Boushh

Editor's note: while cleaning out the filing cabinets, we found this previously unpublished review, which was written and originally slated to be posted in the summer of 1983. Whoops. Our bad. Sorry for the inconvenience, and we hope you'll enjoy this newly unearthed, forgotten bit of classic OAFE history. That scene with all the bounty hunters in The Empire Strikes Back was pretty cool, and rumour has it that the upcoming Revenge of the Jedi will feature (as well as a planet of Wookies - I hope Lucas doesn't change his mind on that one, because that is going to be boss!) even more of them, in the court of the as-yet-unseen crime lord Jabba the Hutt. And lucky us, we get some action figures of them to whet our appetites. Known for his melee skills and penchant for thermal detonators, Boushh was considered a cool-headed bounty hunter in a profession often filled with trigger happy mercenaries. An Ubese, Boushh was also extremely distrustful of his compatriots and employers and made it his business to acquire information on them for use as blackmail insurance. Boy, Lando and Chewbacca must have a tough task ahead of them rescuing Han if they're up against the likes of Boushh! To look at, this new bounty hunter is the usual mishmash of everyday practicality and cultural bits and pieces we've come to expect of The Star Wars - the figure shows him in loose short robes over darker bindings, desert-style, with high-collared shoulder armour and ribbed padding providing protection to the torso. A bandolier crosses his chest, with various tubules attached, and he has a larger canister on his belt, perhaps for one of those thermal detonators he's so fond of. He has what looks like a compact gas tank on his back, which along with the enclosed helmet suggests he breathes something other than oxygen. What an alien! All the colours are clear, but not so bright as to appear fake - they're fairly faithful to The Star Wars's dirty, lived-in palette. Said helmet covers Boushh's entire head - I bet like Boba Fett, he's one of those cool, mysterious types who never shows his face. Set photos leaked out from the "Blue Harvest" filming locations show Boushh's helmet as a combination of dark tan and bare steel, but for the action figure the metal is rendered as plain grey plastic. The sculpt is a touch soft, but all the necessary details are there, including the segmented "nose" (is he canine under there perhaps?) and the visor slit high up on the head. Boushh has the standard articulation set for a Star Wars figure: swivel neck, swivel shoulders, and swivel hips. You know, all the joints any action figure would ever need. All the joints move freely, but are stiff enough to hold their pose whatever that may be. He also has an accessory, a very long-barrelled jezzail-style rifle, which fits in with the rocky/desert theme of his attire rather well. His right hand is slightly more open, and more suited to holding the grip of the weapon, but to be honest its sheer length makes it impractical to hold in a firing position. It looks just fine with the butt on the ground, held like a staff though. If that were all, Boushh would be a perfectly serviceable addition to the ranks of The Star Wars bounty hunters - but there's a surprise hidden beneath his helmet (look away if you're reading this before the movie comes out, and you don't want your enjoyment to be "spoiled" like bad meat): Boushh is in fact none other than... Princess Leia! The helmet is a soft plastic mask, which fits quite snugly over her head (helpfully, she's ditched her elaborate hairdos in favour of a simple and compact tight single bun). Beneath it Leia's face is sculpted pretty well, with brown paint for her hair and eyes - easily recognisable as a human female, and if you were told who it was beforehand you might even guess it was Carrie Fisher. Action figure technology truly is impressive nowadays, what with the craft at its zenith as it is. Kenner has established themselves as the kings of toy-making, and it's likely they always will be. That surprise lifts "Boushh" up above the ranks of just-another-bounty-hunter - with Leia's outfits in earlier films being fairly restrained, this butch, battle-hardened aspect is quite a change, and surely there won't be a more famous image of the Princess in Jabba's palace than in her Boussh disguise. Make sure you get your figure early, because I hear the son of ex-Tennessee Senator Albert Arnold Gore (serving until 1971, he was the guy who invented the Interstate... Highway System) is working on an "intra-net" that'll lead to people buying all your toys to resell in some kind of electrical auction, like those scalpers who sell tickets outside concert venues.

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