4-LOM - TAC - Basic (30 41)

A programming glitch changes 4-LOM from a protocol droid to a thief and a tracker of fugitives. Jabba the Hutt teams him with the bounty hunter Zuckuss, creating a formidable duo that successfully combines intuitive mysticism with emotionless logic.

Bounty hunters always strike a chord with collectors. And no matter what collectible form they are created, collectors and fans are always sure to scoop them up in record time. And when they get released during a landmark anniversary of the Star Wars saga, it tends to make them that more priceless to us. 4-LOM (which means "for love or money?") got an update in the 30 (77-07) line as one of the very few characters based on The Empire Strikes Back. We were severely overdue for an update as the last basic figure was released in 1997. (We aren’t counting 2006’s The Saga Collection Bounty Hunters set. That was just a slight repaint of the POTF2 figure.) Ten years later, 4-LOM gets pushed to the forefront of the lineup and Hasbro really went all out to make him current to modern standards. The likeness is pretty darn good, but we can’t help but notice that he may be a little too short for a bounty hunter. And the final colors just don’t look as good as the 1997 figure. (This comment doesn’t mean at all that the POTF2 figure is better because it isn’t. But something about that figure’s paint job makes us wish that Hasbro would have went that route instead.) Criticisms aside, 4-LOM is indeed a figure that should be added to you collections. Don’t pass on this figure because that would be a very bad thing to do.

4-LOM is an all-new figure. Hasbro built him from the ground up and he really is an excellent miniature replica of the droid we saw in Episode V. As we have stated, it is our opinion that 4-LOM is ever so slightly too short. The 2007 figure is even shorter than the 1982 vintage figure. So it is our educated guess that he is indeed a tad out of scale. This is nothing to get worked up about because the figure excels in so many other areas. Definitely not as orangey as the 1997/2006 figures, there is evidence of some rust throughout the figure’s extremely well painted body. The head is silver just like it should be and the teal/green eyes have been perfected to a near-exact shade. Hasbro left off the red dot in the center of the “nose” and because it is so hard to see in the film or in movie stills, we are unable to confirm if this was a correct move to make. We actually preferred a little bit more the wider stance on the 1997 figure. The new figure is less action oriented, but the legs seem too close together and posing them is difficult. It’s almost as if the hip articulation isn’t even needed because the cod section of the torso was designed perfectly with the legs to maximize movement. Thankfully, the figure has both knee and ankle joints and these see a lot more utilization for various posing.

4-LOM’s arms are another aspect that only slightly annoys us. While they are sculpted beautifully, they are unfortunately not as functional as they should be. The arms are attached via ball-joints, but you can’t get them to fold down against his body vertically. 4-LOM will always have his arms hanging away from his body. We suppose that this is just fine since C-3PO always walks around with his arms in a 45 degree angle, but the same will have to be true for 4-LOM also. It may seem too easy to pick apart a figure. And we don’t intend to disparage 4-LOM. We love the action figure very much but we just wish that Hasbro would think of any and all possible tweaks that would vastly improve the figure before releasing it to the masses of kids and collectors. We are reaching a point in collecting where figures are reaching definitive status with one take now (or a decent enough status where Hasbro will have no reason to revisit the figure again) so we really need to make sure that all issues are addressed before these small masterpieces get released. Even still, 4-LOM is an excellent action figure despite its shortcomings and we think it will indeed be the definitive 4-LOM for a very long time. While Hasbro can repaint it more accurate to the film version, it is so well sculpted that we don’t expect them to make an all-new sculpt any time soon, if ever. 4-LOM is a great action figure. We hope you are enjoying him in your collections.