Continuing the theme of “exclusives”, I’ve dragged this guy out from wherever he was hiding in order to present - Commander Jorg Sacul!

Eagle-eyed collectors will note that the name of this action figure is a cleverly disguised wordplay magnum opus by Hasbro and Lucasfilm.  If you had access to the WOPR supercomputer, it might take several days to deconstruct the intricate code and rearrange the letters to land on the one in a billion result:  It’s Oscar J. Lug!  Remember him?  He played the guy in that movie with the people where he said that thing!  Good times.

This is the first of two George Lucas figures that made it into the line.  It was available as an exclusive at Celebration II in Indianapolis.  My story about the figure is one I’ve mentioned numerous times, but basically I had to trade for it.  I was lucky enough to have acquired 4 of the Silver Anniversary Vaders when they were available online, and I traded two of them for two of these Jorg Saculs.  I didn’t care about the (perceived) value of either figure, I just needed them for my completism.  At the time, the Vaders were in significantly more demand, and I believe at one point they were going for several hundred dollars on Ebay, while the Saculs were much more reasonably priced, well under $100.  So at the time, I had made a horrifically bad deal, but I didn’t care.  Today, both figures are cheap, and you can find them each for under $20 on Ebay.  I still have both figures carded and loose, so when the apocalypse comes and Star Wars figures become the recognized global currency, I’ll be in great shape.

The figure was released in 2002 on “Blue” Saga packaging.  The body is recycled from the POTF2 Biggs Darklighter, but with a new head in the likeness of The Maker.  The likeness isn’t great by any stretch, but it’s reasonably recognizable for what it was at the time.  He’s got some salt and pepper in his hair and beard.  Sacul comes with a removable helmet, which is was becoming standard around that time.  It doesn’t have a transparent visor, so in that sense it’s a little disappointing.  At least it’s not the idiot banana visors that were prevalent during the 5POA Reign of Terror concurrent with the ST.  Sacul also comes with a blaster that is oddly detailed with some decent paint apps.  I assume it’s recycled, but I’m not sure from which figure.  It has a peg which would presumably fit into a hole on a belt, but Hasbro did not re-tool the buck to accommodate it. 

Also included is a Micromachine X-Wing.  Presumably this was inspired by the Episode I sub-line with Darth Maul and the Micromachine Sith Infiltrator.  The poor sales doomed the follow on releases (Obi-Wan/Gungan Sub and OOM-9/ATT).  The date stamp on the inside of one of the wings is 1993, which I thought was pretty neat.  The X-Wing comes with a tiny clear flight stand.

It was a neat kitsch item at the time, and while the figure itself is now woefully out of date, I’m kind of glad it exists.