Say you were a Jedi and you could go anywhere in the galaxy to live in any culture you chose- which one would you go to? I'm thinking hanging out with the mon calamari and quarrens might be kind of cool. But Sharad Hett decided to go to Tatooine to live with the Tusken Raiders, and that's not a bad choice either. So this guy was a character in a pretty cool arc of the Star Wars series that was launched when Episode I came out. Sharad dies but his son lives on and eventually becomes Darth Krayt. Anyways, for some reason Dark Horse never realized that red lightsabers were reserved for Sith lords, so lots of Jedis had redeyes. Which is cool because in Hett's case it wasn't clear at first if he was good or bad. He was good. And so was his son, until he became bad.
I had to look up on the googles this guy's name. He's an Imperial Knight from the Star Wars Legacy series. which I really enjoy. But it's hard to keep track of everyone's names. The design of the Imperial Knights is fantastic- part royal guard, part, umm, Jedi. Which is what they are, the Emperor's bodyguards. They have colorless lightsabers, which is maybe the only weak part of their design, but at least it's unique.
As far as I know this guy's name is Kir Kanos. From, hmm, the comic series Crimson Empire maybe? I dunno. Got him from a Snowtrooper. I like him because he is a variation on the Royal Guards. And that makes me happy. And who knows, maybe they all have that black armour beneath their robes.
In the long interval between Empire and Jedi the only Star Wars stories to be had were Marvel Comics, and they did a pretty good job of keeping us entertained. They loved to fake you out with covers implying that Han had been found and battles with Boba Fett were imminent, and to us unsophisticates of the 80s it could only mean that Return of the Jedi was about to be released. Like Fenn Shysha here. I know I am spelling his name wrong but this is how I read it for like ten years. You see that amazing cover and you think oh my god Leia is gonna fight Boba Fett! And then it turns out it was this guy named Fenn who she kisses instead of fights! What? At least there was a cool backstory for the Mandalorians, a name that was new to me at that point. It hinted at the Clone Wars which of course were a huge mystery back then. Anyways, Fenn here is a repaint of Boba Fett and a pretty good likeness of his comical origins. Him and Tobe Dalla (spelling?) were both put in seperate comic two-packs that was catered to us 80s children. Even if it was a fakeout, I have a high nostalgic love of the original not-Boba Mandalorian.
Right now there is a package making its way towards my house that contains some Star Wars legacy trade paperbacks. When they get here I will be able to find out more about this Lord Maleval guy. Right now all I know is he's a Sith, he's a Quarren, and he is the boss of Joker Squad or at least fights them or something. Because he came in an exclusive boxed set with a bunch of stormtroopers, including a femtrooper. So reallly I should have waited till next week to do this entry but whatever. Darth Squidhead!
So this guy is a little weird looking, at least for Star Wars. He looks more like he belongs in Lord of the Rings. Although I guess battleaxes are an accepted weapon in the SW galaxy. I looked him up in Wookiepedia to see where he comes from and he is from the Great Sith War of an even longer time ago in that galaxy far, far away. Fair enough, I guess he is the great grandpa of all Mandalorians. Anyways, as figures go he is nicely done, but he just feels out of place alongside the others. He came in an Evolutions pack with Boba and Jango.
This guy was a comic con exclusive that I got online from the Star Wars store. I thought he looked pretty cool, familiar but different. All this time I just thought he was a repaint for the heck of it but, as I was reading my X-wing Rogue Squadron Omnibus, I discovered they made an appearance in that series at least. The speeder bike is pretty similar to the vintage one I had as a kid. Identical, even? Other than the push-button blow-up feature anyways.
I read about Whitey here on one of the collector sites so I knew he existed but the comic-pack he came in was released before I was a collector so I didn't think I would ever get my hands on one. Luckily a Snowtrooper sold me one for five bucks. I don't have the comic it came with so the context isn't there. From what I recall, it was a what-if story where Leia turned Vader back to good without him having to die so he changed his armour to white and was a Jedi again. But then why is his lightsaber red? So basically I got it for the bizarre-factor. You have to admit he's funny! Funny in a good way- fun. Fun is fun! They should make some white royal guards for him to march with. Oddly, the only other Vader I currently have is McQuarrie Vader. Maybe I should get a regular Vader one of these days- there's no shortage of them. Another scenario where this guy would work is Vader enters a tree like the one on Dagobah only this one is a locus of good Force energy and he faces his mirror-self . . . . . never mind.
The first I ever heard of these guys was in a comic pack I picked up at a TRU. I was all excited about a new clone sculpt. Turns out it is not new at all but a rerelease- the original was a battlepack I think. Which is fine since as new sculpts go it is actually not exceptional- not that much articulation. He has trouble even standing unaided. he comic it came with just showed a bunch of these commandoes fighting and then Yoda says something prescient at the end about clones turning on them just to follow orders. But I think they originally come from some Karen Traviss books, which I'd actually like to read. They're nulls trained by a mandalorian? That might be from a webcomic. Obviously I don't know much about them. BUt I have another like him, more colorful, named Scorch.
I always thought it was silly that there could only be two Sith. A master, and an apprentice. So when the apprentice got really good at being bad it could kill the master and start the cycle anew. So aside from being really evil they are also really dumb. Fortunately the writers of Star Wars Legacy apparently feel the same way and that comic is crawling with Sith, many of which have red skin and black tattoos a la Darth Maul. And if they are females, hardly any clothes. Comics is a visual medium after all and who am i to complain? Thus, Darth Talon. Basically Aayla Secura's evil twin. Born like 300 years apart. So they don't really have the same birthday. As far as the character herself, she is Darth Krayt's chosen assassin and is pretty mean. I have the first couple of issues of Legacy but that's about all I know. Anyways, cool figure.
The one and only figure I got when Episode I came out was Darth Maul. I took that little guy to China and New York and all sorts of places. But New York was his undoing as he never came home with me. I think Jon still has him but I don't know. So anyways this quasi-concept art Maul was a good replacement. Quasi because this version of him appeared in the four issue Darth Maul series which I posed him in front of. All those extra tattoos give him an even more distinctive look. And since he was criminally underused you gotta jump on the chance to release new versions of him that weren't in the movie. I just got a more normal version of him (in which he wears a shirt) and I hope to rip his legs off and replace them with tri-droid legs or somesuch so as to customize a Maul-borg, also based on concept art, straight from LucasFilm as far as I know. Anyways that is neither here nor there since I haven't done it yet. What matters is this Maul is pretty good, maybe not as much articulation as there could be. But he came in a Sith Evolutions 3-pack with Darth Bane (pthhhpp!) and Darth Malak?? Something like that.
