Raymus Antilles was a human male from Alderaan. During his time in the service of the House of Organa, he captained the CR90 corvettes Tantive III and Tantive IV. Antilles was killed in action during the secret mission to Tatooine while trying to protect Princess Leia Organa from being captured by Darth Vader.
Sideshow Toys releases this 1/6 scale Captain Antilles in 2008 with MSRP of USD69.99. Ahh, the good old days of affordable 6th scale Star Wars figures. Good details and data of this figure are available at Rebelscum archive.
It did not attract my attention back then and I did not get it. But the good Captain remains available throughout the years in the secondary market. Prices does not appreciate and it hovers at around SGD80 - 100. But there are admirers and it will stay available for a few months and someone will buy it. My eureka moment came when there was all but 1 left at Carousell. The seller wanted SGD165/-. I made a bold counteroffer and he accepted it. Collected it the same night. So it took me 14yrs.
I see potential in this figure. A new body, a nicer headsculpt, and probably a pair of new pleather boots, reworked the helmet webbing abit - and it should be ready to go. Behold a few surprises awaits.
DESIGN - 3.5/5
It is such a mixed bag in this category.
Surprise #1 - I had always, always thought the jacket is made with heavy and rigid cloth material. It is a pleasant surprise that it is the direct opposite. Material is soft and light. Although still not the most perfect cloth type to use but it drapes better than a tough cloth. Plus points here.
Surprise #2 - it has "socks" sew shut onto the leg seam. I will not know it for a million years if a body swap is not in the cards. This will ensure the pants are always straight when worn. These pants are like WW2 German Officer's pants with baggy thigh and a black lampasse [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lampasse] strip running down. Another plus.
Its all good until I noticed there are no belt loops sew onto the pants. That means the belt just go over it and it will stay in place plainly on how tight it is bounded around the waist. Very strange decision by Sideshow. Definitely a negative here.
It is such a mixed bag in this category.
Surprise #1 - I had always, always thought the jacket is made with heavy and rigid cloth material. It is a pleasant surprise that it is the direct opposite. Material is soft and light. Although still not the most perfect cloth type to use but it drapes better than a tough cloth. Plus points here.
Surprise #2 - it has "socks" sew shut onto the leg seam. I will not know it for a million years if a body swap is not in the cards. This will ensure the pants are always straight when worn. These pants are like WW2 German Officer's pants with baggy thigh and a black lampasse [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lampasse] strip running down. Another plus.
Its all good until I noticed there are no belt loops sew onto the pants. That means the belt just go over it and it will stay in place plainly on how tight it is bounded around the waist. Very strange decision by Sideshow. Definitely a negative here.
Surprise #3 - The original plan is to find another pair of boots for the Captain as - again - I perceived that original pair will be hard and stiff. Literally to my surprise, they are one of the softest vinyl boots I have ever meddled with. It is so soft that it allows some small degree of ankle rocking and posing. Big plus here.
Can be better - There is only 1 button clasping on the top right of the inner shirt. And it is sew tight at the bottom. That means the shirt can't be remove from the body simply by unbutton it, swing both arms back and just slid it off - because of the closed bottom. There are some struggle to get it off in the same time avoiding tearing it. It is 14 years old and cloth can lose their bind. The logic escapes me with this design.
Disappointment - A calamatic non-existing of any helmet inner lining or details. The damn chin straps are just 2 ends of an elastic strap glued haphazardly to the inner side of the helmet. Good thing Sideshow has the decency to include a chin-cup. However, this is a known fact to me as I have the Rebel Fleet Trooper bought way before which the helmet should be of the same design.
SCULPTING - NA
Figure like this, discussion will largely be on the headsculpt. It was already swapped out from the original noggin, there is nothing else left to talk about.
Nevertheless, the original headsculpt really wasn't too bad. In a master painter's hand, it could probably be good enough to take his position back from this imposter.
PAINTING - 2.5/5
Major dump squarely on the helmet's paint job. It is suppose to be the key piece of this figure yet the lines are not crisp with some bleeding here and there. Most glaring on the rough elementary-level painted edges on the black "visor" part. Unacceptable.
Saving grace on the spit shiny boots.
ARTICULATION - 4.5/5
There is basically no obstruction to a full range of articulations except that the clothes will inherently prohibits a wider range of posing. That is also same in real life. Stretch it too much and tear. So it cannot be counted as a deficiency.
