Jar Jar Binks - TBS [L50] - Six Inch Figures

In a galaxy far, far away, an evil force is gaining strength and threatens an entire civilization.

A creature from the underwater depths of the planet Naboo, Jar Jar Binks must convince his fellow Gungans to take up arms.

Commemorate the first 50 years of Lucasfilm with figures inspired by the Star Wars prequel trilogy!

Only a short four months after its release in The Black Series [Phase IV] 6” line, Hasbro thought re-releasing Jar Jar Binks in The Black Series [Lucasfilm 50] line would make a lot of sense. But what happened was the general release Jar Jar Binks, with two extra accessories including a shield and an atlatl, got marked down from $29.99 to the standard price of a non-deluxe 6” figure. And then the Best Buy exclusive “Episode I” version of Jar Jar Binks comes without those two accessories and has an MSRP of $29.99. Nothing makes much sense anymore in the Hasbro Star Wars line. You have to wonder where the communication breakdown is and why they do everything they do. Their actions appear to hurt the line time and again. Jar Jar Binks is an excellent and fun character from The Phantom Menace, but it didn’t need to see a double release in less than half a year. And while we support the repackaging of famous Star Wars characters, Jar Jar Bink’s demand isn’t there, and both versions of the figure will undoubtedly become clearance items, and one of them is already headed down that road. Hasbro still managed to apply the extra cost for this release of Jar Jar. And to make matters worse, you get less this time.

The original release of Jar Jar Binks marked the first time Hasbro added something from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in quite some time in the Star Wars toy line. To date, Hasbro appears only to be comfortable releasing main characters from The Phantom Menace, and even then, they are few and far between in the line. Thankfully, the Lucasfilm 50th Anniversary allows Hasbro to release more Episode I characters in one fell swoop that might not otherwise see a re-release. Jar Jar Binks also marks a departure in their handling of Episode I characters. It’s the first alien from the film. If we’re all honest, The Black Series 6” line is much too light of many popular aliens from George Lucas’ Star Wars universe. The Jar Jar Binks The Black Series 6” figure is an admirable effort of the Gungan outcast. Still, we take a few significant exceptions with this action figure. For the 2021 “exclusive” version, Hasbro changed the paint operations a bit and reduced accessories. In our opinion, we get a better-looking Jar Jar Binks character, but the fewer accessories are more than a bit annoying. Jar Jar Binks looks fantastic packaged, so perhaps that’s the whole point here.

Once again, we’re unwilling to justify the $29.99 MSRP of Jar Jar Binks. Jar Jar Binks is no more special than Qui-Gon Jinn or Darth Maul (which came with a ton of accessories). To charge more for this figure for reasons unknown is egregious. Even if Hasbro added additional articulation to Jar Jar Binks (which they didn’t), that wouldn’t be enough reason to charge $29.99 for Jar Jar Binks. This figure, along with the included accessories, offers a $19.99 value to collectors. There is nothing more here, nor nothing less. And Hasbro needs to stop selling these “Deluxe” figures under false pretenses. If they wanted to charge $29.99 for Jar Jar Binks, they should have included a wealth of additional accessories here, and we’re talking about some large ones. But no, they reduce cut Jar Jar Binks’ accessories by half. It would have behooved Hasbro to reissue Darth Maul in the Episode I packaging once again before Jar Jar. For this release, Jar Jar Binks comes with an electropole, which breaks down into two parts. And the other accessory is the removable vest, which can barely be considered an accessory. Exclusive to Best Buy, we appreciate this commemorative line, but Hasbro must do better with its choices.