by Jeff Smentek
Introduction
Medicom, a Japanese toy company, has produced some of the coolest Star Wars products to hit the collecting market in the past few years. Kubrick figures are small-scaled block-style figures that are larger than LEGO figures, but smaller than the normal 3.75" Hasbro figures. Medicom’s Star Wars Kubricks have been increasing in popularity with each new series since JediDefender first reported about them early in 2003.
The Series 7 regular figures include a Biker Scout, Emperor’s Royal Guard, the Spirit of Anakin Skywalker, Princess Leia in Boushh Disguise, Skiff Guard Lando Calrissian, and Gamorrean Guard. The Series 7 chase figures are a Blue Senate Guard, Yakface, and Old Anakin Skywalker. Series 7 was released in November 2006, and the following is a look at each respective piece included therein.
The Figures
Emperor’s Royal Guard
The first figure in Series 7 is the Emperor’s Royal Guard. One of the few remaining Imperial Troops to be made, many fans were very pleased with the opportunity to flank their Series 4 Emperors with a few of these bad boys. The Royal Guard includes his force pike, so he’s free to go about jabbing all those pesky Imperial Dignitaries who get out of line.
Scout Trooper
Another long requested Imperial Trooper to appear in Series 7 is the Scout Trooper, also known as a Biker Scout. The version included in Series 7 is a “clean” variant so he’s not easily confused with the Scout Trooper included in the Medicom Imperial Speeder Bike box set from 2006. As always, fantastic detailing on both the helmet and the armor. This guy is sure to be a hit with the Kubrick army builders out there. The Scout Trooper includes his blaster pistol and a nifty working ankle holster.
Spirit of Anakin Skywalker
With the Imperials out of the way, we move on to the lone Jedi in Series 7. OK, he’s not much of a Jedi as he’s just the Spirit of Anakin Skywalker. Still, he’s a great looking ghost and makes a nice pair with the Spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi (pictured above) from the 2004 Toys R Us box set. Now we just need a Spirit of Yoda to go with them.
Princess Leia in Boushh Disguise
On to Jabba’s Palace, the real star of the show here. Series 7 features 4 figures from Jabba’s Palace and it’s great to finally get a few more additions to the slug’s court. First up is the notorious Bounty Hunter Boushh… or is that just Princess Leia in disguise? I’ve been waiting for this figure ever since we got our Carbonite Block way back in Series 3. Boushh Leia includes a force pike, the Boushh Helmet, and a hair-piece for Leia allowing you to display either Boushh or Leia (come on, you know you want to display both).
Skiff Guard Lando Calrissian
Another figure from Jabba’s Palace, Lando makes his second appearance in the Kubrick line. Skiff Lando includes a force pike and his helmet. A little disappointing that he did not come with the extra hair-piece the way Leia did, so you are stuck posing him with his Skiff helmet unless you can track down a Series 3 Lando to scalp. Still, it’s nice to add Lando to the collection… now we just need some alien skiff guards to go with him.
Gamorrean Guard
The third Jabba’s Palace figure in Series 7 is the Gamorrean Guard. While some have criticized him for not being “kubricky” enough, he’s still a great looking figure. The detailing in the chestplate armor is amazing and is yet another example of how much effort Medicom puts into these figures. The pig comes with his trusty axe to assist him in protecting the Palace.
Blue Senate Guard
Our first chase figure from Series 7 is a Blue Senate Guard. Yes, folks it’s the first bona-fide Prequel Kubrick figure. I guess that means that Medicom does have the right to do prequel figures... or at least they can get rights when they need them. Of course, this opens up a huge can of worms and a fun debate on whether or not we need Prequel Kubricks, but I’ll save that for another day. A goofy choice for a chase figure, but still a nice figure. The Blue Guard comes with a rifle and can be found randomly packed inside the Emperor’s Royal Guard box.
Yakface
The second chase figure from Series 7, our fourth from Jabba’s Palace, is another Medicom nod to the classic line of Kenner vintage action figures. Sure, he’s styled closer to his movie appearance (and therefore the PotF2 version of Yak) and not the Kenner version, but he’s still a great chase figure. Yakface comes with a staff and can be found randomly packed inside the Gamorrean Guard box.
Old Anakin Skywalker
Our final chase figure from Series 7 is the non-ghost, “old guy” version of Anakin Skywalker. Yeah... I’m not sure why either. Medicom usually hits the ball out of the park with the chase figures and this one is sort of, well, goofy. Yeah, it’s another nod to the Kenner vintage line, but with the Spirit figure already included in this series the “old guy” variant seems a little redundant. Still, he’s a nice figure for what he is. Old Guy Anakin can be found randomly, as you would have guessed, packed inside the Spirit of Anakin Skywalker box.
Case Ratios
Each Series 7 Master Case is composed of 4 boxes of 12 figures (48 figures total per Master Case). Here's a recap of the pack ratios in each box of 12:
4x Emperor’s Royal Guard
3x Scout Trooper
2x Spirit of Anakin Skywalker
1x Princess Leia in Boushh Disguise
1x Skiff Guard Lando Calrissian
1x Gamorrean Guard
Each Series 7 Master Case contained 2x Blue Senate Guard chase figures and either 1x Yakface or 1x Old Anakin Skywalker chase figures. Yakface and Old Anakin Skywalker were split evenly across the Master Cases produced (50/50).
The overall ratio of each figure is as follows:
4:12 Emperor’s Royal Guard
3:12 Scout Trooper
2:12 Spirit of Anakin Skywalker
1:12 Princess Leia in Boushh Disguise
1:12 Skiff Guard Lando Calrissian
1:12 Gamorrean Guard
2:48 Blue Senate Guard
1:96 Yakface
1:96 Old Anakin Skywalker
Availability
A full set of 9 seem to be going for between $290 and $330 right now on eBay. Kubrick figures are not cheap by any means, especially if you intend to stay complete with the rarer "chase" and carded figures. To make matters more difficult, they are not available at U.S. retail. Sealed boxes of 12 can be obtained at some U.S. e-tail stores, like JediDefender sponsors BigBadToyStore. eBay or the JediDefender trade forums are two other good options for tracking down Kubrick figures. Expect to pay less for regular release figures, up to $30 for the Blue Senate Guard, and around $75-$125 each for Yakface and Old Anakin Skywalker.
The Future
Star Wars Series 8? No official announcement as of this feature, but there are plenty of things to look forward to buying. In Spring 2007, expect to see a brand new 5-pack box set (pictured above) which includes Dagobah Luke & Yoda, a Snowtrooper, B-Wing Pilot, 2-1B, and a Droids-inspired C-3PO! Even beyond the new box set, the future of Star Wars Kubricks looks bright!
