Padmé Amidala (Peasant Disguise) - TVC - Basic (VC33)

After the disaster that was 2009’s LC Queen Amidala (BD08), we have to be honest that we had our guard up when we found out that Padmé Amidala (Peasant Disguise) was on tap for release in The Vintage Collection. We of course had good reason to worry. If you read our Research Droids Review on the Legacy Collection Queen Amidala figure, it had one problem after another. Remember the pudgy face, swollen hands and the terrible unarticulated legs underneath her too-wide dress that made her lean? We wondered if Hasbro would ever be able to do our queen justice anymore. We were honestly quite disappointed by her because she was a figure we were hoping to thoroughly enjoy. It was puzzling as well because we got some really great versions of her even years prior like in the Power Of The Jedi line. But after getting the stunning Padmé Amidala (Peasant Disguise) figure in our hands, our fears have been allayed and what we behold is probably one of the best figures in wave 4 of The Vintage Collection. And this is saying quite a bit for a figure that is in no way super-articulated. She still has the unarticulated legs, but the figure has been designed so well that she remains perfectly upright. Hasbro needed to get back to basics to design a Padmé Amidala figure that would satisfy the expectations of collectors who want everything super-articulated. We think they succeeded in marvelous ways and we couldn’t be more thrilled with the final product. From her pretty face and beautiful appearance, this is an action figure to make you smile.

With a mix of soft-goods and plastic molded parts that interact superbly with each other, Padmé Amidala is a wonderfully exciting action figure. Once you hold Padmé Amidala (Peasant Disguise) in your hands, you’ll actually feel the ferocity that Hasbro had burning inside them to create an optimal female action figure that looks and feels great while knocking out two specific looks seamlessly. And what makes it more interesting is that Hasbro has not really abandoned their approach with Amidala and the big dresses she wears, but rather they have fine tuned their processes that keeps the figure authentic to the films while still maintaining their objectives and the high quality of the figure. As a result, they have created a small masterpiece. We’ll say it again. Padmé Amidala (Peasant Disguise) is absolutely a small masterpiece. It’s cleverly constructed with duel functionality and kills two birds with one stone because of the interchangeable head coverings. This is something we get very excited about because while you may think this is something that is expected or owed to us, Hasbro could have given us only one version of her and released another a few years down the road. This action figure is something you should appreciate for more reasons than one. The last time we really saw this Hasbro work this into a Padmé figure was 2007’s TAC Padmé Amidala (No. 56). It’s nice to see the return of this flexibility and in such an enhanced way! Padmé Amidala may be limited with only eight points of articulation, but it’s plenty here.

Padmé Amidala (Peasant Disguise) provides “two” outfits that were worn by her in multiple scenes that spanned a lengthy section of time in the film. During this duration, we saw her with an ornate metal head covering or the more relaxed cloth headdress (while they were eating aboard the public transportation shuttle and some deep conversation with Anakin Skywalker if you recall). And then there are other options you can configure Padmé Amidala in that aren’t seen in Attack Of The Clones. But how cool is it that we have this option? There is a great deal of adaptability with this figure. Hasbro has brilliantly included some forward thinking technology into this figure as not only can you change what goes on top of her head, but you can also remove the soft-goods that drape in front of and behind her simple but beautiful dress. This soft-goods material hides the pretty pattern on her dress a little bit. Where Hasbro has saved pennies by not making their clone troopers dirty, they have spent it on flawlessly recreating the pattern on Padmé Amidala's dress. This is some very fine artwork here are we are thoroughly impressed. Padmé also comes with a blaster pistol that fits better into her left hand than her right. We’re not sure how necessary a blaster pistol is for her, but it seems to be a standard accessory with her anymore. We could go on and on, but just know this is a figure not to miss. We hope you’ll give her a place in your collection as she clearly one of the best Episode II versions of Padmé we have ever seen.