'Star Wars' Collectibles & Toys Review: Hasbro 'Star Wars Saga Screen Scene Pack: Geonosian War Room 2'

Photo Credit:www.reservoir.com. (C) 2003 Hasbro Inc. and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) 

In a conference room on Geonosis, leaders of the Confederacy of Independent Systems watch Republic and Separatist forces engage in what will become the first battle of the Clone Wars. unscrupulous opportunists who will do anything that will benefit them financially, they ally with Count Dooku to advance their own interests. -  Package blurb, Geonosian War Room 2,  Star Wars Saga Screen Scene, 2003

In 2002, Hasbro phased out its Power of the Jedi line of Star Wars toys and collectibles. In its place, the Rhode Island-based toy manufacturer introduced a new product line simply called Star Wars. As with the previous Star Wars-themed collection, Hasbro rolled out several waves of new “basic” figures, vehicles, playsets, deluxe figures, and screen scenes that spanned the entire Star Wars saga rather than just a specific film. Consequently, many fans and collectors started calling the 2002-2003 Hasbro line the Star Wars Saga collection, even though the revamped packaging does not feature the word saga on its logo.

Before the line was phased out in 2003 to make room for the Star Wars: Clone Wars collections – one which mimicked the look of the 2D animated microseries, and a second one that featured more “realistic” figures – I acquired quite a few of the basic figures, some of the vehicles, and most of the Screen Scenes multi-figure packs.

Released in 2003, Geonosian War Room 2 is the second of two Screen Scenes dioramas. Based on a scene from Star Wars -Episode II: Attack of the Clones, it depicts – along with  Geonosian War Room 1 and a stand-alone Wat Tambor – Geonosian War Room figure – the moment when the leaders of the Separatist movement realize that the Republic’s new clone army is winning the Battle of Geonosis – and that it is time to flee before they’re captured.

Geonosian War Room 2 features three members of the Confederacy of Independent System’s ruling council and half of the war room’s holographic battlefield table, along with a printed backdrop that depicts the cave walls of the underground bunker. From left to right, the three Separatist leaders in this Screen Scene are:

Shu Mai, the Presidente of the Commerce Guild during the waning years of the Galactic Republic. A blue-skinned Gossam from the planet Castell, she is thin, long-necked, clad in an orange-and-blue gown, and wears many gold necklaces. In Attack of the Clones, Shu Mai is the only Separatist who expresses any reservations about Count Dooku’s plans to secede violently from the Republic. “What you are proposing,” she says to Dooku, “could be construed as treason.” Still, she joins the former Jedi Master’s cabal and promises the support of the Commerce Guild for the Separatist Cause.

Nute Gunray, the greedy and vindictive Neimoidian Viceroy of the Trade Federation. Still smarting from his defeat at the Battle of Naboo at the hands of young Queen Amidala’s resistance, two Jedi Knights, an army of Gungans, and a nine-year-old boy named Anakin Skywalker, Gunray is out for revenge. Dressed in impressive orange-and-brown robes and a tall Viceroy’s miter, Nute Gunray is in shock that the Galactic Republic has sent an army to rescue the Jedi in the Geonosis arena above ground – and that his plans to kill Amidala have come to naught.

Passel Argente: The green-skinned male Koorivar is the Magistrate of the Corporate Alliance and another of Count Dooku’s Big Business backers. A former Senator who opposed Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum’s policies before the election of Sheev Palpatine a decade earlier, Argente prefers behind-the-scenes managing roles rather than direct military operations. He wears a hooded brown tunic that’s not as elaborate as Gunray’s but still reflects his high status among the Koorivar.

My Take

I’ve been a fan of Kenner/Hasbro’s mini-dioramas since I first spied a Star Wars: The Power of the Force Cinema Scene pack titled Purchase of the Droids at a Babbage’s store back in the 1990s. It took me a while to acquire the 10 Power of the Force Cinema Scenes, the three Episode I Cinema Scenes, and the six Star Wars Saga Screen Scenes, including Geonosian War Room 2.

As the product name implies, this is the second of two three-figure sets that depict the Geonosian War Room from Star Wars – Episode II: Attack of the Clones.  It comes with the three characters listed in the main section of this review, plus the other half of the Holographic Battle Table.

Collectors have the choice of carefully removing the figures and the Holographic Battle Table  from the packaging and set up the scene on a display shelf or keeping it “as is” to keep Geonosian War Room 2 in good – and possibly sellable – condition. I don’t plan on selling my Star Wars collectibles, but I prefer the second option. I made the mistake of opening many of my Star Wars – Episode I action figures and now I regret it. I’ve lost quite a few loose blasters and other small accessories over the years because I took figures out of their carded packages back in the 2000s.

The figures themselves are nicely rendered, even though they only have the five basic points of articulation and represent characters that are dramatically relevant but don’t play any actual combat role in Attack of the Clones. In Geonosian War Room 2, Shu Mai, Nute Gunray, and Passel Argente are having a classic “Oh, poodoo!” moment as they realize that the clone army has defeated the Separatists’ droid army and that Count Dooku is about to flee with the plans for the Geonosians’ “ultimate weapon.”

As with Geonosis War Room 1, my main issue with this Screen Scene is that both War Rooms' halves of the Holographic Battle Table have the same simulated holograms (two Republic Gunships very close to the central figure, a vulture droid in the extreme right foreground), which is repetitive and looks strange when you join both sets to create the illusion of a complete conference table.

Aside from that, I still recommend this set to collectors who are new to the Star Wars collecting scene and are lucky enough to find it online or at a brick-and-mortar store nearby. I was lucky; I had a friend who often bought more than one Cinema Scene/Screen Scene when he went on “figure runs” at the now defunct KB Toys and Toys R Us chain stores, and he gave me many of his “extras” as gifts. I’m not sure – it’s been 15 years since I acquired the Geonosian War Room sets – but I think this is one of those.

Year: 2003

Assortment: Screen Scenes

Assortment No. : 84711/84997

Retail: $19.99

Weapons and Accessories: 

• Holographic Battlefield Table