Luminara Unduli - LC [2] - Basic

Luminara Unduli unleashes her Lightsaber in the Geonosis arena in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. Unduli is an accomplished Jedi Master skilled in both Lightsaber dueling techniques and the art of diplomacy. She has honed her skills over many years of training, so that she is agile and lethal in the arena as she takes on the Battle Droid army.

Luminara Unduli is now available (and it depends upon your definition of available) in the manner she was originally planned: The Legacy Collection [2} Droid Factory line. In May of 2015, retailer Go! Games & Toys, part of Calendar Holdings, began getting these figures in small numbers. This was a huge surprise, because collectors were under the assumption that they never were produced. Now these figures comes to us once again, but in a way that is exciting because of our general love for this pack-in premium. She still is ridden with the same issues. How do you describe an action figure that looks spectacular but sadly doesn’t meet full expectations because of the approach? Luminara Unduli, who may just be one of the most gorgeously sculpted action figures of our time, falls short because of a sloppy approach. All the right pieces are in place here, but their assembly prevents certain things from happening, which in many collectors’ eyes see that as a failure. Let’s deal with the negative first, because Luminara Unduli has a lot more going for her than not. Firstly, hardcore Star Wars collectors were praying to see an updated Luminara Unduli action figure in The Vintage Collection to accompany the wonderful 2011 TVC Barriss Offee (Jedi Padawan) (VC51) action figure. Clearly that didn’t happen, much to the chagrin of the collecting community. But in the package and directly out of the package you’re going to be wowed. Trust us on that sentiment. You WILL find that her headdress is more of nuisance as it impedes the articulation of the head; not that it prevents it from moving, but it will get bumped up off her head because it hangs too low and is stopped by her shoulders. Likewise, lifting her arms up will also have the same effect. Dare we say that it might have been better to sculpt the headdress as part of the head sculpt (or have it glued down) to prevent this awkward aesthetic from occurring.

Don’t misunderstand us. We think the removable headdress on paper is a brilliant idea and we love the head sculpt underneath of it, but what a pain in the neck it is to pose her in any other way than looking straight ahead. It is counterproductive here though. The other issue that bums us out slightly is the oversized robes. They are tailored close to her body horizontally and the varying textures are absolutely marvelous, but vertically they’re too long and it is quite the challenge to pose her without stepping on them and creating a balance issue. She fell multiple times or stayed in a cockeyed position more than we can possibly recall during the photo shoot. But with a little patience and a greater amount of perseverance we managed to pose her in ways that we find acceptable. We mentioned the layered soft-goods and they work beautifully here. A crepe styled outer robe with hood overlays nicely with the lower soft-goods that make up the bottom portion of her skirt. It’s a shame that they have been cut too long for the height of the action figure. Because even if you flout out the bottom of it so that you get her feet on the ground without stepping on her dress, it doesn’t have a nice or realistic drape for that matter and she looks a little too wonky. As an action figure that will face forward displayed on a shelf, she is great. But if you’re looking to pose her in any of her dramatic appearance in Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars micro-series, or her role in Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones, prepare for yourself to be disappointed. Functionally, the 2009 TCW Luminara Unduli (CW30) figure has more freedom to be posed in action-oriented poses than this one. And that is a bit sad because the Legacy Collection [2] version should unequivocally be the definitive action figure. Again, Hasbro probably couldn’t have done a better likeness for her, but she is so limited on what she can bring to the toy line as a super-articulated action figure.

Those collectors that keep action figures in their protective plastic coffins will not have to concern themselves with Luminara Unduli’s limitations. When carded, Luminara Unduli looks to be one of the greatest accomplishments Hasbro has ever produced, so we credit them with designing an action figure that looks this fantastic. And even outside of the package, if you're patient, you'll find that she displays marvelously. But it’s sad that this figure hasn't met our full expectations because it doesn't want to stay together if you know what we mean. Luminara Unduli comes with three accessories: her removable headdress, her removable outer robe and her lightsaber. Some aren’t crazy about how the soft-goods hang on her, but admittedly we think they look pretty good, save for the areas where they fail her. Her lightsaber is designed very well and she can hold onto it effortlessly thanks to well sculpted gripping hands. Clearly, this is the greatest version of Luminara Unduli that money can buy. And that is an accomplishment in and of itself too. She is a significant upgrade to 2005’s ROTS Luminara Unduli (III 31) figure as well as the one included with 2008’s TAC Luminara Unduli/AT-RT Driver Order 66 (Series 2) (5 of 6) set. They cannot hold a candle to this version. And the 2002 SW [S - P1] Luminara Unduli (Jedi Master) (’02 #26) is a complete nightmare by comparison. So there is definitely a lot here to make you happy. It is just that we wished Hasbro would have fine-tuned some of the issues that would make a seemingly perfect action figure feel like it is lacking. An excellent portrait and an excellent use of soft-goods (although not cropped properly) are her strong points. Hopefully Hasbro will take one more stab and remedy her issue. If not, this version will still be excellent. But we still hold out hope for a "perfect" version. This sculpt needs one more tweaking.