Umpass-stay - TAC - Basic (30 27)

Umpass-stay is a percussionist who plays with the Max Rebo Band. Because Klatooinians revere great age, they are in awe of species such as the Hutts who live for centuries. He worked as Jabba's spy before being put in the band to protect the Hutt from his many enemies.

Is anything more frustrating than a beautifully sculpted portrait that is placed on a terrible, minimally articulated action-posed body? Well, there are sure to be a ton of more pressing issues in this world, but we must admit that we get a little bit blue inside when Hasbro develops a figure like Umpass-stay that in theory could have been amazing, but whose quality is inhibited by his ultimately poor construction (yet a potentially awesome design). And it’s not that Hasbro didn’t try. While in 2007 Hasbro was certainly moving away from inferiorly articulated action figures, they sometimes went overboard to try to include a Star Wars characters onscreen potential in the action figure by giving them exaggerated poses. So while Umpass-stay looks great next to his half of a drum, that is the only option you have to pose him in your collection. If you decide to use him as a background character in a random diorama, well, it just simply won’t work. But that doesn’t mean we don’t like Umpass-stay. He is one of the best painted action figures in the entire 30 (77-07) line.

What makes Umpass-stay extra frustrating is that Hasbro incorporated a lot of premium articulation points in this action figure that really don’t help to improve the figure's aesthetics. We certainly appreciate the gesture, but we think Hasbro may have been able to save some money on tooling costs and given them to a more-deserving action figure who may need the articulation a little bit more. Believe it or not, Umpass-stay has 12 points of articulation, which is definitely more than acceptable. But his awkwardly posed legs are so irritating that we expect many others to get annoyed by how they limit the ways you can pose him. For a figure that includes 12 points of articulation, we too are surprised by our complaints. But this is a figure Hasbro will likely not attempt to make ever again, and we would have preferred to get a more static pose so we could pose him how we wanted him to be. But such is life.

The figure has many positives. As we have mentioned, Umpass-stay has a gorgeous paint job. He’s colorful while still remaining simultaneously neutral in Jabba’s palace. He comes with a half drum (which will obviously be completed with Ak-rev) as well as a drumstick. (Editor's Note: Ak-rev was released in the first wave of 2008's The Legacy Collection.) He also comes with a removable head covering and removable armor. He’s Klatooinian, so he looks a lot like Barada. In fact, we hope that Hasbro uses a head sculpt like this one to include on an update to Barada or a first time attempt of Kithaba. Umpass-stay has a stunning wash on his skin color that picks up every crack and crinkle in his leathery skin and the same can be seen on the drum to portions of his outfit as well. Overall, this is a figure that you should get for your Jabba’s palace set-ups. Hasbro has an affinity for the Special Edition of Return Of The Jedi. The enhancements to the Jabba’s palace sequences are very colorful and Hasbro has been replicating them well, but not perfect, in action figure form! And we suggest, um, pass not on Umpass-stay. Have him stay a part of your collection!