Released in the summer of 1999 around July, the fourth wave of Episode I action figures included some long-awaited characters, as well some dramatic improvements on characters who had already been released.
Included in this collection were Nute Gunray and Rune Haako, the puppet leaders of the Naboo invasion, as well as a cool – if somewhat flimsy – version of the unfolding Destroyer Droids. Yet another Battle Droid variation appeared, this time as the yellow-highlighted OOM-9, complete with macrobinoculars. (Why does a droid need binoculars?)
Queen Amidala returns in the fourth wave, in the elaborate costume and headdress worn during the Senate scenes. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are also released, this time with their flowing cloaks, and removable lightsabers which hang from their belts. (Each figure also comes with an “activated” version of his lightsaber.) Qui-Gon is a vast improvement here over the Jedi Duel version – his hair looks more like drawn-back, ponytailed human hair than dog ears (!).
Yoda is easily the coolest figure of the bunch, though – the detailing on this new version of the Jedi Master is incredibly well-done.
Wonder why R2-D2 has rocket packs in his new plastic incarnation? Well, it’s a bit of a pre-production rush situation, rather like the wrong uniforms on the Star Trek: Generations figures. In the Episode I script, Artoo actually falls off of the flying platform on Coruscant, right around the time Anakin asks Qui-Gon what midichlorians are. Having leaned over the edge too far to look down, the little droid rescues himself by opening his rockets and floating back to the platform…thus, booster rockets.
