The Pykes come from Pyke, which is one of the Iron Islands, an archipelago located on Ironman’s Bay, on the western side of Westeros.  The Greyjoys ruled….wait…hold on…sorry.  Ok (clears throat):  The Pykes were from the planet Oba Diah, and they were famous for running the Pyke Syndicate, a criminal organization which controlled the very profitable spice that was mined on Kessel.  Pykes were first introduced in The Clone Wars TV series.  During the run of the show, the Pykes appeared in only a few episodes, but their role was of major importance to galactic events.  The Pyke Syndicate joined Darth Maul’s Shadow Collective.  Their ultimate goal was to unify various powerful criminal organizations which would help topple both the Repubilc and the Confederacy, and step in to the resulting power void and take control of the galaxy.  Maul’s Collective made a move to take over Mandalore, which was then plunged into civil war.  Meanwhile, the Pykes ended up being at the center of events that swirled around the rise of the Sith.  Chancellor Valorum, fearing a possible war between crime organizations that would significantly disrupt events on Coruscant, ordered Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas and Valorum’s own aide, Silman, to covertly negotiate with the Pykes on Oba Diah.  However, Count Dooku paid off the Pykes to shoot down the Jedi’s ship.  Sifo-Dyas was killed, but Silman was kept hostage for 10 years.  During the Clone Wars, an investigation by Obi-Wan and Anakin revealed these events, and they discovered that it was Dooku that was not only responsible, but was, in fact, Darth Tyranus.  The Jedi could not understand why the Sith would continue (and fund) the Clone project, secretly initiated by Sifo-Dyas on Kamino, so they just shrugged and went back to playing Risk while the galaxy burned.

The Pykes were then brought to the big screen for Solo, which represented the species’ first appearance in live action media.  We meet Quay Tolsite, who is the local boss / foreman / jerk that oversaw the spice mine operation on Kessel, when the crew travels there to get some coaxium to replace the stuff they lost in the blown Vandor-1 heist.  The shiny Millennium Falcon lands, and Qi’ra and the crew are met by Quay Tolsite.  Qi’ra distracts Quay, while the rest of the crew head into the mines to find some unrefined coaxium.  While meeting with Qi’ra in his office, Quay realizes the deception, but Qi’ra kills him until he dies from it.

Quay Tolsite, when first revealed by Hasbro, probably seemed like a neat, but not particularly special, figure to most collectors.  However, we know the exact formula which will drive collectors into a frenzy.  That formula is to make a good figure and then short pack it.  So Hasbro did both of those things, and then hid behind the couch giggling while watching collectors slowly descend into insanity.  The figure is really well done, even by 5POA standards.  It’s a striking look for a character, and the figure represents it perfectly.  The Pykes that we saw in The Clone Wars were in their element on their homeworld, and could be seen as they appear naturally (with clothing, of course).  Quay resides on the harsh world of Kessel, which has an atmosphere that is irritating and somewhat poisonous to the Pykes.  Therefore, Quay is wearing a bunch of gear that protects and conceals his true appearance.  He wears a gold mask that completely obscures, but somewhat resembles, his natural face.  He has breathing tubes that feed into the helmet/mask configuration.  He also has receptacles near his chin that collect mucus (according to the Solo Visual Guide) discharged because of his exposure to the atmosphere.  Apparently much of this apparatus doesn’t function well, largely due to the dirt and other particles that are present in the harsh air.  Tolsite also wears heavy robes to protect him from the elements.  All of this heavy gear would almost excuse Hasbro from needing to make a super-articulated figure.  In fact, due to the character’s design, a “salt shaker” figure might even be appropriate.  Hasbro could have traded in the hip articulation (which is very limited in range), and give us properly articulated shoulders, elbows and wrists.  If they did that, this would be a terrific collector-grade figure.  (Hasbro could have done the same with Moloch.)

The paint applications are excellent.  The face mask is particularly striking, but the dirt, mud, and corrosion is done very well all over the figure’s robes.  The mask is not removable, nor are any of the hoses and breathing tubes, but everything is separately sculpted with gives great depth to the figure.  It looks like the outer robe is removable, but I was escared that I would damage the figure trying to take it off.  Lifting the robes reveals some clothing underneath which actually is sculpted and painted in a similar manner to the outer robes, so actually there isn’t a whole lot of display options even if the robes were removable.  You can see from one of the images that the inner robes/skirt is sculpted directly onto the legs, so you get that weird look when the leg articulation is engaged.  The range is limited for that articulation anyway, so it’s probably irrelevant.  Again, it would have been preferred if a salt shaker lower body could be exchanged for better arm articulation.  The sole accessory is a sculpted key code chain.  It’s accurate to the film, as Quay held the chain in both hands across his body, with the code cylinders dangling off of it.  He was like an alien Schneider.  You pretty much are restricted to this one singular pose, however, so on the one hand, Hasbro effectively eliminated the “action” from this action figure.  It is the closest to a statue as you will find in the line. 

It’s absolutely a striking figure to look at, and perhaps because of the quality of the sculpt and paint applications (minus the lack of effective articulation), this is a figure that many would want to add to their collections.  But then Hasbro mixed in the second part of the magic demand formula, and short packed Quay Tolsite.  Every figure is 2x in the case, except that the second Tolsite is ditched in favor of a single Han Solo (Mimban).  The weird thing about that is that the figure already was packed in the Target Imperial Trooper 6-pack.  While that was a relatively popular set, I’m not sure if anyone was clamoring for the Han to be packed separately on a card.  We haven’t published our review yet, but the oddest inclusion in the wave was the “Imperial” Royal Guard (Yes, that’s right, it’s not called the Emperor’s Royal Guard).  Personally, I didn’t need any OT figures released in this 5POA format.  But I do understand that since they opted to do so, they needed a pair of them.  A single royal guard makes no sense.  So the choice to short pack Quay Tolsite, out of all the figures in the wave, technically makes the most sense.  But, in addition to this short packing, this also happens to be the final wave of the Solo line, which automatically makes it even harder to find.  The next thing you know, Quay Tolsite starts looking as hard to find as a POTF Tri-Logo Yak Face, and you’ve got a full-fledged panic that makes Tulip Mania look like a study in market composure.

I give the figure a 5 for looking cool, but that’s maybe a bit generous given the utter lack of posing and display options.