Star Wars action figure review: Jek Porkins
As in the Kenner vintage collection, Hasbro's strategy has been to release many variants of major and minor characters from the six major films, as well as the various Clone Wars projects.
The more famous characters, of course, tend to predominate, especially Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, and R2-D2, but Hasbro, knowing that collectors want almost every character in the films, has populated store shelves with many supporting "bit players."
Jek Porkins: X-Wing Pilot: Once a free trader on Bestine IV, Jek joined the Rebel Alliance after his homeworld was conquered by the Empire. He quickly became known as one of the Alliance's most skilled pilots. When he attacked the Death Star during the Battle of Yavin, his comm-unit designation was Red Six. - Jedi Fact File, Jek Porkins: X-Wing Pilot:
If you've watched Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope, you'll probably recognize the somewhat stout Rebel pilot known simply as either Red Six or Porkins. Played by the late William Hootkins, he appears only in a few scenes during the Battle of Yavin (i.e., the Death Star battle) and gets killed when a cockpit malfunction aboard his X-Wing fighter leaves him vulnerable to an Imperial turbolaser turret, which blasts him out of the stars.
The Figure: Although the figure's only accessory is a removable Rebel-issue flight helmet, this 2000 rendition of Porkins is very nicely sculpted and painted.
Jek Porkins: X-Wing Pilot looks like Shakespeare's Falstaff or Robin Hood's Little John wearing the traditional Alliance pilot's orange and white flight suit, black flight gauntlets and boots, with a beautifully-detailed life-support unit that is rendered light-years way better than on Kenner's 1979 Luke Skywalker: X-Wing Pilot figure.
Good Points: The figure's main asset is its "previously unreleased character" status, of course, but considering Porkins' fate in A New Hope and the fact that he's perhaps one of the few overweight Rebel characters, Hasbro nevertheless did a nice job on the sculpt and paint job here. The helmet's markings, weathering, and insignia match those in the photo on the carded bubblepack, and Porkins' face, with his trimmed brown beard and resolute expression, looks remarkably life-like considering the small size of the figure.
The helmet is removable and can be held in either of the figure's hands.
Jek Porkins: X-Wing Pilot, like all the other figures in Power of the Jedi collections, also comes with a small booklet called a Jedi Fact File with role-playing stats and basic data about the character. Here we learn that he's a human from the planet Bestine IV and a tidbit about his past before the Battle of Yavin.
Bad Points: In some ways, this figure is a bit of a throwback to the Kenner Vintage style of figures; it lacks many of the articulation points most of the newer action figures possess, which limits posing Porkins to only two options - standing up with the helmet on, or standing up holding the helmet in one hand. And even that doesn't look very easy to do, since Hasbro didn't even include a base on which to stand him.
My Take: Despite its limited capabilities, Jek Porkins: X-Wing Pilot is still a nice addition to Hasbro's huge "family" of Star Wars action figures, even though this particular one is worth it because of who it depicts and for its nice rendition of the face and uniform rather than its potential as an "action" figure.
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