The Good: Amazing coloring detail, Good accessories, Wonderful articulation, Good balance
The Bad: Low collectibility
The Basics: The Star Wars Vintage Collection 4-LOM may be overproduced, but this is the last version fans will need!
For a group of characters that were seen for less than a minute on screen, there are few characters that have the iconic recognizable status as the bounty hunters from Star Wars. These characters, like IG-88, Zuckuss, Dengar, and 4-LOM were essentially background players or pieces, yet are so essential to fans of the Star Wars Saga that they are continually recast for merchandising purposes. With the latest incarnation of 4-LOM, the Vintage Collection figure, I'm ready to say "enough!" Hasbro got it perfectly right, easily usurping the prior Power Of The Force 4-LOM figure (reviewed here!). The Vintage Collection figure, despite being so mass-produced as to be unlikely to hold its value is the version of 4-LOM for action figure collectors to pick up.
For those unfamiliar with 4-LOM, it is one of the two droid bounty hunters seen briefly in The Empire Strikes Back (reviewed here!). Seen on the deck of the star destroyer Executor, 4-LOM is the robot bounty hunter seen standing next to the robed, insectoid Zuckuss when Darth Vader gives the bounty hunters their assignment.
The 4" Vintage Collection 4-LOM was completely recast from the last 4-LOM figure and granted a great deal more articulation which fixes all of the earlier problems with this droid's action figure!
Basics
The Vintage Collection 4-LOM figure stands just a hair over 3 1/2" tall to the top of its head. The figure is the bounty hunter as it appeared in The Empire Strikes Back looking like a demented version of C-3PO. 4-LOM looks like the standard protocol droid with a different, more insect-like, head. The body looks like a discolored version of C-3PO's body and the head looks a lot like Zuckuss's head. In addition to two giant segmented eyes, 4-LOM features circular ports on the front of its face which looks like it could interface through what would otherwise be the nose and mouth of the robot. 4-LOM has a lightly armored, heavily assembled appearance.
4-LOM is colored with pretty amazing attention to detail. It is a dark gunmetal colored droid with rust highlights in virtually every nook and cranny of the robot. The head is more of a sliver-gray color and that attention to detail is pretty exceptional. This version of 4-LOM even features the red stripe on its breastplate, which is cool.
Accessories
4-LOM is a bounty hunter and comes appropriately armed. This 4-LOM features only a blaster rifle. The blaster rifle is a pretty standard blaster rifle which is 2 7/8" long and looks like a rifle. It is gray and gunmetal with the gray at the trigger and butt end of the gun and the gunmetal dominating the barrel. The barrel is accented with molded vents and a support rod on the underside of the gun. The gun fits in either of 4-LOM's hands and he is molded to hold it in a two-handed grip as well.
Playability
The four inch toy line was designed for play and 4-LOM is amazing for that. This 4-LOM figure has great balance. Flatfooted, 4-LOM is solid, and because of the lower half articulation of the figure, he has incredible posing options, more than any other 4-LOM figure. As well, the holes in the bottom of his feet allow him to stand tall on any number of playsets in outlandish poses or attach to pegs on vehicles! Right now, I have mine doing a pose as if he were doing the Charleston and while the droid never could do it, this one can!
4-LOM holds up exceptionally well in the articulation department as well. It has hinged ball and socket joints at the ankles, knees, elbows and shoulders, as well as a ball and socket joint which allows a great range of motion for the head. The wrists, groin socket, shoulder cuffs and bust each have simple swivel joints. The shoulder cuffs rotate to make the shoulder socket movement look more realistic and that is a nice detail on the part of Hasbro.
Collectibility
4-LOM is part of the Vintage Collection line that was released in 2010 and it is one of the pegwarmers of the collection. 4-LOM is Vintage Collection figure VC10 and makes a pretty potent argument against overproduction. Now that fans are not able to redeem the UPC from 4-LOM for the Mail-Away Boba Fett, its price is plummeting and it is easily available on the primary market, an no one seems to want to bother with putting him into the secondary market above common cost.
Overview
Despite being vastly overproduced and leaving collectors with an essentially worthless investment, the Vintage Collection 4-LOM fixes any and all problems with earlier 4-LOM figures, making it worth buying.
For other Vintage Collection figures, please check out my reviews of:
VCP03 Boba Fett
VC01 Dengar
VC11 (Twin Pod) Cloud Car Pilot
VC22 Admiral Ackbar
VC37 Super Battle Droid
VC46 AT-RT Driver
VC48 Weequay Skiff Master
VC49 Fi-Ek Sirch
9/10
For other Star Wars toy reviews, please check out my index page by clicking here!
© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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