4-LOM (ESB 1980-82)

Another bounty hunter! Although they got very little screen time in ESB, bounty hunters are just so damn popular. So popular, that in later years (after the original Kenner line) Hasbro came out with a full bounty hunter pack, even though Boba Fett is really the only one of consequence in the original films.

4-LOM and Zuckuss got their names mixed around in the original line - this has since been corrected in later lines. The one pictured here is actually Zuckuss, an alien. 4-LOM, as it sounds, is actually the name of the droid.

This figure came with a unique blaster, and on an ESB and ROTJ card. His "robe" is made of a leathery material that is unlike anything found on other figures. Over that is a vest/backpack combo which is part of the alien's survival suit.

Why should you own this figure? Five reasons:

1. How often do you get the chance to own an actual bug-eyed alien?

2. That pleather robe makes me...feel kinda funny.

3. Two words: Bounty. Hunter.

4. Give it up for the shortest bounty hunter out there (excepting the late Boussh).

5. You have to feel sorry for the guy - they got his name wrong.

Backstory:

Zuckuss (as I will correctly call him) was a "findsman" and a native ammonia-breathing Gand. After the arrival of the Empire to his home planet he went off-world and found work as a bounty hunter due to his uncanny ability to find people (he was partially Force-sensitive). He was often forced to wear a containment suit while working in oxygen-based atmospheres, such as Vader's ship. He also was a schizophrenic with multiple-personality disorder, each personality able to speak a different dialect entirely.

Zuckuss eventually teamed with the droid 4-LOM, and they enjoyed a successful hunting career. During the Battle of Hoth, they rescued some Rebels in an attempt to infiltrate the Rebellion and gain access to Han Solo. Zuckuss, however, was in critical shape due to a previous lung injury. The Rebels befriended him, game him new lungs, and he an 4-LOM joined the Rebellion for a time. He later went back to bounty hunting, and eventually landed in a Coruscant jail.

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60th in alphabetical order

New posts past the vintage coming soon!

After this current round of vintage figures (after Zuckuss) I will be extending the posts to all the "orange-backed" figures that came out in 1995+, as well as the first wave or two of the "green-carded" figures. I recently dug these out of storage and will be including them to extend the fine, quality Star Wars figure postings you've come to enjoy on this fine blog.

FX-7 (Medical Droid) (ESB 1980-82)

Many of my SW toys first came from garage sales that my dad had stopped at. My first brush with an FX-7 figure came in such a way. Thus, I had no f@#*ing idea what it was. I figured it was Star Wars because it came with a bunch of other Star Wars things, but it was only later looking at some card's back that I figured it out. It comes on an ESB and a ROTJ card.

FX-7 is another one of those now-you-see-me-now-you-don't characters from the movies. Along with 2-1B, it helped Luke recover from his Wampa encounter on Hoth.

Why should you care? My five reasons:

1. You are cooler than everyone else because you don't follow the crowd. You only had so much money for a figure, but you didn't get one of those Han in Hoth gears clogging up the racks, you got an FX-7!

2. There are at least 8 arms on the thing! This isn't your humanoid C-3PO, this is like mecha-octopus.

3. Everyone of those 8 arms can move. The grasping arm rotates, the other seven can, um, pop out. Well they still move damnit! Anyone who ever had this figure and played with it a lot can attest that getting those arms back in place after a while can be a real bitch.

4. This is a fairly accurate representation of a character that had very little screen time. The head even rotates.

5. There is no other way you can complete your homage to Bacta tanks and Wampa injuries without an FX-7.

Backstory:

At the time of Empires Strikes Back, FX-7 was slightly dated but still a good medical droid. He (yes, apparently it is a he) had worked with 2-1B for over a year, but 2-1B was still his superior. They both escaped on one of the last rebel ships to leave the Hoth system.

A look at the photo on the front of the card shows the detail that went into this droid prop, especially considering his little screen time. The real prop had a lot more arms than the figure, but hey, how much can you accomplish with small pieces of plastic?

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59th in alphabetical order

Ewok Village Action Playset (ROTJ)

Meet the biggest accessory of Ewok ingenuity, the Ewok Village playset! Relive every exciting Ewok-filled moment from Return of the Jedi! Throw a net on our Rebel friends! Swing a big rock into an AT-ST! Other things to do on here include:
- A branch and twig elevator for figures
- Roast a figure over the firepit on a spit
- Levitate C-3PO on his “throne”
- Hide a figure in an alcove!
- Drop a figure into the hole in one part of a tree and it comes out the other below! much like your old Fisher Price Sesame Street set!
- Drum!

While we never got to see a tree village playset from the Star Wars Christmas Special, we got the Ewok Village. Maybe they’ll finally make a tree village set from what little we got to see of Chewbacca’s home planet in Revenge of the Sith. This playset was later given some plastic green foliage and used as the Sherwood Forest playset in Kenner’s line of action figures from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. See how it was re-used at the site Recycling of the Force.

Why should you own this set? Five reasons:

1. Where else to store your many, many Ewok figures?

2. Relive the almost fatal BBQing of Han Solo and the bunch.

3. Well, if you get enough Lukes in Stormtrooper disguise, you can make the stormtrooper helmet drums on the railing.

4. Marvel at how the Ewoks can build an elevator! And a drum!

5. Know in your heart, that this is the closest you’ll come to getting a Chewbacca-home playset.

Backstory:

Simply a recreation – on a smaller scale – of the Ewok’s home village. To make it more interesting, Kenner has put all the Ewok moments here as well. From the Ewoks cartoon we learn that this particular village is called “Bright Tree Village.”

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58th in alphabetical order