By Julian H. Betancourt
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Hasbro's Unleashed Series offers an improved dimension in Star Wars action figure collecting as far as size, attention to detail and presentation is concerned. They are a few inches taller than the traditional basic line, smaller than the 12" line, meticulously sculpted and finely painted with lots of clean lines.

The design applied to their presentation, planned on avoiding too much shelf damage, offers the figures encased in thick, heavy, oversized blistered cardbacks, measuring approximately 13" high x 8 1/2" wide. The huge blisters are a true opened window to seeing the figures well.

Presentation

INITIAL PACKAGE PRESENTATION

The first 12 releases had an insert card liner placed at the lower end of the blister that showed the name of the character as well as four close ups of the figure's face. These first 12 releases also had square bubbles with lightning bolts molded into the plastic, covering about 90% of their front. The UNLEASHED logo presented gold letters and was printed on the card, right over the top of the blister. It was surrounded by small lightning bolts, giving the name an electrifying appearance.

The layout on the back of the cards featured a head shot image of the character, description and two angles of the figure as well as a couple of images of other available Unleashed sculpts.

The first three Waves were offered with a Wizards of the Coast promotional TCG (Trading Card Game) card packed on the side of the blister, depicting the given character. These cards were dropped with the release of Wave 4. Here are the seven figures with which the cards can be found: 

Maul, Jango, Anakin, Vader (Masked), Padme, Tyranus, Mace

SUBSEQUENT PACKAGE PRESENTATION

A new, more vibrant card design was introduced with the release of Wave 6, and continued with Wave 7. The updated cardback features the name of the character as a clear sticker affixed vertically on the inside of the blister. The blister itself received an update by rounding up its corners and greatly curving its top, almost as a half dome. The blister's lightning bolts seen in the preceding waves were left behind. The printed, electrified UNLEASHED logo, which previously was rendered in gold letters, as part of the card was now made larger with silver cracked like letters and placed in the insert card liner, covering its entire front. Only two close ups of the characters' faces are included, one on each side of the card liner. 

A head shot image of the figure, its description and two angles of the character, as well as a couple of images of other available Unleashed sculpts, are still part of the card's back layout but its entire look has a lighter, more vivid color approach.

SCULPTING and PAINT

The sculpting on these figures is of truly high standard. Although likeness might be subject to discussion in some cases, the rest of the sculpting is as accurate as it can be; It is simply gorgeous. There are hardly any seam lines to be noticed, even on molds such as the almost nude Princess Leia where one is to expect to see the union of the plastic, this is practically invisible.

Although their poses will not always reflect movie accuracy, the outfits are dead on to the films, presenting proper coloration and natural bunching up and wrinkles of the fabrics. The plastic used on Leia's "skirt" has a certain transparency which can be further noticed when hit directly by a light. This in turn gives the garment a sense of real fabric, making it appear as silk. 

The sculpt of the bases cannot be taken for granted either. The weathering effects are nicely accomplished. Whenever necessary, they recreate water drops, transparency, stains, dents and almost exact proportion in relation to the figure they support. 

Rocks look like rocks, metal like metal, sand like sand. Virtually there's hardly any bleed of the paint anywhere to be found; it is indeed perfectly applied. The skin colors, detail on eyes, lips, teeth and hands are stunning. Definitely this is a treat seen usually on higher end collectibles.

ACCESSORIES

Unleashed figures are about 7" tall and come accessorize with sturdy, heavy, uniquely designed bases to keep them standing. The figures usually get hooked on to these bases using metal pegs that protrude from under the character's feet and that securely balance them without the risk of falling.

Besides their bases, accessories are pretty much attached to the figures. For instance, the lightsaber hilts are usually molded onto the hand and only the blades are removable. Omitting the removable saber blades, there are a few separate pieces to account for. Here they are:

• BOBA and JANGO: Set of blaster pistols.

• ANAKIN: Empty extra hand in a force emitting pose

• PADMÉ AMIDALA: Chain

• DARTH VADER UNMASKED: Mask (head gets detached in order to place mask on the figure)

• PRINCESS LEIA: Pike

• DARTH SIDIOUS: Set of extra hands with force lighting bolts or set of empty creepy hands

• DARTH TYRANUS: Right hand with force lightning bolt or right hand with saber

• BOBA FETT: Blaster rifle

• YODA: Force lightning bolt

• CHEWBACCA: Bowcaster and strap (minus its handle)

• CLONES: Blaster rifle

ARTICULATION

We need to keep in mind the figures are more likely to be considered statues than anything else; if you are fine with that, there'll be no disappointment. Joint movement is minimal, limited basically to one wrist or shoulder, thus they are a better choice as display pieces rather than to play with. But, forget the lack of articulation, their craftsmanship and coloring is so well executed that they easily make one diminish such issue.

