Tag Archives: Kenner

#3968: Death Star with Darth Vader

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

DEATH STAR with DARTH VADER

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“Designed to invoke fear throughout the galaxy, the Death Star battle station is the largest, most powerful object in the galaxy. The size of a planet or small moon, the massive weapon took nearly two years of construction in the Horuz system located in the Outer Rim Territories.  A fully-equipped array of surface weapons including turbolaser batteries, laser cannons, ion cannons, and tractor beam emplacements served as deense to the centerpiece offensive weapon — a superlaser system more powerful than the entire Imperial fleet. Capable of disintegrating an entire planet with a single pulse, the superlaser was demonstrated on the planet Alderaan during an attempt to extract vital information from Princess Leia.

Commanded by Grand Moff Tarkin, who oversaw its construction, the Death Star is in effect a self-sustaining world. it houses a crew of approximately 800,000 enlisted soldiers and officers, nearly 400,000 support and maintenance personnel, over 25,000 stormtroopers, and an additional 400,000 droids of various sophistication to assist the support staff.  Also found on the Death Star are several of Darth Vader’s specialized meditation chambers. Exactly like the chamber first seen aboard the Super Star Destroyer Executor, these compartments function as pressurized spheres offering Vader an inner sanctum.”

Have I mentioned recently how Kenner was really just trying a little bit of everything with the Star Wars license in the mid-to-late ‘90s?  Because it’s gonna come up a lot as I get into the depths of what I haven’t reviewed from Power of the Force.  1998 was sort of the height of all the craziness, with lines all over the place, any one of which could have been the straw that ultimately broke the proverbial camel’s back.  In addition to the main line, the “Princess Leia Collection,” The Expanded Universe, and a CD-ROM Game-based playset, Kenner also got into the “Complete Galaxy,” an assortment of weird little contained globe kind of things based on locales from the movies.  I think they were meant to be like Micro Machines or Polly Pocket, but scaled up (which is funny, because there were officially branded Star Wars Micro Machines already).  Largely, they seemed to justify doing another figure with each set.  Today, I look at the Death Star and its occupant, Darth Vader.

THE TOY ITSELF

The Death Star with Darth Vader is one of four sets that make up the “Complete Galaxy” sub-line of Star Wars: Power of the Force.  They were part of the single 1998 assortment.  This set was unique in not being an actual planet-thing (I guess…Endor’s hard to classify), and also being the only one from A New Hope….technically.  Why technically?  Well, while the Death Star itself is very clearly its first movie design, when you open it up to view the “playset” inside, you get a version of Vader’s hyperbaric chamber, which makes its debut onboard the Executor in Empire.  I suppose there *could* have been one onboard the Death Star, but it’s certainly not something we see in the film.  Questionable accuracy aside, the interior is a neat enough set-up.  There’s a swiveling chair for Vader to sit in, and a console behind him, as well as an arm affixed to the top part, which can hold the top portion of his helmet for him.

The included Vader figure is a good indicator of the majority of this set’s figures, which is an overwhelmingly “different for the sake of different” figure.  He stands a little over 3 3/4 inches tall and  has 8 points of articulation.  His construction is fairly similar to (though notably different from) the Gunner Station figure, especially with his added knee articulation.  The details on this one are once again leaning into the Empire designs, with the robes running under the shoulder armor.  The biggest change-up is that his hands are turned to the side, so as to better rest on the sides of the chair.  His head is shared with the figure from the Board Game release, with its removable dome.  It’s all topped off with a cloth cape, which is better for letting him sit in his chair.  The color work is the basic Vader set-up for the most part, with the addition of the visible skin under the removable dome.  The application is generally pretty clean, and about what you’d expect for the line.  Apart from the removable dome, he’s got no other accessories, notably missing  his lightsaber, though I guess he couldn’t hold it anyway.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

These are one of those oddball parts of Power of the Force that I completely missed when the line was new.  I’ve seen them a few times since, but there’s not a lot of uniqueness going on there, so I skipped them a bunch of times, until I finally realized that I might need to get around to finally picking them up.  Vader was the first one that ran past me after I decided to finally get them.  It’s fine.  The globe thing is an odd gimmick, but I guess it’s fun enough.  The included figure is sort of middle of the pack, but I suppose it could be worse.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3964: Airspeeder with Airspeeder Pilot

