As of this writing, the modern Star Wars line has been in existence for over three times as long as the vintage Kenner line.  This means that the modern line has been in existence so long that some of the characters go through canonical name changes for one reason or another.  Such is the case with this Ellorrs Madak figure.  The character’s official name is now Ohwun De Maal, with “Ellorrs Madak” serving as his alias.  As you can see by the callout sticker on the bubble, this was the first ever Fans’ Choice winner in Star Wars action figure history.  Naturally, it sold terribly.  Truth be told, this is in large part because fans got “cute” with the voting.  Instead of voting for what was truly the most in-demand figure at the time (which was, by most accounts, Amanaman) fans stuffed the ballot box for a figure they assumed Hasbro would never make.  I can’t stand the fan mindset some times.  The lesson learned by this tactic is that the wants of hardcore fans are not well aligned with retail viability.

To be honest, I can’t recall if fans voted for Ellorrs Madak specifically, or simply “Duros”, which is his species.  I have this vague recollection that fans were actually intending to vote for the character Baniss Keeg, who is the other Duros in the cantina.  The poor sales of Ellorrs Madak probably resulted in a Baniss Keeg figure never materializing, which is a shame as Ellorrs’ most prominent cantina shot involves him getting into what appears to be a heated barroom discussion with Baniss:

(click for the full sized image)

There is something fairly frustrating about figures lacking their natural companion pieces, especially when it’s carried on for nearly 20 years.  It would be as if we got C-3PO in the vintage line but never an R2-D2.

The Duros design is probably the most on-the-nose of the cantina characters.  Whereas most of the non-human designs represented anthropomorphic animal decedents, the Duros appeared to be straight out of central casting for “Martian” at the time.  This is odd because Lucas seemed adamant about bypassing anything that could be considered a science fiction trope. Dave Filoni would rescue the species and use it for the basis of the Clone Wars bounty hunter Cad Bane.  The Duros are a lanky species, so much so that every time I say we need a realistic Cad Bane figure, several of you jump down my throat and say that the version from the animated Clone Wars line is close enough, since the thin aesthetic of that line aligns with Duros anatomy.  That is why I used that Bane figure as a stand in for Keeg.  You people did this to us.

The Power of the Jedi line from which this figure hails, also had a reputation for a diminutive aesthetic.  It was probably an overcorrection from the He-Man oversized POTF2 line that proceeded it.  As with the Clone Wars animated line, this tendency toward the waifish with POTJ actually leans in well to the Duros design.  This figure is almost dainty, but I don’t feel it looks odd in a cantina display.  Despite a narrow ballerina-like stance it actually stands like a boss.  This type of predefined narrow stance can be a formula for tip-over-itis with bulkier figures.  There are other forced display decisions due to the combination of sculpting and lack of meaningful articulation, particularly with the arms and the sculpted lean to the right.  These actually would work well for posing Ellorrs close-talking with Baniss.  Again, it’s a shame the companion piece was never made. 

At times, I get the sense that Hasbro puts in extra effort for certain figures.  When they do this, I often say it’s a “love letter” from Hasbro to the fans.  In the modern line, this is typically expressed through flawlessly working articulation.  As POTJ ran during the terrible pre-articulation era, those love letters would be expressed via the deco, and I feel like they went that extra mile here with Ellorrs as the inaugural Fans’ Choice figure.  The gradient blue-green paint application to the head is still striking to me today, as is the pearlescent spaceman suit (another central casting trope that I’m surprised Lucas didn’t avoid).  But if you look at the reference image above, you can see it’s missing some black paint applications to the lower torso.  The figure sports a working holster, which was a novelty in 2001.  It’a an ankle holster, which seems to be a bit of a crutch for Hasbro when the feature can’t be worked in otherwise.  The plastic of the holster is rigid, and the included blaster is POTJ-tiny, so it has a habit of falling out easily, but I’m happy it’s there. 

Overall I feel this needs more than the limited articulation base score of 4 due to the deco, so I’m giving it a 5 out of 10.  I am thrilled that it even exist, and it’s one of the few figures from the pre-TVC era that I own both loose and carded.