Figure of the Day: Day 949: Dice Ibegon

DICE IBEGON & Trinto Duaba
The Legacy Collection Basic Figures
Item No.: Asst. 87535 No. 87841
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #BD37
Includes: Trinto Duaba figure with blaster and hood, droid part
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $7.99
Availability: January 2009
Appearances: Star Wars

Bio: Dice Ibegon is a female Florn Lamproid who believes in the Rebellion and is attuned to the Force. (From the figure's cardback.)

Image: Adam Pawlus' desk.

Commentary: There aren't many figures that Hasbro essentially designed in their entirety, but Dice Ibegon is one of them. In the movie, she just existed as a kind of snake head thing. Hasbro fleshed out the design with extra arms and a tail, and I'm not sure if it's more or less creepy that this unholy combination of male and female genitals with teeth can now visibly scoot around. The character's appearance in the cantina really did nothing for her popularity, but she was the subject of a short story by a couple of Trek scribes which put her in a relationship with a werewolf that is disturbing on numerous levels. I mean, I know that love is blind, but apparently it's also completely fearless. But hey, now you've got a figure of this thing, so how is it?

Surprisingly good-- even if assembly is required. (The top half needs to be popped into the bottom after you open it.) The figure is pretty nicely done, there's a good amount of detail here. Lots of wrinkles, some thinner skin is folded in a pretty realistic way, and some extra light brown paint helps the figure seem a little less like just a toy and slightly more lifelike. It has a bright red mouth-- too bright, really-- a torso joint, and six jointed, uh, "arms." Surprisingly, Hasbro's engineering team made it so the tiny arms don't fall out easily, or really at all so far. I'd expect the figure to fall to pieces if you look at it funny, but it doesn't. This sort of thing is pretty uncommon these days, so it's nice to have a solid release on what could have been a flimsy figure. As the first and likely only Dice Ibegon figure you'll ever see, you may as well get her. With Trinto Duaba in a 2-pack, plus a piece of the astromech droid, it's a good value. (As Hasbro creeped the prices of figures up while the price of oil went down, I fully expect figures to have more parts and pieces rather than a price drop going forward. Or people will likely be angry.) I'm not disappointed, and here I thought I just flat-out wouldn't care. It's pretty good for what it is, my only concern now is what the heck do I do with it now that I have it. It's not like there's a table she can fit in.

Collector's Notes: I just got this figure last week, so there's not much trivia to share just yet. But hey, we'll get to that when I do Trinto down the road. I've seen this one on pegs a few times but that doesn't mean it's a stinker yet. That remains to be seen.

Day 949: February 2, 2009