Jar Jar Binks is perhaps the most famous--or is that infamous--character in The Phantom Menace. The only primary character in the film to be entirely computer-animated, Jar Jar certainly got people talking--but probably not in the way George Lucas may have hoped.

A Gungan outcast from his underwater home, Jar Jar stumbled into Qui-Gon Jinn--quite literally--and joined him and his friends in their quest to stop the invasion of planet Naboo. He's received some flak about being in so much of the film; a lot of folks think a computer-generated image should not be the star of a Star Wars film. Some groups have also claimed that he is racially offensive.

Jar Jar was designed as a comical character, and it's fairly well-reflected in the toy--he's coiled up slightly, as though he were about to spring into action (and trouble), and his duck-billed face betrays just the hint of a smirk. The figure looks exactly as the CGI-rendered character did in the movie. You don't tend to think about the way an action figure is posed very often, but this toy stands exactly as Jar Jar might if he were only 3 3/4" tall.

One thing about the figure that I found extraordinary upon first glance was his incredibly detailed paint job. From a distance, he appears to be a cream white color with light orange spray-painted on the outside of his arms and head. In fact, he is covered with extremely small swirling patterns that are so close together it makes me cross-eyed. This level of precision painting blows me away; until Jar Jar Binks, I had no idea that this kind of intricate work was even possible on action figures. The toy has the usual six points of articulation; despite the unusual shape of the neck and gigantic floppy ears, his head swivels freely.

If there was one toy that was born to talk, it's Jar Jar Binks. His blubbering pseudo-English, though at times indecipherable, is part of what makes the character. His accent and inflection were accurately reproduced on his talking CommTech chip, although one would think the programmers could have chosen dialogue clips that were a little more interesting than "Gungans no liken outsiders." I suppose not wanting to give away too many of his funny lines may have been a factor (the toy was released before the movie came out), as well as the requirement that his dialogue somehow tie in with one or more other characters so his chip can interact with theirs.

My little girl is a confirmed Jar Jar fanatic, so I had to go out and buy her one of her own. Since she was just over two years old at the time, I didn't give her the CommTech chip or the Gungan staff he comes with, and I removed his vest (it could have been a potential choking hazard). Unfortunately, she managed to rip one of his ears off after only a few weeks, so I had to take it away. Examining it in closer detail, I was surprised at how easily she ripped it off. Hasbro is usually much better about making long-lasting figures.

Jar Jar was one of the better-selling figures--and apparently Hasbro anticipated this, since he was shipped in the Collection 1 assortment that included the other major players like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul. I often wonder how many sales were of kids who loved the character, and how many were of those who heard about the controversial character and had to own one. (Tinky Winky toys usually sold out very quickly for the same reason.) Despite the fact that Jar Jar is not my favorite character in The Phantom Menace, I have to admit he did get one pretty nifty figure.



Recommended: Yes