21 replies to this topic

[Tortle]

Recently, I've become bored with Hasbro's Star Wars line. I've loved avidly collecting the line for years, but there is only so much that you can do with it. Most of the new figures just seem like they've been done a million times before. Bespin Darth Vader? Ho hum. There have been DOZENS of Vaders. Pilot Padme? Boring. Sure, the figure has some great articulation and looks alot like the actor... but is it conceptually all that different from other Star Wars figures like Leia Boushh? Not really.

When a line gets as huge as Star Wars (something like 400 figures) it's inevitable that things will get a bit repetitious and, dare I say, stale. I had pretty much given up on Star Wars... that is, before Ephant Mon came along! This figure is a home-run for Hasbro, who I feel really needed a resounding success to keep people interested. Let's break it down (on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the best):

Sculpt/Paint: 5 Fantastic! Hasbro really pulled out all the stops for this one, with excellent detail in Ephant's grotesque visage. The folds and the rough edges of the robe really look great. The paint really adds a wonderful texture to the figure. The paint seemed pretty well applied on all the Ephant Mons I saw in the store, with no real major screw-ups.

Articulation: 4 The articulation is pretty much as good as you can get with a character as abstract as this. There are seven points of real articulation (shoulders, wrists, hips, and jaw). I would have liked to be able to pose it a bit more, like maybe with some elbow joints, but that's kind of nit picking. The jaw articulation really makes the figure fun! And speaking of which...

Fun Factor: 4 Ephant comes with a cane that can double as a vibro blade! Oh one more thing... the figure is HUGE!!! You'll be surprised that the figure only costs $5! But for a perfect score, I would have liked some kind of action feature, or sounds, or something to really make the figure fun to play with. As it is, it looks great as a part of a Jabba's Palace diorama, but you won't spend too much time goofing around with it.

Coolness: 5 Ehpant Mon has been one of my favorite background aliens for a long time, and this figure really does the cool ugliness of Ephont justice! Move over, Amanaman, here comes Ephont Mon!

Overall: 4.5 out of 5 This is one of the few times that I feel like I've gotten my money's worth out of a Star Wars figure! Does the greatness of this figure get me back into Star Wars collecting? Not really... but if Hasbro keeps this up, maybe they can get my interest back!

EDIT (9/25/03): You know, many times a toy seems really cool at first, but loses that coolness quite quickly, leaving me to ask myself, "Why the hell did I buy this?" I've decided to add another factor to my older reviews to reflect this...
Staying Power: 4 out of 5 After many months, Ephant Mon is still an interesting display piece at my work desk. This guy's a keeper for my permanent toy collection.
Adjusted Overall: 4.4 out of 5

-Nathan

Edited by Tortle, 25 September 2003 - 12:04 PM.

[Tortle]

Here's a pic of Ephant Mon from ArtoosNews.com (as I was too lazy to bother with taking pictures myself):

Ephant Mon Pic

[arforbes]

Wow, that's really cool-looking! Odd-looking too! I've got to get myself to a toy store again soon.

[Wraith]

wow! this may be the only star wars toy that i will ever buy. i have never liked luke, heros just piss me off, i don't know why but luke seems like a dork. leia? (spl) i could care less. vader? not hanks, vader is stupid. but this guy, he looks weird and he looks intelligent, i think i would have him be king of my muscles. maybe even GOD of the muscles.

[Ridureyu]

Very, very nice! Looks like YOUR personal Amanaman, eh?

[Tortle]

Very, very nice! Looks like YOUR personal Amanaman, eh?

Well, I've always loved Amanaman... the vintage figure rocked, but the new one is lacking something. Maybe it's that the figure is just too small and it doesn't come with enough accessories to be considered a deluxe figure. I'm not sure... but Ephant Mon is definitely cooler than the new Amanaman, and one of my favorite modern figures.

And Veers, I definitely think this is one to buy an extra to keep in the package. The figure looks incredible on the card because it's so huge! But as a side note, it's so big that I'm not sure it will fit in a Star Case, so you might be out of luck if you try to use one.

-Nathan

[musclemenkids]

i seen him in toysRus and wiz goin to buy him but he's really heavy, don't you think? i didnt want to be carrying him all over town, i'm dead lazy when it comes to shopping. he is kewl though, great deatal, big bad Mofo!

[humancalculator]

I noticed the same thing you did about Emphant Mon (I didn't find him today at KB). He looks huge, but he's new. I found Ki-Adi Mundi today at KB and Toys R Us, but there was only like one of him, and I heard he's rare because the guy at KB said he never saw him before. I have figures: #'s 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 31, and 44. Is that good?

