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Ah, another figure collectors have dreamt of for
years. Hermi Odle, the big hulking lug from the back of
Jabba's palace. I remember Hermi as being something that
was asked for back in the Beast collection days. I think a
lot of collectors always thought it would take something special
to bring this character to figure life. I have to say
I was a bit shocked to see Mr. Odle turning up as a standard
carded figure. Little trivia for some of
you folks out there. This actually isnt the first time Mr.
Odle has turned up in plastic form. He was part of the
Jabba's Palace model kit. I have to say things have
improved quite a bit for Hermi.
Appearance:
Hermi always reminded me a bit of a Muppet, something like
Sweetums. His robes defining his shape more than anything
else. That said, the soft goods on this figure may be some
of my favorite ever.
There are a couple of reasons. One, there's more than one
piece, the brown cape piece covering his back and his green
scarf-wrap thing. So not only two pieces, but two
colors as well. Great job on this one!
The second thing about the soft goods is the weathering.
These aren't straight from the bolt of cloth cut pieces. The
edges are tattered, they are wrinkled and appear very worn.
I was really impressed with the little cut at the top of the ridge
of his back. It's a logical place to see it and just really
adds to the look.
Poking out from the soft goods are a couple of great arms and
feet. The big left hand is stretched out and looks
cool. The colors on the wrist pieces match the soft goods
well enough. The long feet remind me of a a first grader
pulling snow boots off with wet socks.
I have to say the tongue and ears are my favorite parts of this
figure. The ears are so small they almost look cute.
The tongue is sculpted half out of the mouth, as most of the
reference photos show Hermi. Mr. Odle's head has that
droopy eyed sad look that he should.
Time for a bit of a nit. I really wish Hasbro would
develop a paint scheme or method to convey slime or goo or
wetness. Hermi's tongue is a great example where this is
needed. They way it's painted looks flat and painted on, it
should glisten slightly. For that matter I think his whole
body looks a bit flat.
Fun:
Figures like this are always fun to open because you never know
what's waiting underneath for you. In this case there are
some pretty cool details. He actually reminds me quite a bit
of "El Gigante" from Resident Evil 4. I was surprised to
find him more of a muscle type character under there. I
figured on a big lump with little detail.
Due to his size, I was really expecting minimal articulation
with this guy. Again another surprise. Articulated
ankles? These let me adjust his center of gravity a bit to
get him to stand better. However, the ball jointed
shoulders were clearly a plus. with his shoulders and
cut wrists, he has way more posability than I expected for a
background character. You know, If they made a Rancor
with this same articulation, it would rock.
Of course you can't talk about articulation without mentioning
his mouth. Yes, Mr. Odle has a moving mouth. They even
went the extra mile and added some paint ops to the roof of his
mouth.
Of course, Hermi comes with the required coin for this year.
This one has Jabba's tattoo logo on the back. He also comes
with one of those long vibro axe thingees that are popular among
Jabba's thugs.
Overall:
This has been an up and down year for me as far
as SW figs go. There have a been a couple of standouts (CZ-4),
and a lot of figures that came close but didn't quite get it
right. However, Hermi Odle turns up on the positive side of
the scale. Like CZ-4, it seems like Hasbro wanted to do
right by all the fans that had long wanted him and not just put a
big lump of plastic in a blister with Hermi's name on it.
Well done, and well executed, Hasbro.
Now, how did I make it through all that without
an Oodles of Noodles joke?
Engineernerd Score: 90/100
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