Jar Jar Binks (Deluxe) — Star Wars The Black Series #TPM 01

Overview

Phase 4 TPM Collection #01 is Jar Jar Binks — Jar Jar Binks, Gungan outcast turned Representative, the character whose specific reception across the franchise’s history is one of its most complex. The first figure in the new Phase 4 Galaxy Collection TPM numbered sequence opens on the character many viewers found most difficult in 1999 and whom subsequent years have partially rehabilitated through the specific quality of Ahmed Best’s performance and the reconsideration that came with the prequel generation growing up.

Deluxe release at $29.99 — the Phase 4 TPM Collection’s first figure at premium pricing, reflecting the Gungan design’s scale and articulation complexity. Booma accessory. 19 joints. MSRP $29.99.

The Character

Jar Jar Binks occupies a specific position in the franchise’s history: the character most associated with the prequel trilogy’s mixed critical reception in 1999-2002, and the character whose reassessment has been most significant in the two decades since. Ahmed Best’s motion capture performance — at a time when CG character performance was not yet fully understood as a craft — has received substantially more recognition as the digital technology era’s viewer base has grown up with the prequels as their foundational Star Wars.

His narrative role in TPM: the Gungan whose testimony brings Naboo’s plight before the Galactic Senate, who leads the Gungan army in the ground battle while Anakin accidentally destroys the Droid Control Ship, who is the specific bridge between Queen Amidala and Boss Nass. The politics of TPM run through Jar Jar; the film’s ground combat runs through him.

The Booma Accessory

The booma — the energy sphere the Gungans use as a weapon in the ground battle — is the figure’s accessory and the specific prop reference to TPM’s Gungan army sequence. Gungans fight with organic technology: creatures and biological weapons rather than manufactured equipment. The booma represents that specific cultural aesthetic.

Deluxe Pricing and the TPM Collection

The $29.99 deluxe price point for the TPM Collection’s first figure reflects the scale investment for a Gungan figure — the long ears, the extended neck, the alien anatomy require more engineering than standard human-scale figures. The TPM Collection is Phase 4’s dedicated prequel wave, numbered TPM 01 through TPM 06, covering the core Phantom Menace characters at premium production standards.

Secondary Market

Above-retail secondary market prices — the TPM Collection’s first figure, the only deluxe Jar Jar Binks. Verify the booma accessory on secondary market purchases. No production variants documented.

Verdict

The TPM Collection opener and the definitive Phase 4 Jar Jar Binks. Buy for the TPM prequel display or collection completion.

Jar Jar and the Prequel Reassessment

The specific arc of Jar Jar Binks’s reception — widely criticised in 1999 as racially coded and comedically misjudged, then progressively reconsidered by the generation that grew up with the prequels — makes this figure’s placement as the TPM Collection’s #01 a statement. Hasbro’s production decision to open the collection on Jar Jar Binks rather than Qui-Gon, Maul, or Anakin communicates confidence in the character’s current collector standing.

Ahmed Best’s performance — now recognised as a pioneering motion capture achievement at a time when the craft was not yet fully established as filmmaking technique — underlies the reassessment. The character’s design, once divisive, reads differently to viewers who grew up with the prequel era’s alien designs as foundational rather than jarring.

Gungan Ecology and the Booma

The Gungans’ use of biological weapons — plasma energy spheres contained in organic pouches — reflects their specific civilisational development. The Gungan Grand Army at the Battle of Naboo fights with catapults and boomers rather than blasters; their technology is organic rather than manufactured, which is a direct expression of their aquatic-cave culture. The booma accessory connects Jar Jar to that specific cultural context: he is carrying the weapon type of his people’s military tradition.

Deluxe Pricing Context

The $29.99 deluxe price is the TPM Collection’s maximum — the Droideka (#04) at $33.99 exceeds it, but Jar Jar at $29.99 is the second highest. The deluxe investment reflects the Gungan anatomy’s specific engineering: the head proportions, the ear appendages, the distinctive jaw and tongue structure all require production investment beyond the standard human-scale figure.

The TPM Collection as Phase 4’s Prequel Flagship

The TPM Collection is Phase 4’s most concentrated single-film wave — six figures, one film, covering the principal cast from protagonist through antagonist through supporting alien. Jar Jar opens it at #01; the collection closes with Sebulba at #06. The sequence gives TPM the specific production attention that the film’s mixed initial reception had previously prevented.

Jar Jar Binks at #TPM 01 is the Phase 4 TPM Collection’s statement figure — the character placed at slot one whose presence signals the production team’s confidence in the prequel reassessment. Secondary market prices reflect both the deluxe engineering and the character’s specific collector standing. Verify the booma accessory on secondary market purchases. No production variants documented.

The TPM Collection at #01-#06 is Phase 4’s most coherent single-film wave: protagonist (Anakin), queen (Padmé), villain (Maul), comic-relief-turned-serious (Jar Jar), antagonist droid (Droideka), and rival (Sebulba). Six figures, six roles, one film’s complete principal cast at consistent Phase 4 production quality.

Jar Jar is also the TPM Collection’s most emotionally complex figure for collectors who remember 1999 and for collectors who grew up on the prequels. The generational divide in the character’s reception maps onto the generational divide in the prequel reassessment more broadly. A figure that was a risk to place at #01 is now a figure that communicates the collection’s scope.

The $29.99 price point is also the Phase 4 signal for collector value expectation — deluxe pricing at the opening of the TPM Collection establishes the wave’s ambition from the first figure.

No production variants documented. One release at $29.99 deluxe. The booma must be present.

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Part of Star Wars The Black Series | Phase 4 TPM Collection. Related: Anakin Skywalker TPM P4-TPM-02 | The Phantom Menace.