Jar Jar Binks With W. Wald - Mini Busts

Happy Holidays from Gentle Giant Ltd! For the first time, Gentle Giant is offering collectors the chance to bring home Jar Jar Binks and W. Wald for the Holidays! Jar Jar comes entangled in a string of holiday lights and wearing a Santa hat! Both of the holiday accessories are removable so you can proudly display Jar Jar year round! Also included in the pack is one of Warwick Davis' many Star Wars characters, the Rodian W. Wald from The Phantom Menace.

Collectors of Gentle Giant Ltd.’s Mini Bust line for years have wanted to see Jar Jar Binks. After ten years (almost to the day) the wait is over and now Jar Jar Binks can be added to the rest of the characters based on The Phantom Menace, which to date has the least amount of characters in the Mini Bust format. The wait has been well worth it as Jar Jar Binks is about one of the best sculpts we have ever seen. One little nuance about the pose annoys us, but we’re willing to let it go because everything else about this annoying Gungan is nearly perfect. (Did they really have to pose him with his tongue hanging out like an idiot? OK, we know there are a few “tongue gags” in Episode I, but it’s not wholly representative of this character and we wish they would have not exaggerate this detail. That being said, Jar Jar Binks is definitely impressive and we have to admit it’s better than we expected. We’re even not too crazy about the angle in which he is positioned, but the sculpt and details are so wonderful you probably won’t care that much either. Where the Jar Jar Binks Mini Busts fails is in its exclusivity. Love him or hate him, Jar Jar Binks is popular and he has grown on Star Wars fans – even those that vocalized the contempt for him quite audibly. With only 600 pieces, Gentle Giant Ltd. should have considered the casual Mini Bust buyer instead of relegating this to a low-edition sized Premier Guild Member exclusive.

Jar Jar Binks is perfectly sculpted and beautifully painted. The unique pattern on his skin have been expertly applied. His costume (of what we can see of it) is exactly replicated from the one we saw in Episode I. Gentle Giant Ltd. did an incredible job on recreating his eyes. His diamond shaped pupils sit in a yellow background yet they contain the warmness and sincerity Jar Jar Binks possesses when he isn’t acting like a lost member of the Three Stooges. With only 600 pieces produced, there are going to be many upset fans out there. There is no way this is low edition is going to remotely be able to satisfy all of the people out there who want this. Expect this to command ridiculous money on the aftermarket. Because Gentle Giant Ltd. has decided to make this part of their 2012 Holiday Edition tradition, Jar Jar Binks comes with a real soft-goods (and very soft) Santa hat. And then he also comes with a dark green string of multiple-colored old-fashioned styled Christmas lights. It’s electronic, but most of the lights do not light up. Interestingly, whoever manufactured this strand of lights worked in three unique blinking styles: slow, quick and non-blinking. We’re quite impressed that something this small has been give this much attention. It’s such a great idea that they’ve decided to make these “Holiday Edition” Mini Busts last the entire year by making the seasonal accessories removable. There is a lot to enjoy here.

The W. Wald Mini Bust on the other hand perplexes us completely. We know that this character (along with Kitster Banai) makes is high on the Hasbro wish lists every year, but even that is something we don’t understand at all. Not only are they the purest definitions of “background characters”, their roles in the film aren’t even remotely interesting. A character like W. Wald looked so ridiculously bad in Episode I, we wonder how it even got past George Lucas’ discerning and critical eye. Intended to be a child, we thought W. Wald’s head was scarily disproportionate to the stocky body and looked like anything but a young Rodian. (A lot of that has to be with the character being played by Warrick Davis.) (As a side note, even Amee – the girl with “space braces” – [are you serious?] – just didn’t work at all for us in The Phantom Menace. We have apparently digressed way off course here now.) That being said however, the W. Wald bust is another excellent sculpt. It’s so good that it actually looks better than the character in the film (we often wonder how the heck does that happens). The coloring and sculpt really couldn’t have been done better and should make “fans” of this character very happy. You already know that before this Mini Bust was released, it’s the only collectible form of this character. You should probably be thankful for it. Us? We could have absolutely done without it. Sadly, the Jar Jar Binks With W. Wald Mini Bust set didn’t arrive to those who pre-ordered it until January 2013 – three weeks after Christmas. Obviously the reason to buy this set is for Jar Jar Binks. It’s done incredibly well, but it’s a shame that most people won’t be able to acquire him in this format.