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

AIRSPEEDER with AIRSPEEDER PILOT

STAR WARS: EXPANDED UNIVERSE (KENNER)

“A series of publications called The Art of Star Wars unveiled how a group of artists whose talent for intricacies revealed a far-away galaxy that continues to capture the imagination of Star Wars fans everywhere. Several versions of the Incom T-47 airspeeder, also known as the snowspeeder, were created before deciding on the definitive model seen in The Empire Strikes Back. This vehicle was designed and built based on several production sketches by artist Ralph McQuarrie.”

Following up on last week’s exploration of the “Expanded Universe” line’s vehicles, I’m doing…well, more of that.  Just really exactly that.  Yeah.  That’s it.  There were three of them.  I’ve looked at two.  Now, here’s the third.  Pretty cool, right.  Okay, here’s the Airspeeder and its accompanying pilot.

THE TOYS THEMSELVES

The Airspeeder with Airspeeder Pilot is the last of the three vehicle sets that accompanied the “Expanded Universe” sub-line of Kenner’s Star Wars: Power of the Force II, released in 1998.  This is yet another set based on Ralph McQuarrie’s concept work, and, much like last week’s Cloud Car, the Airspeeder is another Empire concept, the first draft of what would become the Snowspeeder in the final film.  The Snowspeeder isn’t a huge vehicle in the final film, but it *was* a two seater, where as the original design was meant only for a pilot, with no gunner seat.  As such, the ship’s about half the size, making it a tad smaller than the Cloud Car, though it’s a bit boxier and fuller than that design.  There’s actually still a lot of the final design present here, especially as it relates to the general shaping, making it pretty easy to tell what this was meant to be.  Like the Cloud Car, the Airspeeder gets a spring-loaded pop-out feature, where the rear engines go upward to make more distinctive wings, but I prefer it in its standard configuration.  There’s some decals to be applied to the vehicle to give it some of its smaller markings, and it also gets a missile for use with the launcher mounted on the underside of the vehicle.

The Airspeeder Pilot is, I guess, an early take on the updated Rebel pilot garb from Empire, presenting a more distinct deviation than we saw in the final product, ultimately creating something that feels more in line with what was ultimately worn by the ground troops.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  He doesn’t feel quite as diminutive as the other two pilots from this line, though he’s still a *little* small.  While the Cloud Car Pilot kept with the illustrations more stylistically, this figure is once more back to the general Power of the Force aesthetic.  That said, I do think it works a bit better here than it did with the smaller speeder pilot, and is just generally a nicer sculpt, with a lot of smaller work, and a surprising amount of character in the face.  The color work is easily lost, since it’s a lot of white, but it works out okay, and I do like the little splash of red and blue on the shoulder.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m pretty sure I picked this set up at the same time as the Cloud Car.  I don’t remember much about getting either of them beyond that, and they’ve both been sitting in my office unopened since then, for at least a couple of years.  Like the Cloud Car, I opened this one for the purposes of writing the review.  I’m once again pleasantly surprised by the final product.  I think the Speeder Bike’s lackluster nature just really soured me on the whole set of these, which is a shame, because the other two vehicles and their matching figures really are just a lot better.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3960: Cloud Car with Cloud Car Pilot

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

CLOUD CAR with CLOUD CAR PILOT

STAR WARS: EXPANDED UNIVERSE (KENNER)

“Cloud cars are atmospheric vessels that employ both repulsorlifts and ion engines, filling the important gap between airspeeders and starfighters. Functional in many ways, twin-cockpit, patrol cars escorted the Millennium Falcon and her crew onto Cloud City during The Empire Strikes Back. It was here that Darth Vader had Han Solo frozen in carbonite while Princess Leia, Chewbacca, and C-3PO were held prisoners of the Empire. This single cockpit cloud car was designed and built based on production sketches found in The Art of Star Wars; its brainchild was renown Star Wars artist, Ralph McQuarrie.”

