Sio Bibble is perhaps one of the best worst names in all of Star Wars.  In researching for this review, I learned that the name was created by George Lucas’s daughter Katie.  Ok then.  The character was the Governor of Naboo, and served on the Royal Advisory Council.  He had some things to say in The Phantom Menace, basically being in a state of disbelief with regard to the Separatist Invasion.  He ended up staying behind on Naboo after initially being rescued, along with the (fake) queen and the rest of her entourage.  He was then used as a pawn to lure the queen back, probably because he was afraid he was going to die sooner than his people.  Later, after the liberation, he was seen at Qui-Gon’s funeral, and then again holding the peace globe at the celebration.  In Attack of the Clones, he unwittingly helped create Darth Vader when he asked Anakin his opinion of the Separatist crisis, which put Anakin in the position of being embarrassed in front of the woman he would eventually almost sort of murder.  This would come back to haunt Bibble because he was forced to attend Padmé Amidala’s funeral, so he had to cancel his planned visit to a soccer ball game.  Some adventurous Youtuber decided to string together every line from Sio Bibble.  It gives you a newfound respect for the character, as he helped shape the galaxy.

Nonsense aside, the fact that Hasbro made Sio Bibble was another testament to the depth of the line, even at a time when it was still pretty young.  It was it this point, in the final wave of Episode I figures before the line changed to Power of the Jedi, that collectors had to know that there were some terrific things in store for their action figure collections.  If we could get a Sio Bibble, one of three old white guy politician figures made at the time, certainly anything was possible.  You Filthy Sixers out there will never know the joy of adding a Sio Bibble figure to your collection, and I feel sorry for you.

The figure is a terrific sculpt.  Not sure if the face looks precisely like the actor, but it is still very good, with a nice bit of pointy beardness going on.  The clothing is very well done.  The main part of his coat is a separately sculpted piece, which gives that nice amount of depth to the figure.  The paint applications are pretty solid.  Along with the well-crafted details in the clothing, the paint helps bring it all together.  The Naboo were a lively dressing bunch, and Governor Bibble was no exception.  Articulation is simple.  A modern version, however, would probably need standard super-articulation in order to sit down, which is something Bibble did a few times during his council scenes.

Bibble comes with a small Naboo blaster, which is sculpted and painted in a way that is far superior to the nonsense pair of blaster that was included with the recently reviewed Queen Amidala figure from the Battle of Naboo.  Of course, there’s really no reason for him to have a blaster.  Not only was he never seen carrying one, it doesn’t seem to make much sense that the Governor of Naboo would be packing heat in the first place.  I don’t really know what accessory would have been better, perhaps a small hologram of himself so he could send a message to Amidala regarding some nonsense about a catastrophic death toll.  But few Star Wars figures lack weapons, so I guess this was the simple choice.

Sio Bibble certainly isn’t the most exciting offering, but he is very well done.  It’s the type of figure that would have next to zero shot of being made in 2019, but we can always hope that the line might someday return to its glory days.  In the meantime, if you’re a fan of prequel figures, or just like obscure characters that probably should never have been made but you are glad they were, you should pick one up.  It’s the only Sio Bibble figure ever made, and is unlikely to ever get an update.  This figure does its job well, and earns the baseline 4/10 for an under articulated figure.