Jabba’s Skiff Guards - POTF2 [FB/CT] - Cinema Scenes

Jabba the Hutt always enjoyed the thrill of using the lives of others as tokens in his games of peril and doom. Years ago he presided over the dangerous Tatooine Podraces where dozens of pilots put their lives on the line as crowds screamed and cheered. He now hoped to surpass that drama by escorting his prisoners Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Chewbacca to their end in the Great Pit of Carkoon. But the captives quickly overcame the skiff guards Klaatu, Nikto and Barada, and brought Jabba himself to a fitting end.

Hasbro has cleverly figured out a great way to get out both main and background characters out in one fell swoop. The line is called Cinema Scenes and the products are inspired across the Original Trilogy. The time The Power Of The Force “2” line entered its FlashBack and CommTech phase, Hasbro had released plenty of collector favorite three-packs in this series, but things starting getting amped up towards the end of the line. Instead of the first knee-jerk choices, Hasbro actually thought about the Cinema Scenes line a little bit to make collectors happy with lots of aliens and pilots, and just really “outside of the box” themed multipacks. One of our favorites is Jabba’s Skiff Guards. This unique Cinema Scenes set includes three background aliens all part of Jabba’s retinue as seen on both the sail barge and sail skiff. Although meant to look like a scene pulled right out of Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi, the three characters in this set (Klaatu, Barada and Nikto) never appeared together in any one scene in the film. It didn’t matter. The set gave us three different skiff guards instantly and the sculpts and paint jobs were relatively excellent. The figures lack necessary articulation, but there is so much more to appreciate here.

Klaatu, who was better known as Klaatu (Skiff Guard Outfit) in the vintage Kenner line, is a long-awaited update to the classic 1984 figure. Again, the sculpt is excellent and the paint jobs bring it to life. Unlike the simple paint operations from 1984, Klaatu comes with complex layering and this is enhanced with modern sculpt. The figure comes with only six points of articulation. This is frustrating for a figure that requires movement swinging a force pike, but the final figure came out pretty well. Sadly, Klaatu doesn’t have a great center of gravity and without proper positioning can fall over easily when compared to the other figures in this Cinema Scenes set. He comes with a force pike and his hands have been molded to accept it quite well. Barada is another great figure in this set. The paint operations are a little bit muddy on this figure, but if you spend the time to find the right sample, some figures in these sets look better than others. He also comes with six standard points of articulation and his left arm is positioned in an aiming position. This works out well as the blaster that comes with this figure can hold it well in this hand. The sculpting and detail are divine on this figure, and this modern version corrects all of the errors and issues with the classic 1985 vintage Kenner Barada figure (who was more like Kithaba than Barada in all honesty).

The last figure in this set is Nikto. But this character has a proper name of Vizam. Just like Klaatu, Vizam can be seen in Jabba’s palace and well as his sail barge. Barada is the only true skiff guard in this collection of figures. Also, in the film, Nikto is firing a cannon on the deck of the sail barge, but Hasbro gave him a force pike as if he was a standard guard. But the movie shows he was a gunner instead. It doesn’t matter. Even if Nikto is technically incorrect as far as the accessories are concerned, it’s impossible to deny how nicely he turned out. A little bit pre-posed, Nikto is angled in a way that makes it look like he is getting ready to swing his force pike in defense of Jabba the Hutt. All of the figures seem to be prepositioned a little bit here and there. There not in purely static poses. That’s alright we suppose, but some don’t like when limbs and legs are angled as they appear more statuesque than like an action figure. Also included is a display stand which imitates the floor of the sail skiff. It even includes the railing. What’s nice about the Cinema Scenes line is that the packaging converts into a nice backdrop for the figures. By folding it back as instructed, it can be slotted into the base. An instant diorama is created from these components and the final display is just glorious. We’re fond of this line and we think Hasbro has done an admirable job with them, especially this one.