Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 1,679: Flying Geonosian Warrior

FLYING GEONOSIAN with Sonic Blaster and Attack Pod!
Saga Deluxe Figure
Item No.: Asst. 84859 No. 84902
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Sonic blaster, attack pod, projectile
Action Feature: Press button to flap wings
Retail: $9.99
Availability: Summer 2002
Appearances: n/a

Bio: Inhabitants of the planet Geonosis, these winged warriors engage in a vicious battle on the side of the seceddionist forces. Skilled fighters with weapons for which the Jedi Knights have no known protection, the Geonosians threaten to overwhelm the beleaguered Jedi who have come to the aid of Anakin, Padmé and Obi-Wan. (Taken from the figure's packaging.)

Image: Adam's desk.

Commentary: I thought I reviewed this Flying Geonosian warrior, but couldn't find it in my archives-- so here it is! This 2002 release was a heck of a nice figure, although not really worth the ten bucks. At the same time for $5, you could get a Geonosian with a Massiff or a Geonosian with a spear. This figure has slightly more going on, a better costume, better deco, and more gear... but it's still an awkward toy. As most early Geonosians were not posed with standing in mind, this figure is difficult to get standing on his own. He has no foot holes, so all he's going to do is, most likely, topple over without added hand support or a separate small doll stand to keep him upright. This is not due to age, it's just the design-- with legs like that, he can't hold himself up.

As a toy he's fairly fun-- his wings have limited articulation, plus a switch on the back lets you make them "flap" and that's always a good time. He has 5 joints, but the arms are done in such a way where you probably can't do a heck of a lot with him other than pose him aiming his sonic blaster. It's rare to see Hasbro sculpt a figure with an arm fully extended perpendicular to his body, so you pretty much are forced into a single position here. Hasbro has greatly improved sculpting on Geonosians with time, but little things like how to have the stand up aren't really seeing a whole heck of a lot of improvement-- they're going to need support, so if you want to set up a nice shelf for a few years, well, tough. You're going to have to buy some stuff to keep them from toppling over.

I like the sculpt and the wing mechanism is really fun, I just wish they made it so he could stand up without my buying an additional product. I expect to see this figure return in 2013 if Hasbro continues the Movie Heroes assortment, as just the figure without the pod is a nicely action-packed figure and for $8 or so, probably fits the bill of that upcoming assortment. It's not the most exciting thing, and I certainly wouldn't advise you pay a premium for it on the secondary market, but the mold is unique to this release and has yet to be reissued.

Collector's Notes: While somewhat scarce in 2002, this figure is now commonplace on the secondary market. Loose samples are as little as $1, while packaged ones are as low as $2. And to think, some people out there are still sitting on these expecting their investment to climb-- it's not going to happen. To put this in perspective, this figure is now about 9 years old. That would be like a Return of the Jedi figure from 1983 around 1992, when everything started skyrocketing and at that point, most packaged figures were going for at least retail or significantly above. For those of you holding out hope-- most of you would never read a column like this one-- give up on your dreams of getting your money back from this stuff.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 1,679: November 21, 2011