Concept Art Ki-Adi-Mundi - LC - Basic (BD38)

In this Episode III concept art by Derek Thompson, Ki-Adi-Mundi wears a cape and has an eyepatch over one eye. This more battle-weary appearance was designed to indicated that the Clone Wars have been raging for years and are taking their toll on the Jedi.

Ki-Adi-Mundi (based on the concept art of Derek Thompson) is the third Episode III concept art figure in the modern Hasbro line. Previously we received 2007's TAC Concept Grievous and then 2009's TLC Episode III Concept Art Anakin Skywalker (BD48) figures. Both were excellent and faithful representations of their two dimensional artwork form (they had a few issues each, but nothing terribly bad). Hasbro decided to delve a bit deeper into the pre-production film art and chose to go with an artistic interpretation on Ki-Adi-Mundi. We are actually surprised that many of the established Jedi characters were being considered for a new look in Episode III (as requested by George Lucas). Apparently none of the new designs has a big enough impact on him to include in the film, but these versions are forever immortalized in concept art. Jedi relatively ever change and although the Concept Art Ki-Adi-Mundi figure is indeed excellent, we find his look a little implausible to that it would ever be seen in a Star Wars film. The design makes him look more like a pirate than a Jedi although we understand why Ki-Adi-Mundi took the direction he did. The look was a symbol of the weariness the Clone Wars caused in the Jedi and while these themes can indeed be seen, the figure misses the mark in many ways too. An offshoot of the McQuarrie Concept sub-line, Hasbro has cleverly realized that there is another cash cow in action figures inspired by the drawings of (less popular) artists. Of course there probably will be no other artist as popular as those that were hired by George Lucas to work of th film. And in all honesty, the "Concept Art" action figures are a superb sub-collection in the Hasbro action figure line.

Ki-Adi-Mundi in our opinion is a little bit of an odd choice, but the action figure came out excellently. He has had a significant amount of screen time in the Prequel Trilogy and as a result, he has become a very popular and favorite Jedi among collectors and fans. He always gets his due credit in the form of an action figure and is included in the basic line frequently and consistently. And he has been easy to include in the line because his outfit doesn't change that much from one film to the next. But this time Ki-Adi-Mundi is different. He gets his coveted place in the main line as a concept art figure (especially in an era where room for figures is very limited year after year). And this little collection of concept art figures has been a big hit for most of those who collect them. Appearing in the same drawing as the concept Plo Koon (whose concept lightsaber gauntlet was included in both the 2008 The Clone Wars line as the Plo Koon (No. 14) figure as well as the 2009 red phase Legacy Collection), both he and Ki-Adi-Mundi are wearing nearly identical Jedi warrior costumes. (We see a head and hand swap in our future to make a concept art Plo Koon!) We are waiting eagerly for this to happen, but untill it does, we will try to head swap on our own and see if we can make him ourselves. Ki-Adi-Mundi pretty much looks like his onscreen appearance (due mostly to the fact that his likeness was firmly established in Episode I and Episode II). Of course concept art allows for a little more poetic license to be taken on the design ad that has certainly been taken at great lengths here. For example, this time around he has an eye patch (and it has been documented that intent of the style was to show that the Jedi had been to hell and back fighting in the Clone Wars and as a result the Jedi were beset with battle scars. This design of Ki-Adi-Mundi is effective at making this point and it does seem as if this action figure is a bit weary and scorned from the casualties of war.

Ki-Adi-Mundi fails a bit when it comes to decoration. We think that his skin color has come out much too pale to the point of almost appearing pink. We know that Hasbro made an effort to match the concept art, but the final product is indeed lacking authenticity. (See concept art image below to see what we mean.) The figure obviously needs a lot more dirt, but this is something that we have come to expect from Hasbro. It is interesting however, because there are some figures that do get a final wash, including the Jawa & Security Droid (BD39) and Hrcheck Kal Fas (BD33) from the same wave. We suppose cuts must be made somewhere and this time it is on Ki-Adi-Mundi. He comes with a short cape (cast in plastic) that has only drapes over one shoulder and the other shoulder has a cool bandolier. This uneven placement of this costume ironically balances out the figure very nicely and we probably couldn't think of a better way for it to be executed. So while Ki-Adi-Mundi is absolutely not a flawless action figure, he is still pretty great. He stands up straight, has awesome articulation and has a rather static (but artful) natural pose. You can definitely do a lot worse for $7.99. But don't interpret that as Ki-Adi-Mundi is only average. He is very good and he looks fantastic next to the other two Episode III concept art figures. The concept art figure choices are far from being exhausted and we tend to believe that figure's based on McQuarrie's artwork will probably always be the most popular. But the modern artists have also brought an incredible body of art to the concept table and we do look forward to many more additions to enter the basic figure line.