Back in early 2021, I wrapped up the last review of the standard “Expanded Universe” figures from Kenner’s Power of the Force run.  I was, however not *truly* done with the “Expanded Universe” sub-line, because in addition to the nine standard figures, there were also three smaller-scale vehicles, each including their own unique figure.  The slight switch up there is that, rather than go proper Expanded Universe, the vehicles were all early concept designs.  Thus far, I’ve reviewed one of those, a fact I almost forgot because I found the set so “meh” that it continues to leave virtually no mark on my memory.  Perhaps today’s offering will fair a bit better?  I sure hope so.  Here’s the Cloud Car and its associated pilot!

THE TOYS THEMSELVES

The Cloud Car with Cloud Car Pilot was released alongside the rest of the “Expanded Universe” sub-line of Star Wars: Power of the Force II in 1998.  As noted in the bio, this set is based on illustrations by Ralph McQuarrie as part of Empire’s pre-production, making it, I believe, the earliest McQuarrie-based item in the toyline.  This was the largest of the three vehicles, though not by a ton.  It’s about 6 inches long and about 4 inches tall.  While the Cloud Cars seen in the final film are a rather odd twin cockpit design, the initial look was a more conventional single-seater.  It’s actually not a bad little design, with a very fun futuristic vibe that’s very clean.  It doesn’t feel like it’s totally out of place with the final design, either, so perhaps it was still there, just elsewhere?  It certainly feels like more of an older, Clone Wars-era design.  The toy does a nice job translating it, and working in a number of fun playable features, so it can be fully collapsed or deploy the wings.  It’s even got a rather clever missile launcher design, which isn’t too obvious or silly.

The Cloud Car’s pilot is a unique figure, and not really at all like the established Cloud Car pilot from the film, largely because he’s not actually based on a pilot design, but rather a more generalized Bespin citizen, presumably an early version of the Bespin Guards.  The figure stands just shy of 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Like the last pilot I looked at from this line, this guy feels a bit small compared to the rest of the line.  Of course, he also feels like he’s from a different line entirely, just in terms of styling.  He’s more angular and cartoonish, again a bit more like a Clone Wars character, or perhaps Rebels.  In contrast to the Rebel Pilot, I feel like this stylization helps him to keep the original charm of the design, making for a generally more entertaining figure.  His paint work is a bit of a departure from the usual Star Wars shades, making it rather eye-catching and different.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t recall much about this set, or really much about getting it.  I know it was part of a larger purchase, and more than likely I grabbed it at the same time as the other vehicle I was missing.  It’s also been sitting unopened for a good while, continuing the theme of all of my recent Power of the Force reviews.  There was more reason this time, because the speeder bike was so underwhelming, and I just wasn’t sure about this one.  I’m happy to say, this one’s a pleasant departure from the earlier set, and I actually found it to be an immensely enjoyable set.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3956: Wampa & Luke Skywalker

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

WAMPA & LUKE SKYWALKER

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Sometimes, your sci-fi adventure series needs cool, original monsters, and sometimes, it really just needs a pretty standard issue sort of monster that everyone understands.  The latter is well represented in Star Wars’s Wampas, a race of Yeti/Abominable Snowman types that are a pretty natural fit if you’re confined to an ice planet.  Hey, what’s the antagonistic force here? Oh, yeah, it’s exactly what you’d expect it to be!  Solid.  No notes.  The Wampa’s a good choice for toy coverage, since it’s a good basic design, from a memorable and punchy sort of scene from the movie, and also pairs well with a Luke Skywalker variant, as is the case today! 

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The Wampa and Luke Skywalker were one of the 1998 Creature Sets in Kenner’s Star Wars: Power of the Force II line.  It followed up on the Empire-inspired Luke and Tauntaun set from the prior year, and also paired off with the similarly Empire-inspired Han and Tauntaun set from the same year.

