Mon Calamari (Officer) - POTJ - Basic

A peaceful race of amphibians, the Mon Calamari species have adopted the name of their watery homeworld. Unfortunately, they were a target for Imperial enslavement. After striking back and regaining their freedom, the Mon Calamari joined the Alliance and focused all their energies on defeating the Empire.

Collectors found that the Power Of The Jedi line was full of surprises. Hasbro created action figures of background characters that we desperately wanted to see in 3.75” scale, and they approached each and every one with a careful eye. Utilizing existing parts whenever possible, they often refreshed the sculpts to make them character specific so that they were as screen accurate as possible. Always a favorite, it made sense that Admiral Ackbar was a mainstay in The Power Of The Force “2” lineup. But Hasbro never showed interest in producing his comrades from the Home One until the Power Of The Jedi line went into motion. Because their outfits are essentially identical (not including the color of them), it made sense to take the 1997 POTF2 Admiral Ackbar sculpt, tweak it as needed, and quickly produce the more generic Mon Calamari (Officer) characters very easily. Knowing that the POTF2 Admiral Ackbar has a wonderful sculpt that has fought valiantly against time, the Mon Calamari (Officer) would shine equally brightly. And it has. The wonderful base sculpt still looks great years after the fact to be reused to bring us a never before made character from Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi.

As noted above, Mon Calamari (Officer) is a retool and complete repaint of 1997’s POTF2 Admiral Ackbar figure. Hasbro retooled the torso (as evidenced by the different ranking badges) and gave the figure an all-new right arm with a newly cupped hand to hold the included blaster pistol. If you recall, Admiral Ackbar couldn’t hold diddlysquat in his hands, so we appreciate Hasbro’s effort to retool this design here. This figure has also been given retooled legs. If you notice, Mon Calamari (Officer) is wearing sneakers. They even sport a new 2000 date stamp on the bottom of the foot which is in line with a newly retooled part. The chest is too broad, but it’s the consistent albatross around the neck for all POTF2 era figures. Still, it’s not terribly out of proportion and the character looks good regardless. We still find it astounding how a new paint job can make the same (or similar) sculpt look completely differently. With a cursory glance, you probably wouldn’t even realize that these figures share nearly identical sculpts. That’s how cleverly Hasbro approached the Mon Calamari (Officer) action figure. In particular, the paint operations on the head and hands of the figure are simply gorgeous. The mottled pattern is beautifully replicated and the overall color choices are pretty much exact. The head sculpt was ahead of its time in 1997, and it still looks great for a 2000 figure too.

Mon Calamari (Officer) comes with two accessories. He comes with a removable helmet that fits like a glove on his head, as well as the aforementioned blaster pistol, which he can hold perfectly in his hand. If we had to choose, we would say that three years has given Hasbro an edge on the deco. And by that we mean that the Mon Calamari (Officer) figure has the superior paint job. We are simply impressed with how lovely the figure looks, especially the head sculpt. With all this being said, we would still like for Hasbro to revisit this figure one day. There are many Mon Calamari (Officer) characters in Return Of The Jedi and it’s likely that collectors would army build them to complete their own Home One dioramas. But if they do not, we believe that Hasbro has done this character justice. Time will unequivocally age this figure which is sad, but it seems that every time a figure ages out, Hasbro comes to the rescue to bring a refreshed version to the basic figure line. We hope that this applies to the Mon Calamari (Officer) as well. Return Of The Jedi may not be as popular as the previous film, but there is no denying that Episode VI brought about the coolest aliens to the Star Wars universe. We’re glad that Hasbro has acknowledged the Mon Calamari (Officer) in this way.