The 6” Gamorrean Guard is a Target exclusive entry into the Black Series, and is a terrific figure
for the cost. Slightly more expensive than a regular Black Series figures, the Gamorrean is big and bulky and solid, and
comes with several accessories.
If you passed on Black
Series Jabba the Hutt from a number of years ago, the Gamorrean Guard is a
figure that may make you regret that, as these are Jabba’s guards. So, it makes
some sense that they’d be displayed alongside a 6” Jabba the Hutt. Fear not
though, as the Gamorrean does just fine all on its own, not needing Jabba or
anything else really to prove its worth to a collection. A large, chunky
figure, the Gamorrean contains all of the standard joints and posing options,
as well as having an opening mouth, leagues better than that of Admiral Ackbar,
a prior store exclusive in the line.
The Guard is nicely detailed, with flesh colored bags around
the eyes and studs and etchings on the shoulder guards. The fur skirt is
legitimate fur, a soft goods pair of shorts. This is such a good decision, as
the soft goods here are better than molded plastic in every way. For this
particular section of clothing, at least. It’s fuzzy and adds some texture that
fits the bestial nature of the Guard. Additionally, the figures comes with some
rudimentary weapons: a staff/spear and two different axes. One ax is more of a
hatchet-style ax, with a longer handle. The other one is like a giant ax head
with an open place in the middle for holding. Different Gamorrean Guards in Return of the Jedi can be seen wielding
each of these things, so the idea may be that this Guard could be any of those,
or that purchasing multiple Guards would allow you to have one of each; but
each Guard would come with all three parts, so . . . The same thing happened
with the regular retail version of the Preatorean Guard from The Last Jedi, which came with two
different weapons, and was the figure that could stand in as one of two different
types of Preatorean Guard. So, I guess, rather than sell three different
Gamorrean Guards, you kinda get all three in one box. The preferred look in my
collection is armed with the staff, which can be held in two hands, and looks
the most Star Wars-y and guard-y of the trio. I also just like the idea that a
figure can two hand hold a weapon, so if a figure can do that, I generally have
them do it. The head of the spear looks like it was made out of junk, a number
of metal plates bolted together. Like a weapon constructed by some type of
scavenger instead of being a legit, forged weapon.
The opening mouth is far better executed on this figure than
it was on the previously released Ackbar, probably because the head is larger,
so it doesn’t feel so much like a collar the way that Ackbar’s does. The
opening mouth was a real flaw in Ackbar, so seeing it better executed is a good
thing.
The skirt is fuzzy and soft, and really adds to the overall
figure. There’s a solid plastic crotch underneath the fur, like a solid plastic
diaper, but the Guard looks so much better for the fabric clothing. Obviously,
nothing about the cloth gets in the way or impedes posing, and in general the
Guard takes good, solid stances and is well balanced.
There’s nothing to say really in the way of problems with
the Gamorrean Guard. In fact, it ends up being another one of those Black Series figures that’s just sorta
doing everything right. If the figure does have a problem, it’s essentially
that the character looks a little silly, and the figure, with the opening mouth
and the fur pants and axes, looks a bit comical. As a child watching Return of the Jedi, the Gamorrean Guards
were a little frightening, kind of savage and dangerous in the dimly lit palace
surrounded by bounty hunters and criminals. Jabba was always frightening as
well. But whereas Jabba lost much of his menace by being shown in the seemingly
endless parades of A New Hope reedits
as essentially a boob that tries to shake down Han Solo, the Gamorreans were
undone by proper lighting, victims of their own design. They’re green,
moist-looking pig men, and no one is actually scared of that. It’s a creature
design that may frighten the young, but really proves powerless to anyone else.
This is reflected in the figure here, as in regular light, it looks like a
goofy pig guy. But, positioned in that part of a shelf where corners meet and
there’s ever so slightly a shadow, the figure looks like a tough and
threatening bodyguard. It seems that a direct line of sight nerfs the figure,
but being anyplace off to the side brings back a little bit of the oomph that a
character like this is supposed to have. 
And so another Black
Series article comes to a close with the uninspiring notion of “this figure
is real good, but not mandatory for a collection”. There is no denying that
this figure is really, really nice, and feels like a store exclusive that
justifies its slightly higher price point. But this isn’t a bounty hunter or EU
character that feels situational to a collection or fills a specific role in
one. This guy is like the textbook definition of a background character.
Certainly owning the larger Jabba the Hutt may make this more of a necessary
purchase, but even without his boss, the Gamorrean Guard (a word I just
misspelled three times before finally getting it right here. –mr) is not a bad Black Series pick up.
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