TOP 5: Potential Star Wars Vintage Collection Beasts

Posted by Bret on 09/18/21 at 07:05 AM Category: Hasbro, Vintage Collection, Top 5, #FightforTVC

The many beasts of Star Wars are often the most crowd-pleasing aspects of Star Wars media. It's always a lot of fun to see the heroes get sidetracked by some horrific monster, or to witness everyday beasts of burden being put to work across the galaxy. Hasbro has typically paid its fair share of attention to ensuring that collectors are able to buy 3.75" scale versions of Star Wars fauna, however it's been a bit of a low point lately. We've made much of the specific lack of product in the low- to mid-range price point between $13 action figures and $80+ vehicles. Hasbro seemingly has answered the call for moderately priced environments around $50, but we at Banthaskull would love to see some beasts made available in that price range as well. Here are my personal Top 5 requests.

1. Orray

The Orray is a fairly prominent part of the Geonosis scene in AOTC. An Orray pulling a prisoner cart brought Anakin and Padmé into the execution arena. Later, more Orrays, with Geonosian Picador riders, wrangled the Reek, Acklay, and Nexu towards their potential victims. Later, during the Jedi rescue mission, Padmé commandeered the original Orray, while Anakin rode in the cart. Together, they blasted and cut their way through the battle droid army. Finally, Padmé and Anakin used the upended cart as cover, while they aggressively negotiated with the battle droids. It's quite surprising that Hasbro didn't give us an Orray during the 2002-2003 AOTC push. Over the years, we've gotten almost everything we needed (with a few things showing their age at this point), in order to faithfully recreate the entire Arena scene. The Orray is a notable exception. I'm personally not normally into customs, but given how the Orray was almost the only piece missing from my display, I decided to acquire this piece of art. Due the conspicuous nature of its absence from the line, this creature ranks at the top of my list. I would love an Orray w/cart and a Geonosian Picador (repack is fine) to be introduced into the line. I think a great casepack partner in the same price range would be the unproduced LR1K Geonosian Cannon (with Gunner), from the same scene.

2. Blurrg

No shock here. Fans have been clamoring for the Blurrg since it appeared in The Mandalorian. Helping to complete the scene with the figures we have (and will have), the Blurrg seems to be a perfect compliment for our collections, and Hasbro still has the opportunity to strike while the iron is still kinda warm - especially with the Razor Crest just a few months away from delivery. And it's worth noting that Blurrgs first appeared in the film Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, and then were later brought into modern animated media in The Clone Wars, Rebels, and The Bad Batch. This particular beast seems to have wide-ranging appeal among the collector base, and since it's also fairly current in new media, it could be a big hit and a springboard for future releases at a lesser price point than, say, the X-Wing.

3. Mudhorn

Roughly similar in shape and stature to the reek, the Mudhorn is relevant as being featured in a pivotal scene in The Mandalorian in which The Child first reveals his Force powers. It resulted in Din Djarin selecting it as his sigil, which is featured on the TVC figure's shoulder armor. Also, since we will have both open and closed versions of the egg, the Mudhorn would seem to be an integral part of a proper Arvala-7 display. Hasbro recently revealed a Sixers version of a mud-caked Din Djarin figure. A TVC version would be a must, and could serve as a suitable pack-in. That of course, would further collectors' desire for an updated Sandcrawler. While it's not at the top of my list, if we got these other pieces to help complete the planetary display, and if the sand crawler could be converted to both Mandalorian and film versions, it would quickly move up towards the top of my want lists.

4. Luggabeast

Sure, Banthaskull isn't exactly one of the biggest proponents of more TVC products from the ST era, but I alway found this design to be pretty awesome. Jakku was fairly well represented by Hasbro (at least if you include the 5POA figures), so this would fit in fairly nicely. We actually have the rider, Teedo, from the TFA 5POA line. Hasbro could probably retool the arms and legs a bit to add simple articulation, and it could pass muster for inclusion as a pack-in figure. The luggabeast is definitely one of my favorite designs from the ST, and I would be happy to own one for my Jakku shelf.

5. Mustafarian Lava Flea

Probably the least exciting of the bunch, but as with several of the picks above, we have quite a bit of product from Mustafar, including a (terrible) playset, most of the Separatists leaders and bodyguards, Mustafarian warriors, Lava miners, lava droids, platforms, the heroes/droids, Darth Anakin, Crispy Anakin, and Sidious with his shock troopers. That's a lotta stuff! The lava flea with a rider would be a nice complement to the display.

Honorable Mention: Gundark

Totally a pie in the sky wish, the Gundark is notable just because it was first mentioned by Han Solo in ESB. But gundarks did make an appearance in The Clone Wars. While they'd probably be about the size of the Rancor and pretty expensive today (and beyond the scope of the aforementioned mid-range price point), it would be pretty neat to have this "legendary" creature in our collections. Obviously, it should come with removable ears.