Review: Star Wars Black Series Watto, Attack of the Clones, Galaxy Collection Fan Channel Wave
- Mephitsu
- Jul 1
- 6 min read
“Mind tricks don't-a work on me, only money! No money, no parts, no deal!"
The Star Wars Black Series Fan Channel Wave releases across 2025 were very much influenced by the Star Wars prequel trilogy, and expanded our characters for display with the likes of Bariss Offee, Shaak Ti, and Sebulba. The first Fan Channel Wave of 2026 continues that focus, with a trio of figures who appeared in Episode 2, Attack of the Clones. The wave featured the first Black Series Kamoinoan, Taun We, as well as a new Separatist ally the Geonosian Warrior. The third figure was another debut as Watto the Toydarian joined the line.
Watto, like Taun We and the Geonosian, arrives in the matt black window box with red accent colouring that is used on the front text and the artwork. There is an immediate issue here, as Watto, in terms of his look, is the younger Watto from Episode I, The Phantom Menace. When you look at the box, there are further clues to the actual origin for Watto with the side art showing Watto against the background of the Mos Espa Pod Racing arena and track.
And when we arrive at the back of the box, and the background text, this talks about Watto as the owner of Shmi and Anakin Skywalker and how he sponsored Anakin in the pod races, but often bet against him. Again, this is very much aligned to Episode I rather than Attack of the Clones. The cardback, which sits behind the plastic tray inside the box, similarly uses the red hue, but the imagery is again the Mos Espa Pod Race Track.
mocked up AI image of Watto in Phantom Menace themed packaging (right)
While Watto is obviously mis-placed and we should really be seeing him (as per this AI-supported image) in the yellow of The Phantom Menace collection, we have to accept that this release of Watto is numbered as 12 in the AOTC collection, sitting between the other two figures in the wave of the Geonosian Warrior and Taun We.
In hand, Watto is another exceptional sculpt for an Alien species, something Hasbro nearly always excels at. He is cast in a grey blue tone to match his actual skin tone from his on-screen appearance, with his large pot-belly stomach fading to a lighter beige, and the same beige then tracks down the underside of the arms, the inner legs, and up around the neck area. Watto’s hands are three-fingered claws, while the feet are webbed with the four visible ‘toes’ infilled with webbing to create a circular foot, coloured beige underneath.
Watto’s head includes his trunk around a bulbous mouth with protruding teeth or tusks picked out in white. The large eyes, while not obviously photo-real printed, are very well done with Watto’s yellow eyes around a large black iris.
Watto is wearing his vest, an individual, soft brown piece with openings for both his arms and his wings. Over this is Watto’s toolbelt, another softer plastic overlaid piece in darker brown with pouches at either side and a mechanical powered tool slotted into a larger holster on the side and connected back into the belt and an external power pack by a coiled flexible lead.
Watto's wings are individual pieces, plugged into sockets on his back by way of a ball joint that then allows them to be articulated. They use the same base blue/grey tones as the body with a leathery texture in the sculpt. The beige fade comes in on the front side, starting where they meet the body and fading as it extends out to the main wing.
Proportionally, Wattos is dead on to what we see on screen, standing a touch shorter than Episode 1 Anakin. The set then includes a stand which raises Watto up so that his head is more or less on par with any six-inch figure, such as Qui-Gon Jinn as seen here,
The stand itself is, like the Geonosian Warrior, a clear plastic sweeping piece that starts with a circular base and curves up and around to a ball joint that connects to the figure. This stand is not as tall as the Geonosian, allowing - as we've seen - Watto to ‘fly’ level to the other six-inch characters around him. The plug-in socket on the back is not disguised as such, but will sit under the loop of the belt when not being used. When engaged, the belt moves out of the way. The fit is not great, and there is an element of force needed to get the two married up securely.
As we also saw with the Geonosian, Hasbro has included a second set of ‘motion’ wings for Watto to reflect the Hummingbird effect of rapid wing movement to keep him in the air. The motion wings are translucent plastic, thicker at the top to show their fast forward and back motion. The closer we get to the body, the colouring returns and fades up to a solid blue/grey finish. Swapping wings is easy; the ball joints here are engineered well to make the switch simple and without any fuss or frustration. The blurred movement is effective, but like most effects pieces, it will be a personal choice around which wings to use.
The tool on Watto’s belt, a demagnitizer, can be slipped out of its holster and held in the right hand, where the grip is more secure. The coiled wire moves with the tool and allows Watto to be posed as though about to work on some mechanical equipment or even a droid.
He also comes with his datapad, a crude framed piece in bronze plastic with a grey screen. The details are limited, and the screen itself is left blank. This also fits into the right hand, but is designed to sit better in the left, where the fingers are extended to hold the piece as though Watto was studying the contents.
Up next is his walking/swagger stick, cast in brown plastic with a large round handle that has then be whittled down the shaft to an, almost pointing, end. Initially, this seems difficult to fit into Watto's hand, but as well as being held in his right hand around the main shaft, the ball handle can and will fit in and under the left hand so Watto can be displayed as though walking with his stick.
The final accessory is one of the smallest to date in the Black Series, Watto’s chance cube that he uses to bet with Qui-Gon. The cube is white as a base colour, with different faces picked out in either blue or red and with this paint applied as though well-worn. Despite its size, it can be relatively well secured in Watto's hand as though ready to throw.
Articulation on Watto is more limited due to his physiology, with a total of 15 joints. The legs are the least mobile, with just an ankle pivot and then a hip joint where the bent legs plug into the body. This allows Watto to stand on his own but in more or less a fixed position, while allowing the legs to be moved in and the feet pointed down when he is flying.
The body includes a ball joint, and the neck is jointed in two places, allowing some wider motion in the head and therefore replicating many of Watto's mannerisms. The wings, as mentioned, are ball-jointed at the back, and while they can't move extensively, they do flex up and down and inward and outward. The arms are the most mobile with the shoulders, elbows and wrists all working with each of the included accessories to give Watto real character on display.
Overall, Watto is an impressive figure with plenty of options for display, including both standing and flight positions and the blurred ‘in motion’ wings, which are much better than those on the Geonosian Warrior. And the figure features three independent accessories with the demagnitizer, tablet and chance cube, each allowing a different feature for display. Sculpt is great, mirroring what we see on screen, with a good level of applied decor.
The downside of the release is the odd choice to brand it as part of the Attack of the Clones collection, while that does mean the wider wave has a single theme, nothing about having Watto in AOTC packaging makes sense and even the background text and artwork scream that this should have been the 7th release for The Phantom Menance collection.
Keep Track of all the Star Wars Black Series figures from Hasbro at our comprehensive
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About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...
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