You learn stuff about Star Wars all the time, even if you consider yourself very knowledgeable on the subject.  In looking up info on the Polis Massans for this review, I learned that Polis Massa, the planetoid hidden in an asteroid field which was featured in ROTS as the location where Luke and Leia were born, is not actually the homeward of this species.  In fact, they are not actually called Polis Massans, but are really members of the Kallidahin species from the planet Kallidah.  The reason these guys were on Polis Massa was because they were conducting an extensive archeological dig of the planetoid in search of information linking the extinct inhabitants, called Eellayin, as ancestors of their own Kallidahin peoples.  Apparently the Kallidahin that resided on Polis Massa were known as Polis Massans - so that’s what this guy is.  Also, in “Legends”, Kalladahin were considered to be cetaceans.  You know, like whales and dolphins.  Star Wars is weird.

Anyway, here’s a neat little figure, even though it lacks some of the things we would expect in a modern sculpt.  But for the day, it was excellent, and as a deep backgrounder, it survives 20 years later as the only member of the species ever immortalized in the 3.75” line.

The sculpt is very good, with a tremendous amount of detail carved into the bodysuit and upper body harness.  The face is bizarre, lacking a nose or mouth, but is accurate to the on-screen model.  The head, shoulders, and feet are ball jointed, while the elbows, wrists, waist, and hips are swivel.  There’s just enough there to allow you to get a few nice poses out of the figure, but also enough to leave you wanting more - especially the lack of ball jointed elbows or knees of any kind. 

The figure comes with a handheld device, which looks like a pistol, but is more likely some medical device, or maybe even an archeological tool (based on what these guys are doing on Polis Massa in the first place).  The item sort of fits into a holster-like clip on the right hip.  It holds the thing okay, but not great.  The figure’s right hand can grip the device, although not particularly tightly.  For the record, the left hand is sculpted almost in a Jedi-using-the-Force type position.  Or he could be saying, “I want my two dollars!”

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the figure is the swivel device mounted on the figure’s right shoulder.  It’s also unlikely to be a weapon, and I would guess it’s some kind of flashlight or scanner.  But it definitely reminds me of Predator.  Additionally, there is a headset that fits nicely over the figure’s head.

Oh yeah, it also comes with a stand/base that is the same mold as the Mustafar base, but painted in a more ashy tone, to represent something that seems more like a lunar surface.  I’m so tired of repainted and rehashed figure bases!  We need Hasbro to devote more tooling dollars to all new nonsensical, barely-interlocking figure bases!  This was nothing else but an obvious money grab!

Anyway, it’s hard to trust a mouthless, walking dolphin with a menacing tracking device on his shoulder, but I guess he seems nice enough after providing our heroes with a place of refuge so that the former Queen of Naboo would have a quiet place to die of sadness immediately after giving birth to twins.  I’m very glad this figure exists.  It’s below today’s standards, and if the world turned upside down and they decided to revisit, they’d have to start from scratch.  But in the meantime, it’s perfectly cromulent to be displayed alongside modern figures in your enormous, real-estate sucking Polis Massa dioramas, even after 20 years.

5 stars
6/10.