Wat Tambor (Geonosis War Room) - SW [S - P3] - Basic (’03 #23)

Wat Tambor is the foreman of the Techno union, a galactic institution that produces many of the weapons and droids for the Separatist Forces. Tambor is quick to join Count Dooku's Confederacy of Independent Systems in their fight against the Republic, and readily commits his army of Battle Droids to the cause. He also hosts the meeting of the Separatists at one of the Techno union's droid foundries on Geonosis, where the secession movement explodes into the star of the Clone Wars.

What is there to be said about Wat Tambor? Well, quite a bit actually. He is a male Skakoan from the planet Skako. But more importantly, as Wookieepedia goes on to explain, he was the Foreman of the Techno union and Executive of Baktoid Armor Workshop. He began his career as the Techno union Representative in the Galactic Senate, but he quickly shot up through the union's ranks and eventually succeeded in garnering the top role in the union. He partnered with Count Dooku and agreed to help fund and supply the Confederacy of Independent Systems. He was technologically savvy and when the Clone Wars began, Tambor began devising new ways to gain a technological advantage to defeat the Army of the Republic. Hasbro has not developed this background character as an action figure. Visually he is appealing, but he isn’t a typical action figure. He functions more like a statue (with some movement) more than anything else. But frankly he looks fantastic and colorful, and the sculpt has been done very well. The most notable thing about the Star Wars “Saga” line is how well the figures are sculpted. They may lack in articulation and be unconventional as far as what we expect action figures to be, but there is no doubt that Wat Tambor (Geonosis War Room) fits into the basic figure line very nicely.

Many Star Wars fans incorrectly assume that Wat Tambor is a robot. He is not. He is of the mammalian genus, just like you, but needs to rely on mechanics to sustain his life, sort of like Darth Vader. Hasbro ensured that they replicated these mechanical features very well, and they did. Wat Tambor’s sculpt is better than average. He is certainly limited in the point of articulation he comes with, but the figure’s most important parts have been sculpted so you can recreate scene-specific poses with the figure. Most notable, his right arm is sculpted in a fashion where he can reach some of the dials on his chest armor and “adjust” them as needed. Thanks to a well sculpted bent arm alongside ball-jointed shoulders and swivel forearms, Wat Tambor (Geonosis War Room) effortlessly can attain these poses. Keep in mind that you will in no way attain a full range of motion with Wat Tambo (Geonosis War Room). That would be impossible. But aesthetically he looks great and you may be able to overlook the shortcuts taken with his articulation. As we have already mentioned, the Star Wars “Saga” line took a totally different approach with collector-focused action figures. Hasbro focused on the developing the sculpts first and articulation second. This doesn’t always resonate well with all collectors, but we certainly have saluted their efforts.

Wat Tambor (Geonosis War Room) has a gorgeous paint job. You’ll have to take some time and inspect the action figure very carefully to really appreciate how much went into its deco. Take the chest armor for example. The bronzy texture is done via a great base color, but then washes have been added to give it an imperfect appearance and thus makes it very authentic. Then Hasbro adds little nuances of color (to decorate the buttons for instance) which shows that they weren’t looking to take shortcuts here. We are particularly taken with Wat’s alternating striped arms (done in black and blue). The paint applications here are done extremely neatly and the pattern is very eye catching. It appears as if the paint operations in his face aren’t entirely accurate, but Hasbro did a decent enough job on them that we think it passes just fine. As with many other 2002-2004 era Hasbro action figures, Wat Tambor also gets high marks for the accessories included. He comes with a war room console (control panel) that is nearly as big as he is. Additionally, Hasbro sculpted a starship hologram (in yellow) that actually plugs into the console to give it a little more interaction. When fully positioned, there is no denying how impressive Wat Tambor and his accessories look together. If you’re into Separatists, we feel that Wat Tambor (Geonosis War Room) is an action figure you must include in your collection.