Captain Tarpals - EI - Basic

A military leader with little patience for the exploits of Jar Jar Binks, Captain Tarpals helped lead the Gungan Army against the invading trade Federation forces.

Many Star Wars fans feel similarly about the Gungan species. They love them until they open their mouths and “spake”. For the most part, Jar Jar Binks was the clown of the group, but for some collectors that made it difficult to appreciate the other Gungans in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. You shouldn’t see Captain Tarpals as guilty by association however because the character, and the subsequent action figure to show Star Wars fans that you should possess some love for the Gungans and empathize with their fight for freedom during the Battle of Naboo. Captain Tarpals certainly looks like the traditional Gungan species of Jar Jar Binks, but he also has his own unique look. And all of these “new” details have been captured exquisitely in the action figure. With expertly crafted proportions and a likeness that is simply gorgeous, Captain Tarpals should inevitably make his way into your Episode I collection because he’s already one of the standout figures in the line. The Battle of Naboo showed us one similarly looking Gungan after another. There was very little to distinguish the warriors, but Captain Tarpals holds his own and stands out from the crowd. You’re going to love him.

Captain Tarpals comes with simple articulation. These points are found in the neck, shoulders, waist and hips. He has a rather static pose, so you really only get minimal movement with this action figure. But he looks good and this is a figure that should be ranked on how excellent the sculpt and paint operations are over how articulated he is. Interestingly, his head sculpt is made up of two separate pieces that are glued together. You may not notice this right away as they hid the seams quite well. But this is indeed fact and it strikes us as peculiar why they approached Captain Tarpals in this manner. Maybe this was done to make the deco process a bit easier. We’re just not sure. About that deco. Captain Tarpals has one of the most complex patterns on his skin that we have ever seen on an action figure to date. The beautiful patterns are complicated, geometric, thin and beautiful. Here are even tiny patterns on the back of Captain Tarpal’s ears (covering them completely). The deco is breathtaking and its simply amazing how much extra the deco brings to this already excellent sculpt. Underneath these finishing touches is purple and tan skin, that have been subtly blended as to not create harsh lines for a more seamless look. Captain Tarpals has impressive deco. No one can deny it.

Captain Tarpals comes with two accessories. The first is removable shoulder armor, which really looks more like a decorative part of his outfit than armor. The second is the standard electropole utilized by the Gungans to defender themselves against the enemy as well as punish some other Gungans who behave badly. The accessories interact nicely with Captain Tarpals and are the perfect complement to this figure. Once again, it’s important to reiterate that Captain Tarpals strengths lie on his overall appearance and how he displays. This action figure won’t win for articulation, but it could easily take the lead when it comes to its paint operations. Also included with Captain Tarpals is a CommTech chip that has been added to all Episode I action figures as a way to make them talk and interacts with each other. These chips haven’t been too keenly well received by collectors, but it certainly gives them something extra to collect on top of basic action figures. The nice thing is that the CommTech chips also can serve as an action figure display stand, which is what most collectors are doing with them. There isn’t much surface area to them, so the balance of them isn’t totally perfect. But they serve their purpose well enough in our opinion.