1/6 Hot Toys - TMS 029 - The Mandalorian: Moff Gideon Collectible Figure

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I am just rewatching Mando, finished S1.
He is a decent villain, love the actor and he definitely has some epic scenes. I feel like they must get into his motivations in the next season. He is obviously working with/for Thrawn. Because to have possession of such a big Star Wars weapon in the DarkSaber, his obsession with having Grogu and what they want to do with him…I think that will be touched on in S3 hopefully.
 
Going back to Basil Fawlty and ProtocollD, his character's name was also quite on the nose as a 'big bad' from history. I don't think even Lucas was as outright as that with his inspiration for the Empire.

Perhaps its just that Disney didnt want to scar the psyches of a generation of children here to see cute Grogu and that nice guy they look up to/wish he was THEIR dad (Mando), with Richard Brake glaring meaningfully out the teevee and smiling that I'LL KILL YOU! smile instead of Esposito. Thatd give any kid nightmares, real talk. It almost gives me nightmares.

Which all leads back to one of my foundation premises: our need for R-rated Star Wars content. Im sorry, this is the adult themed content we deserve as SW fans.
 
Perhaps its just that Disney didnt want to scar the psyches of a generation of children here to see cute Grogu and that nice guy they look up to/wish he was THEIR dad (Mando), with Richard Brake glaring meaningfully out the teevee and smiling that I'LL KILL YOU! smile instead of Esposito. Thatd give any kid nightmares, real talk. It almost gives me nightmares.

Which all leads back to one of my foundation premises: our need for R-rated Star Wars content. Im sorry, this is the adult themed content we deserve as SW fans.

The original Star Wars was a curious blend. An homage to the hokey 1930s sci-fi serials made specifically for children, yet with a gruesome edge: the smouldering remains of Owen and Beru or Ponda Baba's severed arm.

Lucas did it again, with Spielberg, in The Temple of Doom. Childish silliness with some gruesome scenes mixed in. The flayed human skins are still shocking to me in the context of that film.

Disney throws some scenes in, but they don't dwell on them. I think it was in The Bad Batch that Fennec was throwing a civilian off their speeder at height, to expected death.

To decode The Mandalorian...

Richard Brake's Valin Hess was about as evil as you can get...

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He would've made a great main villain with that degree of menace. But, as you wrote, maybe that was too much for the scope of Disney's plans. As such he was despatched very quickly.

He was Disney's very overt reminder that the Empire were conceived as space Nazis. Which is safer than the original subtext of anti-Vietnam War Lucas seeing them as also embodying evil empires closer to home.

Moff Gideon possessed a more subtle menace. Being darker skinned brought an element of inclusiveness to the Empire, and by association to evil. It implies that evil is everywhere, and not confined to stereotypical beliefs.

Good and evil are inherent qualities, not limited to the outer ones embodied by Valin Hess. It breaks down rigid social and racial barriers, in the same manner that Marx advised that the workers of the world had more common with each other than with the other classes of their own nations.

Morality is a golden ideal, and it goes far beyond borders and race, because it's an individual quality.

It also reminds of the time when you could tell a villainous character on screen because they were physically disfigured. Though you can go back to the original King Kong to see a level of enlightenment. The 'beast' was essentially good. The final lines spelling it out, "It was beauty killed the beast."

Most series and films made now are highly self-conscious, and walking a tightrope in order to portray the correct message, while also trying to stay close to their subject. Some Star Wars entries have done it better than others, but I think The Mandalorian hit the right balance.
 
Moff Gideon possessed a more subtle menace. Being darker skinned brought an element of inclusiveness to the Empire, and by association to evil. It implies that evil is everywhere, and not confined to stereotypical beliefs.
The same goes for Thrawn in a sense, generally they don’t recruit non-humans, but Thrawn is just an exceptional strategist and even the Emperor himself could see that and assigned him the rank of Grand Admiral personally.
 
Going through my open pre-orders and am debating on cancelling this figure. Not bad looking, but the character is underdeveloped and not necessarily a must for the collection in my opinion.
 
Going through my open pre-orders and am debating on cancelling this figure. Not bad looking, but the character is underdeveloped and not necessarily a must for the collection in my opinion.
But I guess that could change radically next season? I really need to do the same though. I could probably buy a car if I canceled my preorders.
 
But I guess that could change radically next season? I really need to do the same though. I could probably buy a car if I canceled my preorders.
I decided to send my cancellation request to Alter Ego. It’s just one I feel like I don’t need, and there will be other figures coming I’ll want more (I’m collecting the EXO-6 Star Trek releases, and they’re coming fast).
 
Did some soul searching and, since Chrome Mando comes with a dark saber, I decided to cancel this. Buh bye.
Anyone else not feeling this figure anymore besides me?
 
I think from a quality standpoint, this figure has the potential to be right up there with Tarkin, Dooku and Krennic in regards to sharp, crisp tailoring, impeccable detailing and (hopefully) a knockout of a portrait. He's also featured in some of the only truly good SW that Disney has produced. Add to that a probable low production number and we've got the makings of another classic HT figure with great shelf presence.

I'll keep the order.
 
He didn’t get that much screen time, sure, but he did have a lot of presence in those moments.

I can understand the figure not making the cut for anyone trying to be really selective. But he is an important character to have if you have a full Mandalorian display.

Plus Giancarlo Esposito is a fantastic actor who seems both very nice and very enthusiastic about his part in the show, the character, and the series as a whole.

I still remember how genuinely excited he was when he saw his Retro Collection figure and talked about how he loves wearing the cape.

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I getting the figure and I'm excited about it... but his villainy didn't grab me on the show. He was far too subdued for my tastes.

But these more corporate type, middle-managers seem to be the choice as Disney villains, like Krennic, Dryden and Gideon. For me, their outfits often have more development and pizzazz than their characters.
 
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