Doctor Evazan - TBS [P4] - Six Inch Figures (ANH03)

A grubby, scarred smuggler from Alsakan, Cornelius Evazan was once a promising surgeon, but became notorious for conducting cruel medical experiments.

Two of the Chalmun’s cantina aliens with the most dialogue (grunts included) received some of the worst care by Hasbro as they brought them forth into The Black Series 6-inch figure line. Their 3.75-inch counterparts, however, are two of Hasbro’s all-time most exemplary action figures, so it’s a bittersweet pill (more bitter than sweet) to see the 6-inch versions not meet collectors’ expectations. Yes, Hasbro has been taking many shortcuts in The Black Series line. Very few all-new figures get announced, and they’re more inclined to release a “carbonized” or “Credit Collection” version before a never-before-released character with all-new tooling. While Ponda Baba and Doctor Evazan aren’t complete losses in The Black Series line, they don’t come close to reaching definitive status. And come collectors have avoided them altogether because they want to see Hasbro apply more newness to these costly action figures. We can’t fault that attitude at all. Reused parts are alright when it makes sense, but attempting to fit a square peg into a round hole never works out for those involved, action figures included. Let’s take a closer look at Doctor Evazan and find out why this figure doesn’t hold up well, new parts and all.

As exciting as it is to get a new head sculpt on a figure, the one for Doctor Evazan is deceivingly inaccurate. When you look at the portrait, you’re going to feel that Hasbro did an excellent job. And they have done a remarkable job on it. But it doesn’t have an accurate likeness to the on-screen character. As seen in Chalmun’s cantina, it has many of the character’s features, but the sculptor took the interpretation too far. The head is too rounded. Yes, the figure has a hooked nose, a milky eye, and a bald spot, but Hasbro didn’t get the proportions of the head correctly, and it doesn’t look like a dead ringer to the on-screen character. Also, Hasbro, for reasons unknown, used the arms from The Black Series [Phase II] Luke Skywalker (#03) figure. When would those arms ever look right on a modern figure created for now? They’re too thin and spindly, and Doctor Evazan has meatier meat hooks than what Hasbro recreated here for the figure. The reuse of the legs from 2018’s TBS [P3] DJ (Canto Bight) (57) figure seems to work alright here, but when you see the thick legs and the stringy arms on a body with a beer belly, your brain doesn’t process the proportions too well. And Hasbro went through the trouble of tooling a new torso, so why rush its extremities?

Hasbro also designed a removable straggly vest/outerwear piece for Doctor Evazan, much like the one we see the character wear in the film. It’s fair to say that they did an excellent job on it, and it captures the simpleness of the style of clothing back in a galaxy far, far away. It’s one piece that slides over the figure’s arms and down to the torso and a bit of a challenge to remove and replace if you’re one of those types of collectors. The nice aspect about this extra piece is that Doctor Evazan looks complete without wearing, and it provides a new take on the character. Although nicely detailed, the figure isn’t perfectly aligned to Doctor Evazan’s body, and it doesn’t lay completely flat on the shoulders and rides up when you attempt to pose the figure in various ways. Hasbro worked in a functioning holster into the vest, and the included blaster fits in it like a glove when stored there. As you can see, there are many hits and misses with the Doctor Evazan action figure. It’s a character we wanted to see realized in The Black Series 6-inch line for a while now, but the final result is an action figure that has a little too much working against it. Still better than Ponda Baba, the Doctor Evazan 6-inch figure still doesn’t hold a candle to The Vintage Collection Dr. Evazan (Cantina Patron) (VC57) figure.