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

Original Review:  Chris - 6/22/2011 12:46 AM

If you don’t own this figure, you disgust me.  This is what Hasbro can do when they decide to pull out all the stops.  Just the detail on the holster alone with a nice dark wash and painted details would earn this figure a bonus point if I could find deductions in other areas, but I can’t. Even in places where Hasbro exercised restraint works to the benefit of the figure.  The swivel hips, torso and wrists make sure to keep the aesthetic of the figure intact which is more important with this subject than being able to achieve 1,001 poses.  The sculpted detail, the paint apps and the accessories combine for one of the best figures ever.

Don’t pass on the opportunity to add this figure to your collection.  10 out of 10.

Updated Review:  Chris - 7/07/2018 07:05 AM

If this figure were released in 1978, we would have learned about its existence through a commercial aired during Saturday morning cartoons.  That exhilarating Kenner theme music would have kicked in, and our hearts would start racing.  The announcer’s booming voice would start extolling the virtues figures we already owned.  Who cares?  Cut to the chase already!  And then, “...and new to the Kenner collection, introducing Horn Head.”

OMG OMG OMG

Then some child actor would start giving voice to this new bizarre character, “I’m Horn Head.”  In the Star Wars commercial universe, characters start every discussion by introducing themselves by their full name. Then he’d start delving into the nonsensical story narrative, “Out of my way, Greedo.  I’m going to get that Jawa gold.”  We’d have no idea who the character is, but we’d see this commercial and would be rendered helpless.  It must be owned.  With the unique rifle and sidearm, we’d create so many activities for Horn Head.  Our heads would be spinning with all the activities he could do.

Flash forward to 2011 and Bom Vimdin’s first and only release in action figure form.  Hardcore collectors rejoiced.  Another obscure cantina alien!  It doesn’t matter that in A New Hope he appears out of focus for three seconds during the cantina’s first interior shot (which makes him a million times better for character selection than Tzizvvt).  The problem is that the figure didn’t appear to gain traction outside of that group.  Despite a decent accessory loadout that would allow for plenty of imaginative story telling, kids didn’t seem to gravitate towards this strange alien.  That play pattern is all but dead anyway.  Matters were further worsened by the fact that this figure was re-released not once, but in three future case assortments.  There is a possibility that Bom Vimdin was re-released so frequently because, due to Hasbro’s use of internal code names for figures, it was confused with Ponda Baba which definitely underserved the market and needed to be re-released. 

These factors conspire to produce an absolute rarity.  This is one of the only 2010-2012 Vintage Collection Original Trilogy figures that can be still be found “mint in package” on the secondary market for around the current $13 MSRP.  In my initial review I said that if you don’t own this figure, you disgust me.  Now I’m envious.  You can affordably dip into the secondary market and get the joy of adding a definitive cantina alien to your collection.  That thrill is far and few between these days (it’s been almost three years since Mosep Bineed).  This figure strikes the perfect balance for what a collector needs it to do:  It has the perfect amount of articulation to allow us to pose it in a natural manner in our displays without having that articulation disrupt the aesthetic.  I am as happy with this figure today as I was when it was originally released.

Update:  I neglected to mention that two stand in figures needed to be used for the final three shots.  The Legacy Collection Trinto Duaba figure was used as a stand in for Braconnor Bakiska and the POTF2 (gross) Lak Sivrak was used for Arleil Schous.  Both of these figures rank on our Cantina Patron Unproduced Characters list, so get on it Hasbro!

Verdict: No Action 

Holiday Special

This is the definitive Bom Vimdin figure.  Hasbro honestly never needs to revisit this character.  The premium on the secondary market is so low that anyone who needs this figure can acquire it there.  Even if the articulation was improved with ball jointed hips and wrists, it would be a waste, for the most part.  Cantina patrons definitely need articulation, but they don’t need to strike dramatic combat poses.  That kind of ultra-premium articulation can be saved for Jedi and troopers.

If Hasbro ever did want to revisit this source, a slight retool/repaint to the blue shirted Holiday Special Bom (inset left) would be cool.  In fact a box set of cantina aliens unique to the Holiday Special (which includes the vintage Kenner Snaggletooth) would be the exact right amount of collecting kitsch without stepping over the line into mockery or ironic collecting.  Ironic collectors of anything are the worst.  THE WORST.  If you’re an ironic collector and reading this, leave.  Leave right now and go back to your blog where you belittle the rest of us for failing to appreciate the brilliance of Funko’s ReAction figures.

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.

The cantina alcove pictured above is from Boutros77 Dioramas.