Jar Jar Binks - SW [TPM 3D] - Movie Heroes (MH13)

Jar Jar Binks uses a bowcaster to fire boomas at battle droids. The Gungans fight the battle droid army on Naboo. Gungan soldiers use weapons that fire exploding energy balls called boomas, which short-circuit the droids. Jar Jar may not be the most skilled warrior, but he is not afraid to fight, and takes out a number of droids during the battle.

Love him or hate him, Jar Jar Binks “knows” how to make a statement in the basic figure line. He’s arguably the Star Wars character to despise, an easy target of sorts, but one things Hasbro has always seem to execute without issue is how well he turns out in the basic figure lines he’s appeared. Let’s face it, has there really been a bad Jar Jar Binks ever? Even if we still need a definitive version of him (which isn’t an issue since he’s part of the 2012 The Vintage Collection lineup), previous iterations have always looked good to excellent. One of the most impressive versions of him is 2009’s TCW [F/S1] Jar Jar Binks (No. 24). It’s excellent for a large array of reasons from brilliant deco to excellent use of soft-good and hard-goods interaction, oh, and incredible articulation on a kids’ toy. (We jest about him being a kids toy. Who is Hasbro kidding anyway?) That version in and of itself made collectors realize just what Hasbro was capable of for an eventual realistic version of him. Well, we have a temporary solution right this minute. The Movie Heroes Jar Jar Binks is honestly a fine figure. And you won’t be able to see why he shines unless you have the opportunity to hold him in your hands.

We don’t like the Movie Heroes line any more than you do, but we have to give Hasbro a round of applause for Jar Jar Binks. Let us be clear. He is far from perfect and his coloring borders on “very” off but the figure as a whole is a refreshing upgrade from the the versions we received throughout the 1999-2000 collecting era. Yes, it’s been a long time since we’ve received a modern update of Jar Jar Binks and now collectors can enjoy two that were both released in 2012. Jar Jar Binks comes with 15 total points of articulation, but Hasbro was clever about where they put them. He’s limited with swivel shoulders, but his elbows are ball-jointed which really helps with posing him. He also comes with ball-jointed knees which makes us particularly happy. He also has an interesting double ball-socket neck and our friends at Yakface.com have shown us the functionality of this joint in their Toyguide entry on this action figure. Jar Jar Binks is also missing his ornate skin pattern, something that is a crying shame to skip on this and all of the recent Gungans like 2009's LC Gungan Warrior (BD07) and 2012's SW [TPM 3D] Gungan Warrior Discover The Force (5 of 12) figures Hasbro has made more recently. We hope they bring that back stat. Sadly, Jar Jar Binks has other coloring issues that Hasbro missed like his vest and shirt. They are kinf of reversed in a way.

Jar Jar Binks’ has an excellent head sculpt. We absolutely love it. But it seems like Hasbro got a tad lazy with its deco in the eyes. Jar Jar sadly looks cross-eyed. While it’s noticeable, it certainly isn’t the end of the world and it shouldn’t affect your decision to purchase this figure. Besides, we’re not sure how widespread this issue is and whether it affects all samples. Overall, the important thing to know here is that Jar Jar Binks offers more positives than negatives. Because Movie Heroes is geared at kids, Jar Jar comes with a booma crossbow that fires a purplish booma projectile. And of course, last but not least, he also comes with a Galactic Battle Game card, die and stand. He hasn’t been easy to find at retail. Like after most street date specific multimedia events, Hasbro worked really hard to get initial January 30, 2012 product on the shelves in plenty of quantity. Sadly, it’s all gone downhill since. We hope than even though Movie Heroes has not been designed with collectors in mind that everyone has a fair chance to at least see these figures on the shelves so they can make a decision to purchase or decline purchase. We hope you decide that Jar Jar Binks is a definite purchase because this is a pretty solid effort on Hasbro's part.