Eeth Koth (Jedi Master) - SW [S - P1] - Basic (’02 #56)

A pattern developed with the Jedi portrayed in the Prequel Trilogy. For reasons unknown, George Lucas had frequent difficulty casting the same actor or actress to play the same Jedi across the Prequel Trilogy films. It wasn’t common, but it happened more than a couple of times. Sometimes a character’s appearance changed, or George Lucas decided to create an all-new character instead. Eeth Koth immediately comes to mind as an excellent example of one of the more convoluted characters that experience this phenomenon. Eeth Koth was in Episode I and a few scenes in Episode II, but only as part of the Jedi High Council on Coruscant. Slated to fight in the Battle of Geonosis, the actor who played Eeth Koth couldn’t be on location for that part of the filming. As a result, George Lucas created Agen Kolar. The character was to take the place of the live-action Eeth Koth during the Battle of Geonosis in the Petranaki Arena, but the character received a name change instead. Because the actor that played Agen Kolar looks so vastly different from the actor who played Eeth Koth, George Lucas decided that an all-new character would serve the film the best.

The drastically different likeness of the actor who played Eeth Koth necessitated the creation of Agen Kolar, a Jedi of the same species as Eeth Koth but a completely different character. What’s so interesting about the Eeth Koth (Jedi Master) action figure is that Hasbro created the figure when Hasbro should have been privy to some of the reference materials and script from Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones. There is no doubt that they sourced Eeth Koth to The Phantom Menace, but it feels like Hasbro left a door of ambiguity open, too, to allow collectors to use the figure in their Attack Of The Clones displays as well. Eeth Koth is a sedentary character on the Jedi High Council, and we didn’t see the on-screen character do much but sit in all of his scenes. However, Hasbro posed the figure in a “Battle of Geonosis” action pose. Hasbro must have had a different idea about this character when designing it. If you want to be technical, this version of Eeth Koth (Jedi Master) is almost an Expanded Universe interpretation of the character. We never saw Eeth Koth wield a lightsaber, flail his arms, or have “angry eyes,” as shown in this portrait. That doesn’t mean that we’re not impressed with the design. We are.

Eeth Koth (Jedi Master) comes with eight well-hidden points of articulation. All of them are swivel points, so you’re not going to get an incredible amount of movement out of them. Most of the movement is from its pre-posed arms, but they’re at terrible angles. Eeth Koth (Jedi Master) looks great wielding the included lightsaber. You get some awesome poses out of this figure. Like many other Jedi lightsaber accessories, Eeth Koth’s breaks down into hilt and blade for more versatility. Eeth Koth (Jedi Master) may look like a straight repack of the 2001 Power Of The Jedi figure, but Hasbro repainted the figure for a seamless paint job, making it look better than the previous version. The details on the face, especially the lined tattoos and eyes, are now notably cleaned up. Hasbro matched the color of the figure’s torso to the arms, but the color is close that you may not see it immediately. Lastly, the lightsaber hilt on this version is darker and less bright when compared to the POTJ version. There are a few other differences, too, like in the collar, but they’re nearly unnoticeable that they’re not worth pointing out. We like this figure very much, but we’d love to see a super-articulated update in the future.