Question #3: from April 23, 2007:

I am interested in seeing a resculpt for Yakface. He's arguably the rarest vintage figure, and besides his "modern" figure release in 1997, he hasn't been seen since. Have you heard any info about a resculpt of Yakface? Either basic figures, or better: Vintage style Power of the Force?

--Joe

My answer from 2007 With commentary from 2025:

While interest certainly exists, rumblings for a Yak Face resculpt are pretty much nonexistent. Of course, lots of chatter can make these things happen, so I'll start off by saying yeah, I want one too.

While this is an answer you know by now, it really does illustrate "the long game" in toy collecting. The first Yak Face came out in 1985. The second one was 1997. The super-articulated resculpt - the one Joe asked about in 2007 - wouldn't arrive until 2019. That's 12 years after he asked and 22 years between figure #2 and figure #3. There were only 12 years between the 1980s Power of the Force Yak Face and the 1997 The Power of the Force Saelt-Marae figure. Patience is, annoyingly, central to this whole thing.

The 1985 figure got a remake in 2023 (and is due again 40 years later in 2025, you're welcome, pre-order yours here.) Obviously you can never say never, but once 10, 20, or 30 years go by it certainly feels like "never."

A funny coda on the Yak Face The Vintage Collection figure is that it did well. Hasbro reran it with enhanced paint, and it got dumped at Ross for $3.99 - which may be a metaphor for where things are going. A new and improved version of one of the rarest figures of all time, available for pennies on the dollar and it was slow to sell. But the funny thing is that the 2023 reissue of the Kenner figure was going for some big bucks, and I assume that's about to be disrupted.

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FIN

Way back in the 1980s, there were a few grails. Yak Face. Blue Sears Snaggletooth. Double-telescoping figures were somewhat mythical... and Vlix was more or less Bigfoot. I couldn't find anyone who confirmed he got made, despite appearing on Brazilian cardbacks and "The Official" price guides along with the rest of series two. It took years until I actually started to find people who had them, and to this day I'm super unsure how many got made. Thousands? Tends of thousands? Fifty? I have no idea.

Yak Face being quasi-findable and from the movie gave him a mythic status as the final movie figure, and that still holds to this day. And this is where I remind you that I may have lobbied to get the Star Wars The Retro Collection Return of the Jedi 3 3/4-Inch Action Figures Set of 6 reissued at Entertainment Earth, and you can still pre-order a few of them before they are all gone. Which I hope gives me ammo to do more things like this if anyone else wants to do it.

--Adam Pawlus

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