World Building:  Attack of the Clones

Next up in our series on 3.75" world-building, is Attack of the Clones.

For your convenience, heere are links to our previous articles. For scoring of each scene, we judge the currently available 3.75" world-building assets against the potential for future world-building (max of 10) if Hasbro were to fill the gaps - tempered by "awesomeness." For example, a score of 3/4 would indicate that a display of the scene is nearly complete, but has a relatively low potential for "wow" factor, even if fully completed. A score of 6/10 indicates that Hasbro has some work to do to fill the gaps, but if completed the scene could serve as a centerpiece of any collector's display.

World Building:
A New Hope
The Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
The Phantom Menace

Three years after The Phantom Menace, Lucas delivered Attack of the Clones. The film was choppy and stilted, with some terrible acting and even worse dialogue. But as was the case with TPM, we got some terrific world-building opportunities. We got to see a bit of the seedy side of Coruscant, the rising mystery of the Sith plans for conquest, and an amazing battle that pitted the Jedi and their newly established clone army against the Sith and their relentless droid soldiers. Despite the many flaws in the film, especially the almost unwatchable Act II (except for the Obi-Wan/Jango fight), AOTC gave Hasbro plenty to work with, and collectors plenty to display.



Coruscant (Padme's arrival / Apartment / Chase / Club / Diner / Spaceport)

There's a lot happening on Coruscant during the first part of the film. The scenes listed in the header above are sets that are basically specific to AOTC. Hasbro provided collectors with a lot of figures and toys from these scenes, although there isn't much for environmental components, other than the occasional accessory. Also, at this point, many of the figures are a bit dated, but the vast majority of them stand almost zero chance of receiving an update. The lack of playsets is a bit of a drag, but you can still set up some nice scenes here. We'll never get the Naboo Diplomatic Barge, and it seems like both Cordé (the decoy that got blowed up) and Dormé (Rose Byrne) are also unlikely. But otherwise, we've got the mains covered (minus a several Padmé outfits) here. We have the two "cars" used during the chase scene, a few barpieces, tables, and stools for the Outlander Club, some Club patrons, and Diner customers.

World Building Score: 4/7

You can definitely get the gist of almost any of these scenes, but a few additions would help, and without them we've got quite a bit of untapped potential. The most potential would be for the Outlander Club. There were plenty of characters hanging out in that place. We do have a few, but it's still sparsely populated. Same goes for the diner. I always thought a booth would have made a neat little set, if you could use a few to make New Jersey "railcar" style diner. At this point, it seems like 2002-2005 was the best shot we had at getting more obscure characters for these scenes, so we'll likely have to make do.

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Coruscant (Palpatine's Office / Senate / Jedi Temple)

These scenes on Coruscant make several appearances across the prequel films, as well as some other media. We touched on a lot this in the TPM examination, but we do get a deeper look at the temple beyond the Council chamber. We also see classrooms, hallways, and the library. We've got plenty of random Jedi that we can use to populate scenes, as well as lots of younglings, Jocasta Nu, and the research droids. Other than a bust of Count Dooku, we don't have a whole lot to work with as far as temple backdrops beyond the Council Chamber itself. We also have most of the characters that congregate inside Palpatine's office.

World Building Score: 6/9

The potential score here goes from an 8 to a 9 when compared to the similar category from out TPM analysis. That's because we get a deeper look at some of the Jedi and senators, as well as a look inside the Chancellor's office (which becomes a key part of Episode III) along with new parts of the Jedi Temple, such as the library and classrooms. Some kind of library "bookcase" backdrop, along with more busts to line the scene would be pretty cool, as well as a terminal for Obi-Wan to use. Palpatine's office seems like an environment/playset that could be pretty useful, being that it was the site of several important scenes. In AOTC, several Jedi, senators, and aides are seen in the office. Along with a few minor aides, the most important figure missing is Amidala in her proper outfit. I would say that Amidala outfit and the office are highest on my wishlist for items from the first act of the film. The office and senate also make brief appearances later in the film, and Hasbro even made the hologram accessory (with Bail Organa) that depicted the moment Obi-Wan was discovered on Geonosis during his communications about Dooku. But in general, the world-building potential for the Senate and Temple is pretty high, as both are filled with plenty of interesting characters and alien designs.

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Kamino

Kamino makes its debut here, and I always enjoyed the scenery. If you watched The Clone Wars, then you really got an in depth look at this home base for the clone troopers. I thought Filoni really nailed it when he did the silent montage of the empty Tipoca City just prior to its destruction in The Bad Batch. We have Lama Su and Taun We, as well as fully armored Phase I clones (in white and in rank colors) and the partly armored training clones. Along with Obi-Wan and his starfighter, as well as Jango and Slave I, we've got the basics. We do also have a few odd environmental pieces for the landing platform that came with the Saga Deluxe Obi-Wan and Jango figures.

