Kenner Gamorrean Guard & Jabba The Hutt Review

 Since my Kenner reviews are my lowest viewed blog posts, I will be condensing the reviews. That way I can get through all the figures quicker, and if necessary can spend a little more time going over some details. I had thought about adding the Max Rebo Band into this review, as well as maybe Ree Yees and the ultra rare Yakface but those will come as I round out Jabba's Palace participants (which will include 8D8 and EV-9) and Skiff Guard figures, which will come in the next few weeks. All the Ewoks will be in one post as well.

So if I'm adding to things, I may as well go into detail. You see, if you have the Kenner Jabba the Hutt playset, you have to have a Gamorrean Guard! Jabba needs protection, right?! And he ain't exactly one to handle things himself! So that's my justification for this double sided review!

First off is the Gamorrean Guard. He would be a big figure, big as in chubby. He has a bigger beer belly than the Rancor Keeper but he knows how to use his bulk. Except for escaping the Rancor. Anyway, he comes with an axe that fits in his right hand. Due to his, bulk...he can't fit in any vehicles, but he stands surprisingly well as long as you don't raise his arm. But to be safe if he's displayed loose you should put him on a stand. He does have peg holes, so use them! He has only 4 POA as his head cannot move, just his arms and legs.

The sculpt is actually quite good. Looking at this you can see how far Kenner had come in 5 years. The detail of his armor, puffy trunks and his bracelets are very well done. Amazingly, I never thought to have him try to hold a blaster or blaster rifle so I don't know if he could hold anything else, but a spare staff from a Skiff Guard should be no problem. What the Gamorrean Guard may be best know for isn't just being used for Return of the Jedi. This body sculpt was used for the Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves toy line as Friar Tuck, but obviously with a new head sculpt. Overall, not a bad figure and one that justified the troop building aspect of Star Wars. You can't eat just one Lay's potato chip, and you can't have just one Gamorrean Guard either!

"Lay Jabba no bodda!"

Okay Bib Fortuna's line to C-3PO really explains Jabba's laziness. Don't bother him! But, Kenner did an amazing job on their version of Jabba the Hutt. And after 40 years the original holds up much better than my 2010 Jabba which has a very sticky body. The classic Jabba looks like it just was opened...and now it's 40 years later and still looks new! This was intended to be a playset and like all Kenner playsets it has some extra features to make it fun. Jabba comes with his dais, which if you remove him from it and twist the 1st & 4th skulls on it you open up the doors and can place figures in it as a "dungeon" of sorts. Honestly what could be worse than being underneath Jabba?! That's a Hell I don't want to know! There is also a rope with an attached neck collar, which on the box shows it around Jedi Luke's neck. Most people I know used this for Boushh Leia since there wouldn't be a Slave (Huttslayer) Leia until 1997. And there was no Oola until the POTF2 as well so you were SOL using it. There was also Jabba's hookah pipe, which he could hold. There's even a space in his mouth to rest the pipe so he has a "smoking" feature!

The sculpt on Jabba is very good. His eyes are also sculpted so it gives off a true alien feel, even if it isn't accurate to how he looked onscreen. The details on his fat folds and "scales" are very well done. Possibly the best detailed sculpting Kenner would do on a "large" figure. Jabba only had 4 articulation points, his arms, head and tail. If you moved his head his tail moved back and forth, and that action feature still works all these years later. There really isn't much for Jabba to do except rest on his dais and torment whatever figures you put beneath him! But he wasn't active in the movie so it all works out. But, this does look like a miniature puppet that could have been used for Jabba, who was manned by I believe 14 people on set on that giant puppet. I bet that slime really stunk, LOL!

But Jabba isn't incomplete! He comes with his "court jester" Salacious Crumb! All he can do is sit on the edge of Jabba's dais as he has no articulation whatsoever. He is nicely sculpted, and it wouldn't be until 2010 that he actually had some moving parts, although the POTF2 version packed with Oola had a movable tail. But Salacious does his job here, sit still and make Jabba laugh!

Now do you need Jabba? Well, you do. He is the thorn in Han Solo's side in all 3 movies, the last one where we finally saw him (until the Special Edition of A New Hope adding him into the movie, until then he had appeared in the comic looking like Mosep Binneed and in the ANH novel adaptation). On eBay you can find a sealed box for $600 and loose complete (with arms) for about $15-$20. His dais without the hookah accessories start at $25. The Gamorrean Guard loose and with ax starts at $3.25 and goes up to $500 on card. Graded prices on card are high, and I wouldn't list the prices here when you could use that money on a down payment for rent or a new vehicle. Thanks for reading! Gamorrean Guard image is from Galactic Figures, Jabba images are from Wheeljack's Lab eBay Store.