Here’s an all new figure of a never before made (or since) character.  My favorite kind of figure!  It’s a pretty deep backgrounder, being on screen for only a brief moment.  Well, it’s technically not really a “backgrounder.”  That brief moment on screen gave it a featured look and even a spoken line.  So in the world of Star Wars action figures, he’s practically a main character.

The figure has a terrific sculpt, with a ton of detail molded into the figure.  It’s got a ton of folds and creases in the protective flight suit.  The harness almost looks to be a separate piece, but it isn’t.  The gold detailing on the boots and the upper body give a nice pop of color.  The helmet is the most eye-catching part of the figure.  It isn’t removable, which is fine.  I really wanted the visor shield to slide down over the lenses, but such a feature probably isn’t even likely in a 2020 figure, let alone 2006.

The back pack is my favorite part of the figure.  It looks like some kind of throwback to 1950’s atomic age retro-futuristic styling.  It looks a bit like something the Rocketeer would wear. In fact, it’s right out of Fallout, which I absolutely love.  While the aesthetic is pretty awesome, one failing is the way the hose nozzle is stored away.  The two “clips” are sculpted on the backpack as very soft plastic, and tend to be so bendy, they don’t really hold the nozzle well.  The image I took of this was fortunate, as the nozzle basically popped out of the clips an instant after I snapped the shot.

The nozzle is held by the figure securely in his hand, and even both hands can perform a rudimentary THWG (Two handed weapon grip).  The flexible hose and so far lasted about 14 years, so I guess it will stand the test of time.

The articulation is really the only downside.  While the figure has ball joints at shoulders and knees, it only has swivel at the elbows, and sadly, nothing at the ankle.  That’s limiting.  To be fair, the character is only seen briefly sitting in the cockpit of the firespeeder.  But that actually brings up another unfortunate point.  This character is actually a pilot, and he has no ship to fly.  It’s a terrible situation.  A pilot with no ship is really just a schmoe.

While the limited articulation is a bummer, the rest of the figure is pretty nifty.  It gets a respectable 6 out of 10.