Star Wars Black Series Endor Shield Bunker Assault

The Endor ground battle is Return of the Jedi’s most contentious sequence and its most structurally essential. The shield generator that protects the second Death Star has to come down before the Rebel fleet can attack. The shield generator is on Endor. Endor has Ewoks. The Ewok controversy — whether the involvement of small teddy bear warriors in the decisive battle of the galactic civil war is dramatically credible — has been running since 1983 and shows no signs of resolution. What’s less debated is that the battle itself is more tactically complex than it’s given credit for, and that the Black Series has covered it comprehensively across two production waves.

The Scene in Star Wars

The plan going into Endor is straightforward: a small strike team infiltrates the forest moon, destroys the shield generator, the fleet attacks. The plan fails. The strike team is captured. The Ewoks rescue them. This is where the Ewok controversy begins and where the film’s thematic argument becomes most explicit — the scrappy guerrilla fighters who defeat the technologically superior military power are doing in miniature what the Rebellion is doing at scale, and the Ewoks are not particularly concerned that the Empire has better weapons.

The ground battle that follows the alliance with the Ewoks is genuinely chaotic in a way that Return of the Jedi doesn’t always get credit for. The AT-STs are a real threat. The Imperials nearly hold the bunker. The battle turns multiple times before the Ewoks’ tactics — forest traps, stones, logs, the specific advantages of fighting in a terrain you know against an enemy who doesn’t — begin to tell. Han, Leia, Chewie, and the Rebel commandos provide the tactical direction; the Ewoks provide the numbers and the home advantage.

What makes the Endor ground battle narratively significant beyond its tactical function is its relationship to the film’s emotional climax. While the battle rages on the forest floor and the fleet fights above it, Luke is in the Death Star throne room confronting Vader and the Emperor. The three storylines resolve simultaneously: Han destroys the shield generator, the fleet attacks, Luke’s confrontation reaches its conclusion. Return of the Jedi’s multi-strand climax is structurally similar to The Phantom Menace’s, and it works because each strand’s resolution is genuinely uncertain until the last moment.

The 40th Anniversary ROTJ Wave

The 40th Anniversary Return of the Jedi waves of 2023 are the display’s primary modern coverage — Han Solo (Endor), Princess Leia (Endor), Wicket, Paploo, Chewbacca (ROTJ), and the Rebel Commando Deluxe were all produced for the anniversary alongside the Galaxy Collection ROTJ sub-line releases. Together they gave the Endor ground battle its most complete Black Series representation.

The production decision to release the 40th Anniversary ROTJ figures alongside the ROTJ Galaxy Collection sub-line figures in the same year resulted in some duplication — Han, Leia, and Chewbacca all have both a Galaxy Collection and a 40th Anniversary version covering essentially the same film configuration. For display purposes, the 40th Anniversary Endor versions are specifically the Endor costumes; the ROTJ Galaxy Collection releases are more generically ROTJ. The Endor configuration is the correct one for this specific display.

The Ewoks

The Ewoks are the display’s most distinctive visual element and its most polarising — small, furry, armed with sticks and stones, responsible for the defeat of the Empire’s Endor garrison. The Black Series has produced four Ewok figures: Teebo, Wicket W. Warrick (the ROTJ Galaxy Collection version), Wicket (the 40th Anniversary version), and Paploo.

Wicket is the only Ewok with significant screen characterisation — his relationship with Leia, his scouting role, his decision to trust the Rebels — which gives him the display anchor that Teebo and Paploo don’t quite have. Both Wicket versions are strong figures; the 40th Anniversary version is the more recent production.

Paploo is notable for a specific scene rather than sustained characterisation — he’s the Ewok who steals an Imperial speeder bike as a distraction, enabling the strike team to approach the bunker. It’s a minor incident with a good figure attached, and the Black Series producing him specifically for the 40th Anniversary wave is a detailed acknowledgement of the battle’s supporting cast.

The Strike Team

Han Solo leads the ground mission, which is a promotion that the original plan didn’t account for — he volunteers after Lando takes the Millennium Falcon for the space assault. Han in his Endor camouflage gear is a different figure from any of his other Original Trilogy configurations, reflecting that Endor is the first time Han is operating as a genuine military commander rather than a smuggler or a pilot.

Princess Leia’s Endor configuration covers both the forest sequences and the aftermath — wounded, sheltering with Wicket, and eventually revealed to Luke as his sister in one of Return of the Jedi’s most significant scenes. Her Ewok Village configuration from 2023 is the most specific to the ground battle context.

The Rebel Commando Deluxe is the display’s rank-and-file soldier — the generic Rebel ground forces that fill out the strike team beyond the named characters. The Deluxe format gives it the accessories that a basic figure couldn’t accommodate, and it’s the only Black Series representation of the Endor Rebel infantry outside the named heroes.

All Figures for This Display

Check off the figures you own with the Black Series Checklist.

---

Part of Star Wars The Black Series | Scenes. Related: Throne Room Duel | Rebel Briefing Room | Death Star Corridors | Collector Guide.