Admiral Ozzel (Executor Assault) - SW [S - P3] - Basic (’04 #16)

Clumsy and inept, Ozzel was the Imperial Navy officer in command of the Imperial Death Squadron prior to the Battle of Hoth. He disregarded a report of life signs on Hoth and came out of hyperspace too early, alerting the Rebels of the fleet's presence and thus allowing them to escape. For this mistake, Vader used the Force to strangle Ozzel.

It seems to take a lot for Hasbro to make the many various Imperial officers in action figure form that appear in the Original Trilogy of Star Wars. Sure, they have added a random Imperial officer here and there into the basic figure lineup, but they do it without any real consistency. The Star Wars “Saga” line sort of regrouped itself by the time the 2004 lineup was revealed. Waves were focused on a particular film and a new approach for reaching the greatest aesthetics of the characters was achieved as well. Towards the end of the 2004 lineup, Hasbro announced and released a small wave of three figures that focused on characters that featured on Darth Vader’s Executor Star Destroyer. One of these characters, Admiral Ozzel, was chosen for this wave and while the figure is far from perfection, it has multiple features that rank better than good and might even satisfy the most grumbling collector. Then again, maybe it won’t. But Admiral Ozzel (Executor Assault) is a nice looking action figure. He has a very long way to go before becoming remotely definitive, but again, we can’t discount where it seemingly shines, which sadly isn’t in that many places.

Admiral Ozzel was the greasy/oily car salesman of the Galactic Empire. He was apparently lazy and the complete opposite of thorough. When it came time to follow Darth Vader’s directive to search in the Hoth system for the Rebel Alliance, Ozzel essentially just rolled his eyes at Darth Vader and did so in half-cocked manner. In fact, he thought searching the Hoth system was such a waste of time that he haphazardly entered too close to the system out of hyperdrive, thus alerting the Rebel Alliance to their presence. For this, Admiral Ozzel paid the ultimate price and was Force choked by Darth Vader, which led to Captain Piett taking over the leadership reins to continue the mission. The Star Wars “Saga” action figure has some good points, so let’s talk a out them now. Surprisingly, Admiral Ozzel (Executor Assault) has an excellent head sculpt. The paint job is better than fair, but it's the sculpt that is the most impressive. A flawless paint job would yield amazing results. Should Hasbro update this figure in the future, they could easily reuse this head sculpt with updated paint operations and it would appear timeless. What’s more, it has a ball-socket head joint for optimal movement and positioning.

The rest of the figure isn’t anything to write home about, especially the shoulders. The two swivel shoulders make any useful form of movement impossible. Hasbro cleverly sculpted the left hand Admiral Ozzel (Executor Assault) in a cupped fashion so that you can recreate the scene where Darth Vader is choking him. OK, we admit that is a cool feature. But the rest of the sculpt leaves a bit to be desired. Admiral Ozzel (Executor Assault) has a very awkward lean. While you can pose him in a manner that diminishes this effect, we don’t understand at all why Hasbro just doesn’t sculpt ALL of their action figures so that both of their feet are firmly planted on the ground, especially those action figures with limited articulation. Were it not for this inherent lean, we would give Admiral Ozzel (Executor Assault) high scores because the sculpt is done rather well, something that Star Wars “Saga” line achieved on multiple figures even if they lack ideal articulation. Admiral Ozzel (Executor Assault) is a must-have action figure. We waited a long time to get him in the modern basic figure line and who knows if or when he will ever be updated.