For many of you reading this review, the release of Admiral Piett is a seismic event.  Hasbro has finally given us this fan favorite Imperial Officer as an upgrade to the POTF2 figure that dates back to the Eisenhower administration.  That alone is a huge win, as it comes as part of Hasbro’s celebration of ROTJ’s 40th.  But it also means that Hasbro has now sculpted a Imperial Officer buck with all the modern accoutrements befitting of a modern TVC figure. 

But before I get to review the actual figure, here’s a few notes of interest.  Captain Piett was issued in the POTF2 line, sourced to The Empire Strikes Back, but sporting the badge (6 over 6) of Admiral, from his battlefield promotion directly from Darth Vader.  You can see, in his brief scenes with the doomed Admiral Ozzel, that Piett is wearing the 3 over 3 captain’s rank.  After Ozzel is Force-choked, Piett is next seen with his new rank.  Hasbro, at the time, opted to give him the Admiral rank, while calling the figure “captain.”  Most fans know that by the time ROTJ was filmed, there was a blunder by the costume department, and all officers, regardless of rank, were wearing the 3 over 3 badge.  So throughout ROTJ, Admiral Piett is wearing the rank of a captain.  Hasbro decided to honor the screen accurate error, and gave the figure a 3 over 3 badge, while giving him the title of “admiral”, and issuing him on a ROTJ cardback.  I guess this was the right thing to do, but it still kind of bugs me that the two figures have the wrong ranks/badges.  I hate it when Hasbro pays homage to Kenner’s mistakes and carries them forward into the modern line, but I’m undecided on how they handle actual on screen errors.  I guess I’ll take each on a case by case basis.

As for the figure, it’s a delight.  A nearly perfectly executed Imperial Officer figure can now be added to our collections.  The proper amount of articulation is present, including ball jointed wrists, torso, hips (the new kind), and rocker ankles.  Some might think this is overkill, but it adds to the realism.  The range of motion for the joints is more than sufficient to get poses appropriate for the figure.  Piett can even sit, if you wanted him to do so, which bodes well for future variations.  The lower tunic “skirt” is made of a very pliable plastic that does not impede the hips in any meaningful way.

The headsculpt is nice.  I wouldn’t say it’s a home run.  Maybe a triple.  It definitely passes as Piett, but maybe it’s not quite a dead ringer.  He comes with a blaster, which he can grip nicely.  However, and thankfully for screen accuracy, he doesn’t have a holster, so you can probably just toss the accessory into a bin for safekeeping.

The only other accessory is perhaps somewhat controversial.  Collectors usually do not favor removable hats/helmets, particularly when Hasbro seems to be able to offer alternate heads with some figures.  Early promo shots gave the appearance that the hat (or cover, for you military folks) was comically oversized, and ruined the figure.  I’m not sure if the photos here do it justice, but I believe that in hand, it looks quite good.  Perhaps it is very slightly large, but it’s more of a nitpick than a real detractor.  I’m happy with the result.  I just hope the hat stays snug on the head over time, because Piett is never seen hatless, so I’m nervous I’ll lose the accessory.

One other thing I’m interested in seeing is how Hasbro handles the rank badge if they do, in fact, decide to churn out various officers in the future.  We know about Jerjerrod, but he “suffers” from the same wardrobe malfunction as Piett, so no new tooling to the torso is necessary for his figure.  We’ll have to see if it’s much of a hassle/expense for hasbro to make future figures with the appropriate ranks.  Whatever the case, I’m looking forward to someday updating the Death Star briefing scene with figures that can actually sit around a table.

I give Admiral Piett a 9/10.  Hard to compete with some 10/10 figures that have more going on than this relatively simple figure, but you’ll get no complaint from me.  I am absolutely ecstatic that I have this figure in hand, and I usually don’t feel that way about upgrades to existing characters. 

At the time of this review, VC270 - Admiral Piett can be preordered from site sponsor Entertainment Earth: