Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,114: Yak Face (The Retro Collection)

YAK FACE A Licensed Remake!
The Retro Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure Hasbro Pulse/Shop Disney 6-Pack
Item No.: No. F6988
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Staff, plus Mon Mothma, Yak Face, Emperor's Royal Guard, Gamorrean Guard, and Admiral Ackbar
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $72.99
Availability: November 2023
Appearances: Return of the Jedi

Bio: Star Wars Retro Collection includes Star Wars action figures from the 40-plus-year legacy of the Star Wars Galaxy, including movies and live-action series. (Stolen from the marketing copy. Packaging has no bio.)

Image: Adam's photo lab. 

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

  Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Commentary: For the first time in America, the old Kenner Yak Face is just a toy anybody can easily get for a fair price. Back in the 1980s, this figure was legendary for having most likely not been sold on US soil. A tri-logo Return of the Jedi version was sold in Europe. A Power of the Force carded version with a coin (with French and English on the packaging) was sold in Canada. I have heard some people say they saw Yak Faces in Kay-Bee stores in the Pacific Northwest as they were being closed out, but I don't know if this was substantiated or not - point is, if you were an American fan you probably didn't have one of these in the 1980s. I got mine in 1990. Kenner (and much later Hasbro) would go on to make new versions, with an orange coat version from Kenner in 1997 and a super-articulated version from Hasbro came out in 2019 (and reissued in 2023.) They're all very good and slightly different, but none of them were the (fake) real deal.

Before I continue, I should point out that "customizers" (bootleggers) have also made reproduction Yak Face figures. I don't have any of those, so I can't speak to how they're unique. But I can tell you that if you never got an original, $72.99 for Yak Face and five other figures is a deal. I hope Hasbro does more sets just like this, with one ultra-rare figure mixed in with other reissues, for an average of $12.17 per figure. (Confidential to Hasbro: if you can sell these figures at more places than Shop Disney, they will sell. Shop Disney is not the preferred destination of Generation X and Elder Millennial Star Wars fanatics who would buy Kenner toys for themselves.)

His accessory is a staff that has a little give to it and feels incredibly close to a vintage sample. Tri-Logo Yak Face figures usually had no weapon, although I have seen a few packaged with a Tusken's Gaffi stick. Coin carded Power of the Force ones came with this staff - except it was slightly shorter, and darker in color. The 2023 one is a lighter gray, so it'll be easy to tell a fake one from a real one if they're both in the same room.

As to the figure, it's incredibly close to replicating the original. I would say the new one is close enough for those who don't have the budget for the real deal. Putting them side-by-side, I immediately noticed the 2023 figure has blue sleeves and pants that are darker and more saturated than the original. The figure's painted skin is almost identical to the original, but the molded plastic head is slightly paler. The hair around the neck is a little different, as are the boots - but they're close. The skin of the 1985 figure head is a little glossier and slightly more opaque, arguably making it a barely superior option if money is no object.

The sculpts are a little botoxed in 2023, but not entirely. The neck hair is a little washed out, but the bumps on the hands are seemingly just as good - if not better - than the original figure. The wrinkles on the outfit are virtually the same, just a little more rounded, and the head's many bumps, wrinkles, and hair show slight signs of generation loss. It looks like they made a copy off an original figure, but for all I know it was a not-as-good-as-it-could-be digital scan. I know which one is which in front of me thanks to thinks like copyright and a couple of paint dings, but I'm quite impressed how similar they look. If anything, the richer blue on the 2023 version almost makes me think that should be the original.

The other figures in this set are all good, but let's be honest - you could have bought Wicket, a Gamorrean Guard, an Emperor's Royal Guard, or Admiral Ackbar by now if you really wanted one. They were cheap for years. It is very unlikely that Yak Face has ever been anything close to "affordable" for American collectors, even adjusting for inflation this 2023 set is cheaper than buying all six carded around 1990. While it's not a perfect recreation, it's the best alien in the entire set - it's so close and there's nothing like the Gamorrean's eyes or Wicket's nose that stands out as being "off." I hope all the teens and young adults who couldn't afford a Yak Face at secondary market prices in the 1990s find out this one exists so they can get it. This is a big dang deal, and Hasbro has a few more they could make to really ignite the old fans again like double-telescoping lightsaber Luke, Darth Vader, or Obi-Wan, a vinyl cape Jawa (although Stan Solo has cheap ones now), the blue Sears Snaggletooth, or Vlix. Just throwing that last one out there.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Hasbro Pulse, who seem to have sold out days after shipping. Check ShopDisney for availability but they also seem to be out.

Extended ramblings: It's my hope this line continues until Hasbro remakes the entire original Kenner line. All of it. I really appreciate having low-cost close-enough versions of these figures I can just pick up and play with, without the concern of "this is worth a lot of money and is old and rare." I've never know Yak Face to be anything other than a holy grail figure - everybody else, I got for $25 or less. In most cases, $10 or less. A lot less. I've been enjoying just picking up a "rare figure" and putting him in random vehicles and having him in my pocket, changing the context of this particular action figure from "holy grail" to "something new that might actually wind up on clearance some day." If I could, I'd buy literally every Kenner action figure, vehicles, and playset in this style just to experience them again as worthless toys. As a kid I got to play with about 40ish figures just after the line just ended and it was flea markets or bust. Getting to hold a "rare figure" like it's worthless is quite a joyful moment. Anyone that wants it can just get it. It would be wonderful to see Hasbro continue with Stormtrooper Luke, Amanaman, EV-9D9, and so on. The originals can still be valuable pieces of desirable toy history, but having more easily available reproduction 1970s and 1980s figures that people can just play with in the sandbox and beat up again - maybe even with their kids or grandkids - would be truly priceless.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,114: March 7, 2024

