QUI-GON JINN

STAR WARS: EPISODE I (HASBRO)

Well, with Power of the Force officially done, and my small handful of actually new Star Wars stuff to review actually burned through, I guess it’s time to move on.  Not from Star Wars, of course.  I’m a toy site.  That would be crazy.  No, move onto the thing that followed (or actually kind of ran a bit in tandem with, I guess) Power of the Force: the Episode I tie-ins!  I’ve reviewed all of two figures from the at the time tie-ins, both of them Obi-Wan, so today I’m jumping over to the other rather important Jedi from the film, Qui-Got Jinn!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Qui-Gon Jinn is one of the three deluxe figures from Hasbro’s Star Wars: Episode I tie-in line, released alongside similarly deluxe versions of Obi-Wan and Darth Maul.  Like the other two, he consisted of a rather standard core figure, with an action feature activated by a kind of wonky lightsaber hilt-looking thing.  The figure stands just over 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  The deluxe figures lacked the wrist and elbow swivels of the standard figures (Obi-Wan kept one of the elbow swivels, but Qui-Gon wasn’t as lucky), and the shoulder movement was restricted by the action feature.  While Obi-Wan’s sculpt wasn’t really all that different from the standard, Qui-Gon’s is actually quite different.  He’s a lot more pre-posed, in sort of a mid-battle set-up, with his hair swept back and his teeth bared.  While it’s a bit more limiting, it’s also a more dynamic, and I feel slightly more exciting sculpt.  It’s not as crazy as some of the Saga figures got, though, and he’s more stable on his feet.  Qui-Gon’s color work is pretty good.  Nothing crazy for the era, with the body work mostly focusing on base color stuff.  The head’s a bit more involved, with the hair getting some grey streaks in it.  Qui-Gon was packed with his standard lightsaber, as well as the larger “control” saber, which clipped around the figure’s waist and could activate the action feature.  As with Obi-Wan, I lost that one at some point, because I was some sort of silly child.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got a fair bit of Episode I related stuff for my birthday the year the movie came out, and I recall this Qui-Gon was amongst the bunch.  He was specifically my first Qui-Gon figure, and I recall being pretty excited to get him.  I got the standard not to long after (I think he may have just been a slightly delayed birthday present, truth be told), but I always liked this one a little bit more.  He’s not exactly a figure with a lot going on, but over 25 years out, I do still quite like him, and he’s probably still my favorite Qui-on figure.