Gamorrean Guard - SW [S - P2] - 12 Inch Figures (Exclusive)

The Empire prepares to crush the Rebellion with a second, more powerful Death Star. As the Rebel fleet mounts a massive attack on the dreaded space station, Luke Skywalker confronts his father, Darth Vader, in a climactic duel before the evil Emperor. In the last second, Vader makes a momentous choice: he destroys the Emperor and saves his son. The Empire is finally defeated, the evil Sith are destroyed, and Anakin Skywalker is redeemed. At long last, freedom is restored to the galaxy.

Tough, brutish Gamorrean guards are posted as sentries throughout Jabba the Hutt's palace. Prone to violence, these slow-witted creatures are stubborn and loyal. The low intelligence of male Gamorreans is an asset to their employers, as they cannot be bribed or persuaded to betray. They order hand-to-hand combat weapons instead of blasters.

Hasbro’s 12 Inch Figure Star Wars line was more prolific than most of us gave it credit for multiple reasons. Not only were they not afraid of attacking any character from the Star Wars saga, but they also approached every character in this scale as if it was the only one they were making. Sure, there were standard buck bodies used across the board, but when it came to the head sculpts, costumes, and accessories, there was little to nothing reused. And even when they couldn’t reuse the standard body sculpt, they created an all-new one with the same care and concern. In 2003, Hasbro treated Star Wars fans to a unique Star Wars 12 Inch Figures, one of the more impressive releases to date. The KB Toys exclusive Gamorrean Guard was one of the most anticipated figures in this scale of all time, and it was all for a good reason. Hasbro developed an excellent rendition of these pig guards from Jabba’s palace, and while not entirely perfect, the spirit of the character was faithful from the portrait to the costuming to the accessories. For $29.99, an MSRP 33 ⅓ higher was a big deal. But since the Gamorrean Guard was all-new from top to bottom, the price was only an easier-to-swallow and mildly-bitter pill.

The Gamorrean Guard comes with five points of articulation. A swivel head is joined by two swivel shoulders and two swivel hips. This design is quite a departure from the multiple ball-jointed articulations we see constantly applied to the human/humanoid characters. Still, it’s understandable that Hasbro didn’t go through all of that trouble for a one-off sculpt. They instead applied the extra tooling budget on some realistic accessories and mixed media costume parts. Specifically, Hasbro added a premium furry soft-goods skirt. It’s the perfect length, and it isn’t too bushy where it sticks out away from the character uncontrollably. Faux leather straps have been added as a belt/harness and sit along the perimeter of the waist at the top of the skirt. The assembly of this figure is gorgeous. Even the details that are part of the permanent sculpt and not additional augmented accessories look awesome. The shoulder armor, the sandals, the gauntlets, and the permanently placed helmet (which is part of the portrait sculpt) are just stunningly tooled and add an amazing amount of character to this figure. The Gamorrean Guard comes with two accessories: a long-handled ax and a short-handled ax. Each has unique blades as well. They don’t fit nicely/tightly in his hands, but he can precariously hold them.

As you can see, Hasbro designed the Gamorrean Guard nicely. His stature is even nearly perfect. He is short, stout, and from what we can judge has a relatively flawless profile, and from the front view, the proportions look about right. Where the Gamorrean Guard tends to not meet our standards is in the paint operations. And by paint operations, we are specifically referring to the skin tone. His arms and legs seem more on par with the green color of the skin seen in Return Of The Jedi, but even then, they seem much too light in color. Instead of rich darker green, the Gamorrean Guard’s skin tone is closer to mint green instead. Sadly, what looks out of place is his face, where the skin tone is even lighter than his extremities. If you’re fortunate enough to possess some artistic talent, you may take it upon yourself to repaint the Gamorrean Guard yourself, but we feel that’s something that none of us should be required to do. We’re not quite sure with all of the reference material Hasbro has access to (including the reference stills they used on the packaging of the Gamorrean Guard) why there exists such a disparity in the accuracy of color. For us, it’s a big deal. We are still fond of the Gamorrean Guard; we just had expectations of being awestruck by it. That didn't happen.