Hasbro's line of six inch scale Star Wars action figures sure seems to have kicked it into high gear lately with the clear upgrades in quality as well as seemingly more figures being released this year than in past years. It looks like this step up will continue into next year, which already looks to have a big focus on the prequel era and rightly so as next year will be the 20th anniversary of The Phantom Menace! Hasbro has already said that they're planning on celebrating this specifically by releasing more prequel characters, and I hope that they don't stop with the bunch they've already revealed. There are a ton of prequel characters I'm hoping to see in the line down the road, and so I will be doing three posts all looking at the characters I want from each film in the trilogy! First off, with figures in no particular order, will be the Phantom Menace, the movie being celebrated!
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Padme in general
The reveal of the Attack of the Clones rendition of Padme was very sorely welcomed and an addition that was too long in the making. Hasbro has finally gone and delivered on a figure of the main female lead of the trilogy, which has cracked open the door to more editions of her in alternate costumes and the first film in the trilogy had no shortage of great outfits that I am hoping to see very soon. Her Theed Invasion red dress is a fan favorite, but I'm always hoping for some of the others like the battle robes from the climax of the film, her orange/red handmaiden disguise uniform, and the blue/gray peasant outfit she wore on Naboo. It would be a shame if Hasbro backed away from Padme figures after only giving us one, and there are a great bunch for them to choose from to further celebrate Phantom Menace's anniversary.
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Padawan Obi Wan
Since the line began, we have had Darth Maul sitting very lonely on shelves, and it wasn't until 2016 that Qui Gon Jinn got a figure to join him. Both look great together, but one very significant omission is that of the Padawan version of Obi Wan that we got in the film. Seeing him as a more reckless, unrefined Jedi was a lot of fun after only being given the elderly, veteran Obi Wan of the original trilogy, and the three way fight from the end of the Phantom Menace is one of the greatest fight scenes in Star Wars history. Ewan McGregor is seen as one of the best and beloved parts of the prequel trilogy, so it is high time that the younger version of him got a 6 inch figure to fit in with Qui Gon and Maul.
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Nute Gunray
Just like Vader is mistakened as the main antagonist of the original film when it is in fact Tarkin, the same could be said about Maul and Nute Gunray. While I know a lot of people don't like him, probably don't remember him, and will be hard pressed to understand that he was the main villain of the movie, I enjoyed him as a character. Seeing the Trade Federation was a fun new organization besides the Empire, and they opened the door to the Senate and the governmental process of the Republic that would later on be corrupted by Palpatine. Nute Gunray helped to set up ideas and concepts that would be paid off later down the trilogy, while also being an alien with some funky looking eyes, and being an interesting display of prosthetic and practical effects that most people don't even realize.
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Sebulba (Possibly with Pit Droid)
I will be a sucker for pretty much any aliens that get released in this line, and Sebulba was a pretty unique alien with his legs being used as his arms essentially. He was a side antagonist during the awesome podracing segment of the film, as well as a cheater and a bully who of course got what was coming to him by the end of his storyline. While I don't expect Hasbro to do this for us, it would be awesome for him to come with one of the pit droids from the film. Sebulba was a smaller character, and the pit droid would be an addition that would not use up too much plastic and would thematically fit since Sebulba was a podracer. On his own though, he would still be a cool looking figure and fill out the alien genre of the Black Series line.
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Watto (possibly with Pit Droid)
This is another alien character from the movie who again is shorter in stature and would be kill with a pit droid but I won't die if he doesn't include one. Watto was the owner of Anakin and his mom who ran a junk shop, though he wouldn't agree with that last statement as he believes he is running more a parts dealership. He gambled, he made it to Attack of the Clones, and he resisted Qui Gon's Jedi mind tricks. I also liked his design with his webbed toes, pot belly, flaccid wings, and hose nose, which I would openly welcome in plastic form if Hasbro were to go through with it.
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Naked C-3PO
Yup, that is what I'm calling him because that was one of the funniest parts of his first interactions with R2. The prequel trilogy had my favorite designs for this character as I really enjoyed the more run down, dirty versions than the gold that he adopted later in the franchise, and that started with the first movie where he didn't even have any kind of plating. He was just a wiry frame walking around, with wires and widgets exposed all over him, which would lend really well to a fantastic plastic sculpt for a figure.
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Droideka
We finally got a battle droid in the line, and I've talked before about how the new Black Series deluxe line would be perfect for this figure, so everything seems to be lining up for the Droideka to finally make its appearance in the line. This was a challenging, imposing droid that poised a problem even for the Jedi to fight against. There was a lot of moving pieces when it came to these droids, and implementing their ability to roll up would be a cool feature for the action figure to include. If they get around to making padawan Obi Wan, he and Qui Gon will need some of these rolling droids to run from.
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Kid Anakin with Podracer
I've mentioned the podracing scenes from the movie already, and those were some of my favorites scenes of the whole prequel trilogy. The design of the podracers, the pilots, and the high energy action delivered a very fun scene for me and naturally, I think that to continue the vehicle set in 2019 there is no better choice that little Anakin and his pod racer. kid Anakin would be a smaller figure that wouldn't expend much plastic, and being included with his pod racer would guarantee the figure to sell better than if he was sold on his own. It would be a larger, very awesome set that I would scoop up without a doubt, and it would prove to be the ultimate Phantom Menace 20th anniversary action figure.
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