The Good: Good flexibility/poseability, Good sculpt, Cool accessory
The Bad: Oranges fade, Still not terribly flexible, Better recasts since.
The Basics: Once upon a time, the 1999 Power Of The Force Greedo action figure might have been considered a perfect figure, but now it has been recast and the orange vest Greedo wears fades.
Age is a strange thing when it comes to toys. It makes collectible toys more valuable and it exposes the flaws in the manufacturing processes. In 1999, as Hasbro took over for Kenner in the manufacturing of the Star Wars action figures, fans were impressed that the new recasts of things like the Stormtroopers (reviewed here!) and Jawas (reviewed here!) were being made in proper proportion and included sound chips that allowed for a bonus fans did not previously have. I know I was excited by the Greedo action figure in this Power Of The Force line . . . at least until I broke it out again for review. Now, the figure's selling points seem less impressive and the orange vest the figure wears is now faded to a pale peach that almost matches the yellow racing stripes on Greedo's jumpsuit!
For those unfamiliar with Greedo, Greedo is the bounty hunter in A New Hope (reviewed here!) who is sent to get Jabba The Hutt's money from Han Solo. Instead, he ends up as a casualty from Han Solo's blaster.
The 4" Greedo figure recreates the Rodian with more flexibility than things like the 2009 Limited Edition Hallmark Greedo ornament (reviewed here!), but with only bending knees as a functional selling point improvement over the original 1996 Greedo, it is hard to continue endorsing this one!
Basics
Greedo is a Rodian, a green alien with big black eyes who was originally a latex mask character in A New Hope. The 1999 Power Of The Force Greedo stands 3 7/8" tall and features the reptile (or amphibian, it's not clear, though the character does not look slimy in the film or figure) in his green and yellow flight suit. Greedo is cast with his snout, black eyes and elongated fingers looking precisely like he did in the movie. The figure is cast with textured ribbing on the sides of the flightsuit to make it look slightly puffy and insulated, which is a good detail. This Greedo also features realistic bumps all over the head and pointed ears. The antennae and feelers over the back of the head are molded to be proportionate to the rest of the figure. So, this Greedo is molded to look good. His orange vest is cast in soft orange plastic and is open at the front. As a cute detail, opening the figure's vest reveals a hole molded into the character's chest where Han Solo shot him!
Greedo is colored decently given that Greedo was, in actuality, a monotonal latex mask character in A New Hope. This Greedo features very simple colors, but one of the decent aspects of it is that the character's eyes are glossy while the skin and suit are a matte finish. Unfortunately, while not giving Greedo realistic depth or shading is forgivable, the fact that the orange on the boots has faded slightly and the vest has faded excessively is not. Greedo's vibrant colors have muted and this figure has been in a sunless environment for almost ten years! As well, the burnt hole in Greedo's chest lacks the appropriate coloring for a burn or flesh wound like he received.
Accessories
Greedo is a slow-moving bounty hunter and thus comes with only his blaster and a Commtech chip. Greedo's blaster is a fairly generic looking pistol weapon that looks overlarge in either of his hands. It is a 1 1/8" long monotonal black plastic tube that has the appropriate vanes and barrel rings to make it look like a gun. It does not have any detailing to make it distinctly Greedo's and he does not have a holster to hold the weapon when it is not in either of his hands.
In addition, this figure comes with the standard CommTech chip for this series of figure. Starting with the "Episode I" figure line, Hasbro toyed with action figures that spoke to those who took them out of the package. Thus, each figure came with a chip that featured an image of the character and a voice chip. When placed on the CommTech reader and read, the CommTech player would play dialogue from Greedo on it. This chip speaks in the Rodian gibberish that was translated to the phrases "Going somewhere Solo?," "Jabba put a price on your head . . ." and the death threat that justifies Han shooting first. The chip utilizes the actual dialogue from the movie, so it sounds perfectly like Greedo.
Playability
The four inch toy line was designed for play and Greedo is fair in that regard. This version of Greedo is slightly more articulated than the original and less articulated than the current resculpts. This Greedo, for example, has the ability to bend at the knees! As a result, this Greedo can sit at a Cantina booth and menace Han Solo. Greedo's balance is very good because he features knee articulation which allows him to be flatfooted in a variety of positions.
Greedo comes with eight points of articulation, all of which are simple swivel joints, save the knees joints which have hinge joints. Greedo has joints at the knees, groin socket, shoulders, neck and waist.
Collectibility
Greedo is part of the Power Of The Force four-inch series, a series of Star Wars action figures that was incredibly common. This later series, with the Commtech chips, was hardly overproduced, and Greedo was one of the harder ones in the first new wave of "retro" figures to be harder to find. Even so, because there have been newer Greedo figures produced with even more realistic coloring, sculpting, articulation and accessory proportion, this Greedo has continued to depreciate. It is not a good investment figure.
Overview
Despite my generalized loathing of figures which combine the cloth and plastic elements, I am much more likely to recommend a more advanced Greedo action figure than this Power Of The Force Greedo, as the manufacturing seems to be flawed and the figure is not as flexible as newer ones are.
For other Star Wars: A New Hope figures in the "Power Of The Force" line, please check out my reviews of:
Death Star Gunner
Cantina Aliens 3-pack
Garindan
Death Star Escape 3-pack
Luke Skywalker In Stormtrooper Disguise
5/10
For other toy reviews, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!
© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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