Tusken Raider - POTF2 [R/G] - Basic

HEIGHT: 1.9 Meters Average
STATUS: Nomad Warrior
CLASSIFICATION: Humanoid
AFFILIATION: None
WEAPON OF CHOICE: Gaderffi Stick

After and interest-piquing six months in 1995, Kenner decided that main characters needed to be joined by their background counterparts. So 1996 became the year to continue the trend of bringing us the main heroes and villains as always, but incorporating in some of the finest creatures, aliens and “B” characters we’ve come to love and enjoy throughout the years. Towards the end of 1996, Kenner finally got to the modern version of the Tusken Raider. Originally labeled as “Sand People” in the vintage Kenner era, the official designation of Tusken Raider finally began being the accepted name of these nomadic desert dwellers. Involved in one of the first conflicts for main hero Luke Skywalker, these vicious humanoids don’t take kindly to strangers invading their space. And as Luke Skywalker learned, keeping your life intact after encountering them is a blessing in disguise, because you’re going to be left in a hybrid of pain after dealing with them. The modern Tusken Raider is about exciting as it is disappointing. Of course it’s cool to see the latest alien get made in the Star Wars toy line, but if that figure isn’t made well, then what was the point?

Tusken Raider suffers aesthetically in a few ways. The biggest issue for us however is the pose. His legs are terribly widespread and his feet aren’t at a flush ninety degrees with his legs. In other words, he wants to lean and/or fall backwards to the ground as soon as you try to stand him up. Only clever positioning will prevent this figure falling down at the drop of a hat. How difficult is it to design action figures that are able to stand unassisted? We’re perplexed at how many modern figures have this issue. The rest of the figure isn’t terrible. The costume looks decent and the textures look just about right. But we’d be remiss to not mention how tiny his head is in comparison to the rest of the body. Much like Greedo, Tusken Raider has a pea-sized head on his shoulders and it definitely looks peculiar. Kenner needs to remember that masked heads need to be larger than human heads and that’s alright. There is a happy medium in between too small and too large that Kenner has yet to nail. Hopefully if they revisit this character in the future they’ll be able to address some of these issues and prevent them from being a long term issue.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the earliest production samples of the Tusken Raider were unable to hold the included gaderffi stick. The right hand is cupped and unable to accommodate any accessory, but the left hand (which has been formed into an unbroken circle) couldn’t hold the gaderffi stick in the middle. You could only poke the “metal” end of the staff up into the left hand. Thankfully, Kenner noticed they had a problem and revised the left hand to be open and not closed. As a result, revised samples could hold the gaderffi stick at any point. The robe shell is easily removable and underneath you’ll find what appears to be mummy inspired attire. We appreciate the extra detail that went into giving this action figure a little more depth and layering. But the figure’s problems seem to outweigh the good Kenner brought to the figure. Obviously the overall detail, coloring and shape of The Power Of The Force “2” Tusken Raider supersedes the vintage version. But we bet that many will still hold the vintage version a little more dearly to their hearts because we don’t think that this version succeeds at being definitive. Hopefully we’ll see tremendous improvements in the future.