Judging from the product shots, it looks like the most recent Star Wars Jedi Council three-packs contain repackaged figures. It’s a pity (but, in the current economy, probably a cost-cutting, inventory-clearing necessity), because the first two three-packs in this line were so refreshingly new.
Not really sticking to any one time frame, these Hasbro three-packs consist of two seats (with two seated characters and a third standing) from the movies’ Jedi Council scenes, dividing the circular Council room contingent into pie slices. One could, in theory, collect ’em all and wind up with the whole circle. (I’m sure that’s what Hasbro would like collectors to do, at any rate.)
The first set consists of characters from Episode II: Attack Of The Clones, but my primary source of fascination is with a diminutive character who first appeared in The Phantom Menace. Even Piell, making his action figure debut here, looks like he could be a member of Yoda’s species, though his features are significantly different and his skin is bright pink. The poor little guy has evidently seen some action too – he’s missing an eye and that whole side of his face is dominated by a nasty-looking scar. Even Piell was played by Lucas-employed-little-people veteran Jack Purvis in the movie, and when we move on to the second set, you’ll see that my fascination with Yoda-esque Jedi Masters isn’t just a passing thing.
I’m glad that the snail-bodied Jedi Master Oppo Rancisis, also appearing for the first time in plastic, is identified clearly here; anytime I’d seen a picture of this guy in the past I had referred to him as “Santa Buddha.” I think the pictures pretty much speak for themselves with regard to that nickname. This set is rounded out with a different version of Mace Windu than has appeared before in the Star Wars toy line.
The second set released contains some of the colorful characters from Episode I‘s memorable Council scenes, including two eye-catching characters who caught my interest from the first viewing of the movie. Yaddle is obviously a female member of Yoda’s species, though with a mohawk-like blaze of red hair that makes her look like a bit of a punker Yoda. Now, granted, she didn’t really do anything in the film – never even said a word – but sit there and look like she was contemplating the mystery of Qui-Gon’s Sith attacker and the strange young offworlder he brough before the Jedi Masters, but y’know, there was something that striking about there being another member of Yoda’s race sitting on the Council. Holy cow, there’s two of them, and they’re both strong with the Force. Like any other fan, I wondered what relationship existed between the two, and where she disappeared to in the years between Phantom Menace and Attack Of The Clones. If I was one to dive back into the murky waters of published Star Wars fiction, I’m sure I’d find out, but for now, I’m just happy to have the action figure (at last!).
Also included in the first set are Episode I‘s Jedi Masters Yarael Poof (he of the strange elongated neck and tiny head, though his neck is somewhat scaled back in height here – in the movie he looked like he could see over tall buildings in a single bound) and Depa Billaba, a seemingly human woman who appears to be of Indian descent. She has some hair braids that seem to anticipate at least one future hairstyle of a certain young Rebel princess.
Granted, some of these figures are really more suited to display than to play – I’m looking at you, Oppo Rancisis (who can’t even be removed from his chair) – and lightsabers are not included, but for someone like me who’s been working on a “Jedi shelf” for quite some time, these two sets are gold. Now, the bad news is that the more recent sets are a mishmash of barely-altered versions of existing characters. To contrast, the first set reviewed here has a new sculpt of Mace Windu, at worst using an existing head sculpt, that’s purpose-made for sitting in his Council Room chair. One of the new sets uses the existing Episode II Arena Battle version of Saesee Tiin, as well as an existing Episode I Anakin-in-slave-garb figure – both differentiated only by different paint jobs.
Y’know, in my old age, I’ve had to temper my childhood lust to collect every Star Wars action figure somewhat, concentrating on specific characters I want who aren’t already represented in my collection and ignoring, say, the umpteengazillionth re-release of the adult Boba Fett. Granted, I’m also someone who has at least seven or eight different R2 units lined up on a shelf, and surely they’re just different paint jobs of essentially the same mold, but in their case, that makes them different characters. Not so in the case of slapping some darker brown paint on a sculpt of Anakin Skywalker that I already have in its original form. So I’m not sure I’ll be blowing my hard-earned money on the newer Jedi Council sets…but these first two sets are great stuff, a nice mix of characters that I had waited a long, long time for (in a galaxy far, far away, no doubt).
Yaddle and Even Piell compared in scale to two of the prequel-era Yoda figures.