Editor’s Note:  This review has been updated with a second look…

Original Review:  Chris - 1/25/2014 10:04 AM

Hasbro doesn’t like me.  Hasbro doesn’t like you either (probably).  If you have been a loyal customer to this brand for nearly two decades now, you’re not a priority.  Hasbro appears to be angling for a reality show on Animal Planet where they try to prove the existence of a cryptid.  But instead of looking for evidence of Sasquatch, they’re trying to prove the existence of another equally nonexistent creature:  the adult collector looking to jump into the hobby for the first time and needs an Episode II Anakin but has no access to the internet where he could easily buy one for under five dollars.  That’s too long of a name for a cryptid.  I’ll just call him collectsquatch. Hasbro gears the line towards collectsquatch.  In fairness to the brand team, this is probably due to pressures from upper management.

That off-topic introductory paragraph is a self-indulgent lead in to my actual point.  At the time of this review, the Black Series is three assortments old and in those three assortments, there have been only two figures that I actually wanted, and this Vizam figure is one of them.  Mara Jade is the other.  That’s not to say that there are not other figures released so far that I like.  It’s just that none of them are priority for me. 

So how does this Vizam figure stack up?  I think it’s brilliant with one big pervasive flaw.  At the knees, shoulders and ankles, the joints are cast in contrasting blue plastic which only matches the sleeves.  I normally take the mismatched joints with only a small degree of disappointment, but in this case it’s simply too much of a contrast to overlook. But the good of this figure, which is the amazing detail, cancels out the negatives and then some.  The extra paint app on the horns of the hands is just one example of the type of detail that makes the figure pop.  The wash on the head accentuate all the finely sculpted details.  The same holds true for the padding on the vest and the folds of the headdress.  I remember in 2009 thinking the Nysad figure (titled Nikto Gunnner) was the pinnacle of Skiff(ish) Guard figure technology.  The side by side comparison shows I was a fool.  A foolish fool.  I also thought things couldn’t get better when Hasbro had the 360 degree preview of the upcoming Momaw Nadon figure on its website in the mid nineties that took 60 minutes to download over dial up.  Technology advance.  Aint it great?

Update:  Forum member Blue Knight points out that the black boots do not appear accurate to the actual costume as can partially be seen here.

In addition to jarring packaging reminder, there are subtle differences that remind us that the Vintage Collection is gone.  Whereas with Vintage Collection Skiff Guards we would get DL-18 blasters made of out rigid plastic with accentuating silver paint accents, the Black Series Vizam finds himself with a rubbery monochromatic blaster.  The figure does include a Sail Barge cannon to clip onto the railing of our vaporware Sail Barge.  It’s a cruel taunt, Hasbro.

Based on articulation alone, this is an 7 out of 10 figure for me.  The detailing is so impressive that I would easily give this figure a 9 out of 10, but the mismatched joint issue forces me to bring the score down to a still impressive 8 out of 10.  Buy two.  One for your palace display (and no I don’t care if Vizam wasn’t seen in the palace) and one for the Sail Barge that is never coming out.

Updated Review:  Bret - 11/10/2018 07:05 AM

Chris’s review above is a real gem, but before I get into that, let’s revisit this figure.

This is why we collect.  It’s an amazing (although not flawless) effort from Hasbro that gives us a collector quality figure of a character that fits into the beloved Jabba’s Palace / Pit of Carkoon scenes.  Ever so slowly, Hasbro would provide a new figure with which we could grace our Jabba dioramas.  While Vizam did exist before from the POTF2 line (and it wasn’t too terrible, even 15 years later when this figure was released), this is obviously an enormous upgrade.  He’s a key character from the battle scene because he was one of the few competent combatants, as he quickly emplaced a cannon at a spot that had an advantageous position.  He nearly destroyed the prisoner skiff, which probably would have dumped the heroes into the sarlacc’s maw.  However, he was murdered in place by a Jedi before he could seal the deal.  He was Jabba’s weapons master, and was just doing his job when he was slashed by Skywalker’s Green Blade of Death.  Maybe he just wasn’t as good as he should have been, because that cannon sure did need a lot of time to recharge between shots.  He should have been able to make short work of that skiff long before that maniac got anywhere close to him.  And frankly, why weren’t these guns emplaced and manned in advance for the execution itself?  Lazy henchmen!

The figure is pretty spectacular.  The sculpt, the paint, the face, the accessories…all of it is awesome.  The exception, as highlighted (lowlighted?) by Chris would be the particularly annoying bright blue joints.  Along with Chris, I normally am barely bothered by this, but in the case of Vizam, Hasbro really hurt the figure with these obvious color misses.  Otherwise, it’s tremendous.  The details in the outfit and armor, along with the paint applications and washes really make the figure pop and have depth.  The articulation is perfect.  It’s not a figure of a character that would greatly benefit from JLE (Jedi-Level Articulation).  The head is very well detailed, and is accentuated with a tremendous paint job.  The hat fits well, but is a bit too loose.  The blaster, as mentioned above, is a little on cheap side, with soft plastic and no painted details.  But it does fit snugly into the holster as well as either hand.  Finally, Vizam comes with the Sail Barge deck cannon, although we’ve seen this accessory before with the Legacy Collection (Red) Nikto Gunner [AKA Nysad]. 

