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Halloween is a time for playing dress-up.
The marshal of Mos Pelgo, a small town on Tatooine, Cobb
Vanth has earned the trust of the townsfolk as a capable peacekeeper and leader.
You notice how many Tatooine place name start with "Mos"? Mos Eisley, Mos Espa, Mos Pelgo... it's similar to the way so many Spanish-named towns begin with "San" (e.g. San Diego, San Francisco, San Bernardino). Obviously, the Spanish "San" equates to the English "Saint"; interestingly, if you take the difference between those two words - an I and a T - and drop them into "Mos" at the same positions, you go from M-O-S to M-O-I-S-T. Since Tatooine is a desert planet, the most imprtant thing for life there would be to find water, and anywhere water collected, life would thrive. The "Mos" prefix implies these are all settlements founded around spots where moisture was more plentiful. Good work, George!
Cobb Vanth first appeared in the Aftermath trilogy,
a series of books set immediately after the fall of the Empire in Return of the Jedi. The main plot involved the Emperor's contingency plans, but every few chapters there would be little interludes set all around the galaxy, basically showing how average people were dealing with the change in power. With Jabba the Hutt dead and the Empire on the run, a criminal syndicate called the Red Key Raiders swept into Mos Pelgo to take over, attacking a bar where former slaves were celebrating the news. One of the residents, Cobb Vanth, escaped and managed to run across a Jawa sandcrawler, where he bought some old armor they'd salvaged and came back to liberate the town.
Cobb was played on The Mandalorian by Raylan Givens himself, Timothy Mumakil. Er, sorry, Timothy Olyphant. Guy just can't get away from playing marshals, can he? The toy captures his "I'm more handsome than you or anyone you'll ever meet in your life" looks, giving him gray hair and a beard that make him look distinguished, rather than decrepit. The Photo Real printing does a great job with his squinty eyes, though overall there's a light resemblance to modern-day Pierce Brosnan.
Fittingly, the armor pieces he's wearing are the same molds
used for last year's Boba Fett - explains why they made that toy's vest a separate piece rather than just molding it as part of the chest. You can even see the tiny notch in the shoulder where Boba had his wookie scalps glued in. The clothes beneath the armor are dark, warm colors to unquestionably set him apart from Boba's pale jumpsuit: an orange shirt and brown pants, like he's working fast food service in the 1970s. He also has a red bandana tied around his neck, showing some solidarity with real-world miners who have fought off their own oppressors.
The paint is terrific. This armor has been
in and out of a sarlaac's digestive system, so more of its green paint is missing, leaving us with big bare patches of beskar showing through. The mythosaur sigil on the shoulder has come through unscathed somehow, though. The helmet is hollow, and can drop right onto Vanth's head no problem, but it does end up feeling like it's sitting too high when you look at him (after all, the toy's hair doesn't compress like a real human being's would). He looks okay, even if he's not perfect.
Articulation remains quality. The figure has swivel/hinge ankles and knees, swivel thighs, balljointed hips, a balljoint waist, swivel/hinge wrists, swivel forearms, swivel/hinge elbows and shoulders, and a barbell neck. Since this is reusing existing molds, you already know that the helmet's viewfinder can be moved down in front of the eye. The exhausts on his rocket pack can also swivel to point different directions. There are no flame effects, but if you have the last toy, you can use those ones here.
On that note, let's discuss accessories.
The jetpack apparently came with the armor in a bundle deal, so Cobb's got them both. The parts that were silver on the previous release are just white here, though the removable rocket he has installed matches the TV show. He's also armed with an HF-94 heavy blaster pistol that can fit in the holster on his belt, and a KA74 blaster rifle he can carry. Either weapon can fit in either hand, if you want him using both at once.
Fans were excited when they figured out Cobb Vanth was going to appear on The Mandalorian, and with good reason: usually when there's a continuity that has movies and spin-offs, they may cross over, but the interaction is mostly one way; Agents of SHIELD references the MCU, but the MCU doesn't reference Agents of SHIELD, right? But like Bo-Katan, Cobb originated in the ancillary material, so his inclusion in the "real" media legitimizes his source. He's not the first Black Series toy of a character introduced in a novel, but Mando can always use more friends.
-- 10/15/22
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