I remember thinking this figure was awesome at the time I picked it up.  It wasn’t the first non-Chewbacca Wookiee figure, as that was already done with Rorworr.  But it was the first one almost everyone in the world saw on screen, and as a Star Wars figure, it is absolutely massive, and immediately made an impression. 

Chris recently pointed out something to the effect of how disappointing the Battle of Kashyyyk was due to the many years of anticipation being rewarded with a 12 second battle, and I agree.  But nevertheless, all the Wookiees rising up on the beach and giving out a thunderous battle cry was a pretty cool moment.  While Tarfful wasn’t part of that group, he got the most screen time for a Wookiee as the Chieftain that advised Yoda in commanding the Republic Forces, along with Chewbacca.  According to Wookieepedia, Tarfful was an old friend of Yoda, which would seem to be the root of Yoda’s good relations having, for which Ki-Adi Mundi, for one, was relieved to hear.

The figure itself is most noticeable for the sculpt and size.  It has some great personality, and immediately dominates any display, which is a good thing.  The face is intimidating, as is the armor worn by the character.  The paint applications are pretty good, although probably a bit heavy-handed when it comes to fur highlights.  The armor, face, and braids are all painted nicely, and the figure really pops.  When holding up his arms, he probably does a better job of Wookiee Rage! than little Chewbacca.

But that’s were the good stuff ends.  The rest of everything brings the figure down.  First of all, the articulation isn’t good.  The ball-jointed shoulders are fine enough, but everything else is lacking.  The head can be excused due to the complicated sculpting of the fur and braids, but nevertheless does nothing.  The elbows are equivalent to swivel, although they do have the added complexity of the fur, and there are no wrist joints.  Other than raising his arms above his head, the arms don’t do a whole lot else. 

The waist is swivel, but is limited by the “click positions” of the spring-loaded action feature.  The feature allows you to twist the torso, and releasing has the effect of Tarfful giving a swipe.  To be fair, aside from limiting the waist articulation, it’s a very well hidden action feature, and doesn’t detract from the aesthetic.  In fact, I had completely forgotten about it, until I was posing the figure for this gallery.  The thighs are swivel, and the knees, just like the elbows, are merely fur-concealed swivels.  They are particularly useless in that they are not angled in any way, so basically the shins just rotate/spin around and do nothing but make him either pigeon-toed or slew-footed.  It’s a wasted effort.

For accessories, Tarfful includes a large 2-piece bowcaster that includes a “push-to-fire” projectile.  He can barely grip it in his trigger hand.  His thumb goes through the trigger guard, and the weapon otherwise rests on his index finger, while the left hand can sort of float underneath to give the illusion of a two-handed weapon grip.  The major downside isn’t even the poor grip.  It’s the fact that this wasn’t the weapon he had on screen.  He had something called a Kashyyyk Long Gun, which is decidedly different.  Tarfful also comes with a large roughly carved battle club.  Again, he can just barely hold it.  There is clearly a hand-shaped spot on the weapon meant to accommodate Tarfful’s big paw, but it doesn’t grip it well.  Perhaps it’s just my sample, but it’s pretty weak.

The limited and sometimes nonsensical articulation along with the incorrect accessories that don’t interact well with the figure keep this figure at a 5/10.  That’s kind of generous, and is mostly because he just looks really cool as part of your Wookiee army.  But as an “action figure”, it’s a disappointment.