WAMPA

Making his debut in the revived line was the Wampa.  He’d shown up in the vintage line as his own stand-alone creature release, but this one started the trend of packing him with a Luke figure, which would become the standard approach going forward.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has a rather minuscule 3 points of articulation.  There’s the shoulders and the waist, and that’s it.  And even the shoulders are kind of spotty, since the right one is just a cut joint, to allow for removal like at the end of his scene in Empire, and the left has a spring-loaded swiping feature that’s a bit limiting.  So, not a lot of posing is what I’m really getting at here.  The sculpt here is rather big and imposing, but also rather on the soft side in terms of detailing.  Though rather cartoony, the original Kenner figure had some pretty sharp detailing, especially on the fur.  This one, less so.  He’s at least a bit more accurate to the Wampa prop from the movie, or at least what we can see of it.  His paint work does the usual Wampa thing of being inexplicably heavy on the accenting, making him look like he’s got splotches of something brown in his fur.  Not the best look.  The rest of the work is fine, though, so it’s not all bad.

LUKE SKYWALKER

This was the third time Luke showed up in his Hoth gear in this line.  There was the single and the one with the Tauntaun, both of which are his pre-attack look.  This one’s the only post attack one, which makes it a bit more unique, as he was the first of his kind.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation, which may seem normal, but it’s slightly skewed.  See, he doesn’t get waist movement, but he *does* get an articulated face covering, so that it can swivel to look like he’s hanging upside down.  It might be more practical if you actually had something to hang him from, but it’s a cool touch nevertheless.  Otherwise, his sculpt is rather similar to the other two Hoth Lukes, as you might expect.  He’s a little sharper on the detailing, though, and also has the expected changes, with the removal of the goggles, and the addition of the scarring to his face.  In general, I’m a fan of the new set-up.  The paint is again very similar to the others, which makes sense from a consistency standpoint.  He’s packed with his lightsaber, which is the same standard one used multiple times throughout the line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember the Tauntaun set at retail, but this one kind of slipped under my radar as a kid, displaced by the Saga era release.  It wound up being the second to last of the Creature sets I located (I still haven’t actually gotten the last one), pulled out of a much larger collection of Power of the Force figures.  As with so many of these things I’ve been reviewing lately, it’s been sitting unopened for a lengthy amount of time, but I finally did it in preparation for this review.  Hooray for me!  The Wampa’s fine.  He works as a display, but I can’t say he’s thrilling.  The Luke’s actually really nice, and the best of the three Hoth Lukes, so that’s a quiet victory there.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this set for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3952: Ronto with Jawa

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

RONTO with JAWA

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Given it was the line running when the movies were released, Kenner’s Power of the Force II makes up most of the admittedly pretty small selection of toys based on the Star Wars Special Editions.  Mostly, the focus was on the new CGI creations, with a specific focus on the new creatures the movies had to offer.  Some of the creatures were new just replacing pre-existing models, and could serve as updates to older figures in a pinch, but there were also completely new ones, which includes today’s focus, the Ronto!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The Ronto was released in 1997 as a later addition to the first year of Star Wars: Power of the Force II’s Creature sets.  As with the other two sets from that year, the set’s based on A New Hope’s Special Edition, pairing off one of the new CGI creations with a standard figure, in this case a Jawa.

The Ronto was, as noted in the intro, completely crafted for the Special Editions, added to the background of the Mos Eisely Spaceport scene.  It was modeled on one of ILM’s Brachiosaurus models from Jurassic Park, and was nicknamed “Bronto” during production.  George Lucas, in one of his most Lucas-y moments, just dropped the “B” off the name for the official name.  The figure stands about 9 inches tall and has moving legs.  The neck joint is connected to the rear leg, so you can make it “move” that way.  You can also move the ears and horns, for a little bit of variety.  The sculpt is…well, it’s a dinosaur with a different head, which is appropriate to the source material, so good for them.  The sculpt has a nice selection of texturing on the skin, which gives it a realistic vibe.  The color work on the figure has a fair bit of accenting, which helps to showcase the strengths of the sculpt.

