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Yodasnews.com Review: Gamorrean Guard
Review and Photography by Jeffrey A. Gouse (SithLord0498)
Review Date: January 19, 2011
FIGURE SPECIFICATIONS
A big green pig with an axe.
What an image that brings to mind! Let me ask you this though: Putting aside your foreknowledge of Gamorrean Guards, how would you imagine it? Short and fat probably? Muck all over its face perhaps? Would it utter a low rumbling oink-oink or a squeaky one? Just how real does it look to you? What’s your gut feeling to its image? Get the concept firmly in your mind and dwell on it for a few moments.
Whatever image your mind concocted, chances are it was a very tactile image—not some computer-generated puppet. That is something the Original Trilogy and its contemporaries have over the Prequels and their flashy cinematic companions. Yes, the latex and suits were sometimes obvious to more discerning eyes (for evidence, look at the picture on page 245 of The Complete Visual Dictionary, and you can clearly see the human skin around the performer’s eyes). Regardless, these were still creatures you could touch. Those Gamorrean close-ups could make your stomach do little turns at the sight of their snotty, slimy snouts—snouts so gooey they reminded you of that time you had a bad cold and your tissue ripped in mid-blow.
Let’s see CGI stir up that same icky memory.
For this reviewer, these visceral memories are what make the Gamorrean Guards iconic. For others, it could be Jubnuk’s crunchiness when the Rancor took a big bite. Still others may best recall Rogua’s and Ortugg’s wet gagging and choking as Luke exercised a glimmer of Dark Side power. Regardless of the specific memory, what remains constant is that Gamorrean Guards are icons among the aliens of the Original Trilogy, and expectations are always highest when icons become collectibles.
Did Hasbro maintain their recent momentum and give this icon the treatment it deserves, or did their slam-dunk streak hit a wall? Find out as Yodasnews presents our in-depth look at the Vintage Collection’s Gamorrean Guard.
PORTRAIT: Excellent
Hasbro essentially gets a free pass in this category with regards to accuracy. This is not Rogua, Ortugg, “Rancor snack” Jubnuk, or any of the other six guards in Jabba’s Palace. This is meant to be a generic Gamorrean, and every one of those nine seen in Return of the Jedi had subtle variations to their appearance. All that was required of the company (in terms of accuracy) was to craft, manufacture, and sell a green pig-faced alien with a nasty underbite. OK, mission accomplished—accuracy 100%. The remainder of this section and its corresponding score focuses instead on the incredible quality of work reflected in the final product—specifically its strongest aspects—along with a few observed fumbles.
Let’s start with the eyes. The Gamorrean has probably the most piercing eyes among any Star Wars figure. Look at the second image below to see this for yourself. Despite their deep recession into the sockets, the eyes still stand out brilliantly. This is not a trick of the camera or reflection of light either. Those minimal white dots are just as piercing with the figure in-hand. What makes it so surprising is the sheer simplicity of the paint applications. They really are just two white dots no bigger than the eye of a tiny needle.
Next up is the snout and that nasty underbite. Hasbro successfully replicated the snout’s “ran into the wall” appearance by sculpting a multitude of compressed wrinkles within the small space on top of the piggish nose. The sculptors also did an incredible job sculpting the skin flaps hanging over the lower jaw. Unless one takes a very close look, the upper and lower jaws appear to be two separate components rather than a single piece, and this illusion gives an enormous amount of realism to the figure. The same optical illusion applies to the sculpting work done on the Guard’s oversized canines.
There are only two noticeable areas for improvement. First, the snout could have used an additional coating of gloss for that extra bit of sliminess. However, the amount used is sufficient, and it is augmented by the tiny sculpted bits of drool running down from its lower jaw. Second, the overall palette could have used more variety. Hasbro only utilized two colors for the Guard’s face: faded green on the skin and a purplish-pink hue on the snout. However, there is too little contrast, resulting in a very flat appearance in person. At the very least, adding some dark shades around the recessed eyes would have given it more definition—not to mention enhancing those already spectacular white eyes. Interestingly enough, the way the figure looks through the camera is the way it should have looked in-hand.
Overall though, Hasbro did a highly commendable job on sculpting and painting the Guard’s brutish head, easily delivering their best Gamorrean portrait yet.
ARMOR AND BODY: Above Average
The Gamorrean Guard’s armor and body contain the weakest aspects of the figure, and these issues will be addressed as they arise. This section will be arranged in order from head to toe, which proves advantageous considering the helmet is the strongest piece in this category. The detailed sculpting on it does a fine job differentiating between the “metal” and “leather” components, and its best attributes are the etched lines on the metal and the jagged stitching on the back. The helmet also fits well albeit loosely on the figure’s head. The sole drawback is the sloppy overlapping of brown paint on the gray metal sections.
As for the armor, Hasbro gave consumers a mixed bag in terms of quality. Accuracy-wise, the results are very successful. The designs and engravings on the shoulder plates and gauntlets are clearly patterned after one or more of the filming costumes. The brown tunic—particular its back—is filled with subtle lines and folds that simulate the appearance of a heavy-duty material. This figure also marks the first time Hasbro made the Guard’s belt and shoulder strap a separate element rather than sculpted directly onto the torso. This was a wise design choice that further enhances the costume’s realism.
