Bib Fortuna will always hold a special place in the hearts of many Star Wars fans, as he was the first alien that C-3PO and R2-D2 actually spoke with in the halls of Jabba’s palace.  In a series of films filled with bizarre aliens, Bib Fortuna was pretty disturbing when we first see him.  He had a creepy bulbous head with greasy skin, sharp teeth, and big snake tentacles wrapped around his head.  Then he got creepier because he looked like he was fondling R2-D2.  But then he turned out to be kind of a schmo when he got mind tricked by Luke, and then Jabba tossed him aside for being a weak-minded fool, so he wasn’t so creepy after all.  Then he got blowed up, and so he’s dead.  That’s right, he’s dead.  Disney killed him, even though the EU had him escape the exploding Khetanna and go on all kinds of ridiculous adventures.  But while he was already a key member of Jabba’s entourage and a main fixture in the palace, Bib Fortuna’s legacy took a step forward when he was seen briefly in The Phantom Menace when he made a cameo in Jabba’s luxury box at the Boonta Eve Podrace.

In 1983, Kenner made a really nice figure of Bib Fortuna.  He was pretty excellent by 1983 standards, and actually, you might even keep in the conversation today.  He’s definitely not great by today’s standards, but it’s more of a statement on Hasbro’s modern efforts at making the character.  Hasbro made a POTF2 version which was later re-released in the 2004 Original Trilogy Collection.  But in 2006, Hasbro made an all new Bib Fortuna.  Now, there’s really not much of a doubt that it’s the best looking sculpt of all the Bib Fortuna figures, but really, it’s so short of what is acceptable, that you could look at the Kenner figure with it’s soft goods cape, and decide that it’s the best for your display.  I can’t condone that kind of talk, but I can agree that this figure is pretty terrible.

The overall sculpt of Bib is quite good, but you don’t have to spend more than 2 seconds looking at to realize there are so many problems with the figure.  The face is ridiculous.  It’s in a perpetual look of surprise.  This is a VERY specific look for any figure face, and it is almost ruinous right off the bat.  The sculpt of the robes and the outfit is well done from an aesthetic point, but that’s about it. 

Bib Fortuna is a 5POA figure, which is really a shame even for 2006.  I can accept, in some cases, the salt shaker approach with no lower body articulation, but there needs to be something better for the upper body, or some other value to a figure like Bib Fortuna.  The classic Kenner figure had a soft goods robe, but Hasbro opted for the full sculpted plastic approach here.  It looks good, but the articulation suffers.  There’s no waist joint.  The shoulders have no joints.  Bib has a ball jointed head, swivel elbows, and swivel wrists.  That’s it. 

The only accessory that comes with the figure is a dagger that stows away in Bib’s cummerbund.  I don’t believe the weapon can be seen in the film, but it’s a nod to the old EU, in which Bib did keep a knife in the folds of his robes.  It stays in the cummerbund pretty snugly.  Bib can hold the knife, albeit a bit loosely.  He doesn’t come with a staff like the Kenner Figure, but that’s okay by me since it wasn’t screen accurate anyway.

Bib Fortuna is one of the top characters that Hasbro needs to upgrade, and with all of the attention being given to Jabba this year, now would be a great time.  This figure looks nice, in some ways, but the nonsense facial expression and the lack of articulation absolutely devastate this figure.  It gets a 4/10.  It is really no better than a modern 5POA figure.  I’d put it in the ballpark with the Solo Moloch figure, but that figure is better because of the removable mask feature, which is something that makes up a bit for the lack of articulation.  Hasbro, please get out an update ASAP!