REE-YEES

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“Even with a court full of conspirators, Jabba the Hutt never suspected Ree-Yees as a potential assassin. Ree-Yees cut a deal with the Empire to destroy Jabba, but fate would save that role for Princess Leia.”

Missed it by *that* much.  Like, do you ever think that Ree-Yees tried to play it off to the Empire like he was actually somehow responsible for the deed?  Just to see how far he could take it?  I mean, who could blame him.  Well, the Empire, I guess.  And they have a history of being less than pleasant to the people that cross them.  Don’t do it Ree-Yees, you’ve got so much to live for!  Or maybe you don’t.  I don’t really know you all that well.  I have your action figure though.  Let’s review that!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ree-Yees was released in the final 1998 assortment of Star Wars: Power of the Force II.  The final assortment was largely repacks, with the only actually new figures being Ree-Yees here and the Death Star Trooper.  Given general diminishing interest in the line at the time, as well as the heavy repacking, Ree-Yees and the Trooper were both rather rare at retail, at least at the time.  The Trooper was at least given an identical re-release as part of a weapons pack, but Ree-Yees was not so lucky, so he remained one of the more rare pieces from the line.  Of course, we’re still playing by PotF pricing rules, so he’s not exactly going to break the bank.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  His sculpt was unique to him, at least at the start.  It did wind up re-used for the Disney Parks-exclusive Star Tours version of Ree-Yees, but it’s still the same guy.  It’s actually a pretty nice sculpt.  The details are all really sharp, and it matches up well to his design in the movie.  He’s got a bit of pre-posing, but it’s not a bad set-up, and he ultimately looks pretty natural just standing there.  The figure’s color work is cleanly handled.  I quite like the metallic purple shade on his outfit; it’s pretty unique and stands out with the other figures.  Ree-Yees is packed with two different blasters, as well as a Freeze Frame slide showing Ree-Yees on Jabba’s Sail Barge.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

In all my years tracking down Power of the Force figures, I think I’ve seen Ree-Yees in the wild once?  He doesn’t show up often, and I wasn’t in a position to buy him at the time, so I didn’t, and kind of regretted it.  He’s been on my list since, but, as I neared the end, I ultimately broke down and bought him on eBay, because he was a good price, and, well, I still needed him.  He’s probably one of the stronger alien figures from this line, so he feels like he was worth the wait.