Shaak Ti/Geonosian Warrior - LC - Geonosis Arena Showdown (2010 Edition) (4 of 6)

The Jedi Knights rush to Geonosis to rescue Obi-Wan, Anakin and Padmé from execution. The Jedi brandish their lightsabers against the Geonosian warriors and the massive army of battle droids, super battle droids and droidekas. All hope seems lost that any Jedi will survive this battle, then Yoda arrives with an army of clone troopers. Although many Jedi are lost that day, others survive this climactic battle that ushers in the Clone Wars.

It's completely mind-boggling how the inclusion of ball-jointed arms will completely revitalize an old sculpt. You may not see it immediately, but Shaak Ti is mostly just a repainted version of 2005 ROTS Shaak Ti (III 21) from the very popular Revenge Of The Sith line. But what Hasbro has done to her has made her a collectors' triumph. Not definitive yet but pretty darn close, Shaak Ti should elate most Jedi lovers and then some. For this release, Hasbro has given her new arms including the much preferred ball-joints and an all-new paint job which makes her look exactly as she appeared in Episode II. When looking at the this new Shaak Ti, you make be taken aback by her eyes, but they are 100% accurate. The Episode III version is incorrect. Shaak Ti has solid black eyes and there is no white at all. This has been replicated for the Geonosis Arena Showdown version. The paint job is spectacular and her outfit is more realistic than ever before because Hasbro has given her dress a much more tattered appearance. Sadly, her red colored skin is much too dark for this release and makes an otherwise brilliant upgrade a tad lacking. Shaak Ti is a tremendous upgrade, but she isn't without issues. Just like the Episode III figure, she is still hard to stand up and pose since she has really small feet and no ankle joints. With a little bit of patience and a lot of balance, you can get her to stay just as you want her, but it may take a couple of tries to do it.

Still, it's fair to call Shaak Ti the definitive version for right now. She's a very exciting addition to your collection (and there's a whole subset of collectors that dig female Jedi) and we are more than ecstatic that Hasbro gave her this much of an upgrade. She really deserves single-carded release. Ball-jointed ankles would have been nice, but since they used the 2005 figure, we will happily accept it as it. The big problem with the Revenge Of The Sith figure were the terrible swivel joint arms and those have been eliminated finally. So this is reason enough for us to celebrate. Shaak Ti is exactly they way she should have always been right now. Additionally, Shaak Ti has been given a new shade of skin color which is a deep red. It is very similar to the color used on The Force Unleashed Shaak Ti (BD61) version from the Legacy Collection and completely different from the fluorescent color used on the ROTS version. And we also get another Geonosian Warrior along with Shaak Ti. You've seen the Geonosian Warrior 100 times before too and it also gets a brand new paint job that is quite dull to look like one of the generic drones than a specific character. Geonosian Warrior is a repaint of the Geonosian Warrior that came in 2009's LC Kit Fisto/Geonosian Warrior Geonosis Arena Showdown (2 of 6) set (the Geonosian Warrior that has ball-jointed knees). This figure was based on 2006's TSC Sun Fac (SAGA 016) figure. As you already know, this is a great sculpt and makes perfect sense why Hasbro uses it over and over.

The 2010 Legacy Collection Geonosis Arena Showdown sets are really surprising us as far as what Hasbro has decided to include in them for the 2010 series. Many of the 12 figures would have been ideal candidates in the basic figure line and would have done quite well as part of the main line. And we fear that many potential buyers will overlook these sets because of the extra "stuff" inside of them that they may not need. We have to advise you that skipping over these sets would be a big mistake. Besides, a set like the Geonosis Arena Showdown breaks up the monotony of just making purchases for basic figures and offers collectors a chance to grab a whole bunch of figures focused on a theme or a scene in a Star Wars film. We love that. After two short years, we now have 24 characters (well, minus one technically) based or loosely based on this pivotal scene from Attack Of The Clones. And dare we say it, we hope a third and perhaps a fourth set are possibilities one day as well. We are particularly fond of this concept and think it has a little more life in it. We think it's also smart that Hasbro includes some of the popular Jedi along with the more obscure. And with the introduction of the Shaak Ti set, we hope they bring us additional female Jedi sets. (We are in sore need of an updated Aayla Secura figure and this would absolutely be the ideal format to get out an updated Episode II version of her as well.) The Shaak Ti/Geonosian set is long-awaited and satisfies greatly. We suggest making it an addition to your collection.