The podrace scene seems to be TPM’s version of the the Canto Bight casino scene in TLJ.  Most people seem to dislike it, and time isn’t kind to those feelings.  If you didn’t enjoy the scene when you first saw it, you very likely have grown more annoyed by it over time, and if you watch the film today, you’re likely to skip it because it’s too long and monotonous.  Adding insult to injury was the extended version included on the Blu-Ray.  Others may have enjoyed it upon first viewing, but soured on it for the same reasons.  Personally, I liked it, and still do.  Yeah, it’s long, but I love the effects, the aliens, and the sounds, not to mention the little fan nods like the Tusken snipers, the “Utinni!” jawas, and Jabba falling asleep - which is actually pretty funny if you accept it as Lucas making a self-deprecating crack at the scene itself.  The podracer pilots were a wacky looking bunch of aliens, but they seemed to favor small and nimble species.  Other than Anakin and Mawhonic, the species represented were all new to Star Wars films.  A lot of fans weren’t enamored with the designs, just as they were not with the casino aliens.  Perhaps Lucsas took unfamiliarity a bit too far after we thought we’d seen most of the galaxy’s species in the cantina and Jabba’s palace, but if they were all Rodians and Ithorians, people would have complained about lack of originality. 

During the run of Episode I figures from Hasbro, we got several podracer figures, as well as supporting characters for the whole podrace scene.  In only roughly 1 year of production, we got Anakin, Sebulba, Gasgano, and Ody Mandrell.  We got several paint and sculpt variants of the basic pit droid, as well as the very different Otoga 222 model, along with several crates and other assorted accessories.  We got C-3PO, R2, Padmé, Qui-Gon and Jar Jar.  We got two pod racer vehicles.  There’s Jabba, the starting gong, the two-headed announcer, an Eopie, and even Watto’s box which included seats and two spectators.  All of that was just in the year following the release of the film.  At the time, you could have even added existing Tuskens, Jawas, and a Bib Fortuna.  Several more new characters, updates to several of these, and other accessories were added later on.  Say what you will about your interest in this part of the film, but Hasbro gave us plenty of opportunities to set up a worthwhile podrace diorama.  To paraphrase Anakin, “Now, this is world building!”  This is the One True Scale.  KNEEL BEFORE 3.75”! 

Translating these podracers into action figure form was a challenge for Hasbro.  The small statures and slight builds didn’t lend themselves to easy translation to 3.75” plastic figures.  Gasgano was no exception.  He’s so thin he’s barely even a viable life form.  He’s a bunch of sticks with a head.  But Hasbro nevertheless succeeded in creating an action figure that was faithful to the on screen character.  The articulation is a bit strange.  He’s got a tiny swivel head, and 4 ball jointed arms.  Now these are true “ball and socket” articulation points, but they weren’t really designed to provide a wide range of motion, sadly All four arms move at their respective “shoulders”, but not really that much.  And on my samples (I have a couple, including the 2012 re-release) the arms pop off easily.  The figure’s non-articulated tiny feet and thin legs make it difficult for Gasgano to stand up straight, but you can actually enlist the help of the lower arms by resting those hands on the ground for some extra support.  None of the hands can hold anything, which I guess is fine since there are no accessories included.

The DUM (get it?) series Pit Droid is another faithful recreation of a tiny and slim character.  The droid has 5 POA, including a ball jointed head, so it can look around comically.  It is able to be positioned in a standing rest position.  Even though these feet are super small, it isn’t too hard to balance the pit droid in a standing position.  There are no foot holes, however, so there’s no relief from tipping over, if your sample is prone to do that.  This is the first of several different Pit Droid sculpts.  Hasbro was in love with these guys during the Episode I run.  In addition to this, there was also a 2-pack that came towards the end of the line.  Also, there were some 2-packs that were available overseas, which instead of the comm-tech chip gimmick, included a bonus pit-droid.  There were 2 sculpts, each painted 3 different ways.  If you got them all, you had a veritable army of pit droids.

Both of these figures do well enough in a display today, They could certainly be done better with today’s technology, but unless we’re getting Gasgano’s podracer, I suspect there’d be no reason to update the figure, especially since it was re-released during the Walmart TPM3D Cataclysm of 2012.  One good thing about that is that the multi-pack in which you could get this figure not only included other podracers you may have previously missed, but also included their racing flags (pictured in the gallery above).  If you’re looking to add podracers to your collection, go for that set instead of this single figure. I’ll give this 2-pack a 5/10.  But feel free to flaunt ‘em if you got ‘em.