Saesee Tiin - CW - Basic (’03 #51)

Begun the Clone Wars has!" – Jedi Master Yoda
On the remote planet of Geonosis, the growing conflict between the Republic and its foes explodes into all-out war. The Republic's Jedi Knights lead a massive Clone Army into battle on hundreds of planets. The Separatists, led by the powerful Dark Lords of the Sith, fight back with their own formidable droid armies. As this terrible conflict rips across the galaxy, Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala and Obi-Wan Kenobi are swept into the turmoil of war and the rising shadow of the dark side.

The imposing Saesee Tiin was a member of the Jedi Council during the final years the Republic. His master, Omo Bouri, instilled in him a strong sense of comviction, honing the Iktotchi's skill and dedication to the order to the point of near-fanaticism. True to his unswerving commitment, Tiin fought with unrelenting courage and determination in the Clone Wars, bearing the scars of battle in the partial loss of one of the dramatic horns that surround his grim face. During the Clone Wars, he demonstrated his masterful skills as a pilot.

The Clone Wars multimedia event was an extremely special time for lovers of the Expanded Universe. While there were novels and comics and other publications that began to form the story of the Clone Wars, a historic period of the Star Wars saga that until this point had never been told, it was Hasbro’s brainchild to create new versions of characters based on existing likenesses (but fresh for the Clone Wars) and introduce all-new characters for the very first time (which many believed were throwaway character concepts from the films.). Everyone knows Saesee Tiin’s character well, but between his roles in the publications and the Clone Wars micro-series by Genndy Tartakovsky, fans of this Iktotchi Jedi Master saw him in ways they never expected. The 2003 Clone Wars Saesee Tiin is a very cool action figure. The sculpt outweighs the articulation by a landslide, but he serves his purpose perfectly as a pilot that can fit effortlessly in the corresponding mid-size vehicles that were produced alongside the basic figures in the Clone Wars toy line.

Saesee Tiin comes with ten points of articulation. Sadly, all of these points are swivel articulation. This means that his shoulders have no lateral movement and can only wing up and down. The added swivel elbows and forearms are almost meaningless when the joint at the shoulders only allows the arms to move in one plane. Even more difficult, Saesee Tiin has no articulation in the legs below the hips. They have been sculpted in an awkward angle so finding a solid center of gravity is very, very difficult. With a little patience and some clever counterbalancing with an extended lightsaber, you should be able to find some really cool poses for Saesee Tiin that help to show off his fantastic likeness and overall truly excellent sculpt. Hasbro even added a soft-goods skirt in good faith to allow the figure to pilot a Jedi starfighter. What more could you possible ask for besides a little bit better articulation? Saesee Tiin is based on his appearance in the Clone Wars micro-series, so it’s awesome to get a realistically styled version of the way the character appeared in that series in the basic figure line.

Saesee Tiin is loaded with accessories. On top of a headset that gives him his Jedi starfighter pilot specificity, Saesee Tiin also comes with two removable gauntlets and two removable greaves to give him added extra protection for his battling in the Clone Wars. He comes with a lightsaber hilt and green lightsaber blade that connect to recreate a fully lit lightsaber. Collectors definitely cannot complain about the accessory count for Saesee Tiin. There are plenty of pieces added for play value for the kids and the depth and texture given to the character for collectors. Saesee Tiin has a brilliantly sculpted pouty face sculpt. The paint job is almost as good as the portrait, but the best detail on the head is the pattern on the back of his cranium. It looks like some sort of silkscreened technique was used to apply this, but whatever method they used, it looks fantastic and gives Saesee Tiin a perfect amount of personality. Saesee Tiin isn’t the greatest action figure of all time, but it’s a very interesting approach for Hasbro take on an already established character. Even if he lacks articulation, we don’t think it will be easy for Hasbro to replicate a package deal like this again for Saesee Tiin.