Gungan Warrior - LC - Basic (BD07)

Gungan warriors emerge through the misty swamps to the battlefield where they'll take on the Trade Federation's droid army. A Gungan blows a battle horn to signal the solemn beginning of this crucial fight to free the planet.

The Gungan species instantaneously got a bad rap from the ridiculous antics of Jar Jar Binks unfortunately. But time has seemed to heal many of those early wounds felt by Star Wars fans. It seems that today there is a new fondness for them as they played a particularly important role in defeating the Separatist movement of Naboo. Ten year later after the original release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and almost ten years after the first Gungan Warrior action figure, Hasbro revisits the him with new details and accents. It is our desire to immediately alert you on how incredible this action figure is indeed. We would have rendered this figure flawless but he has one major issue that we would like to mention right away and then move away from immediately. Hasbor omitted Gungan-specific markings. Where are all of the species-specific patterns Hasbro? If this is due to another costing issue, we will scream! This figure is certainly the definitive Gungan Warrior sculpt, but how could they neglect such an important details on his skin? Even 2000's Power Of The Jedi Gungan Warrior figure has these beautiful markings. This is egregious disregard to something that should have been one of the most important details on this figure. And despite this bugging us to no end, we would like to clarify that the rest of the figure is absolutely spectacular, perfect in fact. He is an exact and spotless replica of the computer-generated image we saw in the film. He is lean and muscularly agile with a perfectly duplicated costume and comes with replications of the accessories he was seen with in Episode I.

Gungan Warrior comes super-articulated and we couldn't ask for anything more here. While he has the slightest action stance, it doesn't affect his overall stature in the least and can be stood without any issues. His Gungan battle horn is one of the most ornate accessories we have ever seen and it rests in a sling that falls from his belt. It also fits in his hand while resting in the belt and he can be posed very strikingly with it. His uniform is multi-colored and multi-textured. Great care was taken to ensure its authenticity to the film. Nothing looks at of place. Additionally, he has a spot on his belt that will also hold the atlatl. The atlatl is all-new (and completely in scale with the action figure now) and the attention Hasbro gave to the boomer ball is just unreal. It looks like a clear pearl and beautiful captures any light that passes through it. Why Hasbro gave attention to this detail and not his skin is completely beyond us. The "no detail sparred" attitude for most of the figure perplexes us further on why the skin pattern was ignored. [But we have already moved on from that, move along, move along.] As a total package, Gungan Warrior is a breathtaking piece of plastic art. It is unbelievable how well our figures get sculpted in this modern era (as a general rule as certainly some exceptions apply). As one little criticism, we wish greater care was taken to get his eye painted better. You know our thoughts on eye paint, and the same goes for this figure. Samples vary greatly and for the most part, it is a small chore to find a Gungan Warrior with evenly applied eyeballs. This is one thing that needs to be addressed over and over at the factory level.

The Legacy Collection is a perfect amalgamation of old and new. We think Hasbro is executing the line better than ever starting with the waves in the red phase. Instead of repackaging "Greatest Hits" figures over and over again into every new wave of figures, Hasbro has decided to go with the convention of bringing "new" repacked (different) figures into every wave of newly sculpted figures. We likely will be seeing fewer and fewer repacks of previously released Legacy Collection figures with new parts and instead see "new" repacked figures with new parts. This is the way the Star Wars toy line should be. It is very reminiscent of the "vintage" days and this nostalgia will no doubt play a part to maybe influence a collector to pick up a repacked figure based on how it looks in new packaging rather than actually needing it. Many figures in Hasbro's line possess an incredible amount of notoriety due to how well they were sculpted and these figures deserves a reappearance in the main line or a first chance at being available as a basic carded figure. We will certainly have many opportunities to grab the cream of the crop with the Legacy Collection. But in between the repacks, we can also expect awesome new figures like this Gungan Warrior to grace our retail shelves, then our collecting shelves. For the Gungan Warrior is released with equal status of those many repacked "greatest hits" figures. Gungan Warrior was 'born' to be a mainstay greatest hits figure as well. He is truly that good.