Figure of the Day: Day 346: Lushros Dofine

LUSHROS DOFINE Battle of Coruscant
The Saga Collection
Item No.: Asst. 85770 No. 85940
Number: 023
Includes: Datapad, console, display stand
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $6.99
Availability: Spring 2006
Appearances: Revenge of the Sith

Bio: The Separatist flagship titled The Invisible Hand was originally commissioned for the Neimodian Separatist leader Nute Gunray. Darth Sidious later orders the ship and the crew to serve General Grievous, the new leader of the droid armies. Lushros Dofine, an esteemed captain, pilots the general's flagship and obeys Grievous' every command. (Taken from the figure's cardback.)

Image: Adam Pawlus' toy shelves.

Commentary: Behold! The real stinker of 2006. The figure isn't bad, but Lushros Dofine was a figure that reminds me of an amusing quotation from The Simpsons that goes something like this: "The politics of failure have failed. It is time to make them work again." In 1999, Hasbro released 2 Neimoidian figures which, while excellent figures, sold poorly. In 2002, they put out another one. It, too, sat around. In 2003, another one was put in a multipack-- and guess what? The multipacks ended up on closeout. Oh, and in 2005? Hasbro made two Neimoidians, a Commander and a Soldier, and those could be had for less than a buck if you waited long enough. There was even a holographic Nute Gunray slated for production that never came out. These guys are cursed.

It's a bit of a pity because, as I said, this isn't a bad figure. The sculpt is great. For a robed figure, its articulation is about as good as can be expected. He's even got a really big hat. The paint is good, the sculpt is fantastic, the accessories are great-- so what went wrong? Hasbro didn't make too many, actually they haven't shipped any in quite some time. (The figure was removed from the assortments fairly quickly, never making it to the "red holographic figure" transition of wave 5-- and this figure shipped in wave 4.) Today, in many stores, you can still find pegs of this figure that nobody wants to buy. It's unfortunate because it's a good example of how Hasbro can make an excellent figure, but it seems that character wasn't taken into consideration. This figure really can't do much-- in the movie, he stood around and complained a little. There's no vehicle or playset he can go with on the market. Heck, the whole Invisible Hand sequence is actually pretty lacking in toys-- sure, there's a few, but hardly enough to entice people to buy lesser characters like this one. Maybe if we had more interesting Battle Droids, a playset, or some other thing for this guy to interact with-- he stands alone. He needs a friend. Maybe that friend needs to be you.

Collector's Notes: I'm sick of seeing this damned figure at retail. I went to go buy my Order 66 figures at Target, and I'm greeted with rows of this figure nearly a full year after he shipped. I've already bought a few, I did my part-- so when these guys hit markdown, go and do us a favor. Go buy one or two if you haven't already, you could use more Neimoidians in your Geonosis Arena, right? While a lot of fans complain about those Heroes & Villains waves of Episode III figures in new packaging, they still sold better than this guy. Which is to say, they actually managed to convince people to buy them with minimal effort.

Day 346: April 17, 2007