Review – Star Wars Jumbo Vintage Hammerhead

The latest release in the Star Wars Jumbo Vintage series (Amazon.com search*) has arrived, and this time I’m getting the review up while the toy is still new . . . but not, it would appear, before the toy has sold out. So if you like what you see then order the Jumbo Vintage Hammerhead* right now; he may be pricey tomorrow.

This isn’t the first time I’ve reviewed a Hammerhead here at battlegrip.com: You can get a look at the 12-inch scale Sideshow Collectibles Momaw Nadon in this review and see the 2008 mini-bust in this review. I thought I had reviewed the more recent Hammerhead Mini-Bust* already, but it looks like I never did so I should tackle that soonish. More Hammerhead is a good thing, right?

Anyway, on with the review!

A Simple Fix to an Annoying Problem

I’ve had this happen a few times now. My Jumbo Vintage Hammerhead* was having problems holding his gun; the plastic wasn’t quite closing tight enough around the weapon’s grip so the gun just sorta dangled there. But a blast of hot air from a hair dryer to soften the hand solved the problem; all I did was then position the gun and squeeze the hand around the grip, holding everything for a few moments until the plastic cooled. It’s a very simple fix and when I’ve done this before — the Jumbo Vintage Stormtrooper* had the same problem — the fix held just fine. So if you run into a hand unable to hold a gun neatly just grab your hair dryer! NOTE: Don’t heat the gun, just the hand.

Just Like the Seventies!

As with the other releases in the Star Wars Jumbo Vintage series (Amazon.com search*), the real fun of this toy is that it’s an upscaled copy of the 1978 Kenner Star Wars action figure. I’ve discussed the concept in my earlier reviews — Blue Snaggletooth review, C-3PO review, Boba Fett review — and I’ll keep insisting that you give the line a try. Gentle Giant’s gotta sell more of these so we can get a Jabba the Hut figure and playset upsized!

Five Points of Articulation, No Posing!

If you remember by December post about five points of articulation then you likely won’t be surprised that I’m happy that Gentle Giant made these pure upscaled copies and stuck with the original five points of articulation. And that new 12-inch Clone Trooper (review here) shows that someone at Hasbro agrees with me when I say “five points is all you need for a kid to have fun.” Now there’s some nostalgia at work in my head when I say this, but when those new Hasbro 12-inch action figures are only $10/each I think there’s also some economics at work; we’ll just have to see if Hasbro continues releasing this style of figure.

But none of that’s about this Jumbo Vintage Hammerhead*. Sorry, I got distracted by childhood memories as I was blasting toys with Hammerhead and his gun.

Closing Thoughts

I’ll continue to admit that the line isn’t for everyone, but when figures as fun as this Jumbo Vintage Hammerhead* are coming out of the process of upsizing vintage Star Wars toys it makes it tough for me to completely understand why everyone isn’t racing out to buy all of these toys. They make wonderful display pieces and feel, at least to me, like perfect collectibles for any Star Wars fan who was a kid when these toys were new in stores.

Two thumbs up for this guy, and I’m quite happy that now that Walrus Man has arrived I have all five of the Cantina alien action figures in this line . . . now if I could just find room for that upsized Cantina playset.