World Building Score: 4/7

More generic Kaminoan figures, an Aiwha with Rider, and a new Kid Boba would be welcome. My guilty pleasure playset would have been a clone cafeteria, but that's obviously never happening. However, given the multitude of key appearances of the cafeteria, the labs, the cloning tubes, various apartments, the hallways, and Lama Su's office, it would seem that Kamino gradually achieved it's own iconic status during the era of the Clone Wars. A simple dual purpose (double-sided) hallway would go a long way in giving us proper backdrops for Kamino, and would elevate the many possible displays.

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Naboo

AOTC gives us a short visit to Naboo, where we get some nice vistas, and a few intimate shots of Padmé's home. There were also cut scenes of her family and home. But overall, the potential for world building is fairly low.

World Building Score: 2/4

For me, the most glaring miss is Queen Jamillia. Sio Bibble even makes a cameo, as does the queen's council room first seen in TPM. But even with a Queen J, there just isn't a ton to work with. Hasbro could always make a grass-grazing shaak, or a gondola to try to up the ante a bit here, but the low potential probably means we need to move along.

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Tatooine (Mos Espa / Lars Homestead / Tusken Village

Back to Tatooine we go. We get looks at both Mos Espa and Mos Eisley, as well as the Lars Homestead and some of the Jundland Wastes. We've got Anakin and Padmé (in a two-fer figure), as well as C-3PO, R2-D2, and young Owen and Beru. We also have a bunch of Tuskens, including the women and children, along with a few small environmental items like a firepit and a hanging bowl of some sort. We've also got the Lars speeder bike that Anakin uses, along with Jawas and an official Hasbro non-bootleg Disney nonsense Sandcrawler.

World Building Score: 4/7

The real draw here is the Lars Homestead, which now officially spans 2 trilogies. We've got the homestead from TLC, although it certainly leaves something to be desired. Most notably absent is Cliegg Lars. Now, while he's no Mark Harmon, Cliegg would make a striking figure, and would be the first real "wheelchair" character in the line. We're also missing Padmé in her shmata. We get another look at the garage (and the Lars family speeder), the kitchen, dining room, and courtyard. If it wasn't already iconic, The Lars Homestead certainly should have gained more traction with it's appearance in the PT.

As for the other locales, I've always wanted the rickshaw and droid from Mos Espa. I would again put out into the universe if Hasbro is reading this that some generic street vendor shanty's and storefronts would be most welcome and could serve as world-building backdrops for many popular desert towns across the Galaxy. It's highly improbable we'll get Padme's yacht, but it's a nice looking ship that had some dialogue inside the cockpit. Many fans want an improved sandcrawler, so much so that they were willing to sell out and buy the bootleg Disney nonsense version. Another nice addition would be a Tusken camp hut, but the time has probably passed for that opportunity. A hut with a tusken figure pack in would have been pretty neat, and I would have purchased a few. While we do have a TPM version of Darth Vader's mom, a "battle damaged" AOTC version is something that would have been possible 15 years ago.

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Geonosis - Obi-Wan's Investigation

As of this writing, we've done a bunch of "Scene Its" for Geonosis. For the initial investigation by Obi-Wan, we have most of the figures necessary to recreate these scenes. We have Obi-Wan, R4, and his starfighter, as well as most of the Separatist leaders and lots of Geonosians.

World Building Score: 4/5

We don't have a couple of the Separatists leaders, nor do we have the council room with the meeting table. You could use the back of the Geonosis Arena playset for a backdrop to most of these scenes, but otherwise, we are left with just the figures. It's not a bad world-building set piece, given the variety of Separatist alien designs, but we'd need to complete that council to take it close to its full potential.

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Geonosis - Droid Factory Chase

Along with the back of the Arena playset, Hasbro provided several add-on options as deluxe sets or accessories to extend out an assembly line of sorts to loosely recreate the Factory Chase. We've got Anakin, Padme, the droids, along with Battle Droids and Droidekas, not to mention Jango who makes a quick appearance at the end of the sequence to capture Anakin.

World Building Score: 5/5

The expansive factory is largely able to be displayed given all the options available, even if some of them are bit toy-like and not as realistically presented as they would be today. The variety of figures available also pretty much locks up this scene with not much more potential for growth.

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Geonosis - Execution Arena

Once the heroes are captured, we're treated to a grand spectacle in a huge arena, complete with 3 vicious beasts. We've got the three hero prisoners, as well as most of the Separatists leaders on the balcony, and tons of Geonosian figures to serve as spectators and guards.