Included with the Ronto is a Jawa.  This was the third of four Jawas released in this line.  He’s very similar to the carded Jawas from the main line, with the single hip joint and the light piping.  Scaling wise, he’s right between the two of them, and his sculpt also sort of feels like an averaging of the two sculpts.  It’s a little lighter on the texturing than those two, but still gets a lot of respectable work, especially given the smaller scale of the figure.  The coloring of the figure is a little more on the washed out side, landing closest to the smaller of the two standard Jawas.  It also means we get two of each shade, if you’ve got all four, which is cool.  The Jawa is packed with a small blaster pistol, which was missing from mine, a fact I can definitively confirm because I opened it just prior to taking the pictures for this review.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t buy this set new, because I honestly don’t remember it existing when it was new. It wasn’t until going back to look more into the line as an adult that it even really came across my radar.  I ended up snagging it during a Star Wars Day sale at Cosmic Comix about 5 years or so back.  As you may have figured out from the main body of the review, it’s been sitting on the shelf unopened for all of that time, as I only just opened it the night before writing this review.  The Ronto’s a cool, big creature thing, which is nifty, and the Jawa is different, but still a very fun additional Jawa for the line-up.

#3940: Max Rebo & Doda Bodonawieedo

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , , ,

MAX REBO & DODA BODONAWIEEDO

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Thus far this month, I’ve dedicated my weekly Star Wars reviews to looking into members of the Max Rebo Band, so it can’t come as a terrible shock that I’m continuing that today, especially given the as to now lack of, you know, the guy what the band’s named after.  He’s kind of important, right?  Good ol’ Max?  Funky blue elephant looking guy? Guy who, per the Robot Chicken sketch, has a gig tonight? That’s the guy.  And he’s even here with a not-Greedo-playing-a-clarinet guy.  So, let’s wrap up the band and take a look at these two today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Max Rebo and Doda Bodonawieedo are the third and final of the three “Max Rebo Band Pairs” two-packs released as a Walmart-exclusive Star Wars: Power of the Force II offering in 1998.  Once more it pairs an original band member with one of the additional embers from the special edition.

MAX REBO

The centerpiece of this whole thing, Maximillian “Max” Rebo (or “Siiruulian Phantele” as was his original name in the pre-Disney days) was portrayed in the original film by puppeteer Simon Williamson, who was originally meant to play a different band member, who didn’t work out for production.  Rebo was of course offered up in the vintage Kenner line, which did its best to interpret him in figure form based on what little we see of him in the film.  As such, he was made a more humanoid character, with legs hiding behind his instrument, as opposed to only having legs, which he uses to play.  This was adapted into other sources, and became the standard for the pre-Disney era depictions of him, which included this figure.  The figure stands about 3 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  His articulation is generally pretty restricted, but he at least does get decent motion on his shoulders, which is good for posing with his instrument.  The sculpt on Max is really great.  It matches his design well, and works in plenty of texturing on his skin, giving him that proper “guy in a rubber suit” feel.  Rebo’s color work is fun, with his bright, vibrant blue implemented well, and the accenting adding a nice pop to the general look of the character.  Max is packed with his red ball organ, a rather extensive and elaborate instrument that he can be slotted into the middle of.  It’s by far the most impressive instrument included here, and honestly one of the line’s most impressive accessories in general.

DODA BODONAWIEEDO

The rather silly name “Doda Bodonawieedo” was first introduced to this Special Edition addition to the band with this very figure, which is pretty nifty, while also still being silly.  Doda is one of two Rodians added to the band in the Special Edition; the Greedo design was one of those distinctive ones, so it makes sense to give it a bit more play.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  His movement is the standard stuff for the line, but like Barquin, he’s rather preposed, in order to hold his instrument properly.  The sculpt’s a nice one, capturing the Rodian head design really well, as well as working well with his outfit and posing.  Again, a lot of similarities to Barquin in this area, which I can certainly dig.  His coloring keeps the usual green for the Rodians, contrasting it with reds and oranges, which helps him stand out pretty nicely from the rest of the band.  Doda is packed with his own instrument, which apparently is just a “horn” with no fancy space name or anything. It does gets some pretty neat paint work, so that’s pretty cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I found the other members of the band, the only one *not* present in the collection was Max himself, which was sort of humorous, but also quite annoying.  I’ve been keeping tabs on loose Max Rebos ever since, but wasn’t having much luck.  I ultimately found the most economical choice was just buying the pair sealed, so I wound up with a spare Doda.  Honestly, it was pretty well worth it, because Max is so very, very cool on his own, and the band is just that much cooler with him included.  This is a set I’m really happy to have finally gotten to complete.

