Bail Organa (Alderaan Senator) - SW [S - P3] - Basic (’03 #33)

Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan is a trusted advisor in Chancellor Palpatine's inner circle. An impassioned supporter of civic virtue, Bail regrets that to counter the Separatist threat, the Republic must deploy a newly discovered clone army. Although the Republic garners an equivocal victory at the Battle of Geonosis, it is only the first step in a much larger, carefully conceived Clone War. The noble Senator stands in somber observation as thousands of clone troopers, marching in military formation, board countless warships and disperse throughout the galaxy to new battlefronts.

The latter part of the Star Wars “Saga” took quite a few steps away from the action feature oriented figures from the earlier waves of the line. Hasbro began looking more deeply into Attack of The Clones (for the most part) and chose some of the more obscure background characters as well as main characters that the kid population wouldn’t necessarily find that interesting. Bail Organa (Alderaan Senator) is a perfect example of this. Original Trilogy lovers would most likely know who this character is and perhaps show interest in the action figure, but would a little kid who mostly cares about clone troopers and the main heroes and villains of the film? As a result, Bail Organa (Alderaan Senator) has been approached without any gimmick or action features. He is simply articulated, but his sculpt is better than average. And the deco is award winning. Without making this sound like a criticism, he is definitely boring, but a necessary release as he is an important part of the Star Wars “Saga”. And sine Hasbro did a decent job with their interpretation of him as an action figure, it is one worth considering.

Bail Organa (Alderaan Senator) comes with a very conservative six points of articulation. The entire action figure is swivel articulation, so movement is limited when compared to the many others in the Star Wars “Saga” line. The portrait is very, very nice. It looks like Jimmy Smits and has all of the important features of his character sculpted into it. The outfit is beyond impressive It’s multilayered and decorated beautifully. The back of his removable cloak has an ornate patterned that has been applied through some sort of silk screening method. Bail Organa (Alderaan Senator) leans a little bit. For one reason or another Hasbro sculpted his legs in a slightly “walking forward” motion so one foot is shorter than the other if you don’t pose him in this fashion. For the record, we find this approach quite irritating. If Hasbro is going to sculpt figures with simple articulation, they need to tool them in very static poses. Otherwise they just look wonky. Bail Organa (Alderaan Senator) honestly does look pretty good and Hasbro certainly could have give us worse.

The standout feature of Bail Organa (Alderaan Senator) is the Obi-Wan Kenobi hologram. It’s different than any other hologram effect Hasbro has created to date. It’s large and permanently affixed to an ornate display base that is a replica of the one seen in Supreme Chancellor Palpatine’s office. It’s a very rigid holographic image. The formation of the Obi-Wan Kenobi image is block like and it has been cast in the accurate light blue color. But the removable cloak shell and holographic image are all the accessories packs in with Bail Organa (Alderaan Senator). It would have been nice if they included a blaster or some other form of weaponry but for one reason or another Hasbro felt it wasn’t necessary. Overall, this is one of the better releases in the final phase of the Star Wars “Saga” line. There is change in the air with how action figures are being approached now. The environmental display stands that comes with so many of the Star Wars “Saga” figures are getting better and better. And if things keep going this way, Star Wars action figures will only continue to improve.