Mentioned before the soft boots even allow some form of ankle posing. It will be perfect if it had a modern design of a 2 piece boots cut at the ankle which will allow a free motion. But this being an old figure with old technology, it will again, not be a deficiency.
Special mentioned on the one piece pants with sew on socks allow the pants to remain straight when posing. Actually I appreciate it.
ACCESSORIES - NA
Capt Antilles came just with a DH-17 blaster [https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/DH-17_blaster_pistol], a pair of spare hands and a standard issue waist-clip-round-based-"Star Wars"-printed base.
Them spare hands are useless now since the body swap. Essentially the blaster remain the only "true" accessory to this figure.
I thought what type of Commander is without a personal weapon like a blaster pistol. Yeah, the Capt should have one on top of the blaster rifle. Not a life or death situation though.
OVERALL - 3.5
Not a must have figure. Only appear couple of minutes (or less) in A New Hope before being grabbed by Darth Vader and then flung against the wall like a rag dog and fell dead afterwards.
But it is one of those background characters that I reckon will probably never be made again by another 1/6 company. It is now or never.
Major dump squarely on the helmet's paint job. It is suppose to be the key piece of this figure yet the lines are not crisp with some bleeding here and there. Most glaring on the rough elementary-level painted edges on the black "visor" part. Unacceptable.
Saving grace on the spit shiny boots.
ARTICULATION - 4.5/5
There is basically no obstruction to a full range of articulations except that the clothes will inherently prohibits a wider range of posing. That is also same in real life. Stretch it too much and tear. So it cannot be counted as a deficiency.
Mentioned before the soft boots even allow some form of ankle posing. It will be perfect if it had a modern design of a 2 piece boots cut at the ankle which will allow a free motion. But this being an old figure with old technology, it will again, not be a deficiency.
Special mentioned on the one piece pants with sew on socks allow the pants to remain straight when posing. Actually I appreciate it.
ACCESSORIES - NA
Capt Antilles came just with a DH-17 blaster [https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/DH-17_blaster_pistol], a pair of spare hands and a standard issue waist-clip-round-based-"Star Wars"-printed base.
Them spare hands are useless now since the body swap. Essentially the blaster remain the only "true" accessory to this figure.
I thought what type of Commander is without a personal weapon like a blaster pistol. Yeah, the Capt should have one on top of the blaster rifle. Not a life or death situation though.
OVERALL - 3.5
Not a must have figure. Only appear couple of minutes (or less) in A New Hope before being grabbed by Darth Vader and then flung against the wall like a rag dog and fell dead afterwards.
But it is one of those background characters that I reckon will probably never be made again by another 1/6 company. It is now or never.
CHANGES
Body & Headsculpt - Most obviously the body was changed to a Hot Toys True Typish kind of body. Head is from Easy & Simple NSW Direct Action Breacher.
Helmet - Used a military helmet inner webbing to cup the head and re-loop the chin strap onto it. Basically the helmet now sit onto the head harness and poistioned and held on by the transient fit by the sponges. The hold is not firm enough for the liking but is good enough for static display.
Body & Headsculpt - Most obviously the body was changed to a Hot Toys True Typish kind of body. Head is from Easy & Simple NSW Direct Action Breacher.
Helmet - Used a military helmet inner webbing to cup the head and re-loop the chin strap onto it. Basically the helmet now sit onto the head harness and poistioned and held on by the transient fit by the sponges. The hold is not firm enough for the liking but is good enough for static display.
Belt - Well the belt fell apart when taken out from the box. Previous owner say it is MISB. That means the Capt was imprisoned for 14 years (what crime did he commit?!). Totally within my expectation and totally prepared to make a new belt nonetheless. Used leather stripped off from my old dining table for it. Also made a couple of leather belt loops to add a little detail. All from real leather and expected to last.
FINAL WORD
I couldn't stress enough of such background characters that these Sideshow Toy's offerings could just be the only opportunity to own them. The prices have not gone overly crazy, in fact mostly remaining on the same pricing per it's original MSRP and sometimes even lower. This could be an added motivation.
Quality and details may not match the figures released in recent times but we get a base figure which can be improved on progressively for adding details etc.
MWCToys review provides an alternate read on this figure.
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