Hasbro
Released February 2004
Reviewed by Adam Pawlus
Photography by Michael Sullenger
Reviewed on April 28, 2004
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Every once in a while, Hasbro puts out a figure that's completely dependant on its accessories to look decent. This is one of them. Rappertunie is a little green froggy looking guy that was added to the expanded band of Return of the Jedi: Special Edition in 1997 and now, in 2004, has been given the plastic treatment.

This figure is packaged with a seat and his Growdi.

Sculpt/Articulation/Gimmicks/Paint

It's always great to see a new alien made in exacting detail, but this one is particularly neat because it's big and one of the creations in the Star Wars Universe from a sequence which most fans seem to have disowned.

As you can see, the original character design transitioned to plastic quite well with a lot of nice detail and surprisingly good texture.



While there's not a lot you can do with a rubber face like this one, Hasbro managed to sculpt it so it looked decent with or without the instrument present. There's a lot of green paint in addition to the green plastic to give the toy a sense of added realism, and the slightly parted mouth tends to give it a little more personality than it could have had. There's a lot of bumps and ridges that don't fail to impress, and all the wrinkles around his mouth show that he's been around before joining the band. More importantly, it shows that Hasbro is still willing to do a great job on its aliens, which is really important for keeping the line moving.

The figure has a ball joint at the neck and regular joints at the elbows, hips, and shoulders. Surprisingly, you can get a decent pose out of him that doesn't have him playing his instrument, but let's face it, that's what he's here to do. If I wanted more toys to just sit around, I wouldn't have picked up the musician. The added joints really do help make this figure more than just something you plug in a diorama and leave behind, which is good, because he can't really do much else outside his little seat.

In terms of his paint job, Hasbro really outdid themselves. It would be easy to mold him in green and not add extra deco, but they went ahead and painted little stripes and a few shades of green to bring out his belly, wrinkles, and more which help reveal an attention to sculpting we rarely saw a few years ago. The figure does not look like it can be improved upon, which is good, because the chance that Hasbro will revisit this guy down the road is close to zero.

Accessories

This set includes a seat and his instrument, the Growdi.

The seat is molded right for this little guy, with what Homer Simpson once wisely referred to as "ass grooves." (Pardon our French. Or rather, Homer's.) The figure and the seat were co-developed to fit one another perfectly, so anything less than a perfect fit would be disappointing. The fact that Hasbro decided to use more than one color of paint on the chair is staggering as they tend to cop out on painting their accessories at times, so the end result is certainly pleasant.

Not surprisingly, these accessories were created for this figure and as such, won't work with anybody else especially well. It's a little tricky to get him to be seated and holding his instrument just right, but it's doable, and it's good that Hasbro managed to do him right the first time.

Packaging

For 2004, the late-2003 revision is still being employed. More of the same, folks.

Availability

Figure distribution in 2004 is random and spotty, and I have yet to see this one in stores. As such, keep your eyes peeled.

Fin

If you've been buying aliens, musicians, or residents of Jabba's Palace, this should be a no-brainer. Rappertunie is a great little alien with a ton of detail and at five bucks, is a great purchase. It's a shame that it took so long to see him in plastic, and that the rest of the band is still missing, but I'm glad to see that Hasbro hasn't disowned the new footage from the Special Editions as a place from which to pull new ideas for figures, especially since the last new SE figure was Ketwol way back in 2001.

If you see it, get it. I mean, what else are you going to do with that five bucks?

Our regular sample was obtained from Entertainment Earth in March 2004.