Ody Mandrell (With Otoga 222 Pit Droid) - EI - Basic

For unbelievable speed and hair-raising action, there is no better sport than Podracing. At the Boonta Eve race, Ody Mandrell's luck runs out during a pit stop when a pit droid gets sucked into his massive engine and shot out the back.

There is typically no middle ground when it comes to Episode I and podracing. Fans either loved the long, long scenes from The Phantom Menace or they abhorred them. And then when it comes to the podracing pilots, the opinions are even stronger. Some love the irregular shape and size of these humanoid pilots while others question why they look so different from the standard humanoid aliens we normally see in the Star Wars universe. But when it comes to Hasbro, they seemed to have an affinity for both right from the start. Producing no less than four podracing pilots in the Episode I line (including Anakin Skywalker but excluding pack-in figures), the Episode I line was off to a healthy start by including these quirky and sometimes entertaining characters. Although a healthy dose of podracer pilots came pretty quickly in the Episode I line, they soon trickled off. Perhaps Hasbro realized that they couldn’t produce all of the corresponding podracers and decided that scaling back was the way to go instead. Either way, the ones they did make turned out pretty delightfully. And Ody Mandrell (any relation to Barbara maybe?) was one of the highlights in the lineup.

Ody Mandrell (With Otoga 222 Pit Droid) basic figure release not only offers collectors quality, it also offers value. On top of a nicely designed sculpt and an extremely beautiful paint job, Ody Mandrell technically comes with another whole action figure – this time an Otoga 222 Pit Droid. We’ll get to that Pit Droid in a moment. Despite his very alien features, Ody Mandrell is humanoid in stature with very thin limbs and a bulbous head. His skin is very colorful as its base shade is a light violet color with sweeps of yellow outlined blues creating a smooth yet distinct contour around his larger head. He may be a bit too big for the action figure line (based on how small he seems in the film), but he looks great in the Episode I line. His outfit is simple, but detailed very nicely. The multicolored skin tone is evident throughout his body where he isn’t covered by clothing. As far as accessories are concerned, he comes with a removable cap (with built in clear goggles) that is very easy to take off and on him. When fully assembled, Ody Mandrell is ready for the races! He has just an “alright” center of gravity if you’re patient enough to figure out where it is. But he will fall down easily if bumped. His feet are just too narrow to support the weight evenly.

We tend to appreciate the appearance of the standard Pit Droids found within Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, but we can’t say that we’re fans of the Otoga 222 model. This is the droid that you get with Ody Mandrell. It’s a pretty standard droid apparently, but it looks like it is missing its head. What we all have to remember here though is that the Otoga 222 Pit Droid just accompanies the Ody Mandrell figure here. It’s an extra and it didn’t cost us anymore to get it. So from that perspective we’re quite happy with the inclusion of it. The Otoga 222 Pit Droid is fully articulated too which is an incredible bonus. It comes with two swivel shoulders and two swivel hips. What’s more, its limbs are removable so you can easily recreate a scene where it gets sucked into the exhaust of a podrcaer and get annihilated from the engine. We’re especially impressed with the paint job it received as well. It is actually more impressive that Ody Mandrell’s paint job and Ody has an incredible one. That’s how good it is. Ody Mandrell (With Otoga 222 Pit Droid) comes with a CommTech chip. He speaks in his foreign tongue, but the packaging translates what he’s saying in English for you. We suppose that is a nice benefit with this release as well.