Padmé Amidala - SW [S - P2] - 12 Inch Figures

Ten years after the fight to save Naboo from invasion, the galaxy is on the brink of civil war. Under the leadership of a renegade Jedi, thousands of solar systems threaten to secede from the Galactic Republic. A courageous Jedi Knight, his impulsive and headstrong apprentice, and a queen-turned-senator are drawn into the heart of the conflict... and the beginning of war.

Now a Senator from Naboo, Padmé Amidala has grown more beautiful and wise since her term as Queen. On her return to Coruscant, Padmé narrowly escapes two assassination attempts and believes that the Separatist leader Count Dooku is responsible for the attacks. To protect her, the Jedi Council orders Anakin Skywalker to accompany Padmé on a secret retreat to the idyllic Naboo lake country. Despite an obvious mutual attraction between Anakin and the Senator, the strong-willed Padmé struggles to control her emotions and to maintain decorum. Yet against her self-discipline and pragmatic ideals, Padmé finds herself falling in love with her Jedi protector. Only when their peaceful retreat suddenly turns to an urgent and dangerous mission does Padmé realize that she can no longer deny her repressed emotions.

After the 2002 Star Wars “Saga” line wrapped at the end of the year, Hasbro refreshed the line ever-so-slightly for the relaunch of it in January of the next year. They moved from red nameplates to orange nameplates, changed the background to a starburst pattern, and revised the fonts along with other subtle details to refresh the line. We’re not sure why Hasbro went through the energy to revise the line look because a few short months later. Hasbro converted the Star Wars “Saga” line once again into the most popular “gold bar” line look and that line ran until The Original Trilogy Collection was announced in 2004. But in that short window of time of the intermediate line look change, Hasbro released a generous collection of 3.75” action figures, 12 Inch Figures, vehicles, and exclusives that helped flesh out the Star Wars toy line. The line included toys that supported the Star Wars saga as a whole. Hasbro took the opportunity to continue the hefty line of 12 Inch Figure based on Attack Of The Clones for the first wave, and they got to characters long overdue in the format which shocked collectors.

Padmé Amidala was a surprising omission from the Star Wars “Saga” line launch in 2002. But Hasbro made the character a priority for the 2003 new line look. Based on her outfit from the Battle of Geonosis, Padmé Amidala comes in her signature white adventure gear outfit, which includes a shirt, pants, boots, a belt/holster combination piece, and arm cuffs. The Padmé Amidala 12 Inch Figure has some potential, but there is also so much wrong with it that many collectors probably won’t be able to overlook the imperfections. For example, what the heck is on her head? In the movie, Padmé Amidala has her hair tied back in a bun. Hasbro attempted to replicate this style, but the execution is pitiful. The Padmé Amidala 12 Inch Figure has this much-too-large “hairpiece” that attaches to the back of the figure’s head. It doesn’t match the rooted hair, and it’s way out of scale for the figure. It’s a disappointing look for Padmé Amidala, and we’re not sure how this final detail got approved. The rest of the figure isn’t that bad. But Padmé Amidala has a lanky build. The figure’s legs are too long, and the arms are pre-posed and too doll-like.

The Padmé Amidala 12 Inch Figure comes with a poor articulation system. The figure is mannequin-like at best. The arms are positioned at an angle and they move not all that different from one of the characters from The Clinkers sketches. The head sculpt moves on a ball-joints, but the hips and wait are swivel joints. And the knees are hinge-jointed but are imbedded under a rubbery plastic like a Barbie doll, and barely move as needed for a Star Wars action figure. But perhaps the worst aspect of Padmé Amidala is the inability to hold the guns well in the hands provided. There are no gripped hands here, You can slide both blasters into the hands, but the opening is so small that the figure often drops them due to gravity. Other issues include a large head. While we can’t fault the likeness of the portrait, the size of it is too big for the body. And it looks disproportionate when analyzed against the body. Overall, Padmé Amidala comes across as more of a disappointment more than anything else. But Padmé Amidala is an essential character from Attack Of The Clones, and this figure needed production and release. We only wish that Hasbro took a different approach with it.