Original Review by Chris 8/29/2014

Credit:  Carded sample on loan from the collection of Randy S.

Someday I would like to use this Throwback Review feature to cover my Mount Rushmore of figures that I’m happy exist. I should note that if I do, my Mount Rushmore would have five heads, and you’re just going to have to deal with that. This Dannik Jerriko figure should be one of the granite carved faces.  I’ve wanted a Dannik Jerriko figure ever since the line expanded to twenty figures when I was but a wee pup.  If Kenner could give us Hammerhead and Snaggletooth, both of whom I couldn’t easily spot, they certainly could give us one of the most visible denizens of the cantina.  Alas, it would be a long wait until Hasbro released the first and only Dannik Jerriko figure in 2005.  Unfortunately it has one massive fault that precludes enshrinement on my mythical monument.

One of the unfortunate side affects of the popularity of our beloved movies is that it seems every single on-screen character has to be given an elaborate and fantastic back story under the “Legends” Expanded Universe banner.  No one can simply be just an ugly dude whetting his whistle in the cantina.  Everyone has to be a dragon or fairy or hobo or some such nonsense.  I need to give Ken Marino a credit for that last line.  As such, Danniko Jerriko went from just a guy taking a puff from his hookah pipe to an Anzati bounty hunter who would drink the brain mater of his victims through proboscises. Those proboscises are featured prominently on the face of the figure despite the fact that they are never seen on-screen.  They are removable, but by doing so the figure is left with grotesque cavities on its face that make Dannik Jerriko look like a cautionary tale for the use of smokeless tobacco.  This unfortunate design decision severely hampers what is otherwise absolutely one of the best pre-super articulation era figures.  These three “post OTC” cantina characters served as a herald of the wonderful figures Hasbro would start producing a few years later.

Once you get past the obvious holes in the face, the figure was pretty remarkable for the time, and this was probably reflected in the high MSRP.  The arms feature the less desirable swivel articulation at the shoulders, elbows and wrists, but at least that articulation allows you to pose the figure holding the hookah pipe to its mouth as the character did on-screen.  The hookah is a separate piece that connects to a holster on the leg.  This could have been simply sculpted into the left leg itself, but as a distinct piece, it gives the sculpt added depth.  The other leg features a working holster that isn’t the size of a mailbox. Working holsters up to this point had been conspicuously large.  The knees are ball jointed which was still a novelty at the time.  There is no ankle articulation, but the figure does balance well on the tip of the foot, so the knee articulation can be engaged and the figure will still stand.  Lastly the figure sports a subtle sculpt and a neutral pose befitting what the character does on screen.

Aside from the issue with the head, this figure perfectly fills its intended role in your cantina display and despite not being super articulated, I could have given this figure an 8 out of 10.  But those face holes are enough of an issue to compel me to deduct two full points for a 6 out of 10.  Your cantina display cannot be complete without this figure.  I would jump up and down for a re-release of this figure with a slight retool to remove the receptacles for the proboscises, but that will likely never happen.

Updated Review by Chris 5/16/2020

I don’t have much to add to the original review of Dannik “portholes” Jerriko except to say that the score has been lowered to a 5 out of 10 to reflect our new scoring standard.  The face holes are still the major fault with the figure.

As I mentioned above, I’ve always wanted a figure of this character, and I’m absolutely thrilled we have it, despite it’s flaws.  You’ve got to love the way Dannik smugly stands there and smokes his hookah pipe while the cantina kerfuffle unfolds.  If you moved this character to a terrestrial setting, you just know he’s the type of guy that would bring a book to the bar.  The kind of guy that walks right up to the line of being eccentric without stepping over into “tool” territory.

The last thing I will say is that every time I have to take this figure down to photograph, which is a lot, I feel like I’ve dodged a bullet if I still have all the accessories when I’m done.  Similar to the way you feel when you get caught in a downpour that limits your visibility to two inches while you’re driving on the highway.  It feels like I’ve had to photograph it two dozen times, either for its own gallery here, or as a companion to another figure.  And in those two dozens times, I’ve lost an accessory fifty times.  The included blaster and proboscises are both tiny and are feather-like in weight.  Meaning that if one falls to the floor, they do so silently, giving you no indication of where they went.  While photographing it this time, I lost the curly-cue tendril twice, the straight one once, and the blaster once, each for an extended period of time.