Hasbro Star Wars Saga; Dengar (Executor Meeting) Review

Dengar was one of the elite bounty hunters hired by Darth Vader to capture the Millennium Falcon and her crew. The grizzled hunter Dengar was called "Payback" because personal vendettas fueled much of his career. He was once a daring swoop racer until a competitive rival, Han Solo, ended his career when their swoops crashed. Although Dengar was to blame for the accident, he held Solo responsible and leaped at the chance for revenge. - from the package blurb

In 2002, the same year in which the Star Wars series celebrated its Silver Anniversary and Lucasfilm released Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Pawtucket, Rhode Island based Hasbro Toys closed its two-year-old Power of the Jedi line and replaced it with a similar "catch-all" collection known simply as Star Wars  or, as some collectors' websites dub it, the Star Wars "Saga" line.

 Naturally, the emphasis of the first "wave" of action figures and other toys in the 2002-2004 collection was on the then-new second prequel, but even so, the Saga line followed the same "unifying Force" theme of its Power of the Jedi precursor and included many characters and vehicles from both of George Lucas's space-fantasy trilogies set "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away."

 By 2004, nearly at the end of the Saga line, Hasbro released a series of three action figures in a subset known as Wave 5: Star Destroyer.  This mini-wave featured three characters from Star Wars - Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back:  Admiral Ozzel, Dengar (Executor Meeting), and Bossk (Executor Meeting).

Dengar (Executor Meeting:

Although both Kenner Toys and its succesor Hasbro had produced at least two versions of the vindictive swoop racer-turned-assasin in 1981 and 1997, I have only owned the former, so any figure-to-figure comparison relates to the 1980 and 2004 versions.

As is often the case with "remakes" or "reissues" of Star Wars action figures, there are similarities and differences between the first Dengar action figure from 1981 and this Star Wars Saga offering from 2004.

At first glance, both action figures bear a strong superficial resemblance in that they have the same basic design.  The bounty hunter - who is seen briefly in one scene in Empire - wears combat gear which combines fabric-derived trousers, spacer's shirt and jacket with other gizmos and accessories, including boots, body armor and ammo belts/pouches.  Dengar's head is wrapped in a white bandage, presumably to hide the scars from the mind-altering operations performed by Imperial surgeons to transform him into a ruthless killer.

The other common element to both action figures is Dengar's blaster rifle, which looks like a modified (but ultra cool) prop of a German MG-42 machine gun from a World War II movie.  This same kind of heavy blaster rifle can be seen in Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope as part of the Imperial stormtroopers' arsenal.

Because the 1981 Dengar action figure was particularly detailed, it was a tough act to follow.  It was only the advent of computer-assisted design and manufacturing methods in the toy industry that made it possible for Hasbro to come up with a new and improved version of the Dengar action figure.

As is par for the course with reissues, the sculpt and paint jobs make the action figure of "Payback" a bit more authentic-looking.  The colors of the "clothes" look a bit more washed out and weathered, and the body armor elements don't have the pristine, just-out-of-the-factory look that is common (or was) to mint-condition action figures from the Kenner Toys collections.

Articulation, too, is much improved.  Where the 1981 action figure only has the basic head/neck, shoulders and hip joints (thus limiting posing possibilities), the 2004 version of the Dengar action figure has additional articulation points at the elbows and knees, which allows both collectors and kids to pose the action figure a tad more naturally.

• Weapons and Accessories:
• Blaster Rifle
• Display Base

In addition to the pre-requisite blaster rifle (which features a shoulder sling so Dengar doesn't have to be always gripping it in his gun hand), Hasbro included a black plastic display base with a footpeg that "mates" with one of the holes on the bottom of the figure's booted feet. Adorned only with the famous Star Wars  logo, it is essentially a  merely functional accessory, albeit a helpful one; for some reason, Hasbro's post-1996 action figures aren't compatible with Kenner's 1977-1985 display stands, and many, many figures before 2004 lack easy-to-find centers of gravity and topple over easily if taken out of their packages for play or display purposes.

Should I buy this for my kids?

While Hasbro recommends this Star Wars Saga action figure of Dengar the bounty hunter,  for children 4 and up, I'd say most buyers of this collectible would be more serious collectors over the age of 12.

Although Star Wars action figures are pretty durable, they do have small parts that can come loose and be easily lost or, in the case of toddlers, pose very real choking hazards. These are really meant to be displayed rather than played with.