In the 45 year history of Star Wars figures, we’ve had some silly ones.  The vintage Kenner line had the bizarre Walrus Man and Hammerhead.  The modern line has certainly had it’s share of silliness with the likes of the WWE Superstar Rebel Fleet Trooper and the constipated Throne Room Luke.  There’s also the “so bad that it’s a must have for comedy reasons” SAGA Mace Windu. We’ve yet to review that figure here, but you can see it at our friends from Galactic Figures.  This Power of the Jedi (POTJ) Bespin Security Guard ranks somewhere behind those in the nonsense department.

At the time, we desperately needed a good Bespin Guard in the line.  The only other one we had was this turdtasitc figure, which was obviously sculpted and tooled during the POTF2 era, from the POTJ Carbon-Freezing Chamber (please note that I don’t remember if this predated the main line guard or not):

(click for the full sized image)

Considering that the modern line was into its sixth year, and we didn’t have an acceptable Bespin Guard, there was pent up demand.  Then Hasbro did the unthinkable.  Despite the fact that at no point during the two hour and four minute runtime of The Empire Strikes Back does a Wing Guard appear with an open jacket, that’s how it was sculpted.  In 2001, it would still be a three year wait before Star Wars was released on DVD.  If Hasbro wanted to create a freeze frame from the movie, they would have had to have a 4 head VCR or Laser Disc player in the office.  Therefore, they were reliant on set photos and other stills as reference.  It’s assumed they worked off a photo where one of the costumed extras loosened his duds during some on-set downtime, and they never cross referenced the movie.  Thus, we were given an utterly inaccurate Bespin Guard.  This actually resulted in a “check with a real fan first” hue and cry from within the community.

It would take another 13 years until the Rogues Gallery feature of Star Wars Insider 148 would give specific names to many of the Bespin Wing Guards, and thus this figure has a generic name.  Some in the community thought this release was meant to represent the guard we now know as Corman Jeihn, who actually appears on the back fold of the included Force File, but the head sculpt bears hardly any resemblance.  To the best of my research, the picture on the front of the Force File is actually a heavily photoshopped image of Gir Endac.  I think that solidifies that this figure isn’t meant to represent any specific on-screen Bespin Wing Guard, but I may be wrong.  Having said that, we really need a figure of Corman Jeihn.  He’s the guard standing directly behind Lobot when Han and crew arrive at the Cloud City landing platform.  Hmmm, I wonder if there is a current expression that Hasbro could use to give us that figure and three others.  That would make for a good article later this week.

Aide from the open dinner jacket, there is another wart with this Bespin Security Guard.  That would be the preposing.  The torso is sculpted with a Han Solo-eque slouch to starboard.  What the hey?  The legs are also sculpted in a mild action pose which makes the figure difficult to stand without an…umm…stand.  There are positives however.  The removable hat looks good and fits securely on the figure’s head.  These are two things that actually to escape Hasbro these days.  The accessory count is impressive, and the working holster is remarkable for the time.  It functions well while still giving this Bepsin Guard a streamlined silhouette.  A few year later and working holsters would look like mailboxes nailed to the figures’ legs.  If the jacket were closed, I could see myself giving this figure a 5, which would fairly remarkable.  As it is, I give it a 4 out of 10.