12"
Gamorrean Guard
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I reviewed this big
bad boy a couple weeks ago at Yakface.com, but Coheteboy did a great guest
review as well. Take it away! For
years now Hasbro's line of Star Wars foot-longs have been a hit and miss
with fans and collectors alike. But one thing you can count on is that
they will provide you with both short and tall characters. Now at
last, they have provided fans with the fat to go with the skinny.
The Gamorrean Guard, a pig-like creature that keeps watch at Jabba's Palace,
has finally been given the 12" treatment. And due to his enormous
girth, this new KB Toys exclusive is given an extra large box to contain it,
as well as a higher price tag. The Gamorrean Guard has been a personal
favorite of mine since I was a child watching Return of the Jedi, and it
brings me heaving joy that they finally brought this to the shelves.
But even with today's technology, this pig guard is not all that it could
be.
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Packaging - ***
Hasbro has improved upon the packaging since last year by using sturdier
cardboard and using a standard box shape. The box also benefits from
the improved design and graphics. Both the left and right side of the
box features different stills from the film, which I applaud them for doing.
The back of the box offers some good detail of what's included as well as
some information of the Gamorrean gear. The bubble is nice and open,
giving carded collectors a great view of the product. As effective as
the packaging is for containing the figure, it still leaves something to be
desired visually. But it is certainly better than where they were at a
year ago.
*My guard was shipped from the online site and it came in perfect condition.
I won't guarantee that everyone will be as fortunate, but I just had to
share that I had no problems with KBtoys.com shipping methods.
Sculpting
- ***1/2
Hasbro's been known to be much
better at sculpting helmets and aliens than their human characters, and the
Gamorrean Guard does not disappoint. The figure actually has more
sculpting work than most other 12" figures since it's completely new:
the head, arms, body shape, and legs are all unique to this figure.
Where most 12" figures would have cloth apparel, some of the gear here
is sculpted on making this more of a large counterpart to the 4" line.
All in all, the sculpt is terrific.
Paint - *1/2
The paint application is damn near.... horrid to be completely honest.
Where the sculpting was top notch, the paint fell way down in priorities.
There are times when I wish I was a good painter so I could improve upon
some figures or even repair damage that was done. This, my toy
collecting friends, is one of those times. It isn't hard to see what
is so wrong with the paint job. Heck, they even provide two samples
from the film of what it is SUPPOSED to look like. This figure is SO
close to being a 12" replica of everyone's favorite
man-in-a-pig-costume but falls flat into the slop that it probably eats.
The colors on the face are so poorly applied (not to mention inaccurate),
and we can't dismiss the solid plain dark area applied around the eyes...
making it look more like a Gamorrean Bandito. Even the mouth area is
completely void of real detail. It really does show in a figure of
this size when something is done half-assed. Shame on you Hasbro!
This was so close to being perfect, yet so far away.
On the plus side, the shoulder armor and gauntlets are painted pretty
decently and some wrinkles in the legs are done fairly well.
Articulation - **
Let's pretend that the 12" figures are just action figures for
giants. They shouldn't contain any extra points of articulation from
being bigger. The people who buy these toys don't really care about
posing the characters in cool positions with other figures. All they
want to do is have toys that stand there doing absolutely nothing.
:::sigh::: I know it sounds like I'm being extremely hard on this
figure, but it really is disappointing when the 4" version of the
figure can rotate at the waist when the 12" version cannot.
Heck, the 4" figure can even SIT DOWN! For $30 + tax (and
shipping), I expect to have not only a large figure for my collection but
I also expect it to do a whole lot more (like juggle and ride the bike).
There are seven points of articulation total on old Gammy: Neck,
shoulders, wrists, and thighs. The legs do not move too far forward
so any thoughts of a Kung-Fu fighting guard is completely out of the
question.
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Accessories - ***
Gamorrean Guard comes with two different axes. One vibro axe even has
some blood detail painted on... not expected from Hasbro, but it looks cool
nonetheless. Both axes are sculpted very nicely but do not fit in his
hands incredibly well.
There is one extra accessory, which is the outfit. While the helmet,
sandals, shoulder armor and gauntlets are all part of the sculpt, the main
body suit is part cloth, part fur, part pseudo-leather. The look of
this body suit really is something done very nicely and the fur on the lower
portion is awesome. The belt is also seperate and holds together quite
nicely.
Value - ***
This KB exclusive is retailed at $29.99, which is $10 more than the standard
12" figure. The KB exclusive clones were priced at $24.99, so to
pay $10 for this larger Gamorrean Guard isn't too unreasonable.
Overall - ***
As disappointed as I was with the Gamorrean Guard's paint and
articulation, I can't dislike the figure, being the Gamorrean Guard fan that
I am. The scale of the figure is impressive when displayed with the
rest, and the sculpt is superb - catching the guard's disgruntled lazy
expression exactly. If there was a 12" exclusive to sell well I
hope this one is it. It would be great to see Hasbro put out more
12" figures of this scale and hopefully they'll pay more attention to
the paint next time.
Where to Buy -
The Gamorrean Guard is a KB Toys
exclusive and can be found both in the stores and online for $29.99.
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Figure from the collection of
Coheteboy.
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