Pons Limbic - TLC - Basic (BD 35)

Cantina patron Pons Limbic can calculate hyperspace coordinates in his head without a computer, a common ability among his species. Like all Siniteen, Pons has a large, ridged head that resembles cerebral lobes, giving him a super-intelligent appearance and earning him the nickname “Brainiac” by his fellow Cantina denizens.

With a cranium that may only be rivaled by Ki-Adi-Mundi, Pons Limbic is an alien with a brief appearance from the cantina in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. He even had a more visible appearance in The Star Wars Holiday Special. He has a huge protruding brain accompanied by an exquisite EU background story. Like so many of the cantina denizens, Pons Limbic is simply another background character in the entire mix but does great to express the diverse and infinite Star Wars universe. Unlike any other cantina or Jabba's palace humanoid alien, Pons Limbic is a remarkably sculpted figure wearing an olive green space outfit with a retro-styled diamond in the center of the chest which is reminiscent of the timeless argyle sweaters (which were also very popular during the same era as the film). His uniform is highlighted with brown and tan color details, and the figure itself exhibits super-articulation, very welcome but completely unnecessary for a character that isn't required to do much more of anything but sitting around. And while we are sure he drank his share at Chalmun's Cantina, he apparently has done a lot more to end up as one of the Mos Eisley locals, for he is part of the sum of the hive of scum and villainy that makes up the cantina. Pons Limbic has a blaster pistol that fits handsomely in a working holster and equally well in his hands. All the pieces work in tandem with each other, and it is overall a spectacular figure. Collectors may want to take note that the head on this figure has been found in quite a few different painted styles, from dark to light. The variations are quite dramatic, but we have been able to categorize them into two types: with and without gray head detail. Use that as a gauge to locate your sample of choice. Other than a tad loose of a head joint, we are hard pressed to find complaints with this figure. He looks cantina-worthy, and it would have been awesome if he showed us more action in the film than he did. It seems that he could have had quite a stellar moment on screen had George Lucas made him more prominent.

Most importantly, Pons Limbic comes with his cantina table. Hasbro once declared that the table accessory would be removed (along with Obi-Wan Kenobi's homestead table) and collectors became extremely upset because we had all been waiting for these accessories for years. We were however relieved when production samples started showing up with the table inside the package! Elimination of the cantina tables would have been a very tragic turn of events. Even if Hasbro told us that they would have been held back for a Battle Packs set or something similar, the danger of overlooking them and ultimately never getting released would remain a high risk. The good news is that the collective panic subsided and fans breathed a sigh of relief and started gearing themselves up for the "now" wonderfully accessorized figures. While there would be no other way to display this table, collectors may want to know that the table comes in two parts and once the two pieces are snapped together, forever they will stay. They are indeed two separate pieces, but the parts that interlock seem as if they were going to break if we used any more pressure pulling them apart. This table will assuredly add variety and detail to your cantina set-up at home, and we are confident that some collectors bought multiples of Pons Limbic to get some extra tables, (like this reviewer for example). It is accessories like these that make a $7.99 figure worth every penny, and we challenge you to prove it isn't. Hasbro won't likely keep this trend going, so we need to count our blessings now while we have the chance to purchase them. The table is constructed superbly and looks magnificent by itself, but when you add Pons Limbic, it is a perfect mini-diorama we have seen in a long time. We would be surprised if you didn't think so too. But this basic figure is packed with a lot of value, and we are so excited with its presentation.

When all was said and done, Pons Limbic ended up being one of the peg-warmers in this great wave of figures. His performance at retail is a terrible shame. It might serve as proof that some Star Wars figures will just not have mass appeal no matter what. Collectors pleaded for the cantina tables for years, and this was our opportunity to “army-build” them. But instead, we allowed Pons Limbic to flood the shelves at retail. Collector apathy makes us worry because we don’t want Hasbro to hold back on releasing more cantina aliens. We want them all produced, and we think most other fans do too. If you're a collector of Star Wars figures and have been in this hobby from the get-go, you most likely have purchased this figure already. But for those of you on the fence, Pons Limbic is excellently made and will add to the multifarious characters already in your collection. For us, he falls under the category of "most underrated action figure" because he is a figure that not everyone is picking up and should. For some reason he isn't selling as well as the other figures in this wave. And while he is made from an all-new sculpt, he is not standing out from the ones that have been made time and again. It honestly puzzles us how he doesn't have the sell through like so many others. All we know is that it is so nice to get brand new and never before made Cantina aliens even still. We would always get a few ever since the modern line started up again, but there is something truly special about getting the more obscure characters and in super-articulation mold! It is such a wonderful time to be a Star Wars action figure collector isn't it? The articulation, paint, and sculpts have reached new levels and it's so nice that Pons Limbic is a part of this new era of high standards. We hope more Cantina denizens like him are on the way soon!