Review : Tusken Raider / Sand Person
Star Wars Black Series (Hasbro)
Wave/Series : 40th Anniversary
Released : June 2017
Price : £24.99
In early 2017 Hasbro announced a series of 6" scale Black Series figures to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Star Wars, A New Hope. The intention was to replicate the original 12 Kenner figures by releasing the 6" versions on retro Kenner style cards.
The first wave was released March 2017 with a second set of 6 released in June 2017. While the first wave repacked figures, the 2nd wave introduced three figures not released to date in the series - the Jawa, Death Squad Commander and the figure we are reviewing here - the Tusken Raider.
The new card backs are sized to accommodate the 6" figures, without being a direct upscale of the original 3.75" figures. They utilise the same character image as well as the Star Wars and Kenner logo's. The character name is set into a coloured box, with the same colouring used behind the figure. While the figure is called a Tusken Raider, the card has remained faithful to the name used on the original 1978 Kenner 12-back release, the Sand People
A neat 40th Anniversary logo sits in the top left corner.
Round the back of the card is a checklist of the 12 figures that will be released. These are framed in various colours, each colour matching the scheme that will be used on their card. Under the 12 figures is an image of the Legacy pack, the stand that revisits the original Early Bird pack and gives collectors who aren't keeping these on card a display option for loose figures.
A subtle Black Series logo is atop the card and of course being 40 years after Kenner & Lucasfilm, we now find the Disney logo at the base of the card along with the present day safety notices and legal logo's
The Tusken Raider is somewhat sandwiched into the small blister pack, surrounded by a variety of weaponry. You would assume the blister layout for the normal Phase 3 boxing will see a better distributed layout.
The figure stands 6 1/4 inches high. He is quite a substantially weighted figure and feels robust in hand. As he comes out of the box his soft goods cloak is tucked up into the skirt section of his inner cloaks. While sum will like this look, for a full flowing cloak this needs pulling out and releasing to follow naturally down to the ground.
The head on the Tusken is very impressive, capturing that wasteland look that we see in A New Hope. The bandages are all sculpted detail and then painted in a sand yellow and washed with black to pull out the detail. Out of the bandages stick the four silver head "horns" and at the front the two eye lenses which are cast to look telescopic.
The breather mask is a darker brown with a silver section at the top and is wrapped in a tan brown bandage. If I was being hyper critical then I would have liked to see the same dark wash on this mouth piece - as it stands its a touch too clean.
Under the head is the Moisture Trap that juts out from either side of the neck and concludes in a brown tube just under the mouth. This device is unique to the A New Hope Tusken Raiders - it didn't appear on the costumes used in 1999 for The Phantom Menace when the Tusken Raiders made their return.
From the neck downward is a chest section of sandy brown, and it is wrapped with two ammunition belts. These are painted a dark brown but there is some missing paint towards the base of each where they remain coloured the same as the clothing underneath. On sections of the belts details are picked out in gold. These straps go right round the back of the figure with the same detail of paint, including a painted gold clasp - this is even though the back is pretty much hidden by the soft goods robes.
Further down is a pouched belt. Here the paint is superb in another brown shade with washed detail to dirty it up as well as a gold clasp on each compartment. From the belt runs a plastic outer skirt. This is textured like sack cloth and is weathered at the hem with a darker wash to represent the dirt kicked up in the dessert.
Under these skirt sections are fully sculpted legs with sandy trousers down to knee high wrapped boots - with the boots also weathered with the dark wash.
All this is wrapped up in a nice hessian type cloak. This is stitched into two sleeves that hold the arms and then flows down and out from the figure. While it feels like it should be removable, it appears to be stitched or glued in the neck - and I for one didn't want to ruin an excellent figure by pulling it all loose.
Articulation on the figure starts with the head which is ball jointed and can be turned a full 360 degrees. The head is pivoted and can look up. You will struggle to have him look down as the collar and neck device block that movement.
The arms have a full range of movement under the cloak. The shoulders are ball jointed, with the elbows a single rotating joint. The hands are pivot pegs so they rotate as well as pivoting back and forth
Your wont get much movement in the legs due to the hard inner skirt. While there is a split up the skirt (same as Obi-Wan) it doesn't really allow much more movement other than some wider stances or bent knees etc.
The Tusken Raider comes armed to the teeth, and the first weapon is the long sniper rifle. This takes some working out to get hi to hold it as it naturally doesn't have a grip. Once in place in the right hand, the left cups the barrel nicely. While he wont take up a sniping position, there are a few positions to play with - including the guard stance where he holds the rifle with the butt resting on the floor.
The other accessory is the gaderffii stick. And I congratulate and thank Hasbro here for including the three different ends to the stick that we see in A New Hope. The larger round pointed end has a slot at one end into which you can place one of these three head options.
Two of the heads are a dark brown plastic to match the main body, the third is a silver colour.
The arm movement allows the Tusken Raider to hold the gaderffi stick in a variety of poses, my favourite being the over the head victory pose.
Considering the recent releases in the Black Series where we have been lucky with one small blaster - the Tusken Raider is spoiled in terms of accessories and pack-ins. Putting the three heads of the gaderffi stick in one pack will certainly encourage repeat purchases, especially as the same figure has hit the market at the same time as the 40th release in the Phase 3 red box packaging. Of course the other option would have been to put out variants in each release - but that often backfires and frustrates collectors.
The soft goods work, but I do worry about fraying considering none of the ends are neatly stitched or finished. The head sculpt is amazing, and overall paint and weathering is pretty strong.
The appeal of the 40th Anniversary figures is of course the packaging, and the Tusken Raider looks spectacular on his backing card with its dynamic image and bright green backing colouring. The figure is also superb out of the pack, appealing to both MIB and loose collectors and I suspect he will hold his value - if not see it rise - over the coming months & years, something that is fairly consistent when Army-Builder troops are in play.
Considering all this, and the very minor flaws, I award the 40th Anniversary Tusken Raider release a 5 out of 5.
