Embo - TCW [SOTDS] - Basic (CW33)

Embo is a bounty hunter hired to protect Felucian farmers from pirates. Working with three other bounty hunters, Embo guards the village's valuable spice crop. But his small group is outnumbered by the pirate gang, and reluctantly accepts the help of Jedi who arrive at the village after their ship crashes on Felucia.

Fans love bounty hunters. And it was smart of Dave Filoni to produce an episode of The Clone Wars based on this extremely cool hive of scum and villainy. In fact, he even called one of the episodes Bounty Hunters which became a mid-season storyline that piqued the interest of many because it included bounty hunters we already know in addition to some new ones. It was a great episode, but collectors got more excited about the potential of seeing these characters as action figures. The fantastic news was that Hasbro did indeed take notice of this episode rather quickly and has produced many of these that appeared in the episode already. While we have seen the likes of 2010's TCW [SOTDS] Aurra Sing (CW11) figure and Bossk from 2010's TCW [SOTDS] The Rise Of Boba Fett Ultimate Battle Packs set already, Embo may be perhaps the coolest bounty hunter yet produced. The action figure interpretation is quite striking and his accessories are just as cool. And it is a pleasure to finally have this character immortalized in plastic so expediently. He’s everything you would really want in an animated figure and Hasbro went above and beyond to get all of his features just right. Embo was a Kyuzo bounty hunter from Phatrong. He is very tall and athletic and has a very reptilian look to him. He wears a large circular hat atop his head which he used not only as a head covering, but could also as a shield and/or a throwing disc in battle. Hasbro meticulously took all of these points into consideration when designing him and we couldn’t be more thrilled with the results.

Embo is without a doubt the embodiment of what a great action figure should be from head to toe. He’s not only loaded with great articulation, but Hasbro has decided to sacrifice some of the dollars in their budget to give him a full palette of colors for the designers to decorate him with exactly as he did in the series (thank goodness). What's probably a nicer surprise is the attention they gave his accessories. Do you believe Hasbro has spent time developing an articulated crossbow/bowcaster for him? Yes, this is unbelievably true. This delicate weapon has two points of articulation and can be folded in and placed on his back thanks to a cleverly drilled small hole that locks it into place. It’s just one of the small gifts of many Hasbro has given us with this action figure. He also comes with two daggers that fit into his bandolier (on his posterior side). This is one bounty hunter that is as mysterious as he is familiar. Did you know that the man himself, Dave Filoni, voiced this character? It kind of gives the action figure a whole new level of coolness. We are so impressed with the final action figure. We could go on all day talking about him. Embo’s proportions are flawless and he has some significant weight to him, although he is a bit top heavy. He did fall over a few times during our photo shoot. His skin not only has a sculpted texture, but Hasbro has also given his light green skin some depth thanks to multiple color usage with various shades of paint. You’ll also find the same principles were used on other parts of him like his chest plate and shoulder armor for example.

Embo’s skirt is done in two unique mediums. The top half is angle cut and is designed from plastic. It has a spectacular pattern on it and makes us wonder why Hasbro forgoes complicated patterns on some of their realistic figures (ahem, we’re talking about you 2009's Legacy Collection Gungan Warrior (BD07)). The lower (and much larger) half of his skirt is sewn from standard soft-goods and has an ornate pattern in the middle of the hem that is separate by two solid yellow lines. We are thoroughly stunned with how awesome the interaction of two different materials works on this figure. Embo, as you would expect, is super-articulated. It’s pretty standard anymore in The Clone Wars line, but we like to make a point of it each time it’s done because we think it’s important to continue to make a big production about it. (We need Hasbro to forge ahead and encourage them not go backwards when it comes to articulation.) Overall, we don’t know what else to conclude with other than that Embo is a must-have for your collection. We are so happy that The Clone Wars line is getting an incredible amount of love from Hasbro, but we want to encourage them to bring this fine craftsmanship over to the realistic line. We find it slightly insulting that Embo has an articulated crossbow, yet our beloved Chewbacca does not.... yet. Sometimes it’s all about perspective and we want to ensure that the movie-characters stay on par with The Clone Wars line. That is our only caution. Otherwise, Embo is king!