In our earlier comments from the first posting, our friend Blue Knight indicated that the boots were wrongly painted.  I hadn’t noticed (or more likely, remembered) this until going through these notes.  When I looked at the figure, I noted that the “boots” are actually sculpted to be something else - such as wraps around the shins.  This seems to be a paint application error/oversight rather than a sculpting/design issue.  It’s possible that running change could have slightly improved this figure, but frankly, it doesn’t bother me at all.  Additionally, we are now certain (largely based, again, on the help of our readers) that Vizam was in the palace, not just on the Barge, so you’d need more than one if you’re into re-creating both of these scenes.

As for Chris’s review, he mentioned that he was a foolish fool after taking his original side-by-side images of Nysad and Vizam.  I wanted to preserve this line of thought for the ages, so I made sure to have the Nikto comparison shot, including Nysad and Vizam.  If you see Chris walking down the street, be sure to yell out that he’s a foolish fool.  A few months short of 5 years ago, Chris wrote, “The figure does include a Sail Barge cannon to clip onto the railing of our vaporware Sail Barge.  It’s a cruel taunt, Hasbro.”  HA!  IN YOUR FACE, CHRIS!  Vaporware, shmaporware.  We’re only a few months away from having our four-foot-long Sail Barges!  How could you be so shortsighted?  What a fool!  A FOOLISH FOOL!  The funny thing is, it was this cannon accessory (when previously included with the aforementioned Nikto Gunner in 2009), that got Bantha Skull to take some of the earliest shots in the battle to convince Hasbro to make a Sail Barge. 

Here is a question from our Q&A with Hasbro in May of 2009:

Q: So you’ve given us detailed pics of the upcoming Legacy ROTJ Nikto figure. The large cannon accessory appears to have some kind of clip at the end of the “arm” or “base”. Clearly, this is meant to attach to something big in order to keep the figure from falling over. Can you please provide us with pics of the BMF Jabba’s Sail Barge you plan on releasing in 2010 but haven’t told us about yet? -nomadscout

A: The design team did put that in there for forward-compatibility, should there ever be a chance to do a Sail Barge. There is certainly no Sail Barge in development for all of the reasons we have previously articulated - not iconic enough, not a kid-demanded vehicle, and it would have a massive tooling budget against probably the lowest demand of the “big vehicle program” we have been driving. In short, not a good formula for success, that would likely grind the program to a halt. We would love to do it, because we are fans and it is a cool vehicle to us, but unless Jabba and the Barge shows up in a big way in future entertainment the chances of this one are slim.

Our relentless journalism continued with a follow up in May of 2011:

Q. Please give us a pic of the top secret Sail Barge toy you are working on.  The skiffs and their crews are busy circling the Pit of Carkoon with their Rebel prisoners, awaiting word from Jabba on what to do next because he has no ride to join in the festivities.  In particular, the TLC Nikto Gunner is getting tired of holding up that deck cannon all by himself.  And seriously, how is R2 supposed to deliver Luke’s lightsaber if he’s still screwing around at the palace? That is all.

A. The secret Sail Barge is so top secret that we have not even seen images of it yet!  Plus the Sarlacc’s slimy tenticles have prevented us from further development.

You can clearly see what was happening here.  After a flat denial in 2009, it is intuitively obvious to even the most casual observer that we pressured Hasbro into admitting they had a top secret sail barge project.  This is why a free and unfettered press is of vital importance to this country.  Eventually, Bantha Skull was one of the sites that joined together to fire up the community’s 2012 Khetanna signature campaign in earnest.  And in 2017, the HasLab Khetanna campaign was launched. 

You’re welcome, Star Wars collectors.  You’re welcome.

Verdict: No Action 

Now, this is a great figure, and it more or less is the definitive Vizam.  It belongs on the deck of the upcoming Sail Barge.  But amazingly, ebay prices are pretty reasonable.  If you shop carefully and bide your time, you should be able to get one for maybe $25.  That’s not bad at all.  If you’re getting a Sail Barge, you need this figure.  There’s no way around it.  But if Hasbro is planning on providing second chances by repacking some relevant figures, this is one that they can probably pass on.  One of the draws is the included canon, but Hasbro has told us that the Khetanna will include its own rail cannons.  Interestingly, they did account for direct fan feedback, and altered the design of the rails slightly to be able to accommodate these Nysad/Vizam accessories, but you’ll still have the included versions anyway.  It’s possible that’s one small reason why the price of the figure on the secondary market is somewhat depressed compared to others from the scene.  However, don’t sleep on it.  As mentioned, Vizam was present in the palace as well, so you’ll want to make sure you have both of your displays covered.  I only have one, so unless I pick up a second, I’ll be forced to dust off the old POTF2 figure to hide in the palace shadows, while this one will be front and center (almost literally) on the deck of the barge.

[Editor’s Note 3/28/19:  Hasbro has already announced a re-release of this figure in an upcoming 2019 3-pack along with Brock Starsher and Vedain]