The Good: Great coloring detail, Decent accessory, Wonderful articulation, Excellent balance!
The Bad: Painting and manufacturing issues.
The Basics: Very near a perfect Star Wars action figure, the Vintage Collection Dr. Evazan action figure has a few niggling problems for detail-oriented collectors!
It is hard for Star Wars fans not to hope that the next promotion on the Vintage Collection figures is a better one than the current “COULD win a signed Darth Maul statue,” especially as many of us have been buying increasing numbers of the cool Vintage Collection figures of late. Truth be told, it is my wife who has been buying me many of the Vintage Collection figures lately and the latest is Dr. Evazan (Cantina Patron).
If you are unfamiliar with Dr. Evazan, turn in your Geek License! Dr. Evazan is the alien criminal seen briefly in the cantina scene in A New Hope (reviewed here!). With death sentences out for him, Dr. Evazan threatens Luke Skywalker before he is put down by Obi-Wan Kenobi.
The 4" Vintage Collection Dr. Evazan is the latest, most articulated, most precisely rendered version of the character to grace the toy line!
Basics
The Vintage Collection Dr. Evazan figure stands 3 7/8" tall to the top of his head and he includes more detailing – like the facial scar coloring than any prior version of the figure or even the photograph on the package! Dr. Evazan is a well-sculpted, well-colored figure that blew me away until I looked at it closer.
Dr. Evazan is one of the more human looking aliens in the Cantina. Outside his porcine nose and half his face melted away, Dr. Evazan could easily pass for human. As a result, Dr. Evazan is a pretty standard biped with a mostly human face, cast wearing a light tunic and vest much like the majority of people on Tatooine. He is wearing pants that make him look like virtually any other smuggler or scoundrel in the place with high boots as well. Cast with his vest and shirt mostly open, Dr. Evazan’s chest, hands and face are all fleshtoned. Over the hard plastic casting of the lower half is a belt with a holster attached to Dr. Evazan’s right thigh.
As for the coloring detail, the Dr. Evazan is immaculately colored . . . for the most part. Evazan’s right eye is clearly blind and appropriately lacks a pupil, while his left eye is essentially a black dot within the white socket. Dr. Evazan’s vest is brown, but dusted with black flecks to look appropriately dirty, as is his shirt. By comparison, his monotonal boots and pants are remarkably clean. Evazan’s hair and chest both have realistic depth and shading to them, making this an exceptionally well-colored figure.
That is, until one looks closer. My Dr. Evazan was plagued by two unfortunate inconsistencies. The first is that on the coloring from the undershirt goes well off the sculpted area onto Dr. Evazan’s chest. This is very sloppy, like a child coloring well outside the lines. As well, the inner left thigh had a number sequence stamped into it. This is a surprisingly deep impression and the edges to this are not smoothed and refined to minimize the number. Instead, it looks like the figure was hit on the thigh with a die and then assembled. Given how prominent this is, especially when Dr. Evazan is posed, this seems sloppy.
Accessories
The Dr. Evazan is a violent criminal and, as such, comes with his black blaster. The blaster is a 1” monotonal black piece of plastic, sculpted to look like a gun and it does. Dr. Evazan’s blaster has two scopes, which is pretty ironic considering he only has one good eye. The blaster fits perfectly in either of his hands, as well as in the holster on his hip!
Playability
The four inch toy line was designed for play and Dr. Evazan is exceptional in that regard. The Dr. Evazan figure has great balance, not tipping over even when posed in some fairly outlandish positions. The figure does have holes in the bottom of his feet to allow him to stand tall on any number of playsets in outlandish poses or attach to pegs on vehicles.
This Dr. Evazan also has amazing articulation. 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 wrists, groin socket and waist each have simple swivel joints. This is easily one of the best Cantina character figures ever made!
Collectibility
The Dr. Evazan figure is part of the Vintage Collection line that was released in 2011 and has reappeared in the primary market recently as part of one of the new assortments. Dr. Evazan is Vintage Collection figure VC57 and is likely to be the final sculpt of the character (unless he appears in a similar form on The Clone Wars). Dr. Evazan’s initial assortment was far less common and thus, he has likely already hit his peak value for some time. Investors might find this figure to be a good one to buy cheap now and hold onto for the long haul if they want it to appreciate in value.
Overview
Dr. Evazan is a good support figure for the Cantina and his quality alone makes me want to hunt down a Ponda Baba figure (or hope that that one ends up being re-released!). For a disgruntled support figure, Dr. Evazan is surprisingly cool.
For other Vintage Collection figures from A New Hope, please check out my reviews of:
VC14 Sandtrooper
VC53 Bom Vimdin
VC65 TIE Fighter Pilot
9/10
For other Star Wars toy reviews, please check out my index page by clicking here!
© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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