My SW mini-collection has been acquired, and I have been extremely fortunate: 2 of the three kits were in the first 100 castings respectively, and the third was in the mid 300's.
A more detailed, kit-specific review will follow for each when the time comes; but I would like to share some initial first impressions...
I had heard through friends and colleagues, commenting on my tirades about the deplorable casting quality of the Marvel offerings, that while their experience with the Marvel pieces was similar to varying degrees, they were generally very pleased with their Star Wars pieces. And now as the owner of three of the latter, I would have to say they were spot on! Let's take the oldest piece of the lot, an all-metal casting. A Marvel piece approximately midway through the second half of the edition would have seen me apoplectic! And yet this piece, while showing some of the "scars" and degradation of a deteriorating mold, was more than acceptable and surprisingly clean! So much so that I am considering whether to do him as the original subject and take a pass on the conversion!
The remaining two pieces are mixed-media. Fortunately, the majority of both kits is cast in the earlier formulation of the grey PUR. While not as "clean" as the current formulation, it is a monu- mental improvement over the buff-coloured disasters I had experienced with the Marvel pieces to date! In fact, I had resigned myself to a considerable amount of work (alla Dr. Doom) on one of the kits, especially after reading numerous illustrated reviews and sbs's of the piece-in-question on-line, where the medium used was the buff-coloured resin. As it turns out, all that concern, at least as of this writing, was for naught. And I would also add that the metal portions of the kits are surprisingly clean and "true", some of the best I've seen from KM!
Did KM use a different caster for the respective lines? Why the seeming indifference towards the Marvel line--which ironically they kept?! Why weren't they more forthcoming/transparent with their travails and contre-temps in the early goings??? And why wasn't the fan/consumer base more demanding, taking them to task and holding them accountable???? As a brief aside, the same could--and SHOULD!!!--be said for the licensors!
Obviously, I've been burned too many times to offer a blanket endorsement to one line over the other. Having said that, if you want to indulge your space fantasy cravings while these pieces
are still affordably available, I would say, "Why not???!!!" Proceed with caution, but definitely proceed!
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