2021 is the 50th Anniversary of Lucasfilm Ltd. and Hasbro has been releasing quite a few Star Wars figures in conjunction with the milestone. Well, perhaps I should say re-releasing as most of the figures so far have been re-releases in new packaging. There's new stuff coming out, though, like the hard (impossible?) to find Target exclusive Clone Wars figures and the Fan Channel exclusives based on the Star Wars Legends books. Previously known as the Expanded Universe, the Legends stuff is composed of pretty much all of the Star Wars comics, novels, and video games released before April 25th, 2014. Disney has borrowed many characters, ideas, and concepts from the EU/ Legends material and Hasbro seems to enjoy mining it, too. Announcing Jaxxon T. Tumperakki in the Black Series was a pretty bold move. Firstly, this guy has long been one of the strangest Star Wars characters of them all and sort of a punchline of a character. Secondly, it's pretty crazy that this guy appeared in the Black Series before appearing in the 1/18th scaled Vintage Collection. The 6 inch Black Series is clearly Hasbro's favored scale now (it's mine, too) but it definitely seems kind of wrong to deny the 3 3/4th inch lifers a figure who has been around and who has been requested in toy form by fans since 1977 (he first appeared in issue #8 of the Marvel Star Wars series). He's here, though, and I'm pretty thrilled. I figured we'd never get him! Let's hop to it and check out Jaxxon after the break...
The Packaging:
* The Lucasfilm 50th Anniversary figures have lots of unique packaging designs and the figures from the EU/ Legends canon are actually the coolest. Well, I should comment that Jaxxon has recently entered into the New Canon, though, and has appeared in a few places. This box is designed on his appearance in IDW's Star Wars Adventures comic series and shows a more cartoonish design for him. The box is similar to the box for the Skywalker Strikes Luke figure and reminds me of the packaging for the Galoob Micro Machines Expanded Universe sets from 1997/1998.
The Positives:
* If there's a part of Jaxxon that's going to be controversial (besides his general existence) it will be his headsculpt. Hasbro went with a look for the character that's less green Bugs Bunny/ Bucky O'Hare and more like an alien you'd expect to see in the background of the Cantina. I think they did a nice job here and his leporine features are still prominent but less exaggerated. The ears are awesome, though, and I like his facial expression. He looks like the scoundrel he's supposed to be.
* Jaxxon comes with two blaster pistols. They look like standard DL-44s to me. Nice sculpts but no paint apps.
* Both blasters fit perfectly in the holsters on Jaxxon's left and right hips. If these holsters are reused from a previous figure I'm not recognizing it.
The Negatives:
* Jaxxon's forearms are molded in the light gray plastic of his gloves with the forearms painted red. The match isn't perfect with the rest of his suit, however, and I actually had some paint stuck in the joint that I had to clear up before I could get his right elbow to move.
Still waiting on my EE order to ship :|
ReplyDeleteI never dreamed he'd be immortalized in plastic. I would LOVE to see him on a Retro/Vintage Collection card as he would have appeared in the Kenner days.
He's popped up in a couple of comic stories since the great EU flush so I think he's canon again :D
He definitely is canon now. He's in the From a Certain Point of View book from The Empire Strikes Back. That series has definitely brought some of the most fringe characters into canon, which is kind of cool.
DeleteI remember seeing this guy in the comics when it first came out. Crazy that Hasbro finally made him. Pretty darn cool.
ReplyDeleteHe's definitely been one of the figures I never thought we'd see. I remember him always being a joke character on top 10 lists and such for years and years. It's cool to see him finally realized.
DeleteI kinda thought he'd have bigger feet, although I've seen him drawn both ways.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point. In some of the original Marvel issues and in the Galaxy of Adventures comics his boots seem to be a bit longer with larger feet while the covers and most modern art depictions do give him regular sized boots. I honestly didn't even think about it as I usually think of his appearance on the covers first. I imagine Hasbro went with regular boots to keep from having to tool new feet.
DeleteIt's a redesign on the lower body - that's why the feet are a little off but I know/dig what your talking about.
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