The Last 17: Is Amanaman The Man…aman?

 
Kenner Name: Amanaman

Modern Name: Amanaman

Vintage Release: POTF 92-Back (1985) [No. 93740]

Does It Exist In The Modern Line: YES

Does It Exist In The Vintage Collection: NO

Does It Exist In The Vintage Collection On Its Debut Card: NO!!

Latest Modern Release: Power of the Jedi (2001)

Is The Modern Release Good Enough: NO

Review: Amanaman with Salacious Crumb


Everybody, all together now:


Good. Now I hope you have that infernal song ear-wormed like I have ever since I started the photography for this article. I'll probably be involuntarily singing it all weekend. I feel like my work is done here, and I can just end the article now. Nah, I'm just tickling your funny bone. I'll keep going.

Even though I looked over the back of the POTF card in the store as a kid, I either didn't notice Amanaman or had forgotten he existed. I didn't truly lean of the figure's existence until 1995 when I saw a carded sample at a comic shop. Can you believe they were asking $200 for it? THE NERVE! I had no idea what I was looking at. I did not recognize this character from the movie. Remember this was when home viewings of Star Wars was still limited to pan and scan VHS tapes which didn't pause clearly. Amanaman slipped my radar up until then. Plus I didn't really start obsessing about identifying every character in every scene until the modern line reached 1000 figures.

It didn't matter that I didn't know where this character appeared, I was in love with this bizarre creation. I didn't even know what it was. Is it some sort of zucchini monster? Is it supposed to be an anthropomorphic banana slug? It didn't matter. I had to have one in the modern line especially when I researched where to find him on screen, which is embarrassingly obvious (albeit dark in the first scene). I just never noticed him. My eyes were alway drawn to the quarter ton of Baragwinian bad news standing across the corridor.

When that chance came to add Amanaman via the first ever Fans' Choice poll I was thrilled. And because the community always thwarts my dreams, they voted for Ellorrs Madak. Which promptly became an epic peg warmer (presumably because Hasbro overproduced it). But fear not! Amanaman won the second Fans' Choice...and promptly peg warmed. This time was because fans balked at the figure being placed in the deluxe line at the then exorbitant $10 price point (basic figures were $6).

I have to admit that aesthetically, the POTJ figure looks really good. But the figure itself just doesn't work. It has early ball jointed shoulders that are difficult to work. The rest of the gangly arms are preposed at weird angles, and the figure absolutely cannot hold its staff. We need a new one, and I continue to say that the 1985 line should be tapped if Hasbro ever does a figure HasLab. Do a limited run on the original POTF cards to partially fund the tooling as HasLab exclusives, and then re-release the figures on episode cards in main line. Additionally, an Amini (Amanaman's species) appears in the teaser trailer for The Mandalorian & Grogu, so perhaps the character has a little momentum.

Hey, perfect content week for the first time in a while. This is what happens when there are fun things to talk about (and Hasbro provides the content for one of the days). Manah Manah!

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