Voolvif Monn

Star Wars is full of life lessons. For instance, "be careful what you wish for." The aloof and solitary Voolvif Monn is one of the few Jedi to survive the Battle of Geonosis. During the Clone Wars, Monn confronts waves of battle droids on Muunilinst in an all-out fight to stop the wealthy InterGalactic Banking Clan's support to the Confederacy. With a sweep of his lightsaber, Monn cuts down several droids at a time. During Season 1 of Genndy Tartakovsky's Clone Wars, Voolvif Monn was, along with Foul Moudama and Roron Corobb, part of a vote on Cartoon Network's site to see which of the three Jedi - each inspired by aliens from the original movie's cantina scene - would be featured in the Season 2 finale. Voolvif won, and his big role was standing in a crowd scene and cheering. The other two, meanwhile, were part of a running fight with General Grievous that led directly into Revenge of the Sith. So who's the real winner, here? Voolvif is a Shistavanen, better known as a wolfman - thus the name. Voolvif Monn, Wolf Man, get it? That rates right up there with Ephant Mon the elephant man and Ree-Yees, the guy with three eyes. The original wolfman, Lak Sivrak, was just a cheap wereworlf mask picked up at a costume shop, because the designers were running out of clever ideas. But because nothing can ever be left alone, Lak was turned into one of an entire species with a proud and rich heritage - a species of which Voolvif is a member. The head retains that "Halloween mask" look, which is a good thing: he's got a little snout and pointy ears, so he's pretty much exactly what you'd expect. The brown fur continues over his entire body, and he has appropriately crooked legs. His version of the Jedi robe is a single dark brown covering with bare arms and tattered pants that are a lighter tone. He gets armor for his shoulders and forearms, as well as kneepads. Even with all the dark colors, the paint is good. His fur is brown, but with a lot of highlights and shadows to keep it from looking flat. His skin is apparently grey, as evidenced by what little of it is visible around his muzzle and fingers, and his bright white teeth are contrasted against black gums. The armor doesn't have a lot of contrast with the fur, but the edges are crisp. Voolvif's only accessory is his lightsaber, a green-bladed number. There's a flare sculpted at the base, with one "spike" of the flare oddly out-stripping the others: it reaches more than ⅓ of the way up the blade, which is really weird. The figure's articulation is plentiful, with a ball and socket neck, balljointed shoulders, elbows and "ankles," swivel wrists, swivel waist and swivel hips. They probably could have added swivels where his legs poke out of his pants, but it's not a necessity. In the grand sceheme of things, although Voolvif Monn's role in the story was miniscule, he still came out on top. Foul and Roron did more, but they also got killed; Voolvif, at least, has never been confirmed dead. Hey, wolves are survivors - and with his Force-enhanced senses, he would have known whenever somebody was coming to get him. No matter what his unrevealed final fate was, this is a good figure. Werewolves are awesome. -- 05/03/09

Tweet