Utapaun Warrior - ROTS - Basic (III 53)

The Utapauns wish to keep their homeworld out of the Clone Wars. But when they cannot prevent the war from overtaking Utapau, they fight vigorously to defend their planet elas it comes under siege.

Just like the various clones concepts that were brainstormed during the making of Episode III, native alien species also don't get their originally intended day in the sun either. This is what happened to the Pau'an warriors. They were originally intended to be part of a huge battle sequence in Revenge Of The Sith, yet they were relegated to very, very background characters barely seen in the final version of the film. To say we didn’t see them in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith would be very incorrect, but it's likely you completely missed them altogether like we did for the first 100 viewings of Revenge Of The Sith. Some of the Pau'an had minor speaking roles. After all, Tion Medon had dialogue and then the Utapaun elders were also seen behind him in background shots. But you can see the Pau'an warriors riding the dactillions and during the execution of Order 66 when they were “arrested” by the 212th Attack Battalion and subsequently released. But the actual Pau’an warriors never made it into the final version of the film as they were originally intended. This is a shame because they are a very neat species and it looks like they would have done some damage in battle. It would have been cool to see them defend Utapau, but it just wasn’t in the cards. Revenge Of The Sith just ate up too much time and sadly some things just had to be cut. Calling these characters Utapaun Warriors instead of Pau’an Warriors technically isn’t incorrect, but since two distinct species live on the shared planet of Utapau: the Utai and the Pau’an, we like to keep their names separate whenever not talking about the all inclusive planet.

For a Collection 2 figure, we can’t say we’re overly impressed with this figure’s articulation. Despite having a significant amount of movement, most of the figure has swivel points of articulation, which doesn't make it the most collector friendly figure we've seen. In fact, aside from the ball-socket head and the ball-socket ankles, all of the Utapaun Warrior is swivel articulation. For a supposed warrior, this movement really isn’t conducive to allow the figure appear in action. Then again, we "barely" see them writing the dactillion beasts or standing next to them waiting to ride them. Collectors will have to use their imaginations on how to situate them in battle. But even though the articulation isn’t up to snuff, we have to hand it to Hasbro for matching the colors and details very well to the reference material we have been able to find on this character. The Utapaun Warrior definitely looks pretty good, especially when posed on his environmental display stand. And actually, it looks pretty much exactly the same as the reference material. We’re impressed. The figure comes with a decent amount of accessories including a battle staff, a shield (with a completely removable strap) and a removable helmet. His outfit is pretty much one solid piece and it sadly inhibits lower body articulation since it isn’t pliable enough to allow the joints to move freely. Still, when fully geared up we can't help acknowledge that this figure looks pretty darn sweet.

The Revenge Of The Sith line was planned in advance. In fact most of it was planned and designed in 2004, so many characters that were thought to have major roles in the film became part of the background scenery. It's not like these characters squeaked right past Lucasfilm, Ltd. as Hasbro sought approval for basic figures in the Revenge Of The Sith line. Utapaun Warrior is definitely one of these figures. Revenge Of The Sith is the absolute best film of the Prequel Trilogy. It would have even been better had more time been allotted for the various battles of the Clone Wars, especially so we could have seen these characters fight in the Clone Wars. How cool would it have been to see the Utapaun Warriors fighting along side the 212th Attack Battalion, then against it once Order 66 was executed? The plot lines could go on and on and on and it’s precisely the reason that scenes including the Utapaun Warriors fighting were cut (or just not developed) altogether. So you’ll have to rely of the Expanded Universe to develop their tales. We also would love to see Hasbro develop an even better action figure of this character for our collections. But it’s probably more likely that the this is our one and only hurrah for the Utapaun Warrior. They’ll focus on characters that were more prevalent in Episode III before redoing the obscure. But we’ve also learned that anything is very possible in this hobby too.