Zuckuss - LC - Basic (BD54)

Zuckuss is one of the bounty hunters that Darth Vader tasks with finding the Millennium Falcon. Although he uses the ancient rituals and keen intuition native to his people, Zuckuss nonetheless fails in his mission when Boba Fett locates the ship first.

Zuckuss has a repetitious history in its life in the form of an action figure; whether you look at the modern line of Star Wars action figures or the vintage line. He typically tends to be the last bounty hunter considered/attempted across the many and various toy lines as far as the circle of bounty hunter completion is concerned. Whether he is the last man standing because his name starts with a "Z" or rather because he may be the least popular bounty hunter, we do know that Hasbro has executed him quite well each time and there are always good things to say about all their efforts of him. Most of us are quite fond of his entrance in the vintage line as 4-LOM. That particular figure has a very unique soft-goods cloak that has yet to be replicated anywhere else in the line, vintage or modern. Plus, his chest plate was removable and held the cloak closed. It was an awesome action figure for 1982 because it had a great likeness and design, albeit wrong name. (And it actually holds up quite well today.) The POTF2 [FF/TKC] Zuckuss action figure was a standout figure in the 1998 line as well. Having a paint job that rivaled most of his other wave mates, the figure became the first release of Zuckuss to be labeled with the correct name in place. The figure was reissued in the 2006 The Saga Collection Hunt For The Millennium Falcon: Bounty Hunter Pack multipack and was slightly repainted. While the new paint job only slightly improved upon the old sculpt, fans knew that they wanted a super-articulated version of him eventually and the dream has finally come true. The modern version of Zuckuss is awesome and will undoubtedly replace your POTF2 version, but you may still want more from this figure because he is lacking a bit with his soft-goods. The sculpt however is near perfect and Hasbro mastered his coloring and details in ways that are superior. Zuckuss is the “right now” definitive action figure. But you do need to know right away that Zuckuss is a great action figure.

So you must be dying to know what makes and breaks this action figure. First and foremost, Zuckuss is a very amazing and awesome action figure. We can only find one small complaint and it is his soft-goods lower robes. Again, designing an action figure with half soft-goods and half molded robes looks awkward to the point of looking unauthentic and bizarre. Think back to the Legacy Collection Jawa & Security Droid (BD39) set. Figures that wear full-length cloaks or robes should have these designed in complete soft-goods or molded in their entirety. It creates too startling of a transition between the upper and lower portions of the feature which makes for a slightly annoying finished product. What's worse, Zuckuss' robes stay wide open and don't hang low down the leg. The drape is terrible and gives the allusion of that famous Marilyn Monroe picture when her dress is being blown up by standing over a vent. Obviously less attractive, it doesn’t work for Zuckuss. And it looks funny and it is not too accurate to the film. The soft-goods are not a complete failure however because they have dirt spots. In fact, the way the dirt was applied looks very similar to what was included on the 2007 TAC Clone Trooper (Hawkbat Battalion) (30 50) basic figure. We love soft-goods, but they must be designed well and they aren’t in the case of Zuckuss. But if you can get past this uneven look, Zuckuss is actually quite excellent. This is the first time that we are getting Zuckuss as super-articulated. Loaded with all the extra joints you could want for him, he will be quite flexible for your desired poses. His head is miraculously sculpted and his silver eyes are quite stunning. All of his breathing tubes lay flat and look utterly realistic. His arms and hands are well sculpted and hold his gun very well. Oh, and the gun is awesomely designed too. His chest decoration/plate is probably one of the finest sculpted “accessories” we have seen in a long time and the final wash on the entire figure is phenomenal. Obviously many parts of Zuckuss were thoughtfully contemplated by Hasbro. We wish the figure was executed perfectly from head to toe however.

Zuckuss is a Gand bounty hunter who must wear a mask since he is a breather of ammonia gas. (Don't try this at home, kids!) Oxygen as a poisonous gas is not an unfamiliar concept to characters in the Star Wars universe and we have seen this recently in a character like Plo Koon for example. But little things like this add extra mystery and coolness to already well-developed characters. Zuckuss is not a character who had a big role in Episode V, but his elusiveness in the film is what made his character for pertinent, powerful and popular in all of the Expanded Universe sources. There have been many interpretations of him throughout the years and while they all look different, you can tell it is him. The new action figure faithfully resembles the character on screen and he is almost a perfect figure. A recent Q&A with Hasbro addressed figures with half soft-goods and it seems Hasbro was receptive to including “full” soft-goods for characters that wear long cloak and robes. Let’s hope they heed our preferences because if Zuckuss were to have a full soft-goods coat, he would absolutely be one amazing and perfect action figure. Between the 2007 VTSC Bossk (Bounty Hunter) , 2007 VTSC IG-88 (Bounty Hunter), 2007 TAC 4-LOM (30 41) , 2009 LC Boba Fett (BD36) and now Zuckuss, it looks like Dengar may be the next bounty hunter to be updated and receive super-articulated treatment. (We personally think the 2004 SW [S - P3] Dengar (Executor Meeting) (’04 #17) figure is a fine update. This puts a new update for it lower on our lists.) Plus, he still looks great next to all the newer updated bounty hunters.) (Editor's Note: A stunning new Dengar has been released in The Vintage Collection. We take back what we said. This new Dengar is amazing and makes the 2004 figure obsolete!) We hope that is Hasbro does intend to introduce another bounty hunter multi-pack again, that they give consideration to a fully soft-goods clothed Zuckuss. We want to leave you with the final thought that we do not intend to discredit what Hasbro has done with Zuckuss because he is an amazing action figure. But we hope the leave the soft-goods “skirting” behind and redevelop their approach on them. So many figures would be alleviated of this hindrance and could quickly be elevated to definitive status if they would just fix this one issue! While we hope for this, we WILL thoroughly enjoy Zuckuss.