#3936: Barquin D’an & Droopy McCool

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , , ,

BARQUIN D’AN & DROOPY McCOOL

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

In terms of on-screen musicians, the Star Wars Original Trilogy’s really just got the two main contenders: the cantina band from the first movie (officially named “Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes”) and the band from Jabba’s palace (the Max Rebo Band).  The Nodes are all members of the same species, the Bith, while the Rebo band was more eclectic, with each of its three members being from a separate species.  The special edition surmised that two great tastes might taste great together, so amongst the new members added to the Rebo band was a Bith by the name of Barquin D’an, who got figure treatment alongside original member Droopy McCool.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Barquin D’an and Droopy McCool are the second of three two-packs released as part of the “Max Rebo Band Pairs,” a Walmart-exclusive Star Wars: Power of the Force II offering from 1998.  It continued the theme of one old and one new that split across all of the sets.

BARQUIN D’AN

Though the race was totally absent from the vintage line, Power of the Force II did okay by the Bith, with the mail-away figure that could act as the Modal Nodes if you got enough, and also this guy.  In-universe, Barquin is Figrin’s brother, and may or may not also be present at the cantina, just not playing.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  The Nodes got elbow and wrist joints so that all of the instruments could be used, but Barquin is sculpted specifically for one instrument, so he’s a fair bit more restricted.  His sculpt’s not far removed from the mail-away figure, especially the head, but there’s some subtle differences.  The body’s more notable, with a more svelte build, and Barquin’s more unique attire.  It’s also a bit more accurate to the source, since the source was still very recent and easily accessible at the time.  His color work’s generally minor, but the accenting on the head in particular is very nice.  Barquin is packed with his kloo horn, which is molded in gold and gets a nice rustic sort of finish, which makes it feel very used.

DROOPY McCOOL

Okay, so before I get into the main thing here, I was looking at the Star Wars wiki for info, and in the very short two paragraph entry for Droopy, there’s a specific note that his body releases a “vanilla-like smell.”  That’s such an odd main point, but it’s right there.  I feel like if you’re gonna assign one Star Wars character a smell, you gotta do them all, right?  Well, the figure smells like plastic, so there’s that.  Droopy was included in the vintage line, with a figure based on generally the same look.  This one was…different?  Like, not really majorly so, but different.  The figure stands just under 3 3/4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation.  His movement is greatly restricted by his sculpt.  Mostly, it’s just there for minor attunement so that he can stand and hold his instrument.  You aren’t getting much variety out of this one.  The pose is at least a good one, though, so it’s hard to complain too much.  The sculpt’s honestly pretty strong.  His vintage counterpart was very soft, but this one has a lot of texture and creasing, and looks very unique on the shelf with the others.  His color work makes a lot of the sculpt as well, with accenting to bring out the many folds and wrinkles in the skin.  It’s quite dynamic, and makes it much easier to see details that would have otherwise fallen to the wayside.  Droopy is packed with his chindinkalu flute, which fits very nicely in his hands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like last week’s set, I was able to snag these two loose via a trade-in at All Time Toys a little over a year ago, after being on the lookout for the band for a decent while.  Of the new additions to the band, Barquin’s always been my favorite, largely because I just think the Bith are a cool design, hence my similar love of the Nodes.  He’s a basic, but still neat figure, and I like seeing the different approach to him, versus the Nodes.  I didn’t expect much of Droopy, but he’s very unique, and I think he’s got a fun presence on the shelf.  Of the three sets, I find this one to be the most balanced, and I do really like that.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3933: Sy Snootles & Joh Yowza

