Captain Phasma is the only known female stormtrooper of the First Order. Allegedly a fierce and cold hearted warrior, but we never really got to see much of her in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the first Star Wars movie in almost a decade.

Originally written as a male, but was changed to female after 6 foot 3 inch actress Gwendoline Christie (better known for her role in Game of Thrones as Brienne of Tarth) won the role after fierce lobbying by her and her agent.

A lot of hype surrounding Phasma was generated after the trailers for the movie, but it seemed that Captain Phasma ended up following the ignominious faulty rocket pack arc of another Star Wars bad guy character, Boba Fett as both were extremely popular among fans and both suffered lame fates. Boba fell headlong into a toothy desert anus to be digested for a 1000 years in Return of the Jedi while Phasma was unceremoniously dumped (off screen) into a trash compactor in The Force Awakens. However, unlike Boba, Phasma is slated to appear in the new movie and hopefully take a more active role (Bandai's already announced a new figure for Phasma.)

It is similar to the First Order Stormtrooper parts except covered in chrome and it does not have the assortment of accessories such as the shield and riot baton. Unlike the First Order trooper, it does contain parts for a cape.

The kit has around 120 some odd parts (didn't get an exact count) on seven sprues: two chrome ones, one common sprue based on material similar to styrene resistant poly cap material and four black sprues including one for the cape. It also includes stickers and waterslide decals as well as a cloth cape for those prefer it over the stiffer plastic cape.

The plastic is comes as chrome and/or flat black which means that one can avoid painting the figure if so one chooses. No flash except minor mold markings that can be sanded down and polished. The detail is pretty good and it almost looks the part. However the sprue nubs will need to be sanded down and spoiling the nice chrome look.

I was disappointed that Phasma's blaster rifle comes in chrome instead of black and chrome as per the instructions which meant a lot of careful masking, priming and painting because most model paint won't stick to chrome plastic.

It all begins with the helmet. Bandai does a really good job making the helmet easy to assemble without the need for paint. Be careful as the kit provides parts for the First Order Stormtrooper but are not needed with Captain Phasma. I left it off the torso as I need to attach the cape later.

Next up is the chest and torso. I was not really happy that the sprue nubs were located along the edge as it mars up the nice chrome pieces. It is quite easy to follow instructions and I used a dab of glue to hold the parts together even though it is supposed to be a snap together kit.

The limbs is were I got really annoyed. Despite my best efforts, I ended up scarring the nice chrome look where the sprue nubs were on all the limbs. I purchased a chrome paint marker for this reason, but I found that it does a so so job on edges. I have to live the marred chrome. Oh well.

Next up I assembled the blaster rifle using CA glue instead of regular glue to eliminate the phantom seam. When it was slightly cured I sanded the seams and then polished them smooth.

First the cape pieces were masked off and the trim was painted red. The certain areas of the blaster rifle were hand painted first using Mission models black primer. Once it was dry I carefully brush painted those areas flat black. The pistol grip and the eye piece of the scope were painted gloss black. Lastly I painted the optic parts silver. The sanded off chrome areas were fixed with a chrome paint marker. The paint coverup wasn't as good as the original chrome, but it was the best I could do.

I used a couple of stickers for the fanny thermal detonator and that was it. I did not weather the model.

I attached the limbs then posed them. The cape went on next and then the head was attached. I glued the blaster rifle onto the right leg mount.  The figure was mounted on the base without too much hassle.

The chrome plating made things less than optimum for painting and touching up. No chrome paint can duplicate the chrome plating but the chrome marker is a much better choice than metallic paint. I like how Bandai has done things for the most part in this kit but they should have realized that chrome plate has its own troubles.

Another excellent Star Wars figure kit from Bandai, but this one is trickier than other Star Wars figures due to the chrome plate, but it is still a fun easy build.

This figure like all the others has to be bought via an Asian based importer as Bandai can not legally sell them here in North America due to their agreement with Disney. I have to admit that I was kind of worried when Bandai took over the Star Wars license from Fine Molds (I should have listened to the Gundam modellers who had nothing but praise for these guys over the years), but no more after building most of these kits.

Dan Lee

7 December 2017

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