The Good: Amazing sculpt, Good accessories, Excellent detailing, Playability
The Bad: Minor balance issue, Facial detailing
The Basics: A truly great Star Wars action figure, the Kamino Escape Jango Fett is well worth any collector's time and money!
Arguably one of the reasons people love or hate the Star Wars franchise is the merchandising; fans love it because they may collect their beloved characters and ships to use for decoration or play, while those who do not share an affinity for the series look at the swag and wonder if the purpose of the Star Wars films was truly to turn the world into a massive landfill. As I approaching reviewing the second of several Jango Fett action figures, I learned of the existence of many, many more and the truth is, this is one figure that Hasbro got so close to perfect on the first take, one wonders why they bothered with multiple attempts.
The Kamino Escape Jango Fett is Fett as he appeared on the landing platform of the watery world of Kamino as he fought to escape the attentions of Obi-Wan Kenobi in Attack Of The Clones (reviewed here!). He is sculpted, ready to draw his laser pistols, shoot his grappling cable, or launch his missile from his backpack! His pose is a strong action pose and he has a bent and a straight leg, so he can be made to kick opponents or look cool flying up into the air via his jetpack! Despite being seen only in Attack Of The Clones, Jango Fett is one of the essential Star Wars characters and the Kamino Escape version is arguably one of the best to define the character. Indeed, this is a tight sculpt and it is only minutiae that knocks this out of the running to be a perfect action figure!
The 4" Kamino Escape Jango Fett figure is generally decent, but it would be even better if it stood up better and the face had more realistic coloring detail, at least with the beard (which was only stubble in the film).
Basics
Kamino Escape Jango Fett is the most armored form of the bounty hunter who was the source material for the clone army. Ready to shoot some Jedi, this incarnation of Fett is able to do virtually anything, save straighten his legs and remove his head (relevant because the character is decapitated in the film). His right leg is posed in a bent position and his left leg is extended straight, as if he was kicking. This makes it difficult for him to stand up without his arms forward to help counterbalance him. Given that he comes with two pistols, this is not necessarily either a bad look or a real defect, at least for those who want to leave their Jango in a pose, as opposed to play with him.
Jango's hands can hold the blasters that come with the figure and his helmet is removable. As well, there are two action abilities that the figure has (see "Playability") and fans are likely to enjoy the level of detail molded into this toy. Jango Fett is coiffed in the silver armor that defined his bounty hunter persona and remains one of the most accessorized figures Hasbro has produced. This is a cool bounty hunter!
The Kamino Escape Jango Fett figure stands only 3 1/2" tall (4" to the top of the backpack missile), because the character appears to be keeping a slightly lower center of gravity. Kamino Escape Jango Fett has both the blue and yellow jetpack and holsters for his guns on either thigh. This figure is made entirely of hard plastic, even for the holsters. Some of the accessories are made of softer plastic.
This toy is a decent sculpt and it is incredible in the casting and coloring details, except for the stubble on the figure's face. Kamino Escape Jango Fett looks like a cross between actor Tumera Morrison - who played Jango Fett - and Bluto from the "Popeye" cartoons. Outside the facial hair issue, Kamino Escape Jango Fett is impressive in his coloring detail . . . to a point. The detailing on the figure's face is somewhat monolithic and the skin tones are not as precise as they ought to be. Still, the figure bears the scar Fett has on his face and that is pretty impressive for the attention to detail! Given that Fett is armored and gloved, only his face is detailed and Hasbro got the rest of the coloring details perfectly right!
Accessories
Kamino Escape Jango Fett, being a powerful bounty hunter who is fairly resourceful, has four accessories at his disposal. The most recognizable accessory is Jango Fett's helmet. This silver soft plastic add-on slides over Jango's head and obscures it from sight. As a result, Jango Fett becomes inscrutable and more mysterious. The helmet is mostly a silver-gray which one would expect it to be with the blue facial paint and the blue extended antenna array. With it on the figure's head, Jango Fett is fully realized and one can see the armor before it aged and was taken up by Boba Fett.
Another weapon Kamino Escape Jango Fett comes with is a blaster pistol, actually two identical blaster pistols. These are each a simple 1" silver-gray plastic blaster which is lacking in any coloring details, though it is a good sculpt of the weapon. These fit perfectly into the thigh holsters and fit into Jango's grip with either hand. That the grips are not the appropriate black is disappointing, but unsurprising as Hasbro often did single-color accessories, though in the Attack Of The Clones line of figures they began to experiment with multiple color accessories and this one would have been the icing on the cake, had it had appropriate coloring details to the blaster pistols.
Finally, there is a launchable missile for the backpack. In the Kamino Escape scene of "Attack Of The Clones," Jango launches a missile at Obi-Wan and that may be replicated in play here with this toy. Fett comes with a 3" missile that may be pressed into Fett's backpack and by pressing the bottom, the missile is spring-launched at a target. This is a nice touch and the missile is a monolithic gray that is not disturbing as it fits perfectly with the figure for play.
Playability
The four inch toy line was designed for play and Kamino Escape Jango Fett is excellent in that regard. First, Jango has the spring loaded missile launcher that makes him ideal for play, especially in an environment with other - more static - figures. As well, the
figure's right wrist has a grappling claw and behind the claw is a six inch thread which allows Jango to launch a grappling cable and interact with other figures as well. This is neat and the mix of thread and plastic looks fine on this toy.
The pose Kamino Escape Jango Fett is in makes for a lowered sense of stability. He is gifted with only eight points of articulation and that is a little better than a lot of Star Wars toys. This Jango Fett action figure has joints at the groin socket, waist, elbows, shoulders, and neck. There is no articulation in the knees and all of the joints are simple swivel joints, including the elbows. That the arms "swing" allow for an increased number of poses and gives Jango Fett a play advantage over many other figures in the line!
Collectibility
Kamino Escape Jango Fett is part of the 2002 Star Wars saga collection of four-inch action figures. This series of Star Wars action figures was fairly common and the Kamino Escape Jango Fett figure was #13 in that collection and was in no way shortpacked in the cases. As a result, Kamino Escape Jango Fett was pretty well available in the cases of this product and as a result is still widely available on the secondary market today. Still, because Jango is a popular character and this is arguably the best version of him, this one has held his value.
Overview
Kamino Escape Jango Fett does everything one could hope from a Jango Fett figure (except allow decapitation) and its weaknesses are generally hidden through use of the very cool accessories. Near-perfect!
For other Attack Of The Clones line figures and toys, please check out my reviews on:
#01 Acklay Battle Obi-Wan Kenobi
#02 Arena Escape Padme Amidala
#10 Shaak Ti
#23 Yoda
#27 Count Dooku
#39 Supreme Chancellor Palpatine
Deluxe C-3PO with Droid Factory
Deluxe Yoda with Force Powers
Deluxe Nexu
8.5/10
For other toy reviews, please visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!
© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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