[humancalculator]

I guess Ki Adi Mundi isn't then, but sometimes only one comes in a box, and there's only one in all the toys on the wall at whatever store your buying your Star Wars toys from, and that was the case for me getting Yoda or R2D2, and Ki-Adid Mundi followed in their footsteps. So, I thought he was rare in that fashion as well. Anyhoo, since I couldn't find Enphant Mon, he must be rare, and a rave for collectors like Tortle, or me because I seek out the rare ones to get first. Enphant Mon looks good too. If you go to conventions people sell the old Star Wars figures in mint condition in plastic cases for $40, or so. I can't remember what was the hot or rare figure people used to drool for back then, but I know now that the last one people went insane for was..........the Target exclusives of Mos Eisley Cantina a while back, which had the horned guy, the Devaronian. Maybe we'll see some rare Target Exclusives again or F.A.O. Schwartz exclusives, that contain a figure in the movie that you can't get anywhere.

[Adamantiumwulf]

Maybe I havent payed close enough attention but where is Ephant Mon in the movie?

[Tortle]

I didn't know that Star Wars figures are packed at different ratios.

Web sites like Sirstevesguide.com, Rebelscum.com, and Yakface.com have case ratios every once in a while. I don't really pay all that much attention to them (unless something causes undo alarm, such as a new Chewie figure being packed one per case or something).

By "old" Star Wars figures, do you mean vintage, like pre-1985, or old, like POTF2?

Anyway, you mentioned a "Target exclusives of Mos Eisley Cantina a while back, which had the horned guy, the Devaronian". There have been a couple of Cantina exclusives over the years, but none of them have included the Devaronian. You might be thinking about the Cinema Scene with the Devaronian, Snaggletooth, and Nabrun Leids, but it was never rare, and it wasn't exclusive to a store. I remember picking up one being blown out at KayBee for about $6 back in the day.

-Nathan

[Tortle]

Sorry Tortle I was trying to be INCREDIBLY sarcastic.

Actually, I'm sorry... I should have known that you would know all this stuff. Besides, I did want to "set the record straight", as they say... no offense to you, humancalculator, but it sounds like you're somewhat of a newbie to Star Wars collecting, and it seems that you've heard some misinformation from toy dealer maggots.

Anyway, no Saga figure is rare, not even Ephant Mon. He might be a bit hard to find right now, but that will change eventually when all the shipments come in. In fact, I would say that almost NO toy from the current (post-1995) line is rare, with very few exceptions (like MAYBE Theater Edition Luke Jedi or Jorg Sacul).

So, moral of the story: never trust what a toy dealer says. Remember that his whole purpose is to get you to buy figures for a drastically increased price, so of course he's going to exaggerate things to make that figure seem like it's worth that raping.

And there hasn’t been a rare cantina thing yet (in my opinion).

I would say that the only rare (non-vintage) Cantina toy would be the pop-up Cantina sans Sandtrooper... the one that was available only through coupons that came with Ghost Obi-Wan. But is it really worth anything? Not really...

-Nathan

[Tortle]

Are you sure? I think I got mine at TRU.

Yeah, later on the Pop-up Cantinas were mass produced and packaged with Sandtroopers. But originally, the Cantinas were offered with a special mail-away coupon that came with a few Ghost Obi-Wans. They didn't come in a box or anything like that, but I think they had some special packaging, which may make it seem like a separate collectible to some collectors.

The pop-up playset idea was super-cool as a mail-away premium. As a mass-produced toy, though, they were kind of dumb in my opinion.

As a pointless piece of trivia, other Ghost Obi-Wans came with a $5 off coupon for a vehicle. BFD...

-Nathan

[Kendaman]

Ephant Mon appeared in the background alot and he was gonna have a scene where he fights Ree-Yees but his part has given to Yak-Face and then cut out. In the expanded universe though Mon stays of the barge and goes back to his homeworld and starts a cult ! he also captured Ki-Adi-Mundis daughter and sold her into slavery!

[Kendaman]

off subject but my Muscles gods are my two dogs, with there power to destroy any Muscle with the greatest of ease they must sacrifice lego's to them or else they shall be eaten...

[fuzzbuster]

Back in the 80's, my dog used to eat my M.U.S.C.L.E.s, too. I still have a bunch that I have found all chewed up in my parents' back yard, and every once in a while others are uncovered.
I am pretty sure some of these actually passed through my dog's digestive system, but that is a whole other story.