Padmé Amidala Legacy, The - TLC - Evolutions

Padmé devoted her life to the people of Naboo and became a key figure in the dramatic events that changed the galaxy. Her courage and compassion deeply affected those around her, and was the pivotal legacy she gave to her children, Luke and Leia. While Queen of Naboo, Padmé stood up against the Trade Federation’s siege of her planet. As a Senator, Padmé fought to keep the Republic from falling into war. Her last act was to give birth to the twins who would fulfill her legacy by restoring peace to the galaxy.

Fans clamor for new Padmé Amidala figures all the time. And the noise usually doesn’t stop until they are seen on the shelves and available for purchase, but ironically, when all is said and done, they end up being peg-warmers (most of the time) unfortunately. Despite Padmé’s history with consumers, Hasbro decided to risk it again and release an Evolutions set completely devoted to her. While this filled many fans with glee (including ourselves), it ended up being one of the worst selling Evolutions sets of all. We see an unsettling pattern here that really concerns us because there are so many more outfits of Padmé Amidala that Hasbro needs to release to us into action figure form. And since her track record at retail is not ideal, we worry that Hasbro will release fewer and fewer each year. We don’t quite understand it ourselves, because we see fans really take in what Hasbro gives us for our Padmé Amidala figures, but she must not strike a chord with the rest of the buying public. All we can say is that there is collector support, so perhaps less volume of her action figures should be released to retail. We just don’t want to see them go away. Attack Of The Clones seems to be the source where Hasbro really needs to get down and dirty. Some of the coolest outfits are in that film and they have yet to be made as action figures. But there is no denying that The Padmé Amidala Legacy is a very cool set of figures that represents her evolution from Episode I to Episode III. The figures are beautifully colored and despite some issue with one of the figures, we believe Hasbro has scored high marks for their efforts. The sculpts are faithful and the designs look pretty great. Since only half of the Evolutions sets in the blue phase of The Legacy Collection are brand new, it makes ones like The Padmé Amidala Legacy extra special in our books. And we love our queen, don’t we? The Padmé Amidala Legacy Evolutions set has two real gems in it and then a third figure that both surprises us and disappoints us at the same rate. First and foremost, the Padmé Amidala (Senator of Naboo) from Attack Of The Clones figure is probably the best Padmé figure to date.

Both super-articulated and beautifully sculpted, this figure based on Episode II as well as some deleted scenes includes the head covering that never made it to the final cut of the film. But these extras are what makes sub-lines like Evolutions such a premium collector line. The portrait likeness is great and the figure can now replace all previous versions as the definitive one. The figure is lean and her outfit is very white. She comes with a functioning holster and her Naboo pistol fits inside it quite well. Her soft-goods cowl is fabricated very nicely and the fit is very closely and doesn’t look bulky. Hasbro did a fine job with this figure and it is definitely the reason to pick up this multipack. The next best figure would be Padmé Amidala (Queen Amidala) based on her appearance in The Phantom Menace. While the figure is certainly limited with articulation, Hasbro brought this incarnation of the character to exacting standards and we think it may just be the best Episode I Queen Amidala figure we have received in a very, very long time. While we remember this outfit being “whiter” in the film, the action figure still looks awesome and the different parts work together to make a very impressive likeness. The dress is cast in a medium gray and has a very neat paisley-like (bordering on Pennsylvania Dutch art inspiration) design that works as a contrast pattern to the barely noticeable solid checkerboard pattern detail on her cummerbund. While the figure can’t possibly mimic the detail of what could be done on a figure of larger scale, we are thoroughly impressed with Hasbro’s approach. Would we have loved to see soft-goods, of course, but the figure works well as is. Of note, her hands are lean (something that is harder to achieve for female figures) and overall the figure succeeds for us. Probably the [slight] disappointment in the set is the Padmé Amidala (Mother Of Heroes) figure that can be based on two separate appearances of her in Revenge Of The Sith, depending upon how you display her. It was nice however for Hasbro to give us the interchangeable gown that allows us to kill two birds with one stone.

She can be posed in the nightgown or in her childbirth outfit, but we are quite surprised that Hasbro made either option before so many other outfits in the film. The figure isn’t terrible, but Hasbro tried to make articulation zealots happy and we think the end result is not ideal and almost fails. Her arms appear too chunky (due to the ball joints) and the hard plastic gown should have been soft-goods if you ask us. While we wouldn’t have wanted swivel joints either, we think including thin and delicate arms with only ball-jointed or even swivel shoulders would have been the best way to go with this figure (yes, that mean no elbow or wrist joints, she would have looked so much better this way). On a more positive note, the likeness is pretty fantastic and her nightgown has a beautiful pearliness to it, an effect we rarely see on action figures and it picks up light in all the right places. Hasbro tried to do their best to match the painted face tone to the flesh cast body, but it lacks in some minor ways that we can't just reconcile. And worst of all, unless this is unique to our sample, she just won’t stand up. Her legs (which don’t move by the way) are leaning forward which make he fall flat on her face the instant we let her go. This is very obnoxious and egregious on Hasbro’s part. If you can’t give Amidala figures leg articulation, can you please master the center of gravity on them? Please, Hasbro? We found that by only misshapenly distorting her feet was she able to stand unassisted. But over time, her legs return to their natural state and thrown her to the floor yet again. Ugh! Overall, The Padmé Amidala Legacy is a winner of a set. We hope Hasbro continues to bring us Padmé Amidala figures, but it is our wish that more use of soft-goods are applied and fully articulated legs. We think it is the only way to go. The immovable hard plastic molded dresses are becoming a bit burdensome at this point. But there is no doubt they look great. The Padmé Amidala Legacy couldn't be a more fitting release for The Legacy Collection. Collectors should adore this one.