Dengar - Mini Busts

Eluding the Imperial starfleet after the Battle of Hoth, the Millennium Falcon and her crew demanded the personal attention of Darth Vader. Disgusted with the fleet's inability to capture a single smuggler vessel, Vader turned to the shadows of the Empire, the galaxy's fringe. He hired six elite bounty hunters, offering a substantial reward for the capture of the Falcon. Answering the call was the grizzled human hunter known as Dengar.

Not everybody in the Galaxy Far, Far Away can afford to hire Boba Fett. Second-tier crime lords or government officials turn to Dengar. Despite his lackluster reputation, Darth Vader brought Dengar to the bridge of the Executor for a very specific reason. Dengar was grievously injured in a swoop race against Han Solo and has held a grudge against the smuggler ever since. The Empire saved his life, but implanted him with cybernetic enhancements and forced him to serve as an assassin. However, according to the Tales of the Bounty Hunters, after leaving the Executor Dengar meets the beautiful Manaroo, who helped Dengar rediscover his emotions. After Return of the Jedi, Dengar rescued Boba Fett from the Sarlacc. Since then, Dengar has become Boba Fett’s Chewbacca, the faithful sidekick with a big gun.

Gentle Giant really paid attention to detail on Dengar. This mini-bust faithfully reproduces the colors and textures on Dengar’s unique gear and armor. Dengar’s head turban (and George Lucas has called it a turban, not bandages) looks like wrinkled strips of fabric wrapped around his head. By contrast, the clothes under his armor look like cloth fabric. You can even see the seams of his garments along the sides of his torso and under his armpits! The armor has a realistic shine under the light. Dengar’s backpack is simply packed with detailed goodness. There’s even a flexible plastic strap near the bottom of the backpack that many collectors might not even notice but adds another layer of detail. The Valken-38 blaster rifle (in reality, a German MG-42 with the buttstock removed) is stunning and looks like it was pulled directly from the films.

As much as we like Dengar, we do feel Gentle Giant didn’t fully capture actor Morris Bush’s face in this mini-bust. Our biggest concern is that Dengar’s face is too pale under bright light. While there are not many close-up production photos of Dengar’s face, it seems clear that actor Morris Bush had a darker complexion. Even the face on Hasbro’s 2010 TVC Dengar (VC01) better captures the actor’s portrait (although calling that figure the ultimate Dengar collectible would certainly be no insult to Gentle Giant’s Dengar). On the other hand, the scarring on Dengar’s right cheek is very subtle and realistic. In retrospect, we suspect that Gentle Giant made Dengar’s skin tone lighter in order to highlight the scars – a darker skin tone might have made them more difficult to see. As long as collectors aren’t picky about the exact portrait, we think mini-bust will make a fine addition to any collection of bounty hunters. Moreover, just like a second-tier crime lord, you too can afford to hire Dengar – the mini-bust often sells for a reasonable price in the secondhand market.

About Arnold Corso: Arnold Corso is a political scientist and Star Wars fan – although not necessarily in that order. While alive during the original Kenner figures, his collecting habit really only began with the POTF2 line. In real life, he conducts research in countries with dictators as evil as Palpatine and legislatures as corrupt as the Galactic Senate. In his free time, he blogs about politics in the Star Wars galaxy at Poli-Sci Jedi.