Admiral Ackbar - POTF2 [R/G] - Basic

HEIGHT: 1.88 Meters
STATUS: Admiral, Rebel Alliance Fleet
CLASSIFICATION: Mon Calamari
AFFILIATION: Rebel Alliance
WEAPON OF CHOICE: Mon Calamari MC80 Star Cruiser

Hasbro opened up The Power Of The Force “2” line with most of the characters collectors expected in its first two years on the market. But if you polled most collectors, they’d likely let you know that things didn’t start heating up until the line transitioned into 'green' packaging beginning in 1997. Characters (main, background and everyone else in between) starting pouring out of Kenner/Hasbro’s floodgates at breakneck speeds from both The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi. And some of the most beloved characters that ever hit the screen were finally getting their very first modern updates. One of the most respected and revered characters, Admiral Ackbar, was high on Kenner/Hasbro’s list to produce, and they tooled a wonderful and elegant version of the character in The Power Of The Force “2” line. With a complex mottled skin pattern, and complex details in the head and neck area, Admiral Ackbar is action figure art. Because Admiral Ackbar isn't involved in a great deal of action, Hasbro developed an "off screen" weapon called a comlink blaster that fits the right hand like a glove.

Believe it or not, the accessory interacted with the character seamlessly. Sadly, no vintage Kenner baton was included, but let’s be honest. Admiral Ackbar didn’t have that accessory in the film either. Collectors were impressed with the sculpt and didn't care what was or was not screen-accurate anyway. Admiral Ackbar has a gorgeous head sculpt. It still seems like slight artistic interpretation of the on-screen character as the head is much wider than the character in the film. But we don’t believe anyone can deny how excellent the sculpting is all around. There is no question that this action figure is Admiral Ackbar. The figure is affected, again slightly, by a bulkiness that has plagued so many other characters in The Power Of The Force “2” line, but this time it is notably diminished, and the figure is pleasing to the eye as a whole. Deco is nearly perfect, and it is more than evident that a lot of thought and consideration went into how this action figure was to be painted. The tunic is colored in cream, and the rest of the outfit is bright white with yellow blood stripes running down the length of both outseams of the pants, all the way up to the figure's armpits. The yellow is extremely bright, by the way. It looks very nice.

The head sculpt is great as we previously stated, but it’s the deco that brings everything home. We will admit that the shade of color that resides somewhere within the “red” family isn’t perfect, but it is so hard to fault it because the washes, shading, and the attempt to recreated the mottled pattern on the “shell” of his head is so admirable. We are quite impressed with how everything has turned out here. The eyes are wide with huge pupils, characteristic of the Mon Calamari species.We’d also like to revisit the comlink blaster accessory. As mentioned, it fits like a glove on the left forearm (and not so well on his right arm). There is a cutout to allow for the bony protrusions that stick out away from the forearms. This is how much effort went into tooling a Star Wars figure and an interactive accessory in 1997. There is a lot to appreciate here, and collectors will love what Kenner/Hasbro did with Admiral Ackbar. Let’s talk about packaging for a minute. It's something we don’t often reference in our Research Droids Reviews, but we feel it's important here. If you’re into packaging variation nonsense, multiple versions of Admiral Ackbar exist.