Bodhi Rook

Eh, closer enough. A former Imperial pilot, Bodhi has strong piloting and technical skills that he will put to use for the Rebellion. Ever practical, but highly anxious, Bodhi must gather his courage to bring the battle to the Empire. When Rogue One came out, Hasbro inexplicably released only five of the six team members. Like, imagine a Justice League movie line that gave us Superman, Cyborg, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Aquaman, but never did Flash. In any scale! In this imaginary alternate world, Flash fans who prefer the 3¾" scale would have to buy an entire case to get him, and for 6" fans the only option would be a slightly oversized metal action figure you could only get at the Warner Bros. Studio Store. Ridiculous, right? Well Bodhi Rook may not be as fast as Barry Allen, but he's similarly awkward and in need of friends, and he's the one who didn't get a Black Series toy until now, six dang years after the fact. We know that Rogue One had tons of alternate shots and stories and unused footage that didn't make it into the final product, but hopefully some of that was about Bodhi. After getting captured by Saw Gerrera, he's subjected to a mind-probe that he's told will drive him insane. Which it does... for all of five minutes, before he's back to normal with no side effects other than some potential skittishness that may have been part of his personality in the first place. We don't know, since we never saw him before being questioned. Did other scenes expand on that? Show him struggling with space-PTSD or having any kind of lingering difficulty at all? The world may never know. It should in no way surprise you that the plastic action figure made by the company that's #1 in the industry is better than the metal action figure made by... whoever Disney hired to do the work for them? Better sculpt, better proportions, better construction... Just better. He's still wearing his Imperial pilot uniform - though in this case, since he just flies cargo, it's basically grey coveralls with a brown cargo vest he picked up at the Rebel base. He stil has the bad guys' logo on his shoulders, but this isn't some snappy military uniform designed to inspire fear, it's just a guy in work clothes. The vest is a separate piece, though you'd have to remove the toy's arms to get it off him, and that's not something you can do. And speaking of being non-removable, this figure's goggles are permanently attached, not a separate accessory like the Disney Store version. There isn't much paint to speak of here. None of the Rogue One crew are what you'd call "bright" - the most colorful member of the group is Chirrut Îmwe, the guy who dresses in all-black robes - but we do get some small silver apps on the tools he carries, and the digital face printing has really improved: it barely has that "pixel-y" look that initially defined the process. Bodhi moves as well as any Black Series figure: balljointed head and neck, pec hinges, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel/hinge elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, a balljoined waist, balljointed hips, swivel thighs, swivel/hinge knees, and swivel/hinge/swivel ankles. The elbows can bend surprisingly far, considering they're only single joints and not doubles, and the vest doesn't impede the waist too much. The butterfly shoulders will come in handy, since his big backpack thing doesn't connect via a peg or anything - it just hangs over his shoulders like a real backpack would. He's armed with a blaster rifle, but the backpack is the accessory that's going to draw all the attention. It's basically the world's biggest AUX cord, needed to help set up the communications between the team on Scarif's surface and their backup trapped outside the atmosphere. That big spool actually turns inside its frame, allowing you to reel out the cord to a surprising length - about 16" of useable string between the pack and the plug. The spike can be held in a clip on the side of the backpack, and Bodhi's left hand is curled to specifically hold that as well. The "cage" around the coil is removable, as is the actual coil itself (which is designed to look like even more cord waiting to be unspooled), though the openings are large enough you will probably be able to re-wind the cord without having to disassemble anything. It's utterly nuts that Bodhi Rook didn't get an action figure when the movie was out - if nothing else, carving him some space in those early cases would have meant fewer Jyn Ersos to hang on the pegs until clearance prices hit. This entire series of Rogue One rereleases is a "Fan Channel" exclusive, which means you can't wait for them to show up in stores; I'm glad I found that out now instead of having to try to find Bodhi in a few months when he's no longer affordable. I was fine with my tall Disney Store metal stand-in, but now that we've got a proper version, I'm pleased I didn't spend more than a dollar on the old one. -- 03/12/22

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