Editor’s Note:  This review has been updated with our second look at TVC…

Original Review:  Chris - 07/04/2013 6:57 PM

According the an Expanded Universe fact I just made up, Kip Dynamite was the original owner of the Millennium Falcon and on the ship’s charter he declared that at least oen occupant of the cockpit must be wearing a vest.  And now you know why Nien Nunb wears a smuggler’s vest over his B-Wing pilot jumpsuit.  I’m leading off with silliness because I don’t want to start in with the negativity immediately. 

At one point the official site said that Nien Nunb was only realized as a puppet in Return of the Jedi.  Like characters such as Hem Dazon, this apparently gave some leeway to those retconning canonical stats to imagine his proportions.  Somehow this meant that Nien Nunb’s height became 1.6 meters.  That’s roughly 5 foot 3 inches for those of you who aren’t weirdos using the metric system.  The problem is that Nien Nunb was only a puppet for the cockpit scenes.  For all other scenes, the actor Richard Bonehill donned the full body suit on set establishing an on-screen height for Nunb which looks to be at least 5 foot 7 to me. You can judge for yourself in this screen grab where the Nunb is seen over Lando’s right shoulder.

The end result is a figure that is too short in my judgement.  Hasbro might have closely followed the official site’s database entry for the figure’s height, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.  As with many figure decisions, I really wish Hasbro would require at least one on screen image in support of that decision when possible.  In addition to the shortness, the figure’s arms don’t have adequate range of motion.  The figure includes a blaster rifle in an apparent attempt to reference the accessory from the much hated POTF2 line.  It’s wise to remind collectors of products they hate.  This is made worse in that the figure cannot interact with this accessory in any meaningful way.  At best the figure can hold the rifle across its body in such a way the no humanoid could effectively aim the weapon.  Lastly the figure’s head needs a paint application to distinguish the lips and lower dewlap from the rest of the head.  Sadly this is missing. 

All of these issues conspire for a lack luster 5 out of 10 rating.

Updated Review:  Bret - 9/xx/2018 07:05 AM

Nien Nunb was one of the more beloved minor characters in the OT.  His mask was just a hunk of rubber nonsense, but he had great personality in that weird face, able to convey concern, terror, joy, and humor from scene to scene.  But most of all, he was Lando’s co-pilot for the run on the second Death Star.  He also niubniubbed on Endor.  He was perhaps second only to Ackbar on the list of fan favorites from the final battle.  Both he and Ackbar eventually joined Leia’s Reistance, but unlike that punk Ackbar, Nien Nunb survived the OJ Simpson Low Speed Chase to Crait.  Presumably he’ll be at least a small part of Episode IX, and it would be neat to see him and Lando together, behind the controls again.  It would be even neater if they fly a mission alongside Wedge Antilles, but I digress.

Chris really blasted this figure in his original review.  I agree with all the shortcomings.  (Get it?  “Short” comings? No?  Okay, here it comes…)  He’s really short.  (There it is!) Maybe too short.  Personally, I don’t really care.  Apparently Chris thinks short people got no reason to live, but I think short people are just the same as you and I.  You can see from the Sullustan lineup photo that this Nien Nunb is significantly shorter than the other figures (even if you might think that one of them is also Nien Nunb).

I think the sculpt is great, particularly the face.  It really captures the character perfectly, with a lot of detail. Chris receives an Applebee’s gift card for using the word “dewlap” to describe some of the omitted paint applications.  (Well done, sir!  Enjoy your mozzerella sticks and riblet platter.)  The articulation is solid, even if the range of motion is not ideal.  The blaster fits nicely in the holster, and Nunb can grip it well in his hand.  For some reason (as Chris points out, probably as a weird homage to the POTF2 figure) there is a large rifle also included.  Unfortunately the figure cannot interact with it in any meaningful way, and so therefore is more or less a throwaway.  It would have been better if Hasbro skipped the rifle, and included something else, like a 16th century Spanish gold doubloon.  That would have been a neat pack-in.

So Chris killed the figure with a 5 because of the short stature, stupid weapon, missing face paint apps, and because he wrote this on July 4th of 2013, so he was probably upset because he ran out of BBQ sauce for his riblets.  I’d probably give it a 6 or a 7.  I think it’s a decent figure, and certainly the best Nein Nunb out there.

Yes, this is a pretty good figure, and likely the best Nien Nunb we’re going to have in a long while.  But if we call this one “good enough” and Hasbro has any designs on a new Nien Nunb, they should seriously put their efforts into an ST version.  I mean, he survived the events of TLJ, so he’s one of only a handful of members of an elite group.  Kind of like shark attack victims.  There’s definitely room for improvement here, but Hasbro should let this OT version go for a while.