“I find your lack of faith disturbing.”
In 1999 Hasbro gave us the first ever Admiral Motti action figure!
(Hasbro had brought Star Wars figures back from extinction in 1995 with their “The Power of the Force” line.)
In 1999 THE PHANTOM MENACE came out and so Hasbro had two Star Wars toy-lines going at the same time that year: “The Power of the Force” and “Episode I.” But as you can see, they connected the two lines with a reference to “young Anakin” on the back packaging of the 1999 “The Power of the Force” figures:
When the original Star Wars figures were released from 1977 to 1985, no figures had been made of any specific Imperial officer characters. They made a generic “Imperial Commander” figure (one of my favorites, by the way) that even had variations in the face sculpt.
As a kid, I called these two figures Ozzel and Piette (okay, fine, I still call them this), named after, of course, the two Imperial characters in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.
Little did I know that someday there would be actual figures made of Ozzel, Piette, and other specific Imperials officers/commanders.
Going left to right, we have Tarkin, Motti, Piette, Ozzel, and General Veers. Notice that Veers has a removable helmet and armor that he would have on for his infamous AT-AT attack on Hoth.
TRIVIA TANGENT: The actors who played Ozzel and Veers in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK also played Hitler and Walter Donovon in INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE.
Michael Sheard as Admiral Ozzel and Hitler:
Julian Glover as General Veers and Walter Donovan:
Okay, enough of the tangents! We’re supposed to be discussing the Admiral Motti figure, so let’s get to it.
First of all, it has a pretty good actor-accurate face sculpt. Looks quite a bit like Richard LeParmentier.
I also like that the elbow is articulated so that the figure can grab the throat while being force-choked by Vader. However, the figure looks a little odd with only one of the arms having elbow articulation.
My biggest gripe, though, is that the figure is unable to sit down. Looking at our Imperial commander figures, Tarkin and Piette have no trouble sitting, but look at the other three – that’s the best they can do.
This is because with Tarkin and Piette, the portion of the shirt that hangs beneath the belt has been articulated along with the legs, allowing them to sit.
I have to admit that the other three figures look better while standing – the lack of articulation in the lower part of their shirts make them look more realistic, but an action figure that can’t even sit down? I don’t know about that.
All things considered though, this is a great figure to have. I remember watching STAR WARS on VHS as a kid and we would always laugh at Admiral Motti being overconfident and then getting force-choked. So this is a fun, memorable figure.
Toydust out!