Nute Gunray is a classic Lucas name.  Nute is likely a phonetic play on the word “newt” in reference to the reptilian appearance of the Neimodians.  The Gunray surname jumps straight out of a Flash Gordon serial as a play on that franchise’s weapon of choice, the ray gun.  Put the two together and the name is about as subtle as naming the only fat Rebellion pilot “Porkins”.  If you can’t have fun with this name, you’re a hard hearted cynic and I will not share a hotel room with you!  Not everything needs to be a brain busting SAT exam.  If you want an intellectual workout, this review is being published on a Wednesday.  I’m sure Jimmy will be posting a book report in a few hours. 

Update:  In the comments below, reader Darren offers the likely true source of the “Nute Gunray” name.

Fans, in general, despised the Neimodian race.  Lucas’ biggest mistake with his alien species in Episode I was having them speak English.  The alien species in Star Wars have long toed the line of being ethnic caricatures, but by having them speak “basic” with an accent, any veneer was stripped away in The Phantom Menace.  If Lucas had them speak a different language, like Greedo in A New Hope, it would have bene a classier kind of racism.  Something George Plimpton would do, and that would have made it more palatable.  I don’t personally feel like the Neimodian accent sounds racist.  It sounds more like a forced speech impediment like Adam Sandler in Little Nicky.  That was annoying.  It’s likely for one of these reasons that fans rejected this figure.  Nute Gunray was Constable Zuvio before Constable Zuvio, and he didn’t have the excuse of being cut from the film.  We are lead to believe he is one of the main antagonists (even though I dare say his character is tragically sympathetic by the end of Episode III).

This figure takes the “salt shaker” pejorative and cranks it up to 11.  It has 6 points of articulation, but aside from the head, they are all rendered effectively useless by the plastic robes.  This is a close to a chess piece as we’ve had in the history of the line, but I do have to say that the detailing on the robes is fantastic.  If something is going to be an inert display piece, it needs to look that part.  From the neck down, this figure looks decent.  The head is another story.  If it were done well, I could almost tolerate this figure, but it’s not done well.  It’s crude for lack of a better word.  The folds in Gunray’s skin are sculpted as if they were canyons and exacerbated with a dark wash.  It doesn’t work.  Even though Gunray would “just stand there” in your display, the head makes it stick out as a dated figure.  The contrast with the detailed head sculpt on the VC82 - Daultay Dofine is jarring.  This makes it difficult to give this figure anything more than a 3 score and I feel I’m being generous there.

And that brings us to the main impetus for me wanting to do this review.  We need a modern Nute Gunray figure.  Hasbro is probably reluctant to go back to this source considering how terribly this 1999 figure faired at retail, but it’s time.  Like literally right now.  As one of the primary villains in The Phantom Menace, the 20th Anniversary would have been the perfect excuse to sneak out a new Nute Gunray figure.  Unfortunately it looks like that opportunity has been missed, but fans would be more receptive to a new Nute Gunray figure today, especially considering the current low production volumes.  It just can’t exceed more than one figure per case with no carry forward.