World Building Score: 6/7

The Arena playset shines here the most, although the small balcony doesn't really accommodate the full group watching from within. Besides the terrible Kid Boba figure, there is the complete absence of an AOTC version of Rune Haako. Yes, it's officially Rune Haako, even though they screwed up and used the wrong costume mask. Otherwise, the worst omission here is the lack of an Orray and prisoner cart. I'd buy a couple of those, for sure. In total, the playset, variety of characters, aliens, accessories, and beasts, make this a really nice world-building set piece.

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Geonosis - Arena Battle / Jedi Survivor's Circle

With the arrival of Mace Windu and the Jedi Strike Team, it allows us to elevate our Arena displays. Hasbro gave us almost every single notable Jedi that has even a few frames of recognizable screen time here, and along with all the battle droids and the aforementioned heroes, villains, and beasts, this can be one of the more diverse and interesting opportunities for display.

World Building Score: 8/9

This is my favorite world building opportunities in the entire PT, and among the best Star Wars has to offer. And as mentioned, Hasbro did not disappoint and gave us almost everything we need in the vast array of action to set up a great display. There's one or two Jedi that could potentially be added, but beyond that, we have just about everything - except, again, the Orray and cart.

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Geonosis - (First) Battle of Geonosis

After the attack of the clones, we are treated to a quick escape from the arena, and then to a vast battlefield across the plains of Geonosis. Once again, Hasbro stepped up to the plate and gave us almost everything we could ask for, minus capital ships. We've got the Jedi, Padmé, clone troopers, clone officers and non-coms, and clone pilots, along with the Republic Gunship, ball turrets, and AT-TE's. The Separatist forces are also represented well, with battle droids, super battle droids, droidekas, dwarf spider droids, homing spider droids, and hailfire droids.

World Building Score: 9/9

The opening salvo of The Clone Wars is represented well, and basically to the max potential. It's unreasonable to think we'd ever see capital ships like those of the Trade Federation, Techno Union, and Republic. The one vehicle that I think has stood a slight chance of seeing the light of day would be a LAAT/c (the modified gunship that carried AT-TE's into battle). The other piece that I think Hasbro could have made is the command platform that Yoda uses. Other than these items, there's not much else Hasbro could do. And since it's an open desert plain, there isn't any environmental backdrops that would make much sense from a marketing perspective. This is a big battle with a lot of troops and vehicles for both sides. World building!

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Geonosis - Dooku's Escape

This scene involved the heavyweight Force-users, and also featured some ships and a few other characters and vehicles. While we are looking for a TVC quality update for The Count, Anakin, and Obi-Wan, we do have serviceable figures for all 3, of course, as well as a TVC Yoda. FA-4 is Dooku's pilot droid, and you can see him briefly scurry away to prepare for take-off - with Dooku's speeder bike parked in the background. At the end of the scene, there's also the brief arrival of Padmé and a bunch of clone troopers, that were dropped off by a gunship. We have all of these items, as well as the back of the arena playset, which essentially doubles as the hangar.

World Building Score: 4/5

While we have all of the characters and a backdrop for the hangar itself, the one thing missing is Dooku's Solar Sailer. Checking out the scenes with this ship, I realize that it's a pretty big vehicle. The body itself is just a personal craft, but the sails themselves, when fully extended, would make for a very large display item. And if Hasbro ever had considered this in the past, they probably had some difficulty designing a practical way to manufacture the sails. It seems Dooku has been getting the short end of the deal from Hasbro, not only is he one of the most prominent characters in the films not to have a TVC figure, he also doesn't have his ship. At least we got his pilot droid, I guess.

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Coruscant / Naboo closing

The end scenes are noteworthy because of the Naboo wedding and the Republic senate balcony. We've got a few of the figures, but nothing much else. For the wedding, the most important ones are Anakin (metal hand), Padmé as the bride, C-3PO and R2-D2, along with a nice little "Tuscan" railing and some flowers/bouquet accessories. As for the senate balcony, we have Bail, Palpatine (wrong outfit), Mas Amedda, Po Nudo, Ask Aak, and red senate guards.

World Building Score: 3/4

For the wedding, we don't have the minister, but you can still use the little railing accessory to set up a nice little vignette. As for the senator grouping, we are missing Game Saam, Toonbuck Tora, and Dar Wac. It's a neat looking collection of senators, but is incomplete as far as characters, and is missing the balcony itself which would finish it off.

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Attack of the Clones was probably Lucas's best effort for a toy commercial, and despite many fans not really loving the film, it had the redeeming quality of being extraordinarily toyetic. If you purchased all the offerings over the years, you have probably 95% of everything you could need to recreate almost every scene from the third act. Rune Haako, an Orray/Cart, and the Solar Sailer are the biggest misses. Hopefully Hasbro can do something about that before I die.

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