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , , ,

SY SNOOTLES & JOH YOWZA

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

First appearing during the Jabba’s Palace sequence of Return of the Jedi, the band that would eventually be known as the Max Rebo Band was a three-piece band, and one that was never named on-screen.  The first names they got were courtesy of Kenner’s original toy releases, where they were collectively named as “Sy Snootles and the Rebo Band,” with the main name hailing from Sy Snootles, the band’s front and center singer from the movie.  The first Special Edition release added new members to the band, and Sy was ultimately given a bit of a downgrade, with Max taking the official front man spot for the group as a whole.  There were three band pairs released by Kenner in their Power of the Force run, and today, I’m looking at original front performer Sy Snootles and one of the new additions, Joh Yowza!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Sy Snootles and Joh Yowza are the first of the three “Max Rebo Band Pairs” released by Kenner in 1998 as part of their Star Wars: Power of the Force II line.  The pairs were all exclusive to Walmart at the time.  This set in particular has the notoriety of being the only totally CGI character-focused one, so there’s that.

SY SNOOTLES

As one of the original members, Sy was portrayed in the original film by use of a puppet.  For the Special Edition, she was re-designed to allow for more expressive and modern (at the time) effects-driven approach.  She’s ultimately a lot more cartoony, which is okay enough, and does at least make this a more drastically different figure from the original.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and she has 5 points of articulation.  Though she gets the basic movement, it’s generally pretty restricted.  A lot of that’s to do with the preposed nature of the figure’s sculpt, since she’s been given a rather sassy pose, which feels pretty in keeping with her characterization.  Despite not being very posable, the sculpt is nevertheless a pretty nice one.  It matches the design from the movie, and there’s also plenty of texture work, especially on the reptilian looking skin.  Sy’s color work also matches well with her film appearances.  It’s admittedly a bit of a departure from the usual Star Wars colors, especially the predominantly brown-based shades of Jabba’s palace.  The application’s pretty cleanly handled, and she even gets a little bit of accenting on her outfit.  Sy is without any accessories, though she was originally shown with a microphone and stand.  Since she doesn’t use them in the movie, though, they were dropped before release.

JOH YOWZA

Joh was added for the Special Edition, and is an entirely CGI creation.  He’s pretty much the epitome of the “annoying CGI creations that jump in front of the screen and make noise.”  So, you know, he’s not particularly well-liked.  It doesn’t help that he doesn’t much *look* like a Star Wars character, but hey, that’s just how it is.  The figure stands about 3 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation that are even more pointless than those on Sy.  He’s really pre-posed, and exactly what that pose is supposed to be is…unclear?  I don’t know.  The sculpt does a good job of capturing Joh’s design, whatever your opinion of said design might be.  It’s got some interesting texture work, and if nothing else, the face is certainly expressive.  Joh’s paint work was pretty involved, with a fair bit of accent work going on.  The fur work in particular works pretty well.  Like Sy, Joh is without any accessories.  There was a third-party instrument made available, for people that didn’t want empty hands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My family didn’t really shop at Walmart in the ‘90s, and without access to the internet as it is, I didn’t really know about these sets until much later.  They’ve been on my want list for a good long while though.  I had the opportunity to grab most of the band members loose via a trade-in to All Time Toys about a year ago, which is how I got both of these.  Of the three sets, this one’s definitely the weakest.  Neither figure is really much in the way of playable, and Joh in particular just isn’t really impressive by any metric.  Still, they’re not terrible in the slightest.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0045: Jawas

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , ,

JAWAS

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Yesterday’s proper review looked at one of the droids of the Star Wars universe, and also discussed a bit of confusion regarding the Jawa Sandcrawler.  For today’s Flashback Friday Figure Addendum, there’s no confusion, at least that I know of, but there sure are Jawas!

Kenner’s Power of the Force II was a very important to my toy collection. The line first hit in 1995, when I was 3 and just beginning to get into action figures. Needless to say, I ended up with quite the selection of figures from the line. One of my favorite subsets of creatures from the original Star Wars was always the Jawas. For some reason, I just love those little guys! So, today’s review covers POTF II’s release of those.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The Jawas were released as part of the 1996 assortment of POFT II figures. They were released as a pair to make up for their smaller stature. The taller one stands about 3 ¼ inches tall and has 5 points of articulation. The shorter one is about 2 ¾ inches, and has 4 points of articulation. In both cases, I’m counting the neck as a point of articulation, but there isn’t very much motion that can be gotten out of either. The sculpts are both pretty good for the time. The taller one is a little bit more detailed, but that’s not too surprising given the difference in size. However, the smaller one still has some very nice detail work. The paint on the pair is fairly basic, but everything is cleanly applied, with no noticeable slop on either figure. Both figures also have a light-piping feature, which allows their eyes to light up. It’s a bit obvious where the clear plastic is on the heads, so I could see some people being annoyed by this. I’m not really bugged by it, but I chalk that up to nostalgia.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t remember exactly when or where I got this pair, but I know it wasn’t too long after I got Dagobah Luke. If I recall correctly, they were bought for me by my Mom, while we were out on an excursion together. I always really liked these figures, and I do seem to recall the taller one getting a spare lightsaber, and thereby being a Jedi-Jawa!

