Star War: Shadows of the Empire was a strange time in Star Warsdom. It was billed as a "major multimedia event" with comics, a novel (both physical and [abridged] audiobook), toys, a videogame, trading cards, and even its own (non-John Williams scored) soundtrack. The plot would detail the adventures of the main franchise players between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Notably absent? Any kind of movie, cartoon, or television show. Still, it was the biggest Star Wars news in quite some time.
The year was 1996 and being a Star Wars fan was a different experience than it is today. We didn't have over a dozen TV shows
and a dozen more theatrically released movies to slake our Star Wars thirst. The last original Star Wars movie had been released in 1983, and all we had to keep us going were our vague memories of the Droids and Ewoks animated series, and two hokey made-for-TV-movies starring Wicket W. Warrick. Other than that we survived on a diet of comics and novels of varying quality, the occasional game, and a handful of magazines.
The following year would bring the first theatrical "Special Edition" release of Star Wars: A New Hope, followed by the rest of the trilogy and eventually, the long-awaited prequels. But as we waited for what seemed an interminable amount of time for Star Wars content to ramp into high gear, what we had to tide of over was Shadows.
The Power of the Force 2 line of action figures had just debuted the year prior, giving us brand new versions of our Luke,
Han, Leia and the rest with questionable likenesses, way more muscles than necessary, and five whole points of articulation. The Shadows toys brought new versions of these characters (including a punk rock Chewbacca with an eyepatch and a wicked red-armored Luke in disguise) as well as the origin story of where Princess Leia got the Boushh disguise she'd use to infiltrate Jabba's Palace in Return of the Jedi. We also got brand new characters, including Dash Rendar (everyone's favorite not-Han-Solo) and the crime boss Prince Xizor.
HEAD OF THE BLACK SUN: Prince Xizor uses his intergalactic shipping operations to execute favors for the Empire and carry out
his own agenda.
How to talk about Xizor. He was created, in part, by science fiction writer Steve Perry, who penned the Shadows novel. If you're familiar with any of Steve's work, you won't be surprised that it was he who came up with the idea of giving Xizor's species - the reptilian humanoid Falleen - the ability to release pheromones into the air that allowed Xizor to seduce females and bend them to his will. At the time, I had mainly known Perry as the author of Alien novels with gratuitous sex scenes that I was way too young to be reading, so it was pretty eye-rolling to read about this new character who was repeatedly described as impossibly handsome while also hypnotizing women with his sexual scent powers (and also sometimes making his sexy lady droid get in the bath with him - yes that happened. No I'm not going to elaborate).
Anyway, who better to be an action figure aimed at children than Xizor,
the sleazy, sexually manipulative crime boss? He had not one, but two figures in the original 1996 run, although technically they were the same figure with different accessories: one was a single-pack, while the other was released in a two-pack with Darth Vader and a tie-in comic. One thing I did not appreciate about these figures was that toy Xizor was ugly. He is described often as gorgeous and charming, and these original figures gave him a grumpy scowl and the wrinkled face of an old man.
It wouldn't be until 2008 that Xizor would get somewhat vindicated in a comic pack with Princess Leia (which recreates their meeting in which Leia is nearly seduced - arguably against her will - by this weird creep; again, great for kids!). This 3¾" Xizor figure was definitely more handsome and less old-looking than his previous figures,
but we'd have to wait nearly 15 more years before Xizor would make his 6" debut and get the figure he... deserved, I guess?
While the Shadows continuity was relegated to the "Legends" bin upon Disney's 2012 purchase of Lucasfilm, elements of the multimedia story popped up occasionally in the new canon. Xizor's species, the Falleen, would appear in the Clone Wars cartoon, as would his crime syndicate, Black Sun. There were a few mentions here and there after that, but nothing front and center. But with the 30th anniversary looming, we're finally getting some love for these characters in Hasbro's 6" Black Series figure line. A Dash Rendar figure is on the way, but in the meantime, we must remain satisfied with Luke in his Coruscant Guard armor (which admittedly is very cool), a re-release of Princess Leia in her Boushh disguise, and the green meanie himself, Prince Xizor.
And that brings us to the part of the review where I talk about the actual figure. Xizor is on the tall end of the Black Series figures,
and features a sculpt that really does the design justice, unlike his original POTF toys. His facial expression is an imperious smirk instead of a face-scrunching frown, and his textured robes are nicely sculpted and detailed without impeding articulation. His ridged, scaly exposed back (the only real evidence of his "reptilian" heritage) is wonderfully detailed. One of his hands is sculpted to hold accessories, while the other is posed in a beckoning gesture. Flowing softgoods elements are attached to his elbows to spice up the look a bit. Overall, the figure projects a suitably arrogant vibe that fits him well.
Paint is done well, with Xizor's skin being a nice shade of green and the finer details of his eyes and lips printed excellently. Being a prince, his outfit is heavy on royal purple fringed with gold for
his shoulder pads and sleeves, while his main robes are dark gray. Everything is executed nicely with a blend of molded parts and painted elements.
Articulation is your standard Black Series fare, so don't expect fancy double-jointed elbows or knees, but he has enough to get the job done. We get joints at both ends of the neck, peg-and-hinge shoulders, elbows, and wrists, a balljointed torso, peg-and-hinge hips and knees, and rocker hinged ankles. Oh, and he gets a peg joint for both of his ponytails; even the little weird second ponytail can be posed to be pointing in whichever direction you desire.
For accessories, he gets a scaled-up version of the staff from the 2008 comic pack figure. I don't remember if this staff was present in the comics or any other tie-in material, but it seems an appropriate accessory for a haughty royal crime boss to be toting. It has a very "Staff of Ra" vibe, gold in color with a circular top, and purple ribbons hang from it to match his sleeves.
Overall, Xizor is a pretty good figure of a character that holds an interesting place in Star Wars meta lore. While he's been mentioned in some tangential material
in the new canon, he has yet to officially appear (and no, I don't count the Micro Machines figure used in the crowd scenes of the podrace in The Phantom Menace). It remains to be seen whether or not he'll make a real appearance as an important figure, but if he does, it's a safe bet that they'll tone down some of his more unsavory characteristics.
But in the meantime, while we wait for the new canon to officially embrace everyone's favorite(?) Star Wars sex pest, we at least get a worthy action figure to remind us of a weirder time in Star Wars history.
-- 05/31/25
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