Admiral Ackbar Kenner Figure Review

 

At the end of Kenner's The Empire Strikes Back line, select figures had a sticker on it that had information about how you could get a figure from 20th Century Fox's upcoming release of Revenge of the Jedi Admiral Ackbar. At the tail end of 1982, and early 1983 there wasn't any internet sites that had set photos, and on the sticker was a drawing of Ackbar. Who was he? What did he do? Back then, nobody except George Lucas knew (and possibly Starlog magazine),  and he didn't really like talking before a movie he worked on came out. Ackbar has a double distinction: being the 1st ROTJ figure released, and being the top figure from that line alphabetically.

One thing you will immediately notice on Ackbar compared to the previous Kenner figures is detail. The uniform sculpt, and his head and arm sculpts are very well done. It almost perfectly captures the onscreen Muppet used for Ackbar on screen (although I think the POTF2 version of Ackbar actually perfectly captured the prop's appearance in action figure form). The only thing missing is his rank insignia on his chest, but other than that this is a very screen accurate figure for 1982/1983 sculpting technology.

The articulation is the standard 5 points (head, 2 arms and 2 legs), and he can fit in any vehicle of that time. Ackbar is famous for being in the Y-Wing Fighter cockpit when that fighter was finally released for ROTJ. He has yellow eyes, which are well painted and over the years still holds up well on most samples. Just not mine, LOL! He comes with one accessory, a battle staff, or as my one of my friend's suggested it was something to plug into the computer to show the Death Star II plans. So it's either a staff or a flash drive. This was what was fun about this line: imagination could run wild without worrying too much about on-screen accuracy. Overall, it isn't a bad figure. Now is he essential? Yes. Someone needs to command the Rebels in battle, and he is the only named Rebel commanding officer to get a named Kenner figure. He has a more interesting backstory in Legends than in Disney Canon, but he is a very cool character and action figure. And if you don't have him....you can't recreate the meme! Thanks for reading! Images from Galactic Figures (galacticfigures.com)