The Legacy Collection (Blue)
Ak-rev
Well, many of you reading this are likely against the very concept of this figure because Ak-Rev was one of those musicians inserted into the infamous Special Edition dance number at Jabba’s Palace. Lucas was all proud of himself for inserting this “hilarious” dance number in the middle of an otherwise dark scene, but most fans were as impressed as Kayla Maroni. The much more classic and appropriate sounding Lapti Nek was ditched in favor of “Jedi Rocks”. Immediately, the song title is nonsense, because why would this band be singing a song about Jedi? What are they, Weird Al? And which Jedi actually “rock”? I don’t know. Maybe Quinlan Vos rocked back in his day, but I doubt it. Originally, the Max Rebo Band consisted of just the trio of Max Rebo, Droopy McCool, and Sy Snootles. The Special Edition “enhanced” the band with several more members, including a singer, 4 musicians, and a dance trio. Ak-Rev is actually the final member of the new band to make it into action figure form. So in one sense, he does hold a special place for “completing the scene.” On top of that, he was designed to interact with the previously released TAC Umpass Stay. So there’s that.
As for the figure, it’s really a mixed bag. In terms of being an action figure in the super-articulated era, he’s not very good. He does have super-articulation throughout, with the very important exception of the knees. This basically renders the hips and ankles pointless. They are only good for minor positioning to assist with making sure the figure doesn’t fall over. The upper body, however, is properly articulated, and he can swing his drumsticks any which way you please, if you know what I mean. I certainly don’t. The sculpt is otherwise very good. He’s got a lot of detailed textures and fabrics all over his outfit. His hands are sculpted to perfectly hold the sticks. His face is impressive enough. While not nearly as good as the TVC Skiff Master and Skiff Guard, he does do the Weequay species justice. He’s a rather colorful chap, with bright paint application all over his clothing. He almost has a bit of a court jester quality to him. I am particularly impressed with all of the ropes, braids, and strings hanging off of his shirt. Overall, it’s a good looking figure. The legs don’t allow for much variety, but it is what it is.
The drumstick accessories look nice, and are well textured. But the big selling point, beside the fact that he completes the scene, is that he comes with the other half of the large drum, which first came with the TAC Umpass Stay. TAC was knows for including figures with huge accessories, like cantina bars, torture racks, and droid shields. Hasbro carried this through at least one more time so collectors could put together the full drum set.
By the way, if you check out the scene, you’ll notice that Ak-Rev is banging his drum right in front of Jabba’s trophy wall. So the new Jabba’s Palace Adventure Set would look very nice as a backdrop to your band.
It’s great that this figure and drum were made available. The prepositioned legs are a bummer, so you’ll really only be able to pose him as Hasbro intended. Knees and a neutral stance would have made this a much better figure. But he’s a nice addition to your Jabba Palace set up, unless you’re an angry old bat that refuses to acknowledge “Jedi Rocks.” It’s certainly much better than almost any 5POA figure, but it’s a bit weak by modern standards. 6 out of 10.
On a random side note that I saved from the now deleted original 2008 review of Ak-Rev, this may be the only figure in the TLC line known to have a certain variation on the cardback. If you look at the back of the card, the Droid Factory Logo is surrounded by some mechanical arms and claws. That artwork doesn’t seem to exist on any other figure’s card. Weird, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Build-A-Droid
Ak-Rev contains the left leg for the astromech R7-ZO. R7 astromech series droids were introduced after the Battle of Endor in the Expanded Universe, although one prototype droid with the name R7-A7 existed during the Clone Wars. R7-Z0 never appeared in any stories. It was merely mentioned as existing in The New Essential Guides To Droids book Source: Legends.
Verdict: No Action
This sculpt of the character itself isn’t bad, but the pre-positioned legs and poor articulation make this a weak action figure. But it’s probably just as well that Hasbro completed the scene during a time when maybe we didn’t care quite as much about super-articulation. There’s certainly no need to revisit this figure, even though it’s not a good one. It exists, and that should be good enough at this point. Hasbro should, however consider redoing Max Rebo, in particular, because they got it completely wrong. His hands are his feet. And his feet are his hands. Got it?
Verdict Guide:
Re-sculpt = The figure is not definitive, and a new version should be developed.
Re-issue = This version is definitive (or close enough), and shows sufficient secondary market demand to warrant a straight repack.
No Action = This release does not require new attention.