Friday, June 11, 2010

"The Little Differences" - Jan Ors

The Star Wars Comic packs were once a thriving SKU that offered some obscure characters from the plethora of Expanded Universe lore. Now on limited convention life support, many of the most wanted EU characters are now stuck in the plastic limbo zone. Starting out at a $10 retail, they slowly creped up in price not making this SKU as attractive as it once was. Most fans did not gripe but the real problem that contributed to the lines mass retail demise was a very poor choice of characters included in some of these sets. Some craptacular mentions include:

- Not one, but two Mandolorians in florescent green armor.
- Grand Moff Tarkin in a green uniform with yellow stripes. (What's with green?)
- Commtech era Stormtrooper with some blue graffiti sprayed all over him for a cotton candy look.
- Another Blackhole Stormtroooper (Like, that's so 2007!)
- Several terrible Wal-Mart exclusive packs with real bottom of the barrel D-listers.
- Ki-Adi-Mundi in a very 70's era McDonald's character costume. Did you forget what they look like? Let me help jog your memories........


You get the drift. Some comic packs were borderline lousy, one pack that comes to mind featured two characters from the superb Purge story arc - Butlar Swan & Koffi Arana. While it was not the worst set released in the series, the figures themselves did not look very Star Wars. They looked more like some leftover 90's Rob Liefield designs (minus the early age and overdone wrinkles on the face). While true to their comic appearances, at the end of the day it was Mr.T in milky red armor and Titan AE's Akima sporting 1997 style POTF2 legs posed in a "peeing in the woods" squatting stance.


I personally did not get rid of these two figures from my collection, I also did not display them proudly either! They joined the fine ranks of the Lucas Family, Pepper Shaker Padmes & the Sucky Senators as a great base foundation in my figure storage bins. When the very well done Kyle Katarn/Vong pack came out he was missing something, more like somebody - Jan Ors!


As I rummaged through my figure bin I came across that Purge Butlar Swan figure and instantly had an idea to convert her to Jan Ors. While it's not the perfect Jan Ors, it really does resemble the character enough and looks great next to the new Kyle! Take a look at the mod:



If anything it's a great way to use this useless figure until a real Jan Ors gets made (if ever). This quick mod requires no paint or tools, just parts. It also covers some of the flaws too!

Formula Fun:

- 30th TAC Butler Swan from Comic pack
- Legacy Sandstorm Luke Goggles
- Legacy Pruneface Cloak/Commlink
- Blaster/Belt from Endor Luke

As you can see the "Little Differences" can make a big difference to your figures! Until next time!







1 comment:

  1. Until the late 80s, I was petrified of the Hamburglar! I would sit in quiet terror whilst eating my McNuggets, nervously scanning the room for suspicious activity...

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