Where the costume stumbles is in its (literal) shallowness. There is simply very little depth to the overall armor. The gauntlets, sculpted directly on the arms, barely rise above the Gamorrean’s “flesh”. There is no sense that these are metal plates encasing the forearms. They instead look more like growths on the skin. The same grievance can be levied against the tunic’s short sleeves and the black sandal straps. As for the shoulder armor, the plates are curiously undersized. It is not a case of sacrificing accuracy to achieve poseability either because rotating the shoulder joint as far in as possible reveals ample room remaining for more accurately-sized plates.
While these may seem like minor complaints, they significantly affect the aesthetics of the Guard’s uniform by giving it an overall soft look. Essentially, it causes the same lack of depth that the bland color palette caused with the portrait.
The Gamorrean Guard’s skin is another mixed bag. Hasbro’s sculptors did an excellent job with the various wrinkles found on the filming costume’s latex skin, especially near the elbows and knees. The fingers and toes also feature superb and realistic sculpting. It is on the feet, however, that Hasbro’s QC dipped sharply. The green paint was so grossly applied that it rampantly spilled onto the area of the sandals surrounding the Guard’s feet. Essentially, he is wearing sandals that are black on bottom and green on top. This high level of bleeding undermines any illusion of the feet and sandal bottoms being separate pieces.
SOFT GOODS LOINCLOTH: Above Average
Miniaturizing fabrics is a daunting task, requiring both skilled designers and a wealth of potential materials. Just turn back the clock to the old Kenner days and look at the grossly-inaccurate felt capes and robes in the Vintage line. In recent years though, Hasbro has made great strides towards finding appropriate materials—even if they don’t always exactly mimic their full-scale counterparts. In the case of the Gamorrean Guard, however, Hasbro truly struck gold finding a material that achieves both.
The problem is that Hasbro got carried away with the loincloth. Regardless of its impressive engineering, there is simply too much material. Reference photos of Jedi’s various Gamorreans show loincloths that extend only to the mid-upper thigh and sit on the waist—so short, in fact, that the Guard’s “underwear” (for lack of a better descriptor) is still visible. The loincloth on the figure, however, extends to the knees and rides up above the waist. The latter forces the belt to sit on the Guard’s ribcage, giving the illusion of a stunted torso and skewering the figure’s body proportions. Even just trimming the length would have given the loincloth a tamer and more appropriate look.
Of course, it bodes well for the Gamorrean Guard that this ends up being its most severe shortcoming.
ARTICULATION: Excellent
This is a purely technical score, based upon Hasbro’s obvious commitment to providing the character with its best articulation to date. Hinged wrists are the only possible improvement, but swivel wrists are more than sufficient for Ol’ Piggy. Gamorreans are not the most agile creatures in the galaxy after all. Again though, this is a technical score, and excellent articulation does not translate into excellent poseability. Dynamic poses are severely restricted due to the sheer bulkiness of the figure. Case in point: the legs can only elevate to roughly 45 degrees before the torso interferes. Of course, this reduced poseability is pretty screen-accurate.
The only true disappointment is that the iconic “Forced choked” pose is difficult to replicate as evidenced in the below photograph.
WEAPONS: Excellent
Previous incarnations of the Guard were always very light on weapons—battle axe, and that was all. In keeping with their efforts to craft the be-all, end-all Gamorrean Guard, Hasbro included all three on-screen weapons: the vibro-lance and two different battle axes. Of the three, the vibro-lance is the least accurate because it’s missing the rounded protrusions on the assault-end of the weapon. This omission is noted solely for thoroughness. It is completely inconsequential to the quality of the weapon. It is overflowing with detail, detail so intricate and small that it’s hard to believe this is an accessory for a $7 kids’ toy! Pictures though testify otherwise.
The battle axes’ standout features are the blades. Rather than a smooth factory-fresh texture, the plastic blades are nicked, dented, and pitted in beautiful simulations of long-term battle wear. The P-shaped axe “edges” out the traditional axe by sporting a light brown paint wash presumably meant to simulate rust and (most likely) dried blood. This additional touch augments its aged battle-hardened appearance. As with the rest of the figure’s paint applications, though, Hasbro’s stumbling block here is that the axes have a very flat low-contrast look to them in person—particularly with the “wooden” handles.
OVERALL RATING: Excellent
The Gamorrean Guard is another one of those figures that triumphs over its shortcomings. It’s not a perfect figure. However, it’s probably the best it’s ever going to be, and that’s OK. With its fantastic portrait, numerous points of articulation, soft-goods loincloth, and a small arsenal of weapons, this can easily be considered the definitive Gamorrean Guard in the 3.75 inch scale line. It will probably get passed over by many younger fans in favor of more action-oriented Clone Wars figures, but this is a real gem for collectors and older fans that grew up on the Original Trilogy. The hard part though will be scoring one on store shelves. The Gamorrean Guard appears to be the hardest figure to find from the Jedi wave (although Episode III Clonetroopers are still in over-abundance).
Not too shabby for a big green pig with an axe.
