Sometimes I feel like they make some of this stuff just for me. I’m far from the first or most vocal fan who has wanted and campaigned for a Jaxxon figure, but they even based the portrait of this figure on the particular artwork I like from an old Star Wars Gamer magazine, so I’m very happy to get this figure in hand. Writer Cavan Scott has done a lot for Jaxxon’s cause recently, including him in a few newer comic book tales and even a recent short story that takes place during The Empire Strikes Back. Let’s take a look at Jaxxon!
Jaxxon is part of an Expanded Universe focused sub-line of figures celebrating 50 years of Lucasfilm and he comes in a fairly fancy box with a gate fold opening that’s held closed with a little velcro tab. The box prominently features a Stan Sakai cover from a recent Star Wars Adventures comic on the front and the sides and interior of the box features artwork from that issue.
The art is an interesting choice to me since it is from more recent material rather than Jaxxon’s first appearance from back in ’77.
Jaxxon comes with two blasters that look like re-use from Jaina and Dr. Aphra. They are nice guns and they fit in the holsters well, though I wish there was a bit of paint detail on them like a bit of silver on the barrel or some brown on the handles.
The base figure is re-used from a couple of Luke Skywalker figures with the pilot body providing the upper half and the Tatooine Luke providing the lower half. The kit-bash works surprisingly well for my taste. I was a bit concerned when I saw he was based on such old figures, but they work well together with the new belt, armor overlay, and head to make a pretty playable figure.
He does end up being a little shorter than I think Jaxxon is depicted in the comics and some of the costume details aren’t 100% accurate, but he’s a character that’s not really consistently drawn, so that’s understandable. I feel like the pilot Luke legs might have actually worked a bit better for me aesthetically than the wraps from Luke’s legs since the pilot outfit totally works for the character. When I was planning a custom, I had been thinking about using a Greedo figure with new gloves and boots, but now I wonder if a Bossk body with new forearms and boots would have worked.
The portrait has this great, scruffy seedy vibe to it that totally feels like it could be a Henson puppet from the ’80s. It’s clearly based on the more realistic Jaxxon from the cover of Star Wars Gamer #4. In the original Eight for Aduba-3 story, Jaxxon sometimes looks exactly like Bugs Bunny, so I could see why people would want him to look more like that, but I first became obsessed with Jaxxon after reading Star Wars Gamer #4, so I’m so happy they went with that look and I feel like it fits in a bit better with the other aliens than a straight up cartoon style figure would.
The other thing I don’t like about this figure is that his left hand doesn’t have a trigger finger, so it can look awkward. I took a page from Robo’s book and sliced a trigger finger loose on the left hand with an exacto knife and I’m much happier with the figure now.
The articulation is Star Wars Black Series standard with:
- Swivel/hinge shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, and ankles
- Ball and socket head and mid-torso
- Double hinged knees
- Swivel thighs
- Hinged neck
There is a pretty big gap between the neck and the bottom of the head which can look a little weird from the back, but I love the tilt and up/down range of motion that I get on the head because of it, so I don’t mind. He’s a pretty expressive figure in the portrait and the tilt allows for even more of that.
Paint is okay good here with some nice printing on the eyes and a wash that brings out the ratty detail on the fuzzy head. the greens on the head calls to mind the Duloks from that old Ewok cartoon. In the books, his boots are bright white, but I do like that they made it more of a grayish white here when I usually don’t like that sort of thing.
Overall, I’m so happy with this figure. I do have some nitpicks here and there and if it were up to me, I would have chosen an all new body for this character, but I think the kit-bashing they did here is pretty effective and makes for a super fun figure. Jaxxon is representative of some of the weirdest corners of this vastly weird Star Wars universe and I hope they keep making stuff from that end of the spectrum.