Incidentally, my brother Christian had a quick comment about these figures while I was reviewing them:

“This figure likes to go MARTINI too many damn times. I don’t see why they made this figure. It’s a piece of SHIET! Why do I need to feel bad about my life when I already have the war to care about?”

Yeah, he’s a bit on the strange side…

This was only my second Power of the Force review here on the site, run about a month after my first.  It’s honestly rather brief, but it does at least cover all the major points.  I did, however, do an acronym for Power of the Force within the body of the review, which I would very much not do these days.  Also, I got the letters in the acronym wrong.  Yikes.  Also included was a sort of “micro review” from my brother Christian, who was, I believe, 13 or 14 at the time?  I wrote this one while on a road trip, and he stole the laptop from me for a moment.  It’s….well, it’s something, isn’t it?  *Not* included was any mention of the accessories included with these two, largely because I honestly forgot they ever had any.  There were two blasters included, one a rifle and the other a pistol.  They’re basic, but not bad.  The rifle’s definitely the more Jawa-esque of the two, but I don’t mind having something for both of them.

#3929: Death Star Droid with Mouse Droid

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , ,

DEATH STAR DROID with MOUSE DROID

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“A Death Star Droid approaches what appears to be a routine prisoner relocation. The two stormtroopers are actually Han Solo and Luke Skywalker conspiring to rescue the imprisoned Princess Leia.”

In the original Kenner Star Wars line, amongst the many droids offered was the Death Star Droid…or a figure labeled the Death Star Droid. In actuality, it was one of the droids seen in the Jawas’ sandcrawler, right down to the screen shot used on the box and everything.  In Kenner’s defense, both the droid from the sand crawler and the Death Star are RA-7 models (which is a translation for they used the same costume).  They would also fix their mix-up two decades later, under the late-run of Power of the Force II. 

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Death Star Droid was released in the Fan Club assortment of Star Wars: Power of the Force II in 1998.  He’s the last non-R2 and 3PO droid released in the line.  The figure stands just under 3 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  He was an all-new sculpt, which wound up re-used a few times down the line for various other RA-4 figures.  It’s similar in its styling to the C-3PO molds from the line, which makes a fair bit of sense.  It’s a solid sculpt, with pretty clean line-work, and it’s pretty accurate to the design seen in the movie.  The coloring on this guy is notable, largely because it’s, you know, actually accurate to the movie.  It’s actually really fun, because the whole thing is vac-metalized, and it’s got multiple shades, so he looks especially eye-catching and slick.  The Death Star Droid is packed with another droid entirely, the Mouse Droid.  It’s a really simple, single piece thing just molded in simple black plastic.  It’s also way over scaled for the line.  But, it’s also really neat, and who doesn’t love a Mouse Droid?  Somebody probably, but I can’t trust their opinions; they don’t even like the Mouse Droid.  Also included is a Freeze Frame, showing the Death Star Droid as it wanders past a disguised Luke and Han.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, I recall having the actual, vintage, incorrect Death Star Droid.  I did not, however, have this one, because the whole, you know, not released at retail bit.  Of the four Fan Club figures, he’s the one that was always the most intriguing to me, so I was pretty happy to find him sitting on a dealer’s table at Ocean City Comic-Con last year, and for a good price at that.  Of course, then I waited like 10 months to open him, because I don’t allow myself to enjoy nice things.  He’s good.  Really fun, really slick, and pretty unique.