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Lobot Figure (The Empire Strikes Back) – Power of the Force, 1998 Action Figure Star Wars...

Lobot (The Empire Strikes Back) Action Figure: Overview

Lobot Figure Power of the Force portrait

This Power of the Force Lobot action figure is quite nicely detailed and not overly bulky. His posture though is a little too on the histrionic side for this rather rigid and robotic character. In fact, Lobot looks like he might be just about to break out into a soliloquy from Hamlet. Now that thought has crossed my mind I can't also help notice that the Lobot figure's face looks very much like that of an ageing thesbian taking to the stage. This represents quite a serious misinterpretation of the character of Lobot by Hasbro, as his movement in The Empire Strikes Back is minimalistic and quasi-robotic and he shows almost no emotion or facial expression. By contrast this Power of the Force Lobot figure looks like a ham actor thrusting himself on stage for an amateur dramatics performance, when the Lobot character actually wouldn't have looked out of place stood on stage alongside Kraftwerk and a performance of The Robots.

I have two of these Lobot action figures and on both the head squeaks slightly when you turn it, which is something I don't think I've encountered in the articulation of any ofher Star Wars action figure from any series.

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Lobot's name is a rather obvious contraction of lobotomy, which makes an allusion to the cybernetic headgear which controls his brain activity. It is one of the numerous aptronyms which occur in Star Wars naming conventions. See my article on Ephant Mon and Star Wars Naming Conventions. Lobot's headgear connects him directly to Cloud City's infrastructure and allows him to administrate the facility on behalf of Lando. Obviously he has WiFi, since R2-D2 needs to physically plug himself into the mainframe. You can find Lobot's backstory on Wookieepedia here.

I don't have either of the blasters which come with this Power of the Force Lobot but I don't particularly mind since we don't ever see him engaging in any of the fighting on Cloud City.

With the release of Solo A Star Wars Story in 2018, we now have a context for why Lando Calrissian might want to keep a cybernetic companion such as Lobot around (aside from Lobot's administrative duties). In Solo A Star Wars story Lando is portrayed as being rather pan sexual; he likes the boys and the girls and also the droids so it seems. Lando's droid L3-37 tells Qi'ra that Lando has unreciprocated feelings for her and L3-37's death scene tantalises us with the possibility that there might be something in this. With this context to work on we have to wonder whether there might be a Lando-Lobot love story going on in the background of Cloud City. There is definitely a strong parallel between L3-37 and Lobot since Lobot's brain is plugged in to Cloud City, and similarly L3-37's brain gets plugged in to the Millennium Falcon's computer. There is also a rather strong contrast between the two with L3-37 being strong-willed, fiercely independant and quite the activist when it comes to liberating her fellow droids. By contrast Lobot sacrifices his independance to serve Cloud City. In this respect L3-37 and Lobot are pretty much polar opposites, and for Lando Lobot must be a much more manageable version of his droid companion from Solo a Star Wars Story.

Other Power of the Force Action Figures

All Star Wars action figures, vehicles, collectibles and Star Wars toys shown on this website are the 3.75 inch scale and from my own private Star Wars collection unless otherwise stated. Where possible original vintage accessories have been used but in some instances I have placed Kenner Star Wars figures with either reproduction weapons and accessories or for Hasbro figures close approximations have been used. This is mostly the case for modern Star Wars lightsabers where the correct item can be very difficult to identify on some ocassions. Vintage Star Wars action figures are shown with their original weapon or accessory when I have them. When a vintage Kenner action figure is shown with an accessory which is not original I have tried to point this out where possible.

All of the Star Wars action figures shown were purchased second hand, usually incomplete, and in bulk. They have been reunited with their original weapons and accessories where we could get hold of them.

All opinions expressed are those of the author and not those of LucasFilm, Disney, Kenner or Hasbro toys. All Trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

The Culture and Cult of Star Wars

Lobot Figure (The Empire Strikes Back) – Power of the Force, 1998 Action Figure Star Wars...

Lobot (The Empire Strikes Back) Action Figure: Overview

Other Power of the Force Action Figures

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