Author Topic: Zuckuss  (Read 15154 times)

Offline Scott

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Zuckuss
« on: November 18, 2010, 08:15 PM »
Source Images:





Data

Vintage




Modern


Offline EpicGon

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Re: Zuckuss
« Reply #1 on: November 18, 2010, 11:33 PM »
When I was a kid and opened my vintage 4-Lom (Zuckuss) I remembered after putting off his coat and backpack, that his clothes looked someway Tusken for me. Even very similar color to the beige / creme of sand people outfit.
His shirt and pants resembled beduin style, kinda for the desert. Now the tlc version shows a complex armor over his pants, like the shinguards.

As the figure was naive, the paintjob added detail with the nose / mouth piece of the mask in brown, then tlc matched it silver for movie accuracy.

I took a  peek at my vintage ESB novelization, by Donald F. Glut. He narrates in the scene of the bounty hunters before Vader at the Avengerīs bridge that beside Bossk, there were two humans covered by scars, Dengar and Zuckuss.

This is the first evidence we had about the nature of Zuckuss; that he wasnīt  4-Lom droid

I donīt follow this extract as canon, neither early draft, perhaps was part of the freedom of the writer to depict the scene.

Offline Scott

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Re: Zuckuss
« Reply #2 on: November 18, 2010, 11:53 PM »
I really think the Legacy Zuckuss is too dark across the board, just looking at the pics above and the movie stills...that said, he's a good figure.  He was also part of the greatest action figure wave of all time :)

Offline Jesse James

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Re: Zuckuss
« Reply #3 on: November 19, 2010, 12:02 AM »
I never owned Zuckuss/4-LOM as a kid, so I don't have much of any fond or negative memories of him...  What I do like about him, once I got him as a teenager and I picked up Star Wars as a hobby, was the complexity.  Compared to other vintage figures, he was a notch above most others.  He had a spiffy pleather coat, the rifle of doom (the gun really was bitchin'.  Like a sawed off space shotgun), and of course the webbing/backpack.  

It really was a nice figure for the time.  The insect-thing about him kind of probably wouldn't have been so cool to me I guess though.  I wasn't into bugs much.  Pretty cool regardless though, and the head had some nice paint details to attempt to spiff up a fairly decent sculpt a bit.  Not all vintage figures were so well treated.

Flash forward...  The POTF2 figure, at the time, was kind of revolutionary.  The paintjob was really used to highlight the sculpt of the fabric the coat was made out of...  if that makes any sense.  It is one of the earlier figures I can think of that a "wash" of some kind was used to bring a more realistic highlight to a figure's sculpt.  It looked pretty great.

Also Hasbro took the time to give him that creepy armor underneath, as an homage to his EU-ish background I guess?  I wonder what was underneath the actual costume's trenchcoat?  Assuming he had something on under that, I'd guess it's probably the only "canon" detail under there.

Flash forward, again...  And the Legacy Collection's sculpt is phenomenal.  The articulation is superb.  Hasbro added softgoods, but not completely.  They opted instead to go for the "Softgoods skirt" rather than a full coat, and honestly that's probably my only critique of the figure.

I actually would've preferred a full softgoods trenchcoat, with a removable webbing deal, and then have the freakish sculpted armor under there.  Especially because, for some reason, the softgoods skirt flares out at the sides for no real reason.  It's fixable, but it's odd looking right out of the package.

That said, I love the articulation.  Bounty Hunters, though they didn't do jack in the movies, should really be treated as army builders, Jedi, etc.  Action should be their focus above all others, so the poseability plays a big role I think.

Likewise, the sculpt is really quite fantastic.  It gives off the "squat" look this guy had, and there's a ton of detail in his sculpt to enjoy when you're examining him on your shelf.  Paint aps were really well done on him as well.  Lots of washes, lots of light browns contrasting the dark browns, silver and other metallic highlights applied nicely.  When you look him over too, he's really got that grimey look he had in the films.  Like out of all Bounty Hunters, this is the guy you don't want stuck in the elevator with.  

I'd still rebuy this guy though, if Hasbro ever went down the path of a full removable softgoods coat and web harness.  Maybe they could even rock the pleathery coat for him?

I didn't buy the vintage deco version of "Zuckuss & 4-LOM" either.  It's neat, but it really doesn't fit in with the modern figures to me.  I prefer the thought of the Blue Snaggletooth, or something that's physically different I guess, beyond paint.  Like, if they really want to do a vintage Zuckuss (4-LOM), I'm more into the thought of a removable coat, rather than a plain tan paintjob.
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Offline Matt_Fury

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Re: Zuckuss
« Reply #4 on: November 19, 2010, 12:42 AM »
I got 4-LOM as a mail-a-way figure as a kid.  I always had him as a cool alien bad-guy who the alliance had to fight after Bib Fortuna made a deal with the Imperial remnant and 4-LOM was always good at breaking into the Alliance base.  (I had to come up with some scenario that had even armies).

I think the C-V homage to the "error" firgure is a good representation of the vintage figure while the TLC version is a good representation of the movie character.  The only thing I would change is the trechcoat like Jesse said.
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Offline Scockery

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Re: Zuckuss
« Reply #5 on: November 19, 2010, 03:39 PM »
I still say he's 4-LOM, he was a like a rap star....Andre 3000.  ;)

I like vintage best of all version still. Yeah, the removable gear. POTF2 is auto fail since he can't sit (unless you find a way to get the coat off.)

And the current version, I think they over corrected and made him a tad short.  Or is that the droid 4-LOM I'm thinking of? Damn Kenner, Dengar was too short, the names were reversed on two, IG-88 was too short, Fett was the wrongs colors....way to screw up characters that appeared for like under 2 minutes and barely moved.

Offline CloneF13Y35

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Re: Zuckuss
« Reply #6 on: November 19, 2010, 07:38 PM »
I still have my original vintage Zuckess, havne't gotten the new one yet, though he's on my wish list. I like how he looked with the pleather cloak and bug head.
THe new figure is awesome IMHO and can't wait to get him.
I enjoyed what i read in the three part paperback series Bounty Hunters Wars; his mystic 'Findsman' ways as described are pretty cool.
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: Zuckuss
« Reply #7 on: November 20, 2010, 02:55 AM »
Zuckuss is a pretty diminutive guy/bug...  I'm pleased with the height, actually.
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Offline CloneF13Y35

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Re: Zuckuss
« Reply #8 on: January 9, 2011, 11:22 AM »
Well I finally got my Zuckess and Dengar as presents to myself.
I really Zuck a lot, the detailing and articulation are great. he's pretty much what I wanted/expected. I really like the detail of connecting the hoses from his mask to a pack on his back. His funky looking gun is cool too, kinda like a futuristic sawed-off shotgun in how he holds it (keep the clear band for it though). His outfit is a good combo of plastic and softgoods, though mine had his cloak held open in the package so it's flared open. But no biggie. I like how my original vintage one has what looks like Tusken Raider style pants on and here he's got detailed pants with armored boots, nice touch. Very cool figure I'm glad to have in my collection.
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Offline Scockery

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Re: Zuckuss
« Reply #9 on: January 15, 2011, 12:34 PM »

I really Zuck a lot,...

Thanks for sharing.  :D