The Saga Collection - Bib Fortuna

[JediTricks]

Bib Fortuna, Jabba the Hutt's majordomo, is one of the more recognizable secondary characters from Return of the Jedi, and hasn't had a new figure since 1997, although there was a repaint of the figure released in '04. This new Bib Fortuna is the 3rd figure in the new line, but a higher price, miserable articulation, and poor choice of facial expression scuttle this one.

Packaging: 3.5/5
The front design uses an OTC-style look with more angles and a curved bubble, as well as a scene photo background and character photo bubble insert, this looks alright but I still prefer the actual OTC packaging which was more straightforward - this new curved bubble minimizes the impact of the contents, and feels a bit thin. The scene photo is the same one as the OTC Bib's card which is a bit funny. The figure is inside holding his knife out to his right. The cardback is a mess, with elements coming and going without using their space very well or seeming totally crowded, then there's a little window in the bottom right with the random-packed packin hologram figure, it's fairly secure in there tho'. Opening the packaging requires ripping or cutting, there's small taped flaps, welding, and inverted welding at the bottom.

Sculpt-Design: 3/5
The POTF2 figure had a split-robe design which made him look fat, and a face to match. This new Bib doesn't have fat-robe issues because he's essentially a salt-shaker, his body *is* the robe, this makes his legs (which he does have) unusable and he has no actual shoulders. The sculpting on the body is pretty good, looks like a real costume, with a separate piece for the front of the sash. The hand poses have character without looking crazy. The figure's face is awful, his mouth is open and sucking in the chin while his eyes remain normal, giving the look of a yawning Bib Fortuna... or Butt-head sans Beavis. The face still looks a little fat due to pronounced cheeks, fat neck, and oversized wattle. From the side and back, the ball-joint neck design stands out as it often does. The head tails look good but aren't flexible enough, this is where the rubbery plastic would have been welcome.

The body looks good, but is nearly useless. The face has a terrible expression and still isn't quite right, but looks better than the previous version. All in all, if you want a goofy-faced statue, then the rating would be a 5 out of 5, but it's supposed to be an action figure.

Articulation: 1.5/5
Pitiful. Bib has a ball-jointed neck, but it's somewhat limited by the head tails, there's also a standard neck joint under that which doesn't add anything. There isn't any shoulder articulation since there aren't shoulders, which is charming, and the legs aren't articulated either. That leaves mid-bicep swivel, diagonal-cut-joint elbows, and rotating wrists. The wrists are useful, the left elbow lets that arm straighten, the mid-bicept swivels can move only about 15 degrees, and basically the whole thing works poorly.

Paint-Deco: 3.5/5
The body has pretty good paint and colors, it looks realistic thanks to subtle metallic weathering on the chest plate and bracelets. The paint on the fingers is also good, pink with gray nails, there's a little slop but it's acceptable. The head is a totally different tale though, the eyes and mouth have ok detailing , but the head's cast in pink plastic but given light blue accenting and a thick matte finish when it should be shiny. The head tails are separate pieces which are far more blued so they don't match at all. Too many little mismatches and issues really end up hurting the overall score.

Accessories: 2/5
Bib Fortuna gets just 1 actual accessory, a small silver dagger with a gold handle, there's not much detail because it's so tiny, but it does fit in either hand and can be slipped into Bib's sash. Then there's the ROTJ stand with the figure's name painted on the front, it's half as tall as the OTC stands and doesn't interlock, and I may be wrong about this but it feels more breakable than the OTC one. Finally, there's the price-increase-compensator, the random-packed hologram figure -- I got Boba Fett for my first one, the sculpting is decent and the blue translucent plastic is a good color, but there's too much sparkly stuff inside, and I really wouldn't have bought this on its own.

Overall: D+/C-
If this had been $5, I probably would have been *slightly* more generous, but the reality is that this isn't a great figure, it's a marginal improvement in looks over the '97 figure, it's a poorly articulated salt-shaker, and worst of all it has a goofy face, so at $7 it's totally not worth it.

[plasticfetish]

Wow! he gets a "D+" huh?

Well, considering that I actually like the older Bib figure, I can see that I'll be in no hurry to grab this one. Yep... the $7 price is really going to eliminate impulse buying for me.

[JediTricks]

I guess you could call him the "gray area between D+ and C-".

I felt the same way about the older Bib, but upon looking at him again recently he did need a replacement... I don't see why this unarticulated yawner should be it, especially at this price.

[plasticfetish]

Yeah, for $7 this one should be more special. (To justify a remake this one should have been more special.) Maybe some softgoods or something... at least the face should look better.

At this point I may only be buying Han from this wave. Even then I'm only getting it for the newish carbonite block. Which I suppose is a lame reason to spend $7.

[Bacta Beast]

I bought mine at Wal-Mart for $5.88 which is a little more reasonable. I definately wanted a better sculpt after the "way to big" POTF version. But I do wish they had given him more articulation and some soft clothe goods.

[JediTricks]

I still think anything over $5 is a disgrace, and this figure is barely worth $5 really. Either the face OR the articulation issue would have made it worth $5, but anything over really isn't worth it.

[Bacta Beast]

I can understand where you're coming from on that. It's hard for me to find any justification for the price increase across the board all together. From $4.77 to $5.88. More than a dollar difference. The quality of the figures hasn't improved, the packaging is better but it shouldn't cost more. So what makes the difference? Is it that Wal-mart isn't ordering as many because it's naot a movie year so they don't get as big of a discount? I don't know, I'm glad I found it and that I didn't have to pay more that $6! Cause you're right it's barely worth it. I do think it's better than the POTF2 version though, that's why I wanted it.

[Bacta Beast]

Y'know, I was just looking at mine, and man, that doesn't look right! Did he have that much under his chin? gross! I remeber the nodules but not the extra lump. However I still think it looks better thn the POTF2 version. Mainly because the bodies not so hulky.

[JediTricks]

The price went up because Hasbro raised the price, that's really all there is to it. Charming, no? My guess is they are trying to compensate their income on the line for an off-movie year, but it's of course circular logic since ultimately the price increase will lead to less sales than the non-movie-year interest would have.

As for Bib, I think he's not *enough* of an improvement over the POTF2 version to warrant purchase at $7 or $6, that yawning face alone is just too hard to get past IMO, and the articulation situation is a real insult to me, and he comes with 1 measily accessory, if they wanted my $7 so bad but didn't want to make a better figure they should have thrown in Wol Cabas****e or Bubo from the Denizens multipack. This set just doesn't earn the money.

[Kidhuman]

Well, I saw this figure today and grabbed him. To me there is only one diorama scene he could be used in and thats for TPM when Anakin crosses the finish line first.