In the months that preceded the release of Attack of the Clones, I made an effort to avoid most of the massive amount of info that bombarded the planet daily.  I watched the teasers and trailers, and occasionally a little bit online, but for the most part, tried to keep myself spoiler free.

I had picked up the entire available line of Hasbro figures and toys at the Midnight Madness event at Toys R Us in Times Square.  I had a plan to open one or two of them each night until the premiere of Attack of the Clones.  I didn’t have the same sensibilities that I have today, so at the time, I rather enjoyed the dynamic look of the figures, as well as the magnets that were such a big part of the SAGA line in 2002.  I wasn’t a fan of the action features, but the rest of it I took in stride.  I was intrigued by all the fighting Jedi, the beasts, the ships, and the vehicles. 

After opening most of the figures as the opening night of AOTC got closer, it came time to open this Jango Fett figure.  It was subtitled with the parenthetical “Final Battle”, which I thought that was a bit ominous.  I also wasn’t as excited about this figure because I already owned a Jango Fett from the preview wave that came out at the tail end of the POTJ line.  Nevertheless, I tore the package open.  I heard something drop and hit the floor.  It was the figure’s helmet.  I thought a removable helmet was a nifty feature, until I realized that it was an intentional decapitation magnet feature.  I was horrified.  Jango Fett was billed as the main baddie in AOTC, and his image was everywhere in the media hype machine.  He dies?  He gets his head chopped off?  What the hell, man?  How could this have been allowed as a figure before the film even came out?  I was devastated.

The state of the current 3.75” line today means that we collectors are willing to put up with a lot of stuff that would drive us crazy years ago.  Back then, we got mad when toy spoilers…spoiled the film.  But now, with the line so flimsy and releases so few and far between, we hate the secrecy that prevents any toy from coming out in a timely manner.  We rail on Disney and Hasbro for treating us like idiots that can’t handle spoiler toys, and so we often don’t get them until so far down the timeline that we’ve forgotten about them already. 

But I was totally pissed in 2002.

Anyway, the figure is preposed, and the articulation, although higher than typical at the time when counted, was weird and difficult to engage.  The figure’s head can turn (via a magnet instead of an actual joint), and it has swivels at the shoulders, right elbow, wrists, waist and hips, along with ball jointed knees.  But most of that is difficult to make any use out of.  The angle of the legs and feet make posing the legs in any but one single way virtually impossible.  he swivel elbow is awkward, but manages to succeed in it’s purpose of looking like Jango is activating the flamethrower in his left gauntlet.  The head can turn, but just as easily can fall off. 

The figure comes with two blasters, but has no holsters to keep them stored.  The gauntlet is a bit oversized, and the flame accessory has a long tail which is designed to extend through the outstretched left arm and out the back of his shoulder.  The tail protrudes from that hole, and is meant to be flicked forward for launching, but it looks a bit odd coming out the back.  Jango also has a removable jetpack. 

While the overall design of the figure is limiting, I have to give it props for working fairly well when displaying in either of the two poses for which it was made.  It works well as a headless corpse (standing momentarily or lying on the ground).  In fact, if you choose a Jango Fett for such a display, this one might outdo the far better figures of the character that came out later.  You could take of Jango’s helmet and pop off his head from another version, but you’re left with the neck and ball, which is pretty weird.  The magnetized helmet comes off cleanly, and leaves no neck post behind.  This Jango also displays pretty well (despite the flame tail protruding from the shoulder) for that moment on the balcony when he tries to set fire to Mace Windu.  Amazingly, the figure is balanced well enough to handle this pose.

One quick note about screen accuracy.  I never noticed before, but in researching this review, I noticed that the tip of the center point on Jango’s backpack is sliced off along with his head.  You can see this clearly just as his body hit’s the arena floor, if you pause it at the right moment.  Kinda neat, and a very minor detail that Hasbro never bothered with.  This figure has a removable backpack, so it would have been an amazing nod to the details if they had an alternate backpack with the lightsaber damage to the top of it.

Anyway, while it’s a weird figure, it manages to save itself in the end.  It’s not anywhere close to the best Jango Fett, but it works for the specific aforementioned scenes.  I’ll give it a very high 5, just not quite a 6 out of 10.  Not a great score, but still worth a look.