis in the arena. He is distinctive for being a Twi’lek with so many head tentacles that they look like dreadlocks. Kit Fisto is the alien Jedi who encounters the mutilated C-3PO and uses the Force to knock him back, as opposed to chopping him up into many smaller pieces. Yes, viewers can thank Kit Fisto for C-3PO surviving to the original Trilogy to annoy viewers there!

The 4" Kit Fisto was completely recast from the Attack Of The Clones version of the figure for the 2010 Vintage Collection and is making a retail resurgence now as this line appears to be flooding discount stores like Five Below.

Basics

The Kit Fisto figure stands 3 15/16" tall to the top of his head. He is an alien who is wearing the typical Jedi robes and cloak, most of which is made out of plastic. The outermost robe, however, is a dark brown cloth robe which inhibits Kit Fisto's movement and lowers the overall playability of the figure.

This toy is a pretty wonderful sculpt, nicely capturing the various tendrils coming off the Jedi’s head. Kit Fisto is molded wearing the typical dark brown vest and obi of a Jedi Knight with brown pants and brown boots. What distinguishes this Jedi Knight from all of the others is the amphibian head that defines him as a Twi’lek. Kit Fisto is cast wonderfully with a head that reminds one of the fish- or frog-like character. Kit Fisto is further accented by buckles and pouches on his belt that add a nice touch of realism to him! The half of the Jedi Vest that falls below Kit Fisto's waist is made of cloth, save a loincloth type piece of plastic. Unfortunately, Hasbro did not match the plastic and cloth elements on the figure, so the part of the garment that the “skirt” supposedly completes is an entirely different color.

Outside that, Kit Fisto is colored with pretty amazing attention to detail. His brown belt is accented with silver highlights for every buckle, grommet and snap giving him pretty extraordinary detailing in the smallest elements. Similarly, the tendrils on his head are appropriately mottled with darker green for realism. Even his eyes look good with the giant black pupils surrounded faintly by a red ring! Even so, Kit Fisto has a very clean outfit and the outer cloak is made without any wear or discoloration to it.

Accessories

Kit Fisto is a Jedi Knight, so all he comes with as far as accessories is his lightsaber(s). This Twi’lek Jedi features a green bladed lightsaber which is very bright looking. The portion of the 2 7/8" blade that is green featured an electric green plastic. Apparently realizing how breakable the removable lightsaber blades from the Attack Of The Clones line were, the Vintage Collection Kit Fisto has a lightsaber without a detachable blade and a separate lightsaber hilt. The lightsaber hilt is a simple, 3/4" silver-gray and black cylinder with appropriate contouring to be a believable lightsaber hilt. It has a tiny peg which attaches to an almost imperceptible hole in Kit Fisto's belt, allowing the backup lightsaber to dangle there!

Playability

The four inch toy line was designed for play and Kit Fisto is generally good in that regard. First, the figure has exceptional balance. Flatfooted, Kit Fisto is pretty solid, and because of the lower half articulation of the figure, he has decent posing options, with many poses outside having him flatfooted actually allow him to remain standing! As well, the holes in the bottom of his feet allow him to stand tall on any number of playsets in outlandish poses or stand in an action pose ready to defend other Jedi on Geonosis!

Kit Fisto holds up exceptionally well in the articulation department, despite the cloak being problematic. He has hinged ball and socket joints at the ankles, knees, groin socket (!), elbows and shoulders, as well as a ball and socket joint which would allow for a great range of motion for the head if the head tentacles did not inhibit such movement. The wrists and waist both have simple swivel joints that provide the figure with more than enough posing options to make the figure worthwhile!

Unfortunately, Kit Fisto is cursed with the cloak, which lowers the range of motion in the arms and is so gangly as to make the Jedi Knight look ridiculous. Similarly, Kit Fisto's head features two tentacles which dangle in front of the character’s shoulders, which inhibits the head motion. While the figure is jointed to have a great head range of motion, the reality is that it cannot turn its head too far.

Collectibility

Kit Fisto is part of the Vintage Collection line that was released late in 2010 and it is now flooding the market as Five Below apparently bought all of Hasbro’s back stock of this particular wave of figures. Kit Fisto is Vintage Collection figure VC29 and it easily replaces the Attack Of The Clones Kit Fisto figure. Despite the robe, the sculpt and coloring make it worthwhile to upgrade and now is an ideal time while the market is deflated on this figure.

Overview

With the hood on the cloak up, the gangly cloak on Kit Fisto makes the figure virtually immobile and obscures all of the great detailing Hasbro did. Even so, the figure is well-made, well detailed and comes with appropriate accessories making it an overall worthwhile Jedi action figure. I say take the cloak off and let your Kit Fisto power his way through your toy collection!

For other Vintage Collection figures from Attack Of The Clones, please check out my reviews of:
VC30 Zam Wesell
VC33 Padme Amidala (Peasant Disguise)
VC37 Super Battle Droid
VC49 Fi-Ek Sirch

8/10

For other Star Wars toy reviews, please check out my index page by clicking here!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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