Jabba The Hutt VC Review

 

When Hasbro made Boba Fett's Palace Playset, Vintage Collection collectors wanted to swap out Boba for Jabba. The problem was, the last mass release of Jabba in the 1:18 scale was from 2010. If you got Jabba's Sail Barge you could swap out that Jabba over the 2010 version. Recently, Hasbro has made a new Jabba, one that I'm told can properly fit into the Palace Playset. But honestly, I'm not completely happy with it. I'll explain why, of course. But before I go into the Vintage Collection Jabba, I'll take a look back at the 2010 Jabba. 

But before I begin, where I am displaying Jabba isn't exactly an easy to photograph area, so I'm doing the photos on my BB-8 Playset, since these sets surprisingly fit, I just couldn't fit all the figures I wanted to take photos with, except for the essential ones to interact with the set. I'm no expert when it comes to photos, as you can tell, LOL! But I'll do my best to use all of my photos and not screenshots from Hasbro. If I use them, I'll let you know at the end of the post. 

2010 LEGACY COLLECTION JABBA

The 2010 Jabba was a Wal-Mart exclusive, and easy to find at first. An advantage of this Jabba is the ease in which he can fit his hookah pipe into his mouth, something the Kenner Jabba could do. Take note of that. The paint apps and sculpt aren't bad for the time, and could hold up well today. The only areas of articulation are his head, neck, arms and the tip of his tail can slightly bend. Just don't overdo moving the tail. This set came with 2 other figures: Salacious Crumb and the 1st ever and so far only super articulated Oola action figure. Her belt got damaged so I used a black garage bag tie to function as a belt on her. Salacious is a re-use from the 2 pack with C-3PO, and he sits on the dais quite well. I added a Legscy Collection Slave Leia, and would have liked to pose her with the alternate sitting lower body but lost that accessory long ago. 

But a big problem with Jabba is that he's sticky. The plastic used to make him turned sticky, and he is literally stuck on his dais. It's gotten so bad, I would touch him and have to wash my hands because they become sticky. So, what to do with this now that I have a new one? Well, this "Jabba" will be another Hutt that I'll display in the Cantina once it arrives next year. I might make this Durga the Hutt from Star Wars Legends. 

VINTAGE COLLECTION JABBA PACK IN FIGURES

There are 2 pack in figures: 8D8 and Salacious P. Crumb. Both are all new sculpts. 8D8 features a double barbell neck, a ball joint waist, and even ankle articulation! But no elbow articulation. Anyway, I'm keeping him carded because the card is not punched, as the tab is still visible. Salacious is on a similar card as his SDCC Revenge of the Jedi card, but this time it's a ROTJ card, and as the Revenge card was VC 66, here he gets VC 66A. I'm also keeping this carded due to the uniqueness of the card he's on, and that the 2010 Salacious holds up well enough to stay with Jabba. 

OTHER ACCESSORIES 

The 2010 Jabba came with plastic pillows and a plastic rug. The VC Jabba comes with cloth rugs and soft, fabric pillows. Like the 2010 version, I have no idea how to arrange them, but did the best I could. But with the cloth accessories, I'm in the same boat. I don't know how they were displayed, but since the Kenner version had no pillows or rugs, my VC Jabba won't have them either. Other accessories include food for Jabba to eat, including a frog, as well as some glasses to drink out of. I'm keeping those bagged because I'll lose them. But once I clean out a spare bedroom I can store Jabba near where I'll display the Cantina. But for now, my Jabba will rest on my step stool. Not exactly a great place for photos, but a good temporary display. 

JABBA HIMSELF 

Okay, well, sigh. I'm not impressed. This isn't bad, but not worth the $110 that it cost, with shipping putting it over the century mark. From the neck down, there's no movable parts. It's all on the head and neck area. His shoulders and elbows are ball jointed, with swivel wrists. His head does turn as you can see above, and I thought about taking photos of Jabba off his dais, but worked around that to fit Bib Fortuna in the photos. Oola, Salacious and Leia are their Legacy Collection figures. Only Bib is a VC figure. 

Now, one major complaint is Jabba can't put his pipe into his mouth. Oh he can hold it well, just not into his mouth. It took me 10 minutes of attempting before I yelled "F**k it!" & settled for him holding the pipe instead. I may swap out his back rest from the 2010 set to see if he holds that one better. It's a source of frustration, but it doesn't make me want to quickly turn around and sell this. 

One thing I didn't cover is the box. Hasbro did a great job recreating the original Kenner box for this, and as a nostalgic collector, I'm happy about this! But now to find a place to store it, as this package is worth keeping around, at least for a while. 

Now the Jabba figure, well, it's slightly improved on the paint apps. I've seen that this is basically the same Jabba from the Sail Barge, but with "improved" paint apps. The eyes are the biggest improvement as it resembles a modern take on the eyes of the Kenner Jabba. This is the best part of this figure. But, the other paint applications have some deficiencies. While an improvement over the 2010, there's an area on him that I saw in a photo that BanthaSkull posted to X, and now I see it on mine: the "bullseye" on the belly. It has been seen and now I can't unsee it. In person, it's not easily seen. It's the photos that make it stand out. Other parts are well done, and like I said it's a big improvement over the 2010. And since this is made of a harder plastic, I doubt this Jabba gets sticky in 2038, which would be the 55th Anniversary of ROTJ. But, despite the flaws, it's good. Not great. But this really should have been an $80 item. At this writing I believe he's still available on Hasbro Pulse, so move quickly on him before he's sold out, if you can afford him. 

OTHER FIGURES NEEDED NOW

You noticed Oola and Slave Leia, and for Leia anyway a brand new version needs to be made. If Leia is done, some of that new tooling could possibly go to a new Oola. But new versions are needed for Jabba's Palace displays, so I could see both of these figures being part of 2025's Return To Tattooine campaign Hasbro is on for the VC. I don't think it will be just ANH figures Hasbro will focus that campaign on. So what I'm saying is there could be a chance we get one or both soon, since Hasbro has said Disney can't stop them from making Slave Leia or Oola. Well, okay. Let's get these figures made ASAP, Hasbro!

Thanks for reading! Also a special thanks to Chris & Nomad at BanthaSkull for allowing me to post this link in the comments section! Please share this link on your social media accounts so I can get more readers!