Here’s yet another background alien figure that was barely in the Force Awaken, but nevertheless was made into plastic form by Hasbro, and was released very shortly after the initial wave.  Along with Unkar’s Thug and Constable Zuvio, Disney seemed to have a lot of fun making Hasbro think that Niima Outpost was the golden goose of awesome Star Wars characters.  HA HA!  Joke’s on you, Hasbro!  Or, maybe it was the consumer.  There were no winners here.

I remember I found this figure at a Kohl’s very soon after Force Friday, and for whatever reason (probably because I really didn’t care much), I hadn’t seen any images of it online.  I picked it up, and excitedly texted Chris (who?) telling him a found a new figure.  I described it as looking like a Female Tusken.  There was some surprise, which quickly developed into confusion, and then ended with mocking.  Chris never spoke to me again.  I always wondered what happened to him.  I think he wears an ascot and smokes long cigarettes somewhere in Martha’s Vineyard now, hosting wine tasting parties with guests like Tom Brady and Cam Neely.

This figure would be awesome if it was from the OT, but again, collectors aren’t fans.  A combination of the 5POA format, a lukewarm reaction to TFA, and just general orneriness has caused old school collectors to shun, even mock, this figure and others like it from the line.  It’s too bad.  It’s actually a pretty good figure, 5POA and all.  It does its job.  It has a very nice sculpt, with a fair amount of texture in the clothing. The separately sculpted face mask/hose/chestbox/scarf combo thing is very well done, both in the sculpt and in the paint applications.  The air tank on his back is painted well and looks nice.  An SA version of this figure would actually be pretty cool, especially if it had a soft goods robe.  The included blaster rifle is very interesting looking.  It looks perfect as a scavenged hunk of tied together weaponry.  Too bad the paint is plain, a little bit of color variation for the straps and some metallic weathering would have gone a long way in bringing it, and the figure, to life.  The figure comes with a build-a-weapon…thing…that he can hold and aim without falling over.

Really, this figure does look pretty good just standing with other figures from the Niima Outpost scene.  I’m pretty sure it’s one of Randy’s favorite figures, because he has featured it prominently, front and center, in his massive Niima Outpost diorama.  I’m telling you, it’s an incredible display he has going on there.

Also the figure very much resembles one that is on the box art for the Desert Landspeeder, and he does fit nicely into the turret on the passenger side.  His legs were a little to wide to fit into the driver’s seat, though, so Unkar’s Thug will have to do all the driving.

It’s a decent 5POA effort.  Too bad it doesn’t inspire the same loyalty in traditional collectors as background aliens from the OT have done.  I think the chances of this figure seeing the light of day in SA form are pretty much zero, so if you think you might want some of these Jakku jokers from TFA, you might want to find this one somewhere.