Gamorrean Guard - Jumbo Vintage Kenner Figures

With each successive release, Gentle Giant Ltd. continually impresses us. And we’re not exactly sure how this is possible because they’ve established their collectible formats solidly in stone. So at this point in the game we shouldn’t be expecting much new from their long-running formats. Yet newness still is brought forth by them as they cleverly think of new ways to keep their lines exciting and engaging. Take for example, the Premier Guild Member exclusive Gamorrean Guard Jumbo Vintage Kenner Figure. It is easily their best Jumbo Vintage Kenner Figure exclusive to date. Yes, you know our affection for the Gamorrean species, but not only has Gentle Giant Ltd. released our favorite Kenner figure from 1983, they’ve done so by ensuring that they catered to collectors of the classic era (1978-1985). The Gamorrean Guard is the very first Jumbo Vintage Kenner Figure to get released in the highly sought after The Power Of The Force packaging. It is one of the rarest (if not the actual rarest) figure to be packaged with a coin. Available only in Australia back in the day, Americans for the first time get the opportunity to purchase this figure with the coin (albeit and an enlarged scale) in this glorious packaging.

Both the Gamorrean Guard figure and the coin are so heavy you could probably kill someone with them. Obviously the corpulent build of the Gamorrean Guard will add some extra weight here, but we don’t think it is as hollow as many of the other rotocast vinyl used for the earlier released figures. You truly feel like your getting the full value of your money here. Admittedly, figures like Darth Vader and Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi felt so light and airy that is actually made us mad to pay the prices we did for them. Things are changing apparently and seem to be looking up, at least with the Gamorrean Guard. The figure still only has four points of articulation: two swivel shoulders and two swivel hips. But those were the good old days. The original Star Wars was about playtime and not how many points of articulation Kenner could squeeze into the sculpt and then boycott the line if we didn’t get our way. It’s hard to believe a figure of this stature was completely acceptable in 1983 and it was one of the many figures that began our army-building obsession, even without articulation in the head. An up-scaled axe has also been included to complete the figure so it matches the figure from the eighties.

So what about that coin? Man. It is huge and heavy. It’s cast from real metal and presumably molded from aluminum, just like the classic coins. The coin is a bit too shiny for our liking. If you collected the original 1985 The Power Of The Force figures, you know that although they were metal, they had a semi-dull finish to them. That has sort of been abandoned and a dark, yet very shiny lacquer finish has been applied here. The coin still looks fantastic nonetheless. And since many of us will never have the opportunity to even touch an original 1985 Gamorrean Guard coin, this is a wonderful substitute. This is a very endearing release. All of the vintage parts are in place. The paint job has similar imperfection on the Jumbo scale as it did with the 3.75” scale. And the novelty of such a rare figure getting released as a PGM exclusive shows that Gentle Giant Ltd. is committed to their band of dedicated supporters. We thank you for that Gentle Giant! The Gamorrean Guard Jumbo Vintage Kenner Figure is an absolute must-have. If you don’t want to join the PGM, then go for the general release Return Of The Jedi version. Whatever you do, just get it!