The Good: Cool accessories, Good balance, Decent detailing
The Bad: Could always use more articulation!
The Basics: Lobot may be an obscure character from the Star Wars trilogy, but the Original Trilogy Collection figure does him right!
Lobot. He's one of the more obscure Star Wars characters, but one who almost always makes it into the assortment of figures when new sculpts are released and new toys from The Empire Strikes Back are considered. Like many of the Star Wars figures, he's recognizable to fans, but a little obscure for those who only watch the films repeatedly. That said, Lobot was most recently released as part of Hasbro's Original Trilogy Collection.
For those unfamiliar with the Lobot, he was seen near the end of The Empire Strikes Back (click here for my review of the classic film!), on Bespin. The chief aide to Lando Calrissian, Lobot helps Lando betray the Empire to rescue Leia and Chewbacca after Han is frozen in carbonite. The bald administrator is seen in several scenes on Cloud City, but does not have any lines.
The 4" Lobot figure is pretty impressive and because it is so well-detailed, but it is less articulated than some of the other Original Trilogy Collection action figures, which might leave some fans less impressed with him.
Basics
The Lobot action figure is a great sculpting of the obscure cyborg from The Empire Strikes Back. The figure stands 3 3/4" tall and he is dressed in the cream and blue outfit he wore while on Cloud City. That Lobot looks very clean makes perfect sense as he comes from a sterile environment and is never seen doing anything resembling grunt work. The figure is made almost entirely of hard plastic, so this is a sturdy toy.
This toy is an impressive sculpt, looking exactly like the human with the computer interface at the back of his head. In fact, only two details fail to ring perfectly true with this figure. First, the neck seems more wrinkled than any of the pictures indicate it ought to be and second, the skin tones are monotonal. Lobot's lips are uncolored and his bald head is the same monotonal white all over.
Still, the figure is perfectly recognizable as Lobot. The bald head is accented with a translucent computer panel array on the back of his head which looks awesome in the right light. In normal lighting, it is well-detailed and Lobot looks efficient, if somewhat peeved. His blue eyes look steely and have appropriately black pupils. Even the detailing of computer interfaces on Lobot's belt look realistic, which is great for the figure!
Accessories
Lobot is realistically prepared to interface with Lando and evacuate Cloud City with his communications-oriented accessories. This Lobot is outfitted only with his data pad and commlink, as well as a stand that connects with the stand from other Original Trilogy Collection figures!
The data pad is a 7/8" wide by 1/2" tall white and translucent computer terminal that looks like an open laptop. The screen it translucent and is detailed with a schematic of Bespin! The base has a keyboard that is not just molded into the base, but is colored to look like it has individual keys. The base of the terminal also has a place where the Commlink may be stuck into it! This fits into either of Lobot's hands, assuming they are oriented the right way.
Lobot also comes with the commlink, which is a 5/8" long stick which looks like a cross between a magic wand and something far more inappropriate. This is basically a detailed and colored plastic stick which is made of soft plastic that looks great in Lobot's right hand and is only a choking hazard if it comes out of the figure's grip!
The Original Trilogy Collection figures come with stands, including the Cloud City Lobot. The stand is a two inch long by one and a quarter inch wide by one-quarter inch tall gunmetal colored plastic stand. It features tabs which allow it to connect with other stands in the set and a peg which fits the hole in either of the Lobot's feet. On the stand, the figure is completely stable and posable. The stands make these figures into display pieces and this Lobot is a worthy one!
Playability
The four inch toy line was designed for play and Lobot is great in that regard. The figure is generally well-articulated and has excellent balance when off his stand. This Lobot figure comes with ten points of articulation, but Hasbro makes good use of them! He has joints at the groin socket, elbows, shoulders, wrists, neck, and waist. Like most Star Wars figures, these are all just simple swivel joints. As a result, the head of Lobot turns from side to side, but cannot nod.
This is a great figure for posing or for play. As well, it does have decent balance on or off his stand. In fact, the only pose he cannot do is sit other than straight-legged, so that's not bad.
Collectibility
Lobot is part of the 2006 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. As such, this Lobot is a distinct improvement as far as balance, detailing and accessories from the earlier Cloud City Lobot. Released as Original Trilogy Collection (2006) figure #20, this figure is a good idea for those creating an ultimate collection of each major character. It is hard to imagine how this figure might be improved upon, save with more articulation in the legs.
Overview
The Original Trilogy Collection Cloud City Lobot is a decent sculpt of a figure that has been done poorly before, but it is not quite perfect.
For other 2006 Original Trilogy Collection figures, please check out my reviews of:
001 Princess Leia As Boushh
003 Bib Fortuna
005 Luke Skywalker X-Wing Pilot
019 Cloud Car Pilot
031 Momaw Nadon
8.5/10
For other action figure reviews, please be sure to visit my index page by clicking here!
© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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