ECHO BASE FIGURE REVIEWS #7: MAJOR PANNO

DESCRIPTION: Major Panno is a Dressellian tactician who works with General Crix Madine to plan commando strikes for the Rebel Alliance. He assists Madine in planning the shield generator strike on Endor that helps destroy the second Death Star.

SCULPT: 8/10 - Panno's got a really great sculpt. His outfit is extremely detailed underneath the soft goods cloak. The cloak is pretty neat, too. Normally I'm not a big fan of soft goods but Panno's cloak is cool. It's got a little pocket to keep his communications device (that's what I'm assuming it is), which I think is awesome. There are only two problems with the sculpt. The first is that for some reason the factory carved a bunch of numbers into the back of his skirt that I think could have been put somewhere a little less noticeable. It isn't really a big deal unless you're looking at the figure from behind. The second problem is that for some reason my figure's left leg seems to be a tiny bit shorter than the right leg, making Panno tilt VERY slightly whenever I stand him up. I don't know if this is a problem every figures has or if mine's just special, but I thought this was worth mentioning though. Not a huge deal, though.

ARTICULATION: 10/10 - 14 points of articulation. Perfect. Definitely a HUGE improvement over Panno's Dresselian counterpart Orimaarko from the POTF2 days. Hopefully we'll eventually see the original "prune face" updated soon.

PAINT APS/DECO: 6/10 - This is probably the weakest part of this otherwise excellent figure. Orimaarko's skin had a pretty cool paintjob with a really nice wash that brought out all the details in his wrinkly noggin. Panno's skin however was only painted with one dark shade of brown, and it just looks really dull. Another problem with Panno's paintjob is that his pupils don't seem to be very straight. He looks kinda cross-eyed. Other than that, the paintjob is pretty good.

ACCESSORIES: 10/10 - Includes removable cloak, blaster, goggles, communications device, and Build-a-Droid pack-in.

AVAILABILITY: 10/10 - Readily available at most stores. As cool as this figure is, it always seems to be the last one left from the RotJ wave. Not a crazy pegwarmer, but definitely very easy to track down.

FINAL SCORE: 44/50 - B+

IN CONCLUSION: He's far from perfect, but Major Panno is still a pretty awesome figure. I think the best part about this figure is that parts can (and probably will) later be re-used for other Rebel army builders. A new Endor Rebel Soldier is DESPERATELY needed, and if he turns out as cool as Panno I'll be pretty pleased. I'd even be happy with a new Orimaarko. All he would need is a different cloak. And, of course, a better paintjob.