Tusken Raider - OTC - Basic (OTC #23)

Tusken Raiders are fierce desert savages who live in the wastelands of Tatooine. Tough and aggressive, they attack anyone who is not part of their community. They are completely hidden by tattered rags and robes that they wear. When Rebel hero Luke Skywalker is searching for R2-D2, he is attacked by Tusken Raiders and rescued by Obi-Wan Kenobi.

In early to mid 2004, Lucasfilm Ltd. announced that the Star Wars Trilogy was coming to DVD. Hasbro was in the middle of their popular Star Wars “Saga” line when that had to cancel it, prepare for a new line look called The Original Trilogy Collection, and develop a basic figure line that would support the new media that would soon be arriving in stores. Obviously a line based on all-new sculpts completely was not an option, so Hasbro cleverly looked back on their huge catalogue and cherry-picked some of their recent greatest hits as well as some of their older figures to cull a line that would be represent characters from A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi. If they did pull a figure from an “older” line, Hasbro was certain to dress it up a little bit more to help make it look as modern as possible. And that’s the evolution that 2000’s POTJ Tusken Raider (Desert Sniper) went through as it became one of the coveted few figures that made up The Original Trilogy Collection.

The 2000 POTJ Tusken Raider (Desert Sniper) has been used again already. To make an Episode II specific version, Hasbro released 2002’s SW [S - P1] Tusken Raider (with Massiff) (‘02 #52) which was a very dramatic repaint of the Power Of The Jedi figure and also included a Massiff. Now for something relevant to A New Hope, Hasbro once again repaints the POTJ figure and makes the figure as close as possible to the characters in A New Hope. Ultimately 2004’s OTC Tusken Raider (OTC #23) fails because no matter how much you repaint a figure, if the sculpt isn’t screen accurate, their isn’t much that can be done aside from retooling it to fix the inaccuracies. The biggest issue here is that the respirator is not on the Prequel Trilogy versions of the Tusken Raiders. (And if it IS there, it’s hidden under their scarves in every sequence and still of film we have come across.) So matter what, if Hasbro chooses a Prequel Trilogy Tusken Raider sculpt, utilizing it for an Original Trilogy version will also be wrong.

But is it possible to be impartial despite the absence of this major costume detail? It is. Hasbro gave the 2004 flavor of the Tusken Raider a stupendous paint job. To date, it is the greatest color scheme on this sculpt a collector can purchase. Hasbro opted to go with a lighter color on the robes, and darker brown for the accents. What this does to the figure is that it makes it pop and stand out from the rest in a crowd. Not only are the earth tones enhanced, Hasbro also added silver details to recreate the illusion of metal parts on the head sculpt and they actually glisten in light. Even the little buttons/snaps on the bandolier capture your instant attention. While the color palette is much improved, sadly, the articulation is not. Thankfully the Tusken Raider believably hold the included sniper rifle, but attempting to articulate the legs would be a complete waste of your time, even with the slit running up the side of his legs. And the lack of a gaderffi stick almost seems criminal. Other than that, this is a nice update to an older sculpt. Now it’s time for a new sculpt!