Lieutenant Jundland/Deena Shan - TAC - Comic Packs (No. 14)

Spoiler alert: Lieutenant Jundland is Luke Skywalker. Jundland was an alias used by Luke Skywalker during the infiltration of Kalist IV in a story found in the Star Wars: Empire: The Wrong Side Of The War. In case you weren’t aware, he adopted this name from an area outside of his home on Tatooine called the Jundland Wastes where he was attached by Tusken Raiders. Essentially, Lieutenant Jundland is Luke Skywalker in a typical gray Imperial uniform with a lightsaber. Despite this very brief appearance of Luke in the Expanded Universe, Hasbro felt is was a key sequence of time to develop a Comic Packs set. While we wouold normally accuse Hasbro of cheaping out on us by reusing as many old parts as possible, that is definitely not the case here because collectors are treated to an all-new sculpt, actually a "prepaint", of the yet-to-be-released 2008 TAC Juno Eclipse (08 15) figure…. with a change. (Editor's Note: The figure has been released.) We will go more into this detail in a moment or two. Lieutenant Jundland is equivocally the bummer figure in this two-pack, but we think the inclusion of a prerelease female Imperial commander makes this set a much better value than without it. But can we sell you this?

Lieutenant Jundland is created from an old sculpt that just doesn’t hold up well anymore. Hasbro used 2004’s SW Admiral Ozzel (Executor Assault) ('04 #16) figure and gave it an all-new head sculpt. The head sculpt is believed to be for a future yet-to-be-released version of Luke Skywalker. (Editor’s Note: This head sculpt has not been reused to date.) The swivel shoulders are useless because the arms are clinging so closely to the torso and he looks more like a robot than a human when you articulated them. He has no articulation below the hips, so you’re left with a very, very static figure that while it has a nice sculpt is just not functional in this day and age of action figures. So we’re begging for Hasbro retire this sculpt as soon as possible. To be fair, Hasbro did give Lieutenant Jundland a very good paint job. It’s a simple paint job, but the gray color used is very nice. And the fine details that required other colors are cleanly done so. His cap is removable and fits snuggly on his head. And he comes with a standard issue Imperial blaster to round him out. We wish we could say that he and Deena Shan looked good together, but unfortunately they do not. Where he lacks in articulation, Deena Shan almost lacks by having too much. (We’re kidding of course.)

Deena Shan is a wonderful action figure. She’s super articulated and loaded with 22 points of articulation. Hasbro worked in a healthy amount of ball-jointed articulation and just like Lieutenant Jundland, her cap is also removable. What’s important to note about Deena Shan is that she is a “prepaint” of the Juno Eclipse figure from the delayed The Force Unleashed wave of figures in the 30 (77-07) line. (Editors’ Note: Again, The Force Unleashed wave of the 30 (77-07) line was finally released in February of 2008.) Well, that’s what she started off as anyway. In a very short-lived running change, Hasbro updated Deena Shan by giving her an all-new head sculpt instead of just repainting the one from Juno Eclipse. As a result, there are two very unique versions of her that have been released. Besides obvious facial differences, the new head sculpt of Deena Shan now sports a large “bun” on the back of her head and her expression now looks angry. It was a generous move on Hasbro’s part to correct this error for fans. Many other “bigger” problems go unfixed so this was a nice thing to see. This Comic Packs set may not be the most exciting, but Deena Shan is worth the purchase. Just get the corrected version! it's easier to tell by looking for the hair bun, but you can tell from the front too!