Nomadscout’s 2025 March Madness Top 25

Believe it or not, I've never done this before. For those of you that don't understand, let me explain: [more...]

(That was a lot funnier as the front page lead-in, believe me!)

So this is the first time I've submitted a top 25 to @SWTVC's March Madness. I've voted plenty of times once the brackets were set, but I've never entered my own list at the beginning. I find the process to be frustrating. To be clear, I'm not talking about the event process; the @SWTVC crew does an unimaginable amount of work to make this excercise fun for the TVC community, and I thank them for their efforts. I mean my own personal process of having to pick 25. I don't find it rewarding, as there's really just no way for me to pick 25 figures above the others. I want all the ones I want, and very very few figures have an elevated status that makes them slam dunks for me. I put a little extra priority on filling out the best dioramas I have on display, like the Cantina, Palace, and Barge. Less priority goes to almost everything else. And with the backlog of figures that we should have had years ago getting larger by the day, it's more of an exercise in frustration for me. And how am I supposed to pick one particular member of a crew that I want? How can I chose Crosshair over Tech? Or Bodhi over Baze? Or Uncle Owen over Aunt Beru? Many Star Wars figures are nearly meaningless to me without their partner/team/crew/squad whatever. If I had the power to do one single selfish thing in the line right now that was just for me and my collection and wasn't dependent on market reality, I would want a 4 pack with the missing crew members of the Second Skiff. Do I want just one figure? Sure, but I don't want one in 3 years, a second 5 years after that, and then the others at some point when I'm eating pablum through a straw.

Anyway, once I settle on my top 25, I realize that most of them are virtually interchangeable with numbers 26 through 1364 on Nomadscout's Great and Grand List of Every Star Wars Figure I Can Envision. So I feel like I'm not just making a tough decision on whether or not #26 moves up, but I'm essentially eliminating my entire wish list minus 25 randos. I'd rather just go through the comparatively mindless excercise of picking between two characters in each bracket matchup. Why? Because I'd take almost all of them anyway.

Well, almost. As a general rule (which I don't always adhere to) I prefer to stay away from starting a new scene with a figure or two that have little or no context, just so I can wait 13 years to have something meaningful. This is why I tend to have little to no interest in items from the ST. More than 5 years after the trilogy is complete, we're left with about 20 figures (or something like that). They can do very little as far as representing a meaningful screen moment worthy of display. It's got nothing to do with the source. If Hasbro said, "Hey, we're going to put out 25 new figures from the ST in the next 24 months", I might get excited about that (probably not). Every once in a while, Hasbro does exactly that and steps hard on the gas pedal. For example, in just a few short years, they've gone all out on the final arc of TCW, which I loved. We've got a ton of stuff for the Siege of Mandalore, and almost everything from the final scenes aboard the doomed Star Destroyer, Tribunal. It all came relatively quick. Compare that to the nearly 30 years it took to complete the Prisoner Skiff. In the meantime, I'd prefer a Human Jabba from the OT deleted scene before any new context-less ST figure.

Anyway, here's my top 25, with more words after the list:



1. Saw Gerrera [Rogue One]
2. Second Sister [Jedi: Fallen Order]
3. Padmé Amidala (Theed Battle) [TPM]
4. Owen Lars [ANH]
5. Theron Nett (Red Ten) [ANH]
6. Daine Jir [ANH]
7. Fozec [ROTJ]
8. Shasa Tiel [ROTJ]
9. Yotts Oren [ROTJ]
10. Unidentified Weequay Guard (Khetanna "Window Weequay") [ROTJ]
11. Arleil Schous [ANH]
12. Two Tubes (all four tubes!) [RO]
13. Cassian Andor (Jedha Parka) [RO]
14. Mon Mothma [ROTJ]
15. Old Captain Rex [Rebels]
16. Almec (Mando Armor) [TCW]
17. Baze Malbus [RO]
18. Ownellco [ANH]
19. Derek "Hobbie" Klivian [ESB]
20. Cere Junda (Mantis Crew outfit) [JFO]
21. ND-5 [Outlaws]
22. Migs Mayfeld (Mercenary) [TM]
23. Peli Motto [TM]
24. SM-33 [SC]
25. Bob Hudsol (Medal Ceremony) [ANH]

I kept the top 10 exactly the same as I had done for Last Figure Standing. In general, I selected figures that would help me fill out some gaps in my displays, but also that might trigger a logical progression to other figures from similar sources to help complete a few crews. For example, I chose Second Sister. I really want all the Inquisitors, so my logic here was that since we have the Grand Inquisitor and Third Sister, Second Sister would fill that numerical gap, and maybe get Hasbro moving on adding more down the line. (I'd most like to see Ninth Sister at some point.) I chose Theron Nett because I want all 12 Red Squadron pilots from Yavin (and their droids). Since we have Nett's astromech already (for some random reason), I started with him, but I would want the pairings for Red 7-9, and 11-12 as well. I picked Owen hoping that would lead to Beru, etc. A few were standalone, like Theed Padmé, because she's a main character in an action costume where the existing figure from 1999 is horrendous.

Moving past the LFS top 10, I kept a lot of that logic. I really want the Rogue One crew, but I selected Baze over Bodhi for this list, thinking he's got a better shot, and would then open the door for Bodhi. Every time I think about this crew, I'm all about Bodhi and Baze, but I almost always forget that the Cassian we have isn't in the correct outfit, so I decided to also include Cassian in his Jedha Parka look. While Mon Mothma has recently developed into a recurring main character, I definitely want a modern update to the POTF2 Salt Shaker from ROTJ. Almec is a weird dude, but I really liked his version of Mando armor, and he's one of the few figures missing from the Seige of Mandalore. Ownellco is my pick for the Cantina because we've never had a Lutrillian in the line.

I want more of the main characters (not just troops) from the JFO/JS video games, especially with a third installment coming at some point. I started with Cere Junda in her original crew outfit, hoping to get the Mantis crew, but then also some of the Jedi down the road. I'm a fan of the commando droids, so why not start with ND-5 (he wears a trench coat!) while the mold could be reused for some Clone Wars stuff and also lead to more figures from Outlaws. I want Merc Migs Mayfeld (and his crew), and I picked SM-33 to join Jod, while hoping for more from Skeleton Crew. I finished the list with good ol' Bob Hudsol and his mustache. Although some deeper backgrounders would remain unmade, I would consider the Yavin Medal Ceremony scene complete with him, as he stands in a prominent position on the dais.

And that's all I have to say about that.

---

comments powered by Disqus