Monday, February 11, 2013

Awesomely Overaccessorized, I Finally Get The Vintage Collection Gamorrean Guard


The Good: Wonderful coloring detail, Awesome accessories, Good articulation, Great balance, Surprisingly good use of non-plastic elements, Collectible value
The Bad: Overaccessorized, Helmet falls off easily, Puffy bottom.
The Basics: While the Vintage Collection Gamorrean Guard is currently a good investment, I find myself unimpressed with it in many ways.


Sometimes, I get really excited when I make an action figure “find.” In the case of the newer Star Wars Vintage Collection Gamorrean Guard, I missed their initial release – though “missed” might not be accurate; I saw one, was somewhat unimpressed by the fibrous bottom of the figure and opted to hope it might go on clearance – and they were bought up (exploded in value is another way to phrase it) before I could get one. They are now part of a whole line being blown out by Hasbro and I just picked one up on sale at Toys R’ Us with another Return Of The Jedi figure and I am pretty impressed by it.

For those unfamiliar with the Gamorrean Guard, they are the green porcine characters found guarding Jabba The Hutt’s palace in Return Of The Jedi (reviewed here!). As a guard in the employ of Jabba The Hutt, the Gamorrean Guard was basically a dumb brute, which is probably why the Rancor ate one of them so easily!

The 4" Gamorrean Guard was completely recast from the late-90's Power Of The Force figure in the 2011 Vintage Collection and it is now surprisingly easy to find (making me very glad I waited to get mine!).

Basics

The Gamorrean Guard figure stands 3 3/4" tall to the top of his helmeted head. He is an alien who is wearing partial armor and a furry bottom.

This toy is an impressive sculpt, with the fuzzy “cloth” (non-plastic) element being not entirely terrible for the figure. In fact, my only complaint with the fuzzy bottom was that it was made with either fibers that were too long or of a material that was too light, which makes it stick out quite a bit more than it ought to. The figure features armored shoulders and leather armor on the creature’s chest with belts and harness straps made of softer plastic. The Gamorrean Guard has a removable helmet that comes off exceptionally easily.

The figure has a perfectly sculpted porcine face with exceptionally detailed teeth and jowls. The coloring is rich with green and brown shading that is perfectly accurate to the character. This is a great-looking figure, despite the non-plastic elements, from top to bottom!

Accessories

The Gamorrean Guard works for Jabba The Hutt and thus needs weapons and the figure comes with a couple. The Gamorrean Guard comes with two axes and a staff. The axes are 2” and 2 1/8” long. Both have brown wood-grain in appearance handles and silver-gray blades. The axes fit in either of the Gamorrean Guard’s hands and look great there based on how textured and color-detailed the blades of the axes are.

The staff is similarly well-detailed in the colors. It is 4” long and has incredible surface details to look like a vibrating, dangerous ax weapon atop an elongated staff. It fits in either of the Gamorrean Guard’s hands and is long enough to actually look good in a two-handed grip!

Playability

The four inch toy line was designed for play and the Gamorrean Guard is exceptional for it. First, the figure has decent balance. Flatfooted, the Gamorrean Guard is pretty solid, but when moved out of a flatfooted position, the figure falls over most of the time. Still, the holes in the bottom of his feet allow him to stand tall on any number of playsets in outlandish poses or in more threatening poses as befits his station and position.

The Gamorrean Guard holds up incredibly well in the articulation department. He 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 shoulder joint is inhibited by the armor on the top of the shoulders, but Hasbro made an effort, which was nice. The wrists, groin socket and midriff all have simple swivel joints that provide the figure with more than enough posing options to make the figure worthwhile!

Collectibility

The Gamorrean Guard is part of the Vintage Collection line that was released in 2011 and was re-released late in 2012, so is easily available now. The Gamorrean Guard is Vintage Collection figure VC21 and it easily replaces the Power Of The Force or subsequent Gamorrean Guards. Right now, this looks like it has peaked as far as value goes and is coming down again.

Overview

The Vintage Collection Gamorrean Guard is a good addition to a complete Star Wars action figure collection, despite the helmet falling off easily. Fortunately, it is now inexpensive enough to stock up on to truly flesh out one’s Jabba’s palace play scenario!

For other Vintage Collection figures of characters from Return Of The Jedi, please check out my reviews of:
Endor AT-ST Crew
Ewok Scouts Two-Pack
VCP3 Boba Fett (Mail-Away)
VC09 Boba Fett
VC22 Admiral Ackbar
VC48 Weequay Skiff Master
VC64 Princess Leia (Slave Outfit)
VC65 TIE Fighter Pilot
VC87 Luke Skywalker (Lightsaber Construction)
VC88 Princess Leia (Sandstorm Outfit)
VC89 Lando Calrissian (Sandstorm Outfit)
VC90 Colonel Cracken
VC91 Rebel Pilot (Mon Calamari)

9/10

For other Star Wars toy reviews, please check out my index page by clicking here!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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