Captain Panaka - EI - Basic

As the commander of Queen Amidala's Security Forces, Captain Panaka must deploy his volunteers in order to fight the Trade Federation and preserve their beautiful planet.

It makes sense that if there is a queen, there is likely some sort of security shortly behind her, right? Well, that was the set up in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Captain Panaka was the Head of Security on Naboo and served Queen Amidala as her protector along with the Naboo Royal Guard. The character of Captain Panaka was immediately likeable. A man of few words, he often disagreed with the Jedi and was frustrated when Queen Amidala made decisions based on their advice instead of his. Adorned in a regal uniform, Captain Panaka portrayed the perfect likeness of what royal protection would look like in a galaxy far, far away. As one of the earliest action figures in the Episode I line, Captain Panaka wasn’t an immediate hit. The likeness of the action figure was dead to rights, but most collectors were concerned with grabbing as many Jedi and Sith they could instead of the many background characters that made up so much of the basic figure line. Still, it’s hard to deny that Captain Panaka is an excellent action figure. Perhaps slightly too large in scale (by just a tad), this action figure will likely age well throughout the years. Hasbro really nailed this character in action figure form right from the start.

Captain Panaka is certainly limited in articulation and his pose is somewhat action oriented. The figure has a nice center of gravity, albeit not perfect, and can sustain various posing changes to the upper body and still manage to stay upright when finished. As we’ve mentioned earlier, Captain Panaka has a beautiful portrait. The head sculpt looks just like the actor. The eyes are painted simply, but had Hasbro given them a little bit extra deco, the action figure would probably look eerily identical to the onscreen character. But they got the proportions of his head and face stunningly well. The costume is also nicely tooled. The jacket, the cap, the gloves and the pants have not only been sculpted nicely, the paint operations that make the screen accurate are even better. It’s evident that the artists at Hasbro spent a great deal of time perfecting this action figure. As a result, we’re thoroughly impressed with the final results. A removable cap would have been sublime, but sadly that wasn’t in the plans for this figure. And while we would have loved to see more articulation worked into the Episode I line, we think that Hasbro approached each figure in this line and gave them all that they could. Captain Panaka is certainly no exception.

Included with Captain Panaka are two guns. One is a Naboo specific Royal Guard blaster. It’s nice designed and has been painted beautifully. The silver details on the gun highlight its mechanics very nicely. It also fits into his hand nicely too. Captain Panaka’s arms and hands have been posed in a way that accommodates holding the blasters with two arms. And Captain Panaka looks phenomenal holding them this way. Also included with Captain Panaka is a battle droid blaster. This may be an odd gun, but we’re sure that he became custodian of one sometime during the Battle of Naboo after being taken hostage then escaping. He can hold both guns very well. Also included with Captain Panaka is a CommTech chip. This “device” has two purposes. It serves as a display stand for the action figure and it allows your action figures to “talk” for the first time. These CommTech chips are really just an elaborate gimmick. Voice actors provide the dialogue which tends to make purists cringe. And the whole concept was about as confusing as it was interesting. Certain figures could interact with other figures. But it is a technology we’re sure will only have a short shelf life. Anyway, Captain Panaka is a well made action figure. This may be your one and only shot to get him too.