Admiral Ackbar - TVC - Basic (VC22)

Admiral Ackbar, please! And Hasbro answered our call and gave us exactly what we wanted! Revisiting a figure that was last made in The Power Of The Force line should be a regular part of Hasbro’s protocol for the current state of the modern line because figure making technology has come so far. Whether it is part of the plan or not, some of their earliest attempts at great Star Wars characters are getting the attention that they finally deserve, and new versions are eclipsing the stuff from the '90s at an incredible rate. Admiral Ackbar is essentially "a trap" from a certain point of view because he will certainly be responsible for capturing and holding the attention of many a collector. Hasbro's latest sculpts have allowed the ability for action figure collectors to be completely blown away and Hasbro holds nothing back with their Admiral Ackbar release from The Vintage Collection. We’re actually surprised that Hasbro hasn’t tried to revisit Ackbar sooner. His first (and last) incarnation as an action figure was way back in 1997. And after nearly a decade and a half we get an Admiral Ackbar that is not only significantly improved, but will forever remain the definitive version of him. Admiral Ackbar is another action figure in the Return Of The Jedi wave of The Vintage Collection who has flawless execution, a brilliantly shining sculpt and a paint job that would make most other action figures hang their heads in shame.

If you’re a zealot of super-articulation, you may consider Ackbar lacking. But you would be wrong. While he comes without ankle articulation, he still has the other 12 points which are more than enough for this character. Ackbar can only be seen sitting and standing in Return Of The Jedi. So in actuality we really have more than enough articulation than we need for him. The extra tooling needed to include ankle articulation would translate into wasted dollars. We’re glad Hasbro saved it for a figure who needs it. Hasbro kept tradition real and up front for collectors and have included some sort of derivative of the baton that we have seen with the 1983 figure. But this time it is significantly detailed and colored in sterling silver and a little bit shorter. This accessory may have been in the film lying on a table or command chair somewhere, but we have yet to locate it. And for the first time, Hasbro has include a “cross-section” of his computer console. It is definitely small, but it is packed with detail and it is immediately recognizable from the scenes where we see Ackbar controlling the Home One. While it may not rank as a required accessory, we love it and it gives Admiral Ackbar an edge that the other figures in the wave do not have. Admiral Ackbar is fully outfitted to take on the Galactic Empire, and he will do it in style!

Admiral Ackbar is sculpted so well that he looks like a scaled-down version of the costume from Episode VI. The head sculpt is superior and includes the spotting pattern on his exoskeleton shell/skull. It is subtly done and yet clearly visible at the same time. We would have preferred to see some of those "whiskers" hang from his chin, but the sculpt is amazing nonetheless. The head sits on a ball-joint and allows for optimal and natural movement. Some have commented this joint is loose, but ours was not. It may not be the tightest fit, but it certainly isn't loose. This figure is simply, but expertly, detailed. His eyes are also impressively painted. The yellow parts of the eyes are done in a metallic yellow and the pupil is perfectly centered. Because of the shimmer of the paint, the eyes pick up light gorgeously. His hands are everything you’d expect them to be and Hasbro’s sculptors have clearly studied the reference materials carefully to get all these details to perfection. And how awesome is it to have both arms with fully functioning hands to hold things? His uniform is pristine and the yellow blood stripe is thin and proportionate. But we have come across a few samples where it ever so slightly bleeds into the white of the pant leg. But again, this is barely a fault when the rest of him is pure perfection. Admiral Ackbar is sublime and a must-have for any collector. A little note for carded collectors: Hasbro didn’t match the background color of the figure’s nameplate as well as the background where the figure sits in the same teal color that was used for the vintage figure. It is more of a dark green for the modern release. We don’t think it is as an effective color, but that is just our opinion.