History Becomes Unleashed: Waves

Some may see this line as a NEW introduction by Hasbro towards producing a mid priced, large, statue-like action figure. The truth is, this is the company's third attempt geared in that direction after two failures. The Epic Force series, the sub-line offered as part of POTF2 and EPI, was their first failed attempt a few years ago, followed by EPI's Mega line, which only saw the released of three figures for the scale.

Unleashed is doing a heck of a lot better than its predecessors did. As collectors, we have come to appreciate the fantastic crafting work involved in its development, and to realize that many of the figures are creations inspired by an artist's way of interpreting the characters and events to which they relate. As such, the sculpts and poses could be very extreme and different. 

The figures sell out quickly and their release numbers are smaller than the basic. Therefore their retail distribution is also shorter, making them even more interesting to locate and more difficult to find.

But it wasn't always this great for the line ...

In 2002, when the line first premiered, it seemed not to spark much attention. Easily found at retail, was an excess of Wave 1 figures consisting of two characters:

WAVE 1:

Boba & Jango Fett "Intensity:" Nicknamed by collectors as "Crying Boba and his Daddy"

Darth Maul "Fury:" Nicknamed by collectors as "Valet Dancer"

Although Hasbro had explained beforehand what to expect from the line, the initial public reaction in 2002 was, in its majority, a negative one. Used to well articulated sculpts recreating true situations from the films, collectors felt a bit surprised and disoriented when finally exposed to the extreme-artist interpretation of the figures and lack of articulation Unleashed offered. 

Despite the fact Darth Maul's sculpture reflected an actual stance found in Wushu Kung Fu, fans weren't too happy with the one foot twirled pose and spiral fire-like platform of the figure. To make things worse, the soft nature of the plastic used on the saber's hilt made it sag to the sides, creating a curved saber effect. 

On the other hand, the Jango & Boba set presented problems of its own. Despite its meticulous crafting, it was not part of any scene from the film. Boba was never seen under his father's arm looking for protection, nor reaching out and having a horrified scream expression on his face as the sculpt presented it. These were "hard to swallow" presentations and collectors weren't ready to accept them yet.

The Line looked as if it was about to take a dive into an ocean of rejection, and it did. For sometime Unleashed started warming up the pegs ...

Later the same year, after the release of Wave 2, the rejected Line took a turn for the better, and started to gain attention. The sudden public change towards Unleashed could very well be attributed to collectors becoming more aware of the artistic approach behind the sculpts or simply the fact of the introduction of a classic key character (Vader) in a magnificent movie accurate pose. Either way, Unleashed rapidly gained popularity, an attributed characteristic which it has maintained up to this date. The Line begun to flourish, allowing collectors to get a hold of more scene related sculpts. 

Wave 2 was released in smaller quantities than the previous Wave. Three sculpts were included:

WAVE 2:

Anakin Skywalker "Rage:" Extremely elaborate base with half of a Battle Droid, two sabers and interchangeable hands.

Darth Vader "Power:" He's standing tall on a piece of the Death Star chasm with an ignited lightsaber and curled hand

Padmé Amidala "Courage:" Locked up in a sexy sculpt with extra chesty area, torn shirt, and blaster in hand.

The Vader sculpt proved to be a best seller and vanished from the pegs almost instantly. It is important to make clear, though, that certain regions of the country had this figure available for longer periods of time and that, even almost two years after, its counterparts Amidala and Anakin were being found at retail. This proved again Hasbro's poor distribution issue, as one man's pegwarmer could be another man's treasure. Nevertheless sales of this wave were much better than the previous one. 

Since Wave 2, Unleashed has gotten only better. Subsequent waves have turned this line into a much sought after collection and a great deal of credit should be awarded to Waves 3 and 4 which pleased us all with the release of a mixture of more classic and new characters.

One of these classic characters, superbly designed, became one of the hottest and most difficult Unleashed sculpts to locate: Wave 4 Princess Leia as Jabba's prisoner. Following the footsteps of the Princess, the unmasked Darth Vader version from the same wave became also a tough find. And Mace Windu from Wave 4, although it remained on the pegs a bit longer, has also proven to be difficult to allocate. These two waves included the following characters:

WAVE 3:

Darth Tyranus: Swirled up cape. His right hand can be swapped around: one with emitting energy or one with his saber.

Mace Windu: Great battle stance with right hand behind his back holding his saber. Base offers sculpted fire and robes.

WAVE 4:

Darth Vader: Same pose as previous Vader but standing in his meditation chamber and revealing his scarred head.

Princess Leia: Another "sexy" sculpt having Princess Leia as Jabba's slave with lance and Barge stand.

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