VC Tessek AKA Squid Head Review

 

Back in 2001, Hasbro made Squid Head, now known as Tessek for the Power of the Jedi toyline, and it was a remarkable improvement over the Kenner version. Better sculpting and paint apps showed how far toy design, and painting had come in the 17 years between releases. But as the Vintage Collection 1.0 came, no Tessek. It went away, and came back still without my favorite alien from Jabba's Palace. But Hasbro had plans: put him in a 4 pack! So, I sold some plasma and used that to buy the 4 pack (exaggeration: may not have happened!)!

Tessek sports the standard 17 POA, and has newly sculpted head and hands, and midsection "belt". The rest is a clever kitbash using Cal Kestis's legs, and arms from an unknown to me figure. The upper body movement I had no issues with, but the lower body was different. Initially on the upper body the elbow joints were tight, but after moving them for a few minutes they were fine. The lower body though, those knees were tight. I almost put him in just boiled water to loosen the extra stiff knees, but eventually they moved. Sadly, he needs a stand if he's displayed loose as he tends to fall forward, but he's got great range as he can hit the "Staying Alive" pose ala Ted Stryker (one of the photos below).  Overall, my sample was well sculpted and painted, but some collectors have had some issues with both. Could it be better? Yes, but a rare (at least recently) miss for Hasbro on consistent quality control. For me, no complaints so I'll consider myself fortunate.

Tessek has a couple accessories: a removable cape and a blaster. The head can be removed to get the cape off, but I don't want to do that! His blaster fits best in his right hand, but he has no holster so you'll need to keep the blaster in a bag. Only in the Star Wars universe does an accountant need to pack heat! Well, if you work for Jabba you probably need to anyway. Read the current Max Rebo ROTJ one shot from Marvel Comics and you'll understand this!

In the photo below I have all 3 versions of this figure: the Kenner version, the VC version, and the Power of the Jedi version. The Kenner one lacks the robes but one thing the POTJ version has is a holster for his blaster. Also shows how far sculpt and paint techniques have changed in nearly 40 years, too! I wanted to add this for reference, and since this is only his 3rd figure ever, his 2nd since Star Wars returned to toy shelves in 1995 just how much farther Hasbro has to go on some characters getting made.

Now, is he essential for your collection? If you got the BOBF Palace set, yes, since he is alive during the show, as he escaped after Boba blasted Bib Fortuna away. With Jabba coming in 2024, it can easily fit in the Palace, so if you have that for Jabba, you need Tessek. But if you're like me and never grew out of liking weird looking aliens in Star Wars, you need this! If you don't get him it's okay, but expect eBay prices to be higher, so if you can, pull the trigger on getting this 4 pack. I'll review a couple more figures from this pack in the next few weeks.

I took all the photos for this review. Thanks for reading! Please share this link on your social media accounts so I can get more readers!