Nikto Gunner - LC - Basic (BD23)

Jabba the Hutt employs Nikto to serve as guards in his palace and on his sail barge and skiffs. The Nikto are a warrior species that area used to hot desert climates, making them suitable for Jabba's purposes – until that fateful day at the Pit of Carkoon.

Hasbro has been taking their good old time with releasing figures based on the epic Battle of Sarlacc. In particular, the Nikto species has been resting on the backburner for a while now. But with the release of Nikto Gunner, we get our first super-articulated action figure of this species ever. Still apparently (and we are sure unconsciously) adamant on skipping the Nikto figure from the vintage line, Hasbro visits a never before Nikto called Nysad who has the distinct responsibility for shooting at Luke twice and missing while on Jabba's Sail Barge (but subsequently dying from his own gun fire by Luke's lightsaber deflection). He is an awesome figure and while his appearance in Episode VI was very short, he will obviously last longer in our memories as an action figure in our collections. He is excellent and we really hope that more Nikto are due in the basic figure line very shortly. If Hasbro can deliver more of this astonishing quality, it will make us very happy collectors. And while we don't expect Nikto Gunner to be the best selling figure in the Legacy Collection, we hope fans will pick up at least one so we can all guarantee ourselves more collector focused figures in the future. We have reached a point in collecting where support of every figure is warranted to ensure continued additions of non-main characters. For the most part, let us just simply say that this figure rocks, but there are a few negatives to point out however.

Like the Weequay species, we think that the Nikto look more authentic when they don't have white eyes with pupils. Otherwise the Nikto, Klaatu and Weequay species have too much of a "deer in headlights" look. Solid and dark eyes seem to be the only way to go and we hope Hasbro can add this detail to their repertoire when designing species like these. While we don't discount that we can see "human eyes" in film stills of these characters, we can't help but determine that the action figures look better when not film accurate. We hope we are making sense here. This of course is merely our own opinion but we feel strongly about this point. We also think this figure's head is too dark when compared to the character we saw in the film. And the large side gun that this figure came with caused quite a stir and raised the hope in many collectors that a Sail Barge vehicle was indeed coming soon. (To date, this has yet to materialize, but we hope this does see fruition soon enough.) He has a very accurately sculpted helmet, but it doesn't sit firmly on his head and will fall off if you bump it in the slightest. Not a huge deal for those of you who will just be displaying him in a diorama somewhere, but we wish there was better connectivity with this accessory to the figure. In all honestly, he seems the tiniest bit too short, but we are confident that Hasbro has now nailed true scale on action figures, so we believe this figure is very accurate. His costume is very light and looks great. It is a nice contrast against his flesh color. And his functioning holster is the final finishing touch needed to bring everything home!

Heading to more positive ground, Nikto Gunner is spectacularly sculpted and it seems that Hasbro did a lot more for the figure than we ever needed to see. For example, many of his green straps are separately molded pieces. We think this is a wonderful enhancement to an action figure in general and we are thrilled that Hasbro decided to grace this figure with these details. His costume is simply but beautifully colored and mimics that he has seen his share of hard work and/or tough battles. Nikto Gunner also comes with a standard skiff blaster and we must admit that it looks a bit small. His shirt is long and falls below his belt line. Thankfully, it does not inhibit hip movement terribly and it constructed of a rubbery plastic which has give and elasticity needed to enjoy all of this points of articulation. The bumps on his leathery skin look fantastic as well and while we still feel the skin color is a few shades off, it really is just small beans when compared to all the ways this figure indeed shines. To be quite frank, it is such a joy to have a Nikto in super-articulated glory. At least we now know that if and when Hasbro revisits the vintage Nikto that he will see ultimate status with lots of details and multiple points of movement. There are a lot of closet Return Of The Jedi fans out there (trust us – we know) and we hope that they (you?) will support this figure. Nikto Gunner should be purchased simply for his own merits – he is an awesome action figure with great detail and his charcater shot Luke Skywalker at the battle at the Sarlacc Pit. Isn't that reason enough?