Joh Yowza/Sy Snootles - POTF2 [FF/TKC] - Max Rebo Band Pairs

Joh Yowza
HEIGHT: 1.4 Meters
HOMEWORLD: Endor
STATUS: Vocalist for Max Rebo Band

Sy Snootles
HEIGHT: 1.6 Meters
HOMEWORLD: Pa'lowick System
STATUS: Vocalist for Max Rebo Band

After an almost unbearably exciting 1997, Star Wars fans revealed that they had a new zeal for the Star Wars Original Trilogy. Sure, the Star Wars Special Editions were not without controversy (with some very strong and valid arguments made why they shouldn’t exist), but this media event that took up the first half of 1997 really jettisoned the Hasbro toy line to a full throttle status. Kenner was fearless when it came to making things outside of the box, especially B and C characters, and it seemed like nothing or no one was off limits. It also afforded them the opportunity to make “first time offering” characters that only appeared in the Special Edition versions of these films. Ever since the Kenner line entered the modern era, hardcore Star Wars fans wanted modern updates of the Max Rebo Band characters. Well, partly thanks to Walmart, Kenner released a three set exclusive called The Max Rebo Band Pairs. Just as the name implies, a classic Original Trilogy character was paired with a new band member from the Special Edition. The figures lacked articulation, but were colorful and had decent sculpts. But this also meant that one classic Original Trilogy character would get “left behind” because her character was recreated from the ground up for the new musical number called “Jedi Rocks” in the 1997 redo of Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi.

In short, the Joh Yowza/Sy Snootles Max Rebo Band Pairs set would contain the digital version of Sy Snootles and not the classic marionette puppet we all have come to adore. Let’s talk about the plusses here first. Both Joh Yowza and Sy Snootles have pretty nice sculpts. They truly look like the digital characters from the Special Edition. Their poses aren’t ideal; they’re posturing weird hand gestures and the like, the we imagine Kenner decided that they wanted to recreate some sort of dancing/musically inspired pose for screen accuracy. It works and it doesn’t work. You’ll have to decide for yourself. Joh Yowza and Sy Snootles are extremely colorful, perhaps to a fault. Being computer generated characters from the get go on top of having this inordinately bright color scheme only makes them feel more “fake” than they already are. Granted, it’s no secret that many of the additions to the Star Wars Special Editions are CGI, but amplifying that with unbelievable color just seems like a step in the wrong direction. Other than the brightness, the deco is spot on and Sy Snootles’ leopard skin pattern is especially eye catching and nicely applied. Interesting that the censors were worried about Chewbacca wearing pants, but Sy Snootles can go all Gloria Steinem in Return Of The Jedi, huh? (Twice no less!)

Joh Yowza and Sy Snootles were originally meant to come with instruments/microphone stands/accessories, but that was scrapped. If you watch the film, they’re using floating microphones. Perhaps Kenner didn’t want to go through the trouble of developing another “invisible” stand or maybe they just thought these characters worked best without any accessories. We’re not certain, but it probably would have paid better homage to the vintage Kenner figures if they did give Sy her classic and standard issue microphone stand. We’d also like to add that we feel that Hasbro should give us the classic version of Sy Snootles with the feather on her head. There is something about that peculiar version of her that makes her so much more believable than the Special Edition version. Also, we’re not thrilled with what Lucasfilm did with Joh Yowza. Not only does he look nothing like the puppet from the unaltered film standing against the wall, there wasn’t a need for shared lead vocals in the new musical number. We envisioned Joh Yowza to be the Star Wars version of the Muppets’ Animal, a drummer. Imagine him going to town on some space age drum kit. Wouldn’t that have worked much better? Whatever you decide, these are fun sets, even if this one doesn’t contain everything we wish it did.