If you’re reading this on the date of publication, are you confused? Does this seem bafflingly random? If so, that’s because it is. When we used post content seven days a week (and I was losing my mind), the weekend content was always a little lighter. Saturdays would just be a fun random topic to discuss (and before that, you could find cartoon reviews by either CJ or Jimmy). Sunday’s were for “Sunday Funday” reviews. These reviews would look back at some of the older figures in the line. I loved doing them for two reasons. First, since the figures were mostly dated and obsolete, the reviews were rarely about the figures themselves. There’s little value in reviewing a 20 year old plus release today. Therefore it was more reminiscing about the history of the line, which I love. Second, I would still like to have every basic figure from the modern line photographed here some day. So I need these reviews to backfill our catalog. With Sunday content mostly gone, I figured I could make these “Friday Funday” reviews.
As we’ve often discussed, these blue carded figures from 2002 through 2003 constitute one of the most enigmatic line looks in the history of Star Wars figures. To the best of my knowledge, it’s the only unnamed line to date. It was used to usher in the Attack of the Clones figures, but Episode II was one of only two Star Wars movies that didn’t receive a dedicated line look (The Rise of Skywalker is the other). The reason for this soon became apparent. Figures from other sources were almost immediately sprinkled into the lineup. Because the figures spanned the entire saga, this blue card line look was nicknamed the “Saga” line by fans, and it’s recognized by this moniker to this day. To make matters absolutely confusing, the deliberately named The Saga Collection came around a few years later.
The nameless-ness of this line look isn’t the only thing that makes it a curiosity. If the Star Wars brand team were a musical band, this would have been their experimental phase where they visited India for inspiration leading to their songs getting a heavy dose of sitar. If I just ear wormed Norwegian Wood on you, mission accomplished. Hasbro got wild, weird, and wacky during this era. Some ideas were good enough that I wouldn’t mind seeing them today, such as the clip-on blaster deflections for the sabers (which this figure does not have). There were some epic accessories such as the piece of the Bespin gantry included with the 02-30 Darth Vader (Bespin Duel) release. This figure likewise does not have an epic accessory, but it does have another staple of the “Saga” collection: the metallic saber hilt that attaches to the hand via magnetism. The blade is also removable, but the pins that inserted into the hilt on these sabers were very thin and given to breakage. They were the equivalent of the tips of the vintage Kenner retractable sabers. I guarantee you that there isn’t an intact removable saber blade in any figure coming from a kid collection.
Another hallmark of this era was extreme action pre-posing. This was the pre-articulation era, so the only way a figure could express a dynamic pose was to be sculpted that way. It lead to silly, coiled poses, such as this Mace Windu. The left foot is turned outward ninety degrees to mimic a furious saber chop, which brings us to the coup de grĂ¢ce of the “Saga” line: the action feature. A conspicuous button in the middle of the back spins the upper toros to enact the swing of the blade, but even that’s not what makes this figure notorious. The face is sculpted into a permanent closed-eyed and anguished scream. If you slot this figure into your display, it looks like Mace is permanently experiencing his first annual physical after turning fifty. This has lead many to consider 02-28 Mace Windu (Geonosian Rescue) to be the worst figure in the history of the line. It’s closes contender is also from this nameless blue card series: 03-17 Luke Skywalker (Throne Room Duel).
I didn’t designate this figure as “obsolete”. I chose “other value” instead. I’m not a big believer in collecting figures for kitsch value, but if ever there was a valid reason to do so, this Mace Windu is it. Tell me you wouldn’t love to show off this nightmare to one of your normie friends. Just don’t pay too much for it. Amazingly this isn’t the only notoriously bad Windu from this line. Stay tuned.