Dash Rendar - SOTE - Basic

Height: 1.8 Meters
Status: Smuggler, Pilot, Mercenary
Classification: Human
Affiliation: Freelance
Weapon of Choice: None
Vehicle of Choice: Outrider

In all the galaxy there are few who can fly and shoot like Dash Rendar. Many years ago, as a cadet at the Imperial Academy, he continually impressed his superiors with the ability to push vessels beyond their usual limits, executing maneuvers his ships were never meant to perform. He held great promise as a future Imperial officer until a freight vessel piloted by his brother malfunctioned and crashed on Coruscant, destroying a private museum that housed many of the Emperor's treasures. Though the mishap was not the pilot's fault, the Emperor banished Rendar's family and had Dash expelled from the academy. Given his bold disregard for regulation and arrogant confidence, it is doubtful that Dash would have fit in well within the ranks of the Empire anyway. He never hesitates to boast of his skills as an expert pilot and gunner. After his dismissal from the academy, he began a career as a thief and gambler, but soon discovered that his exceptional flying skills were a great asset in the smuggling business. He quickly became very successful, making his services expensive but guaranteed for the right price.

Rendar flew a snowspeeder as a mercenary during the Battle of Hoth, and Princess Leia later hired him to protect Luke Skywalker from the dark Prince Xizor's ruthless bounty hunters. He played a significant role in the effort to overcome Xizor by destroying numerous Black Sun starships with his state of the art Outrider starfighter. With Rendar at the helm, the vessel is one of the quickest and most fearsome fighting machines in the galaxy.

One of the greatest and most-exciting multimedia events of all time will undoubtedly remain Shadows of The Empire. Set in between the dramatic events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi, the Shadows Of The Empire story follows established heroes and villains along with newly introduced heroes and villains. It tells an exciting, albeit imperfect, tale of Darth Vader’s overbearing obsession with transforming his son to the dark side in addition to tracking Boba Fett to rescue their friend Han Solo. Through books, comics, video games and many other forms of media, Lucasfilm LTD put together a tremendous Star Wars story for all to enjoy. And countless numbers of Star Wars fans did enjoy it. Because Han Solo’s role is essentially an “accessory” in this multimedia event (from being frozen in carbonite), Lucasfilm LTD felt the need to create another hero to fill his shoes, so to speak.

It’s often difficult to put together a cohesive middle storyline when the beginning and end are already done and wonderfully perfected. So, the Shadows Of The Empire tale will probably be imperfect in some ways for longtime fans of the saga. Regardless, everyone wanted to know what transpired in between Episode V and Episode VI, and now we have the Shadows Of The Empire multimedia event to tell us. Almost from the start, Dash Rendar was dubbed the “poor man’s Han Solo” and from a couple of points of view that assessment isn’t unfair. He’s roguish, he cocky, he’s an alpha male, and he fills a void that Han Solo created with his temporary departure from the living and moving. The red-headed Corellian smuggler who chose to pursue a career in the Imperial Navy (you can see the blatant similarities to Han Solo), is a leading character in Shadows Of The Empire, and Kenner/Hasbro did a great job on the action figure of him.

Dash Rendar comes with six points of articulation. A swivel head is joined by swivel shoulders, swivel hips, and a swivel waist. Kenner/Hasbro painted Dash Rendar nicely as well. His outfit looks like it has Rebel Alliance cold-weather gear inspiration, but he also has plated armor too. Dash Rendar follows in the same bulky body type approach as so many action figures before him, but yet we feel the silhouette is a tad more streamlined as well. Perhaps it is correct to assert that he appears less bulky. In addition to a blaster pistol (which feels too big in our opinion), Dash Rendar comes with a pretty awesome articulated heavy blaster rifle that attached in a backpack style, a la what the marines from “Aliens” used to defend themselves against the xenomorphs. The weaponry breaks down into four separate pieces, and it is easy to reassemble it as you need. Kenner/Hasbro sculpted the figure beautifully, and he can hold both guns at the same time. Dash Rendar is a great addition to the line.