Ewoks Battle Pack

The Ewoks of Bright Tree Village join forces with the Rebels to battle Imperial troopers. These diminutive natives of Endor are fierce fighters with an array of weapons to help defeat the troopers and immobilize Imperial walkers. Armed with spears, clubs and weapons taken from overpowered troopers, the Ewoks do their part to free the galaxy. Our first Ewok in this set is Flitchee. Don't worry if these names mean nothing to you, they're mostly made up for this set, so they don't mean anything to anyone. But you remember in Return of the Jedi when one of the teddy bears stood up and waved a Stormtrooper blaster in the air? This is that teddy bear. Flitchee the Mad Gunman uses the same pre-existing mold as Leektar, so he stands 2¼" tall and moves at the neck, shoulders, wrists, waist, hips and ankles. His fur is a medium brown, with tan skin on the fingers and toes. His nose is black, and his lips appear to be slightly red. Wait, are we sure this is a "he?" Whatever, it doesn't matter. The hood he's wearing in the package is an orangey tan, and has a white strap with a green pouch molded as part of it. However, while Flitchee did have a strap like this in the movie, his hood was different: it was darker than his fur, and had a feather on the right side. But because Hasbro loves us, they included that hood as a second option. Aww! His other accessories include the Imperial blaster by which we recognize him, and a knife that can be stored in the belt. Since the screen-accurate hood dodesn't have a strap molded as part of it, the set includes a second one for him. Next we have one of the most famous Ewoks of all, Nanta. And before you say you don't know Nanta, trust us: you do. Remember the two Ewoks who get shot by an AT-ST, and the one gets back to its feet and is confused when it can't get its little friend to wake up? Well Nanta's the one who doesn't get up. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Nanta is the Ewok formerly known as "Corpsey!" This mold originated in the same "Romba & Graak" two-pack that is the original source of Flitchee's sculpt, as well. This one is 2⅜" tall, just a little bigger than the last one. His fur is dark, nearly black, with dark grey stripes down his chest and limbs. His skin is very light, so the fingers and toes really stand out. Nanta's hood is a new piece, which means he's a one-of-a-kind Ewok. He does come with a spear, but it's reused from the Vintage Collection Wicket. Makes sense. He has a balljointed head, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel wrists, swivel waist, T-crotch, and swivel/hinge ankles - more than enough to have him lying on the ground motionless! The centerpiece of this set is the medicine man Teebo. Not that he's a really great figure, just that he's physically in the middle of the box, the way it's laid out. In their universe, Teebo is the apprentice of Logray, and in our universe, Teebo is a repaint of Logray. Not the one we reviewed, the Vintage release (capital V, not lowercase v). And that's kind of a shame, because while the prototype shown on the back of the box had a new, highly film-accurate head, the final release has the same old noggin. Plus, his fur isn't as dark as it should be: he's dark grey with lighter gray stripes, when he should really be gray with black stripes. Fortunately, Teebo makes up for that in a few ways. First of all, his articulation. He's got the best assortment of joints in this set, with a balljointed head, swivel/hinge shoulders and elbows, swivel wrists and waist, swivel/hinge hips and swivel/hinge ankles. Heck, the only things he's missing are knees, so Teebo could properly Tebow. Then there are the accessories. We start with his freaky animal headdress, his bone necklace, and a club that's reused from Leektar. Okay, not bad so far. We then get a second version of his headdress, taken from a brief scene in the film where the animal head was attached to a full hood. Craziness! Then there's a horn on a sash, a second sash with a knife and sheath, and two drumsticks. Holy moly! Maybe Teebo is the metaphorical centerpiece after all! The next figure is Kneesaa, an Ewok who 1) comes from the Expanded Universe, and B) already had a name that (some) fans knew. She was the Ewok princess, daughter of Chief Chirpa, and she was one of the main characters in the much-reviled Ewoks cartoon. This figure was originally planned for the Vintage Collection, where she would have helped Wicket seem not so needlessly expensive by sharing space in his blister card. Unfortunately, Hasbro couldn't get her into production in time to make that happen, so this box set is her first release. This figure uses Wicket's mold, which probably would have led to fans crying "cheap cop-out" had they actually been released together as planned. Since she's just a kid (a cub? a youngling?) she's not even 2¼" tall. Her fur is all gray, so she ends up looking like a bipedal koala. She moves at the neck, shoulders, wrists, hips and ankles - clearly she's too small for elbows and knees, but no waist? Why not? Kneesaa is packaged wearing her pink hood/cape combo, and has a bola wrapped around her chest. Canonically, Kneesaa did appear in Return of the Jedi (or more accurately, an Ewok costume appeared in the movie and was retroactively declared to be Kneesaa), so Hasbro has also given her a second hood in a sort of olive drab. The final Ewok in the box is Tippet, who wasn't in the movie - he comes from the Marvel comics, and judging by the only picture I can find of him, was a &^$%ing psycho. The figure uses the same body as Corpsey-- sorry, "Nanta," but his fur is solid brown. Well, various shades of brown. It's not like he's just molded in one color and left that way. His nose and digits are closer to orange. Since this body originated in an ancient two-pack, the articulation is lackluster. Tippet gets a balljointed head, swivel/hinge shoulders and ankles, swivel wrists and waist, and a T-crotch. The left arm is bent, while the right is straight. He's got an angry look on his face, and very pointy ears. Tippet's accessories include a spear and a dagger, neither of which are the same molds seen elsewhere in this set. He's packaged wearing the hat with two tusks jutting over his brow, but also includes a more traditional Ewok hood that has a ring of bones that make it look like he's wearing a turban. Some people questioned the wisdom of releasing a five-pack of nothing but Ewoks, but those people are nuts. It's not cool for a Star Wars fan to admit they like Ewoks, but it happens. All the toys in this set have real inspirations, and only one of them has ever had an action figure before. And heck, with all the various accessories they come with, you could almost buy two sets and dress them all differently, really filling out those crowd scenes. Like the big dance party at the end of RotJ! -- 02/23/13

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