Mighty Jabba's Collection

The drummer Umpass-stay (background info here) is the companion figure to Ak-Rev. If anything, his articulation is even worse than Ak-Rev’s, but for most people these are one-pose figures.

He comes with the other half of the drum that was packed with Ak-Rev, and when you put them together and pose the figures with it, it’s fairly impressive looking.

Along with his fellow drummer Umpass-stay, Ak-Rev (background info here) was one of the additions made to the revamped “Jedi Rocks” version of the Jabba’s palace musical number in the “Special Edition” of Return of the Jedi. As I explained at length in my post about the Power of the Force Rebo Band figures, I hate the new version of the sequence, but these particular characters are okay.

Ak-Rev is a Weequay and has a pretty good sculpt. His articulation leaves a lot to be desired, but realistically you’re just going to be posing him as if he’s playing the drum, so it’s not a huge issue. The paint on the outfit is a bit sloppy, but he fills his purpose (being a background character in Jabba’s palace). Both he hand Umpass-stay come with half of a drum, which are basically identical except for the pegs inside that connect them together.

This is another figure from Jabba’s palace (or more accurately, his sail barge) which should be hitting stores right about now. The previous version of this figure was pretty good, but when you put them side by side you can see that this version is better in most respects. The proportions of the body and dome look better, without the strangely elongated look of the older figure. The new figure is also slightly smaller than the previous version, which I believe is more accurate (interestingly, R2-D2 figures in the 12″ scale always seem to be too small). Compare the two in the shot below (the Vintage Collection version is on the left).

The paint on the body more closely matches that on the dome than on the 2004 version, although the Vintage Collection version has an extendable arm in his chest that is pretty obvious even when closed. It also has a hole in its head where you can put Luke’s lightsaber or an extending sensorscope (both included). The bad thing about this is that the middle leg is used to push the saber or scope up out of the head, which means that you can’t have R2 standing on only two legs without also having the scope/saber showing.

In the shot below you can see how the serving tray looks a lot better on the Vintage Collection version, and the little cups are actually removable! All in all, while either of these figures would work well in a Jabba display, my vote definitely goes to the Vintage Collection version.

This came out in 2004, and I believe it was the first 3.75″ version of R2 in his “drink serving” guise. It’s got a removable drink tray and serving arm, although the hole for the arm would remain if you removed it, so you can’t entirely convert him into a normal R2. The paint on the dome is nicely done, but the blue on the body doesn’t look quite as nice. The body is also strangely elongated, but that’s not really obvious unless you put him next to a more accurate sculpt (stay tuned).

Since this is turning into unofficial Klaatu Day here at Mighty Jabba’s Collection, I thought I would finish with the most recent figure, which is just now hitting stores. Although this figure is named “Wooof,” he is the modern version of the vintage Klaatu figure. Apparently Wooof was the name originally given to the character by ILM. Either way, he’s another one of those Jabba’s palace aliens that don’t do a whole lot, but add a lot to the atmosphere.

Like the Legacy Collection Giran, I found this to be very impressive in both sculpt and paint. I’m not crazy about the fact that his knees don’t bend, but otherwise it’s a very nice upgrade to the vintage figure, which is what the Vintage Collection figures are supposed to be, after all.