Padmé Amidala - TLC - Basic (BD 12)

Quick-thinking and brave, Padmé has made a career out of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. On Ilum, her sharp eye and keen mind, along with a thermal detonator, save her from an ambush by a squad of heavily armed chameleon droids.

When we all purchased the early 2007 TAC Ambush On Ilum Battle Packs set, we pretty much thought we got the unequivocal Padmé Amidala (in snow bunny outfit) action figure. But little did we know back then that a year and a half later we would be getting treated to an all-new super-articulated form of the action figure with enhanced detailing. The action figure based on Padmé Amidala’s appearance on Ilum is a figure with the rare admission by Hasbro that it was one of the few figures where they had expressed such overt gratitude for the opportunity to revisit her and get it right. A figure with such popularity and distinct sex appeal is one that gets more criticism than others that get lost in the crowd. The fine folks at Hasbro did redeem themselves by creating a nearly definitive and much improved version which renders the old version obsolete. It is amazing how pitiful the first version looks by today’s standards. And while there are an infinite amount of improvements, we dare say that there are some things that could have been made just a bit better. We will get to those comments in a moment. Padmé Amidala is super-articulated and can be posed in an almost infinite array of positions. It is great to get super-articulation on any figure, but it is particularly special on smaller female figures where the joints are much narrower and harder to incorporate. They designed a nice body on her that doesn’t give her fat ankles and arms to make the articulation work optimally. Hasbro obviously worked overtime to get this figure just right and we think that they succeeded in so many ways! Her likeness is actually pretty good even though it appears a little washed out. And depending on your sample, sometimes the eyes are not painted perfectly and this can affect the overall presentation. Spend some time getting just the right paint job on your figure. It will make a world of difference. The gun, belt and holster are without out a doubt superior to the TAC version and it is amazing what just over a year will do for figure aesthetics. Her gun is appropriately colored silver this time around and her belt doesn’t overshadow her sleek and slim silhouette any more. Padmé Amidala's costume also has lines that gives superb definition and demonstrates how well-fitted this outfit is on her frame. Her proportions are very feminine and every curve is accounted for brilliantly. Just some of the details that make this version superior to the TAC version, Padmé Amidala is a figure to get excited about for your collection.

If you're looking for an action pose, the 2007 version if for you. But we feel that you would rather have the opportunity to pose her in more than one action pose yourself with super-articulation. Well, now you can because only The Legacy Collection figure will allow you to do this. We think that Padmé Amidala is the slightest bit too pale. And while the Battle Packs version is way too tan, somewhere in the spectrum of the two is her correct shade of melanin. Perhaps her white snow bunny outfit is responsible for making her look a little too washed out, but we have to say a slight tuning of making her darker would benefit her. There is also one small inaccurate detail to Padmé as well. And this could just be the artistic license of the realistic interpretation, but she has a bare neck. In the animated short, the white bodysuit covers everything up very tightly except for her face so we are leaning towards that this was a missed detail. As a result, she looks more like a pilot that a snow-battling heroine fighting off Chameleon Droids on Ilum. Not a distraction from the awesome action figure, it is just one micro-managed details we wanted to see executed perfectly. Oh, and did we mentioned the cape? Utilizing one of the most luxurious soft-goods we have ever seen on a figure to date, Padmé Amidala’s outerwear is among the most impressive we have seen in the 3.75” scale yet. And indeed how we are rejoicing that Hasbro didn’t mold a plastic cape for her. The soft-goods cape has been cut from a very plush material that is significantly improved upon from the first release, in both fabric style and drape. We would have wished however for the long drawstrings with pom-pom ends as seen in the cartoon and even Sideshow Collectibles' Padmé Amidala (Naboo Senator: Ilum) 1:6 Scale Figure. Those drawstrings made a really sexy statement for those figures. It would have been nice to transfer them to this figure. One other detail that we aren’t too crazy about is her wide stance. Don’t get us wrong, you can soften this by posing her knees at different angles (which may or may not look awkward to get the right balance), but if you want a rather static pose, it will be hard thanks to the breadth of her stance. The action figure is designed to possess a very thin and narrow frame, but the spread on her legs works adversely toward this goal and gives the illusion that she is bigger than she actually is. Padmé Amidala is a very thin and athletic character and we don’t think she should be made to look wider than she is.

Don’t misinterpret our criticisms. Padmé Amidala is a great action figure. We just hold Hasbro to the highest standards, especially for their takes on characters from Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars series. Based on the events in Volume 1: Chapter 16 of the original Clone Wars micro-series, the characters from this story have quickly become fan favorites. We attribute this solely to the awesome outfit of Padmé Amidala. Oh, and because the planet is reminiscent of Hoth too. She is perfect upgrade to the last version and while we can find small flaws with her, she overall exceeds our expectations on multiple levels. Hasbro has stated that the second wave of figures was a great way to say goodbye to the Tartakovsky inspired characters. We hope this isn’t so. We have clamored for more original Clone Wars characters from Hasbro and while this was an amazing wave of figures, we don’t want them to be forgotten and pushed to the side. We want to see the last few main characters made from this series. If Hasbro can keep bringing us more awesome figures from this micro-series, we will be a very happy group of collectors. It is the closest Expanded Universe source that connects the dots between Episode II and Episode III. And as you all know, Volume 2 of the Clone Wars brings us right to the opening crawl of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith. Needless to say, we just hope more action figures are around the corner. Padmé Amidala is certainly not our favorite figure of the wave, but she certainly ranks high on the list. The figure is stunning but not perfect. And to be honest, not all of our action figures need to be perfect. But some additional tweaking would have benefitted this figure a great deal to almost make her perfect. We think that Hasbro just needs one more (small) swing to hit this one home or out of the park. Then again, a revisit may be risky and make the figure inferior to this version. But a revisit is unlikely anyhow. However, if Hasbro does get an opportunity to clean up the small issues, it will be an even more exhilarating action figure once and for all! While we wait and see, this figure is certainly excellent enough to add to your collection. And you now have an upgrade for that 2007 Battle Packs set. Padmé Amidala will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of your collection and an amazing addition to your collection of figures based on Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars.