JEDI PADAWAN JECKI LON Figure Debut
The Retro Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure
Item No.: No. G0386
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Lightsaber, cloth robes, another 5 figures
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $59.99
Availability: October 2024
Appearances: The Acolyte
Bio: The Star Wars Retro Collection is inspired by the original 1970s Star Wars figures and features original figure design and detailing! Continue your collection from a galaxy far, far away. (Stolen from the marketing copy. Packaging has no bio.)
Image: Adam's photo lab.
Availability: Click here to buy it at Entertainment Earth now!
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Commentary: On the Jedi half of
The Acolyte The Retro Collection 6-pack,
Jedi Padawan Jecki Lon is a perfectly good figure in her own right. She has the same cream-colored sleeves, tan pants, and brown boots, and gold vest area as the other Jedi, which makes her and her Jedi pals a little less interesting in the area of costuming. That's not Hasbro's fault, but it is a good reminder that uniforms are pretty boring. Hasbro has given us 18
Retro figures in 2024, and eight are a riff on this same robe costume. To put that in perspective, the entire original Kenner line had a total of eight movie Ewoks, and only three figures had this sort of quasi-Jedi costume. Variety is good, especially in multi-packs. It doesn't mean a figure is bad, but it does make it a little less fun than a pack of mixed creatures and droids and Sith and such.
Of the three Jedi, this one may be the most interesting in that the Padawan is one of very few short figures. She's an alien, and her skin color is a light lavender - we don't see that very much. I like the yellow details around her eyes - "Kenner" left extra deco out on the backs of her hands - and the dots and textures around her eyes are missing too. I can't really say "this is what Kenner would have done" because precious few figures had any sort of stripes around their eyes. I like that they painted her horns (which is what Kenner did with the Tusken Raiders), but I'm surprised the wig is a separately molded element. Mine seems to be a touch uneven, but I've only seen the one sample so far... and mine has uneven eyes.
The figure is as functional as any other good Kenner release. The arms swing, the head swivels, and the legs move forward. She stands, and thanks to a little bit of "give" in the fingers, either hand can hold her green lightsaber. The robes are sculpted about as well as any figure in the line (this means, a little soft on detail compared to a real Kenner toy) and I think any person who sees her on a card or on a shelf who is in their 40s or 50s will probably think she looks great. To have any real issues with sculpt or paint, you're going to need to have great eyes, or get in real close, or have really bright lights.
Looking at the paint, the colors are nice. The blue behind her belt was exaggerated slightly and pops nicely. I'd say the body is roughly as good as anything Kenner would have done, with the head showing evidence of that advanced future manufacturing witchcraft. I'm hoping to see another up-close, because overall, I think the separately molded wig is the best move Kenner didn't and should have made back in the 1980s. I hate seeing worn hair or nose dings on painted faces, and this gets around that problem. It's clever.
My favorite design choice was the padawan braid. While Hasbro has sculpted the braid on a shoulder before, Jecki's wig is a bit longer than Obi-Wan Kenobi's - as such, it looks a little more "connected" in most poses. It's not perfect, but it tends to work very well in most poses and was the right way to go.
Jecki has two accessories. One is a pretty good robe that wraps around the figure, preventing you from seeing Hasbro's hard work in the packaging. It's easy to put on or off, and the color seems right. Her green lightsaber is a reuse of the 1980s-style non-telescoping Luke lightsaber, which has been included with no fewer than a dozen other figures. If you've ever dreamed of official lightsabers in many colors, oh has your ship come in.
For what she is? She's fine. I find Jedi costumes to be dull - and in this set, repetitive - but I like Kenner stuff so I'm going to pick these up while skipping the 6-inch ones. (I'd rather have these, they stand and sit with less of a fight.) I don't think any old-school Kenner fanatic will prefer The Acolyte to any of the original 3 movies or the D+ streaming lines given their generally good mix of armored dudes, droids, and even a few aliens, because it's hard to one-up an Ewok or Yak Face or Zuckuss. They're great. But she's pretty good, and with the neat colors she'd be just at home on a shelf with characters from the Droids cartoon. I'd recommend getting this one if you're a fan of the format. I know, she's not a bounty hunter or a rubber-mask alien, but I'd say I find her more satisfying than the average collector-level figure. She gets the job done.
Collector's Notes: I got mine from Entertainment Earth.
--Adam Pawlus
Day 3,224: March 18, 2025
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