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,557: Saelt-Marae (Yak Face, The Vintage Collection)

SAELT-MARAE Yak Face With Joints
The Vintage Collection Action Figures
Item No.: Asst. E0370  No. E4053
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #132
Includes: Staff, cloth robes
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $12.99
Availability: January 2019
Appearances: Return of the Jedi

Bio: Saelt-Marae was a Yarkora who worked for Jabba Desilijic Tiure, a powerful Hutt crime lord. Posing as a humble merchant, the Yarkora mingled with the various denizens of Jabba's fortress on Tatooine, learning of the intrigues developing behind the Hutt's back and revealing those to his employer. (Stolen from Wookieepedia.  Packaging has no bio.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

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

Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Commentary:  I'm old.   I'm old enough to remember when finding out people were spending $60 for a Yak Face was obscenely expensive - and old enough to remember when, in 1997, Kenner made a new one and called it Saelt-Marae that it seemed silly.   A recognizable but largely obscure alien, this figure's main claim to fame is being a vexing goal for a collector in the pre-internet world.  You could get one by mail, maybe, or at an antique show.  It was unlikely you would see one in person - nobody really took Star Wars seriously as a "Collectible" until around 1990.  A few weirdoes would trade and buy stuff because they loved it - and indeed, I was one of those weirdoes that remembers tracking this stuff down in Toy Shop magazine, or at garage sales, or the occasional antique show or toy swap meet.   It's for this reason that I get a perverse pleasure from taking a Return of the Jedi-carded figure and ripping it off the cardback.  It's not an opportunity I expected to get.

Yak Face 2018 takes design cues for the movie and the original 1980s Kenner figure, largely ignoring the color decisions and some of the proportions of the 1997 figure.   The figure's coloring more closely matches the original, with a skiff staff that's the same basic model that you saw in the 1984 Nikto and Barada figures.  (Some European Yak Face figures had gaffi sticks, or no weapon at all.  It's true!)  The figure retains the hairy collar and fuzzy shirt, with blue sleeves and matching pants.  His skin has a lot more color, with a nose that has a bit of a shine on it.  Hasbro clearly decided to put more value in this one, with more paint applications on the furry parts and claws to make it better than previous releases.  The cloth robe takes some getting used to, but I like it.  I also like the wispy facial hair, black eyes, and abundant articulation.

The previous two figures had 5 and 6 joints - not a lot.   This one has a whopping 29 points of articulation, with two joints on the neck, bend-and-swivel wrists and what may well be the finest hip joints we've seen out of Hasbro in ages.  It would be conceited to say Hasbro must be reading our reviews... but it wouldn't surprise me.  You can enjoy lateral hip movement, knee joints, ankle joints, and largely unrestricted hips allowing this figure to sit at a proper 1980s vintage right angle. 

Part fancy lad or bizarre British lord caricature with a healthy dash of Joe Camel, the figure exists purely to please a certain kind of fan.  You might be getting one with your Sail Barge this year, if not you can get this version. I assume this is the more common version - but we'll have to wait and see.   I don't assume Hasbro will ever be able to give us a better Yak Face in my lifetime, unless of course we get a 6-inch figure, and I'm surely hoping that they do.  Even if you have to play a slight premium, Yak Face is worth it.   It's rare that we get remakes from the original trilogy these days, and this is one of few characters that has not had an update since the 1990s The Power of the Force days.  I don't have anything snarky to say here.  More please, Hasbro.  We missed you.

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,557: February 5, 2019

Figure of the Day: Day 328: Saelt-Marae (Yak Face)

SAELT-MARAE Yak Face
Power of the Force Collection 2
Item No.: Asst. 69605 No. 69721
Number: n/a
Includes: Staff, some have a Freeze Frame
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $4.99
Availability: September 1997- Early 1999
Appearances: Return of the Jedi

Bio: One of Jabba the Hutt's top agents, very little is known about the mysterious Saelt-Marae or his specific connection to the crime lord. He could often be found hanging out in Jabba's desert palace. (Taken from the figure's Freeze Frame cardback from 1998.)

Image: Adam Pawlus' toy shelves.

Commentary: Within the first three years of the modern Star Wars line, Kenner remade virtually the entire vintage line in those early days, including obscure aliens like Saelt-Marae, better known to you and me as Yak Face. He's been described as a Muppet, as Joe Camel, and as a part of the male anatomy. No matter how you see him, he's a very tall figure with six points of articulation, very good (for its time) decoration, and a vague similarity to the vintage figure. This new version has a bright orange coat, a nice big staff, colorful pants, and big white whiskers. With big hands that can grip the included accessory, this figure does basically everything you'd want it to do-- as in, stand in a diorama and look pretty. He can't sit in any vehicles, but he's sure to make any display just a little bit more visually exciting.

There have been no rumors of a rerelease and next to no fan requests for a reissue or a resculpt, which is a little unusual as new collectors often express a strong desire for older figures to be made widely available once more. It's possible that Revenge of the Sith has shifted the focus of many newcomers away from what a lot of fans loved a decade ago-- seedy aliens, worn-out droids, and various Imperials-- to more of a focus on Clone Troopers and Jedi Knights. As such, I have no expectations that this figure will see another release in the near future.

Collector's Notes: There weren't a lot of variants on this one-- he could come with a Freeze Frame, or not. As such, this figure has been rather unremarkable in the modern line unlike the basically legendary vintage figure made of Yak Face. This figure was a brisk seller in the markets I had the ability to monitor, outselling a number of figures that he shipped with like EV-9D9. Today, there is absolutely no problem getting this figure for its original price, or for even less if you're lucky that day.

Day 328: March 30, 2007