30th Anniversary Collection

TACBASIC

C-3PO and Salacious Crumb

Info and Stats
Number:  
30-30
Year:  
2007
MSRP:  
$6.99
Definitive Status:  
Close
 
This figure has room for improvement and/or has a few minor flaws, but is close to definitive and worthy of display.
Suggested Hasbro Action:  
Resculpt (Low Priority)
Grade:  
8/10 Bantha Skulls
 
* Bantha Skull is compensated for any purchases made through these Ebay links.
* Bantha Skull is compensated for any purchases made through these Ebay links.
Review by: Bret
Review date: 05/01/2019

This morning we bring you a random figure from the Thirtieth Anniversary Collection.  When we recently reviewed the TAC Jawa and LIN droid, I mentioned how much I loved the line.  It was chock full of awesome characters from all across the saga.  There was a ton of value packed into these offerings as well.  Many figures were two packs, or they included large accessories.  The line featured McQuarrie concept figures, gold foil chase figures, and collectible coins.  What’s not to love?  In all the lines, the only two pack-ins that I obsessed over were the TSC hologram mini statues, and these coins.  For me, the time I spent hunting down all these things was the most engaged I’ve been in the hobby.

In the opening act of ROTJ, C-3PO was treated like a stooge.  Luke totally set him up, although it’s understandable given C-3PO’s inability to lie.  At one point, when Boushh entered with Chewbacca in tow, C-3PO was attempting to translate Boushh’s outrageous demands.  The mighty Jabba flailed away in a fit of rage and knocked Threepio to the ground.  When he got up, he had a nice slimy green splotch on his chest from Jabba’s grossness.  Apparently, C-3PO is a bit of a neat freak, and some point after the situation was diffused, he cleaned himself up.  Later on, while Luke was going around murdering everyone on the Sail Barge, C-3PO suffered the indignity of having his eye gouged out by Salacious Crumb.  He was rescued by R2-D2, who shocked that jerk faced Kawakian Monkey Lizard with an electric charge.  I have to admit that I never realized that Threepio headed for the railing of the deck of the barge with his eye still hanging out.  Makes total sense, I just never caught that detail.  You learn something new every day.

This C-3PO figure is based on previous releases.  He’s painted with the vac-metalization technique, which I wish Hasbro would (or could?) bring back.  This one doesn’t have knee articulation, which is a bit of a bummer, but whatever.  Otherwise, it’s a good base figure.  Some green slime is schmeared on the chest, to replicate Jabba’s filthiness from the aforementioned moment during the Boushh incident.  It looks great.  But to be nitpicky (because that’s what we do here) it technically is only screen accurate to that one scene.  Once the story advances, the slime has been cleaned off Threepio’s chest.  So by the time this figure gets to show off the other main feature, it becomes screen inaccurate.  That feature replicates the right photoreceptor being pulled from its socket by Salacious Crumb.  To accomplish this, Hasbro implemented a loose eye, attached to a clear plastic “cable” that would be the equivalent, I suppose, of human optic nerves or somesuch.  The other end is attached to the inside of a plate at the back of Threepio’s skull.  If the eye is in place, the back of the skull is popped out the back.  So you’d have to display the figure facing forward, so as not to see the skull piece just hanging off the back.  But when the feature is engaged, they eye pops out convincingly, and the skull is intact.  One other minor issue is that the left eye is sculpted as part of the face, so of course, the eyes look a bit different from each other.  I think if Hasbro had sculpted a separate left eye and glued it in place, it might have made the pair look more similar to each other.

C-3PO is packed together with Salacious Crumb, which has an improved sculpt over previous releases.  It’s a full-fledged two-pack, as Crumb is more than an accessory.  Not only are both characters named on the package, but Crumb has 5 points of articulation, which is just enough to add a little personality, but not really much else.  Nevertheless, the little guy interacts very well with C-3PO.  He can sit on the droid’s shoulders when standing up, or he can sit on his chest when Threepio has fallen to the ground.  Crumb’s hand is sculpted such that it can easily be posed to hold onto and rip out the droid’s right eye. 

The nitpick here is that C-3PO is designed to mimic two different scenes in the film.  The green slime doesn’t interfere with the Salacious Crumb eye gouge scene at all, it’s just not screen accurate.  However, the eye mechanism is best displayed in the gouged out option, because when the eye is in place, C-3PO’s skull is awkwardly blown out the back.  So I don’t think it works all that great in the slime scene.  Otherwise, it’s a very good C-3PO with a cool action feature, while Crumb is the best version available of that character.  Definitely consider picking this up, as you might want it for your Barge display.  I might recommend dropping the slime, or perhaps re-engineering the eye feature.  I definitely like the vac-metal, but am not thrilled with the lack of knees.  It gets a very respectable 8/10, mostly for the value.

* Bantha Skull is compensated for any purchases made through these Ebay links.
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