Thursday, April 29, 2010

Figure of the Day: Day 1,272: Grand Moff Trachta

GRAND MOFF TRACHTA with Darth Vader
The Legacy Collection Comic Packs
Item No.:
Asst. 87504 No. 87689
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #10
Includes: Blaster, Darth Vader figure
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $12.99
Availability: Fall 2008
Appearances: Empire comic book series

Bio: Emperor Palpatine may have control of the galaxy after the Clone Wars, but others want that power themselves. There are Imperial officers who are not pleased wth the current regime, and are plotting to eliminate the Emperor and Darth Vader. Grand Moff Trachta is at the center of this plot, but he also has some personal ambitions of his own. It's a tale of secrets, double crosses amd betrayals in the early days of the Empire. (Taken from the figure's cardback.)

Image: Adam's desk.

Commentary: Who is Grand Moff Trachta, you ask? Why the chief villain and anti-Sith conspirator in the very first arc of the Dark Horse Star Wars Empire comic series. It did OK, but it didn't seem to make waves in fan circles-- certainly not toy fan circles. So here you are, a lucky fan with an obscure cybernetic-enhanced bureaucrat. The sculpting is pretty good-- the guy has a sharp tailor, with the old remainder of his Imperial uniform mixed in with new gadgets and hoses. Surprisingly the character has muscular arms, and Hasbro gave him 12 points of articulation. While he has no knees, he has pretty much everything else including ball-jointed ankles. The figure is a great representation of his comic self-- one of the outfits, anyway-- but the real question is "do you want him?" And the answer is probably "I don't even know who that is." (Well, OK, I do but I still buy all the comics.) He looks neat enough, and if you need an Imperial officer who looks significantly different than all your other ones, he pulls it off. He's just a strange-looking figure that doesn't quite fit in with the aesthetic of the era, but then again, a lot of the Empire and Rebellion comics have new designs that don't quite work. Trachta basically works... certainly better than most of the others.

Collector's Notes: This set included Darth Vader-- essentially the Saga Legends one-- as the second figure. So this wasn't particularly well-received, although it was packed very lightly in assortments and seemed to sell through accordingly.

--Adam Pawlus


Day 1,272: April 29, 2010

2 comments:

Campbell said...

This one stayed on my desk for a couple of months after I first opened it because I like it so much. Not being an avid comic reader in the last decade, my main remembrance of the character was as a semi-red herring starwars.com put on their site during the making of Episode III. Many people suspected that the masked, red-eyed cyborg might actually be a stage in the evolution of Vader.

Unknown said...

I liked the design well enough, but passed on this comic book two-pack the multiple times I saw it. I already have several copies and variations of the Vader that comes with it, and was never into the Trachta character enough to want him...but he has a neat Borg-like feel to him doesn't he? Creepy. lol