Jabba The Hutt (Jabba’s Palace) - SW [S - P3] - Ultra

A loathsome slug of a gangster, Jabba the Hutt was the preeminent crimelord in the Outer Rim Territories. Basing his operations out of Tatooine, the Hutt had his pudgy fingers in a number of lucrative and unsavory rackets. He lived in an opulent if sand-scarred palace out in the Tatooine deserts. After the carbonite-frozen Han Solo was delivered to the Hutt, Han's friends attempted a rescue that seemed to end in failure in the Hutt's audience chamber.

Hasbro can really make some spectacular products for collectors when they put their minds to it. In the case of the Jabba The Hutt (Jabba’s Palace) Ultra figure from the Star Wars “Saga” line, perhaps Hasbro had to do more than their fair share of retooling to make an Episode VI version of Jabba The Hutt, but the final result is nothing short of impressive, even if Jabba has been packaged without his signature dais. Starting off with the gimmicky Jabba Glob toy released in the Episode I line, Hasbro then tooled and all-new head sculpt to place on top of the “existing” body and also reused the arms. This Ultra release is so well done that we believe that this will be one of the greatest toy versions of Jabba The Hutt that Hasbro will ever do. The new head sculpt is what has grabbed our attention. It’s a nearly perfect recreation of the character seen onscreen in Return Of The Jedi and he comes with enough accessories to “almost” forgive the missing throne that usually accompanies him. Hasbro has also added minimal play features here to make the piece more interesting than it is by itself while preserving the integrity of the figure. Collectors will have much to be happy about here as this is a fine collectible with a more than acceptable MSRP.

We should first notate that Jabba The Hutt (Jabba’s Palace) has a stunning paint job. He is green where he should be green and he is yellowing mess where he should be a yellowing mess. Hasbro’s painters paid extra special attention to Jabba’s eyes. You’ll see quite an impressive series of applications that bring them to life. With the left eye wincing just a smidge in comparison to the right eye, you’ll immediately recall his memorable moments in Star Wars Episode V: Return Of The Jedi and recount all of the reasons while we love this vile gangster. Included with Jabba are a railing complete with hookah pipe set-up. Both the lower bowl and the top part are separately sculpted pieces. The smoking end with tube is also removable should you decide to have an alternate look for this set. You can remove the top half of the hookah and reveal the bottom portion, the bowl, and place the included paddy frog "snack” in there for Jabba to enjoy at his disposal. Everything you want, except for the dais, has been included here with incredible realism and accuracy. We are thoroughly impressed with how well Hasbro has translated all of the pieces from this into toy format.

Another nice feature of the Jabba The Hutt (Jabba’s Palace) Ultra figure is the option to pose him with or without his tongue. It’s a removable accessory and looks amazing on the character when you decide to go with this option. This is what necessitated a new head sculpt for this figure. Should you decide to make Jabba smoke his pipe instead, simply remove the tongue and insert the smoking end of the tube into his mouth instead. Sadly, his hands aren’t much use as they are unable to hold anything at all, but he does come with two swivel arms and you can make him throw them up in the air in agitation, or just have them as his side looking to grope the next beauty chained to his throne. If you look at the underside of Jabba The Hutt, you will see a 1998 date stamp (which proves that the base of the Jabba Glob toy was used). Interestingly, a totally different type of material was used to cast the Jabba The Hutt (Jabba’s Palace) Ultra figure. This time It has been made from a very hard plastic that is almost unpliable in texture. However, it works great for this release and we don’t have any complaints about that. Jabba The Hutt (Jabba’s Palace) is not only incredible value for the dollar, it’s a gorgeous release. It definitely is missing the necessary dais, but this is a great start!