Updating EP1: Vehicles, Playsets, and More - Part IV

I think this might cover the last survivors of the Episode I line...

That was a real barnburner last night, eh? As my wife stated so eloquently, "Screw the Chiefs." Except she didn't say "screw." But then I responded with equal eloquence, "Screw the Eagles." Except I didn't say "screw." I am happy the lame Chiefs didn't get their three-peat, but man, Philly? I'm a still just a little nauseous.

But you're probably not here to talk about that. We're here to try to wrap up our look at the annoyingly large amount of stuff that has persevered and remains in place in today's displays. So let's see if we can put the nail in the coffin, shall we?

Rules Again: Figures and Toys from Episode I that haven't been updated...

For reference:
Collection 1
Collection 2
Collection 3
Vehicles, Playsets, and More PART I
Vehicles, Playsets, and More PART II
Vehicles, Playsets, and More PART III

LFG:












1. Falumpaset: A nice addition to the Gungan Grand Army, this creature hauls the Ammo Wagon during battle. You may recall that General Jar Jar accidentally pulled open the back hatch to the wagon during the Gungan retreat, releasing the big boomas downslope, causing a bit of chaos before Jar Jar ultimately surrendered. Later, a Falumpaset carried Boss Nass into the Theed celebration parade. Like the Fambaa, the toy version has no articulation, but still looks nice. The wagon is done well, with an opening rear hatch, and a firing cannon. Taking a cue from POTF2's Crusiemissile Trooper and Luke Skywalker's X-Wing, the included Gungan rider is just a torso permanently attached, so doesn't count as a figure. That's a bummer, but this is otherwise a nice piece for your display.

2. Invasion Force Armored Scout Tank: One of the 4 "Invasion Force" toys, they are callbacks to the Kenner mini-rigs. I feel that 3 of them may find some purpose in your displays, even if you have to use your imagination (gasp) just a bit. We covered the Gungan Assault Cannon, which is actually the other thing that was mounted on the Fambaa, as well as the Gungan Scout Sub, which is a one-man version of the Tribubble Bongo (which I use for Opee food). This is the 3rd possibly useful item in the sub-line. It's a mini version of the ATT and was never an on-screen item. But I do kind of like it as something to add to the Great Grassy Plain battle, or even something tooling around the streets of occupied Theed. It feels close enough to something that could be part of the Trade Federation droid arsenal. I could do without all 3 of these, but since I have them, I figured I can put them to use. For the record, the 4th item in the sub-line is a Sith Attack Speeder. It's a weird combo of things in the film. The body of the vehicle is stylized after the Sith probes that Maul uses on Tatooine. The control mechanism is really just his Sith binoculars. It kind of opens up to allow the included Maul to sit, and then encloses around him. It's a clever design, but serves no discernible purpose for any of my dioramas. Maul already has his screen-accurate ride, so there's no need for this. I didn't include it in this series because it doesn't meet the criteria of being in my current display.

3. Eopie: This was another fine addition to the line. They are in many scenes in TPM, including the iconic fart scene. It doesn't get much better than that, folks. But it has made appearances in other media over the years, most recently in Obi-Wan Kenobi and as a horned variant in the delightful Skeleton Crew. My memory is a bit fuzzy on this, but I recall it being a rather difficult to acquire item back in the Episode I days. I managed to get one somehow (maybe Ebay?) but I never opened it from its Episode I packaging. Later, a repack was offered during the TLC line as a mail-away redemption. That version had a contemporary Qui-Gon figure, rather than simply repacking the old one. I got a couple of those. It has articulated legs, but has no knee or ankles to support any meaningful alternate poses. Nevertheless, it's great to have it and can be used in multiple places.

4. Theed Hangar Playset: This was one of 2 large-ish playsets that were offered in the Episode I line. It's the Theed Hangar, and there's A LOT going on, and almost none of it is good. It was a good idea for a playset location, as it saw some decent and iconic action in the film, but it's executed so poorly it's hard to see how it was greenlit. Most notably, the base of the scene is a flimsy plastic that easily warps due to lack of support. This is because the base is hollow to accommodate the lightsaber hilt-shaped electronic controller handle. The handle allows you to move figures (specifically the included Qui-Gon) around the grooved path on the floor, so you can slash at battle droids. A terrible one is included, which is 1POA (head) and only has a few painted details on the head with an otherwise unpainted body. The "selling point" to this is that it has a separate torso that connects to the legs with a weak magnet, allowing it to get sliced in half as you control Qui-Gon's slashing action. The set has some exploding panels to simulate battle damage, and a few loose crates. The crates are not cool at all, so they serve very little purpose as diorama fodder. They are bright yellow, and have almost no detail. Above the large hangar opening is a bridge that has a huge POTF2-style mounted cannon that shoots a humongous yellow projectile. You can have a figure man this gun, and also the bridge has a breakaway feature so you can knock it down and send unfortunate pedestrian figures to their doom a few inches below. Almost everything about this set is kept together with thought and prayers. It's one of the flimsiest sets the line has ever offered, the noodle-like plastic of bridge handrails being particularly noteworthy. The one saving grace of the set is also frustrating: it has a decent sliding entrance door, that can be used to great effect for Darth Maul's double-ignition flourish. The annoying thing is that it only works when attached to this crappy set, because the bottom has pegs that snap into the hangar floor. The pegs make it difficult, if not impossible, to display elsewhere separately. Overall, it's junk, but if you put it all together, take away the lightsaber control handle, and just don't touch it ever, it makes for a passable backdrop for a bunch of figures in the hangar scene.

