Nute Gunray - EI - Basic

A Trade Federation viceroy who is controlled by the evil Lord Darth Sidious, Nute Gunray leads the attack on Naboo with the help of fellow Neimoidian, Rune Haako.

There’s really no doubt that Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace didn’t meet “older” fans’ expectations. But that really didn’t stop them from collecting the corresponding action figure line. The special Midnight Madness event was attended by collectors of all ages, and most of us scooped up product like there was no tomorrow. Many of the figures in the first wave were the expected main heroes and villains. But it wasn’t until the summer that year that Hasbro decided to bang out some of the core “background” characters. The Neimoidians were controversial because of the way they spoke. Their dialect sounded similar to a person of Asian descent’s broken English and it caused a bit of stir that “racial stereotypes” shouldn’t be part of the Star Wars universe. (We wonder why Princess Leia Organa or Padme Amidala speaking in bad English accents never caused the same stir. We digress.) More of a thorn in her side than any real danger, Nute Gunray and Rune Haako didn’t play a fair game of bargaining and were ultimately sequestered for the wrongdoings. And although The Phantom Menace was plagued with too much political drama, it’s hard to deny that many of the characters who were part of this said drama made the film a little bit more interesting.

Anyway, rumor has it that the Neimoidians were originally slated to be the Duros species, but some of the important people working on The Phantom Menace suggested to make them an all-new species from Cato Neimoidia. And that’s how we got the Neimoidians into the Star Wars universe and it’s also probably why you see similarities in the two species (which is also probably something you can’t say anymore either). Despite what fan thought about the Neimoidians, one thing for sure is that they adored the action figures of them. Nute Gunray, believe it or not, was a very strong seller and collectors were buying up multiples to make customs of the rest of the crew on the Trade Federation starship. The fact of the matter is that Nute Gunray is a fantastic action figure. He doesn’t come with a whole lot of articulation, but he does come with the standard six points. This is relatively impressive because with all of his plastic molded soft-goods Hasbro really didn’t need to give this figure any lower body articulation. And granted, the restriction of these points created by the robes makes these areas of articulation essentially moot. We would have preferred a little more articulation in the arms, but it’s hard to deny this action figure looks great as is.

What sets Nute Gunray apart from so many of the other action figures in the Episode I line is the way he is decorated. In particular, the deco on his face is simply astounding. His eyes are pearly with the distinguishing horizontal line running through them. Multiple tones of color were utilized to accentuate this specie’s unique characteristics (especially in the eyes). Multiple tones of gray were used to give his facial structure depth and character. The sculpting of the finest of details is brilliant too. Nute Gunray has a complex texture on the outside of his robes. This detail has been etched into the sculpt beautifully. His ornate hat is high and looks completely screen accurate. And it’s frankly amazing to us how many layers the makers at Hasbro gave this action figure despite it being a character that will just stand around not doing much at all in your collection. His arms hang down his body angled toward the center. For us, it’s the perfect posture for a political figure and we probably wouldn’t have changed it if we had our own way. The bottom line is that Nute Gunray is an action figure that will stand the test of time. Hasbro did a remarkable job on him and we can’t wait to see what else they do with the Neimoidian species in the basic figure line!