Sculpt—3/5
Adi Gallia (ahem!) I mean, Stass Allie is pretty much as average as you can get in a Star Wars action figure these days. Her pose isn't overly exciting, but I guess that's good since she's made to primarily be riding the BARC speeder. Hasbro did try to make her leg stance more interesting by having both legs posed at different angles, but in the end this figure's pose is just boring when she's off the BARC. Her arms are very stiff and straight which works well when she's on the bike, but off the bike she just looks awkward. Sculpting details on her outfit are good; there are nice, natural-looking wrinkles in her robes and pants, and her boots have nice folds at the ankles. The headsculpt isn't bad actually. If you really look at the sculpt and try not to focus on the paint job, you can see that the actual sculpt looks pretty close the actress who portrayed Stass in the movie.

Articulation--3/5
Stass has eight points: ball-jointed neck, shoulders, wrists, waist, and hips. These eight points are pretty standard these days, but if you think about it, it could have been worse. They could have made Stass an unarticulated figure like the AT-RT driver or the BARC speeder biker. Still, it would have been cool if they'd given her some elbow joints of some kind to help her not look so stiff when she's not on the bike. Adding elbow joints would have potentially made this into a pretty awesome figure and would have allowed for some decent action poses. Of course, knee joints and ankle joints would be cool too, but that goes without saying.

Accessories--4/5
Now this feels like a deluxe figure set! A figure and a small vehicle for ten bucks? That's what I'm talkin' about! Granted, the figure's just so-so and the action feature is a joke, but the BARC speeder is a nice vehicle. As far as I can tell, it's pretty accurate to the movie. Sure, Stass Allie didn't ride a BARC speeder in the movie (it was decided in post-production that she would ride an Original Trilogy-styled speeder bike), but it's accurate to the ones ridden by her betrayers. For the most part, it's a pretty solid vehicle...well, the main body is anyway. Soft plastic haters might not like the liberal use of soft plastic on this speeder--the handlebars, guns, headrest, side panels are all made of soft, rubbery plastic. It makes it harder to break and snap these parts off which is a good thing, but storing this speeder incorrectly could make a deformed mess of these parts. The BARC speeder comes disassembled in three pieces: the front section, the back section, and a small bar that connects to both the front and back pieces. This bar is also made of soft plastic, but the piece seems to be too long and when you connect it to the speeder it buckles and curves. I don't know why they decided to make this piece out of soft plastic. Other than that, I think the BARC speeder is great and is the best reason to pick this set up.

Features--1.5/5
"EXPLODING ACTION!" "BARC speeder changes into 'battle damage' mode!" Gimmie a break! If taking apart a toy is an action feature then my Republic Gunship has an "Exploding Action" feature that was never mentioned on the box. Ugh, anyway, the BARC speeder supposedly has this so-called battle damage mode. You basically just take the thing apart. No cool exploding action like on the old vintage and POTF2 Speeder Bikes, nope, you simply take the damn thing apart. This doesn't really feel like an action feature and I feel like they just tacked this supposed feature on at the last minute. It doesn't even feel like you're supposed to take it apart! The front and back parts of the speeder snap together pretty snugly!

The BARC speeder also features retractable landing gear at the front and back of the bike.

Paint--3/5
The paint job is decent on the speeder bike. Nothing bad, but also no weathering of any kind which is kind of a bummer. It almost looks a bit unfinished because of that fact. Stass Allie is also pretty average in the paint department. The paint job on her robes, belt, and boots is very basic but solid. Her head isn't painted that well; the green on her forehead is too dark and her headdress has some sloppy-looking black lines.

Packaging--3/5
The deluxe figures don't have the Darth Vader helmet like on the basic figures but the all the other design choices are pretty much the same. The plastic bubble still goes to the edges of the card and wraps around to the back, and annoying tape still keeps it all shut.

Overall--3.5/5
If you're looking for a BARC speeder without the rip-cord action then look no further. I feel that the BARC speeder is the star of this set and I think it's what makes this set truly "deluxe". The figure is totally average in pretty much every way, so if you're solely looking for a Stass Allie figure, you might do better picking up an old Adi Gallia figure instead. And why didn't they include a lightsaber? A Jedi needs her lightsaber even if she's just riding a BARC speeder all day! Still, this is one deluxe set that actually feels like you're getting your money's worth--something that seems to be a rare thing these days.

--Photos and review by Garett Yoshimura
garett@carrotnetwork.com