5. Theed Generator Playset: The second large playset in the line isn't nearly as horrible as the Hangar. There's not much to it, it's just some elevated walkways, an open archway, and a few figure-launching play features. The set comes with a terrible Battle Droid that has 6 POA (but no elbows or knees so you can't really do much posing), a little bit of weathering, and has the blaster sculpted into the right hand. Neat! It doesn't have anything to represent the huge glowing vertical energy beams in the room (which would be difficult to reproduce well), and it doesn't have the red closing energy gates and pit that comprised the location of the duel climax. This just represents the entryway into the room from the Theed Hangar. One of the cool things is that it is intended to "connect" to the Theed Hangar Playset (see above). I use the term loosely, because the ramp really just rests on a nook at the edge of the Hangar set, rather than truly connect. If you overlook the launching mechanisms, it's not bad as a Displayset^™©®. I feel that if Hasbro had added one more entry into this series and had given us the aforementioned energy gate/pit room to connect to this one, it might be pretty awesome.

6. Naboo Royal Starship: Here's the grandmother of them all. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this was the first $100 toy in the Star Wars line. It was definitely loaded to the max with features, and is far from perfect, but compared to the aforementioned Hangar playset, it's a work of art. It's huge, but offers quite a bit in terms of display options. The hull opens up to reveal the upper deck cockpit, the lower deck area, and the throne room. That's right, it's a double decker inside, something the Haslab Razor Crest could not accomplish. Sure, it takes liberties in order to pull this off. The cockpit has the ability to slide off to the side of the ship, revealing the lower deck below. The cockpit has plenty of room for seating and standing around for figures to complain about the hyperdrive going down, while you can house all the repair droids below and deploy them to the exterior via an elevator. It comes with a "battle damaged" hyperdrive unit, as well as the queen's throne. An extendable ramp allows you to recreate Qui-Gon's escape from Maul (or the extended duel as someone recently pointed out was cut from the film). Aside from the display options, there's some nifty flight and battle features that are pretty unique. There is a separate controller, which is essentially a joystick handle with a trigger, that serves as the base for a Vulture Droid that you can attach. You can "fly" around the droid fighter and attack the Royal Starship. Pulling the trigger generates some lights and sounds on the ship, and also causes some panels to blow off, so you can replicate the damage to the hyperdrive, and then have R2 and pals try to fix it. This was some pretty fun stuff at the time. It results in a somewhat uneven appearance with all the puzzle pieces fitting together on the top of the hull, but otherwise was fun to play with. I know a lot of people complained that the ship was painted silver instead of vac metal, but I'm not even sure how feasible that would have been under any circumstances with regard to price and durability. This item is called the Naboo Royal Starship, but I think a lot of us tend to call it the Queen's Royal Starship. So like I wrote in the caption to the pic above, someone should ask Chris about his QRS story. It's legendary.

7. Accessory Sets: Let's end this series on these items. There were 8 of them, released in 2 waves of 4 each. The first wave was plentiful, and seemed to have dubious sales success as they were always easy to find. While Hasbro seemed to be able to pivot releases based on sales (they cancelled more trophy figures and hologram figures after early failures), a second wave of accessory sets made it to retail, but in smaller numbers. I have 2 each of the first wave, one of which I kept carded for some reason. I then managed to find a set of 4 of the second wave, but never opened them, and now I'm going to buy a controlling interest in Apple with what I make off the eBay sales. The second wave was actually pretty neat, or at least appears pretty neat inside their respective bubbles. The set that seems to generate the most interest is the Hyperdrive set. The main piece looks just like the accessory that came with the QRS at first glance, but it's actually a complex 5-piece item, and comes with a bunch of tools and doo-dads. Maybe I'll open it someday if I feel it adds value to my display once I'm finished with it.

Okay, so there you have it. I believe that covers the items from the Episode I line that have survived the march of time and remain relevant in today's displays. I hope you've enjoyed these articles. Along with the previous entries on the POTF2 line, we've now reviewed just about all such survivors from 1995-2000 up to the POTJ line. I'm contemplating doing the same for that line, so we'll see how it goes.

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