The Good: Great sculpt, Good posability, Good collectible value
The Bad: Accessory is a little small, Coloring is backwards.
The Basics: A surprisingly cool, obscure alien from Return Of The Jedi, the Jabba's Sail Barge J'Quille is a figure worth buying from the Original Trilogy Collection!
I swear, sometimes the toy manufacturers throw a figure into the toy line just to please the die-hard fans who feel they have bought enough skinny, short Leia figures or aliens and droids that make them feel like they are not getting their money's worth. After all, when one is shelling out the same amount for two figures and one is bigger and heavier, they tend to feel like they are getting a better value! That is how it is with the J'Quille figure.
If you are unsure which Star Wars character J'Quille is, you are not alone. In fact, I only know who he was from a puzzle I had as a kid that had various aliens from Jabba's Palace on it! J'Quille is one of many furry aliens seen servicing Jabba The Hutt's court in Return Of The Jedi (click here for my review of the film!). The giant, furry creature is seen in the background on Jabba's Sail Barge as well and it is one of many aliens that fleshes out the full Star Wars universe.
The 4" J'Quille figure is pretty impressive, but the only J'Quille figure to date is unfortunately colored, robbing it of perfection!
Basics
The Jabba's Sail Barge J'Quille is a great sculpting of the obscure alien from Return Of The Jedi. Here, he is cast in all his shaggy glory with only his belt bags and fur. The figure stands an impressive 4 1/8" tall and he made to look solid, furry and somewhat menacing! The figure is made entirely of hard plastic, even the bags which hang from his (or its) belt.
This toy is an incredible sculpt, looking precisely like J'Quille from the background of Jabba's Palace. What that means is that he has a fairly large head and huge tusks that come out of his lower lip. J'Quille also has clawed feet, three claws for nails on his hands and beady little eyes that are entirely black. The only costuming detail J'Quille possesses are the bags which hang off his belt and they are cast remarkably well to look like they have thin bindings and flaps which could open (but do not).
In fact, the only detail the Jabba's Sail Barge J'Quille figure falls down on is the coloring aspects of the figure. J'Quille is seen in Return Of The Jedi as a shaggy tan-furred creature. While it had undertones of brown or black fur, it was predominately tan. Sadly, the figure is predominantly brown and it looks terribly unrealistic as a result. This is problematic because the face of J'Quille is the correct coloring and actually has amazing surface details colored on like spots on the forehead as well as darker skin in the recessed ridges of the character's face. The teeth of J'Quille are appropriately white and its claws are impressively darker brown and look bony.
Accessories
The J'Quille is realistically armed for a bounty hunter or scoundrel alien in Jabba's Palace. As such, J'Quille is armed only with its large blaster rifle. The blaster rifle was created for J'Quille and other Jabba's Palace aliens and, rather improbably, the gun looks a little small in its huge claws. As it stands, it is a 2 3/4" long black plastic blaster rifle which has a pretty unique-looking laser clip attached to the top of the weapon. It has great surface details including an extended, wider barrel which makes it look even more menacing as a firearm. It is cast entirely in black plastic and does not include any additional painted details.
The Original Trilogy Collection figures come with stands, including the J'Quille. This stand is the standard 2 1/2" by 1 3/4" gunmetal colored plastic stand which was universal to most of the figures in the 2004 figure line. J'Quille comes with two tabs and two slots so the stand may be attached to other stands in the assortment. The stand has a single peg to fit in either of the holes in the bottom of J'Quille's feet. On the base, J'Quille is appropriately solid.
Playability
The four inch toy line was designed for play and J'Quille is most impressive in that regard. The figure is wonderfully articulated and has excellent balance when off his stand. J'Quille has great articulation and the figure is designed look large and menacing and he does that quite well! As part of the Original Trilogy Collection, J'Quille represents a significant step up in terms of figure articulation compared to what had come before. This J'Quille figure easily becomes the ultimate J'Quille in terms of sculpt with its ten points of articulation!
J'Quille has joints at the groin socket, shoulders, elbows, wrists, neck, and waist. All of the joints are simple swivel joints and all work well, save the head which features molded shaggy hair which inhibits movement beyond a few degrees. Even with that limitation, this is a great figure for posing or for play!
Collectibility
The Jabba's Sail Barge J'Quille is part of the 2004 Original Trilogy Collection four-inch series, a series of Star Wars action figures that was not very common at all, but largely recast figures that had been previously released by Kenner. Hasbro sought to improve the old figures by having a greater attention to detail, coloring and accessory detail and proportion. J'Quille was one of the few unique figures in the assortment and became highly coveted, quickly exploding in value as a result. Released as Original Trilogy Collection figure #09, this figure is a good idea for those creating an ultimate collection of supplemental characters. It is hard to imagine how this figure might be improved upon, save with more attention to the coloring details.
Overview
The Jabba's Sail Barge J'Quille is an incredible sculpt that has a cool accessory that it is articulated enough to hold in an interesting way. Were it not for the coloring being off (and rubbing collectors' noses in it by featuring the correct coloring on the action figure's picture on the card), this would have been a perfect obscure alien figure from Hasbro!
For other Star Wars action figures, please check out my reviews of:
12” Lando Calrissian doll
Bespin Guard (Power Of The Jedi)
IG-88 (Saga Legends)
8/10
For other toy reviews, please check out my index page!
© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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