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Review |
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| Sculpt: |
| From the legendary Mos Eisley cantina sequence in STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE comes this creepy humanoid that was one of the myriad bizarre denizens of that infamous watering hole. The extra playing the "Smoker" (or "Hookah Man," as I used to call him in my core circle of ANH-geek fans back in the day) wore simple make-up to modify his features. I seem to remember that a bunch of extras were provided by a talent agency that specialized in "uglies" or "toughies," as they were known, and this fellow was one of them. There appears to be no attempt at naming this alien back in the 1970s. Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina reveals that the smoker is Dannik Jerriko, a centuries-old Anzati "vampire" who uses jagged proboscises concealed in cheek-pouches to drain the life from his unsuspecting victims. Of course, these thin protrusions were never seen in ANH: they are complete EU inventions! The sculpt is decent, although photos do seem to indicate that the head sculpt is a bit too squat and the face too broad. The removable proboscises leave holes in the face on either side of the nose, which really ruins it if you want to display the figure as seen on film! Hasbro should have used two heads, as they did with OTC #01 Luke Skywalker. One with the proboscii, and one without (which also could have been the one without the third hole in his mouth for the hookah). The body sculpt is very good, though, earning him an 8 out of 10. |
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| Paint: |
| Jerriko isn't the most colorful fellow in the cantina. His head is molded in a pale flesh color, then given a slight brown wash to bring out the details in his features. His hair and eyebrows are black, with green eyes and protruding, white teeth. The torso, arms and legs are molded in a muted mint green. There are brown paint apps to the belt, boots, hookah holster, and blaster holster, with a black accent to the belt and silver accents to the belt, blaster holster, and boots. There are dark green stripes on each pants leg, and the same shade of green is used to accent the buttons on his tunic and sleeves. His hands are molded in the same flesh tone as the head, with no paint apps to them. His blaster pistol is molded in black, with no paint apps. The hookah is molded in dark green, with silver and metallic yellow paint apps. The proboscises are molded in pink. Overall, quite a few colors and paint apps on this figure: 9/10. |
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| Articulation: |
| This could have best-articulated figure in the Cantina Encounter set. Jerriko has a ball-jointed head, but the long hair in the back of his head and the long jaw in the front makes it pretty moot -- a simple planer-cut at the neck would have worked just as well. Both arms have planer-cut joints at the shoulders and wrists, with angled cuts at the elbows allowing you to pose the arms either bent or straight. Unfortunately, it seems that the arms weren't engineered so that you could actually have Jerriko holding the pipe to his mouth, which makes the mouth hole pretty useless! Try as I might, I just couldn't get that pipe to stay in his mouth: it didn't seem to matter which hand I put the pipe in, or how I posed his head, it just wouldn't stay. The waist and hips are standard planer-cut joints, but the knees are ball-jointed. At least he'll sit at a stool: 7.5/10. |
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| Accessories: |
| Jerriko comes with a blaster, hookah pipe, removable proboscises, and the standard gunmetal gray base/figure stand. We never actually saw him with anything but the hookah in the film, but the blaster is pretty nice: 8/10. |
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| Packaging: |
| The same 2005 Transitional card as the rest of the series, with a character-specific background image--in this case, a composited Mos Eisley cantina interior shot. The insert image is a nice close-up publicity shot of Jerriko, and has the logo for STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE on the far left flange, then the figure's name and 2005 collection number (Dannik Jerriko is '05 #8) on the right flange. The cardback is another close-up of Jerriko, this time a screen shot, and has text that explains the character's background: 8.5/10. |
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| Availability: |
| As of this writing, the figure has been appearing at retail for about a month and while sells out quickly; it is also available from most online sources: 7.5/10. |
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| Conclusion: |
| While some might have preferred to see a set of all-new Cantina 3-packs at Kmart, I really prefer having these individually carded. Jerriko was a figure fans had longed hope to see, although no one was running online petitions for him or anything. It's not a great figure, as those holes in its face really detract from both its display potential and its overall look. Customizers can always get two of them and fill in those holes with putty, I suppose, but the average collector is either going to love it or be very dissatisfied: 8.1/10. |
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