PONDA BABA
STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)
What better way to demonstrate the destructive power of a weapon you just introduced than by having it used by one of your heroes to maim some poor schmoe? That’s how George Lucas does it! Honestly, in light of the whole “Greedo shot first” thing, it’s shocking that Lucas didn’t, like, digitally insert another guy in the scene for Ponda Baba to slice the arm off of, just to show he really got what he deserved. Missed opportunity if you ask me. Anyway, here’s a figure of the not slicing-off-arms-first Ponda Baba!
THE FIGURE ITSELF
Ponda Baba was released as part of the 1997 line-up for Kenner’s Power of the Force II line. He was Ponda’s second figure, after the original vintage one, and would be joined by a third that same year, thanks to the Cinema Scenes release. The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation. He was sporting an all-new sculpt at the time, but the head and torso wound up shared with the three-pack version. Of the two, this one goes for more basic and standing in its pose. It does fine. It’s certainly more accurate to the source than the prior “Walrus Man” figure, though he’s certainly got a bit of that early Power of the Force bulkiness. The biggest downside of the figure remains the lack of ability to remove his arm as in the scene, but it is what it is. His color work is more or less the same as the multi-pack version, which means it’s passable stuff. Colors match what they’re supposed to, and he’s even got a bit of subtle accent work on the jumpsuit. Ponda Baba is packed with two different blasters, one in pistol form, the other a rifle. You’ve got some options, I guess.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
Sometimes, the decision to go completist on this line is awesome, because you get to see all the neat subtle differences between two similar versions of a character. Sometimes, you end up buying a figure that’s different for the sake of different. This one is the second thing. I bought him to have him, and for no other reason. I got several years ago, and he remained unopened, because I just didn’t have much draw. I opened him purely for the purposes of this review. He’s…fine. You really don’t need him, but he’s fine.
The Figure In Question 
As an avid POTF II collector when I was a child (all of which I still have packed away, I even found all my vehicles at my parent’s house like, a year ago! I left the batteries in most of them though unfortunately) I was super disappointed his arm didn’t come off, especially when he had or would go onto get C-3PO with removable legs, and a Luke and Vader with removable hands. Have they ever, in any line, done a Ponda with a removable arm? I even picked up the Black Series one at Ollies’, and nope.
There was an extensive retool of this mold during the Saga era where the arm came off, and the Vintage Collection had a whole swappable alternate arm with the wound and everything. I don’t know why the Black Series went back to not