Nom Anor

What really makes this guy evil? Is it the torture? The lying? The grand plans for death? Or is it his atheism? Nom Anor was the first member of the Yuuzhan Vong to enter the Star Wars galaxy, years before the official start of their full-scale invasion. He traveled the galaxy, fomenting unrest, destabilizing governments, and doing his best to prolong the war between the Imperial Remnant and the New Republic from behind the scenes, in order to make sure the galaxy's defenses were weakened by the time the real fight began. When an attack Anor helped plan led to a major defeat for the Yuuzhan Vong, the supreme overlord called for his head. He fled to the lower levels of Coruscant and began posing as the prophet Yu'shaa, leader of a group that viewed the Jedi as their saviors rather than their enemies. He turned his back on that group when the supreme overlord welcomed him back, but tried to rejoin them when it looked like his side of the war was losing. Classy. Om-nom-nom Anor was introduced in the pages of Crimson Empire II, back before Dark Horse Comics had their invasion story yanked out from under them by Del Rey Books. Amazingly, this toy's sculpt captures many of the details of that first-appearance artwork, despite many appearances and several redesigns since then. Every bit of the rounded, layered armor between the hips and the wrists is a near-perfect re-creation of Paul Gulacy's design. The armor on the thighs is different, but still similar, while the only difference on the hands is that they're skin-colored instead of black. The largest point of diversion is the boots, and those come directly from a different piece of art (so does the armor on his shoulders). Basically, this toy couldn't be any "Nom Anor-ier" if it tried. As we've said before, the Yuuzhan Vong look like skeletal, bat-faced Cenobites, and Nom Anor doesn't break away from that terrifying recipe. He has an intricate blue tattoo on his scalp, and prominent cheekbones that flow nicely into his lack of a nose or lips. Both his eyes are the same color - in the stories, he replaced one with a small acid-spitting creature. Nom Anor was released as part of the retro-carded Vintage Collection, so his articulation is as good as his sculpt. He has a balljointed head and ankles, swivels for the wrists, hips and waist, and injection-molded joints at the knees, elbows and shoulders. He has large spikes coming off his arms, shins and back, but they don't impede the joints at all. The backplate and shoulder armor are removable. Why would you want to remove them? So you can slip on his included robe beneath them. The arm spikes do get in the way of the robe - or is it the other way around? Whatever the case, the spikes and robe don't play well with one another. He comes with an amphistaff, a lightsaber-resistant living creature that can either become flexible and used as a whip, or be a rigid staff. It's the same sculpt as the one the Yuuzhan Vong Warrior came with, but not the same mold: for whatever reason, it's done in two pieces that plug together. Only his left hand is molded to hold it: his right has two fingers extended in a sinister gesture. Nom Anor apparently died at the end of the war, but it kind of happened "off screen," so a lot of fans think he's still alive and poised for a surprise return. That's unlikely to happen, but with this action figure, you can stage your own comeback, and have him pulling the strings on whatever evil plots you want. -- 10/05/13

Tweet