Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,081: Wicket W. Warrick (Ewoks Cartoon, The Vintage Collection)

WICKET W. WARRICK cartoon version
The Vintage Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure Fan Channel 2-Pack
Item No.: No. F8300
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #283
Includes: Spear, bag, hood, coin
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $36.99
Availability: October 2023
Appearances: Ewoks

Bio: Wicket's friendly, adventurous, and mischievous nature makes him a leader among the other young EWOKS. (Taken from the cardback.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Entertainment Earth now!

Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

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Commentary: There are a lot of things Hasbro makes where I don't know who the audience is going to be, but I do know that this Ewoks cartoon Wicket W. Warrick was made for me. If you were a kid in the 1980s, you may have watched these shows on Saturday mornings for a couple of years, and then saw them at Kay-Bee for a buck. What's interesting about Wicket is that he's a remake of a character from 1985, while Kneesaa never actually came out until now. (There's still hope!) Back in the early 1990s and late 1980s, nobody wanted those figures - I got them super cheap and their relative scarcity was in large part because nobody cared to sell them. As such, if you didn't have the then newly-sculpted cartoon-specific Ewoks, you can get these now.

This figure takes the 2010 The Vintage Collection movie mold - which also had a movie hood, and was only $10 - and adds the requisite collector tax mark-up, giving you a reissue of the coin (freebies in the $6.99 line in 2017) instead of a hood at what is basically a 85% mark-up. If you just had the orange hood, rather than the green hood, I'd probably say no - but since they gave you the season two hood first, this is interesting. On the actual cartoon, it was an orangey brown. On the old licensed merchandise and package art, Wicket's hood was usually a dirty yellow. The bright orange of the final figure is a rung below neon, and seems much more saturated and bright than the relatively muted product photography. The mold isn't new, but it's good - Hasbro is excellent at making the most of its existing tooling library, and gives you a handy pouch for sunberries on the side. This accessory is why I pre-ordered the figure, but I'd be lying if I said it turned out like I expected. The cartoon one was brown, while Kenner's preschool Wicket was that yellow color. As such, this is different enough where Hasbro has wiggle room to make another couple of cartoon Wicket figures if they really wanted to do so.

The spear is fine, and he can hold it with both hands since they did a good job designing him. Having said that, you won't feel you got your money's worth with swivel ankles, jointed hips and shoulders and ankles, and a jointed neck that won't move much. Combined, the two-pack has about as many parts as a modern full-size figure (give or take) so I'm sure Hasbro is making a good return on this mold investment - and it's a nice figure. The eyes are painted to be sort of like the movie while also being vaguely like the cartoon. The fur patterns are much cleaner than the movie version, and I actually kind of prefer it. You can move the legs so he can be posed standing without falling over quite nicely.

This figure is very much for a specific kind of fan. I'm sure completists will grouse, and even though this is something I very much want I do feel a little stung over the price tag. I assume we'll never see another Ewoks cartoon figure, but I like it enough to say that old Kenner kids might want to look into getting it. It's also worth noting the bonus coin feels a lot like the original, minus a sharper sculpt that seems a smidgen off from the real deal while paradoxically looking almost identical save for revised copyright markings. I bet it could pass for a genuine original if a fan wasn't intimately familiar with the years being stamped on the Kenner versions. Recommended if you like this sort of thing, and don't mind spending the equivalent of $18.50 for a repaint of a figure you may own already given the obscure nature of this release.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Entertainment Earth.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,081: November 14, 2023