Vizam - TBS [P1] - Basic (#17)

Vizam works as Jabba the Hutt's weapons master and is on the sail barge during the Battle at the Pit of Carkoon.

It’s hard to believe how many years slip by us before some of the earliest figures from The Power Of The Force “2” line get revisited. Vizam, who originally was released to collectors simply as Nikto in the hugely popular 1999 POTF2 Jabba’s Skiff Guards Cinema Scenes set, gets an incredible update in The Black Series basic figure line after 14 years. The new figure is essentially all-new, but Hasbro utilized the head and hands from the gorgeous 2012 TVC Nikto (Skiff Guard) (VC99) figure and created what would be a flawless iteration of Vizam save for a couple of small, but irritating issues. Vizam would have looked phenomenal in The Vintage Collection had that line still been in effect at the time of his release, but we have to say that a colorful character as himself looks great in The Black Series packaging too. Any character from Return Of The Jedi is a huge hit for us, but we believe that all Original Trilogy fans will find this the most exciting figure of wave 3. He has been approached with great care by Hasbro as the all-new parts that make him up are nothing short of breathtaking, but just like so many other action figures in the collector-focused Hasbro line, Vizam suffers from mismatched articulation joints and it’s something that we find unbearable time and time again.

Let’s postpone the negative for a moment. There is no denying that from the front Vizam is a gorgeous action figure. His skin tone must be lighter that other Nikto characters from Episode VI, but even I that isn’t necessarily true, Hasbro gave him a noticeably lighter complexion and it works unbelievably well for this action figure. Don’t get us wrong, we adore 2012’s TVC Nikto (Skiff Guard) (VC99) figure, but his skin color is too dark and it hides many of the details of the head sculpt. You don’t miss a beat now with Vizam. In fact, we now see details that we never knew existed on the VC99 figure. That is the power of a phenomenal paint and proof that a paint job will make or break how well a sculpt gets interpreted. (Many disagree on that sentiment by the way. We always stand firmly by it.) It may appear that Vizam is a little bit too brightly painted, and when compared to reference stills he is. But we don’t mind and are of the opinion that his coloring looks pretty fantastic. The blue sleeves and yellow bib vest look to be the most off in terms of that, but again, we don’t mind. Vizam still looks impressive. What we do mind the most however is his mismatched shoulder joints and knee joints. Hasbro has placed bright blue joints in areas that are tan in nature. Yes, it looks really bad. Look at our photo gallery for proof of this.

Vizam has some really cool accessories too. He comes with a removable helmet (for the first time ever in the modern line). Unlike previous helmeted figures in the basic figure line, Vizam’s helmet/head covering stays in place quite nicely. It will come off if you jostle the figure too much, but it does come with the perfect amount of tightness to stay on as needed and for basic posing needs. Vizam also comes with a skiff guard blaster. It fits beautifully into his left hand and when not in use it also fits perfectly into his functioning holster. It makes us smile, but Hasbro finally packs the correct figure with the appropriate cannon. In 2009’s Legacy Collection, Hasbro designed an awesome Nikto Gunner (BD23) action figure and it came with an awesome cannon that could clip itself to a desert sail skiff that Hasbro produced. The figure and the accessory are awesome, but they didn’t belong together. Vizam was the real gunner on the sail barge, and Hasbro has ensured they didn’t confuse collectors this time and he comes with the same cannon accessory as the Legacy Collection figure. It has been repainted for Vizam’s release and he looks awesome when posed with it. Vizam is a pleasant update to the very old POTF2 figure. He is a high quality action figure, but we really need to beg Hasbro what it will take to get the joints to match. It’s really getting old.