Queen Amidala - SW [TPM 3D] - Movie Heroes (MH17)

Queen Amidala fights to free Naboo from the invading Trade Federation forces. Disguised as one of her handmaidens, the queen infiltrates the Theed Royal Palace. She uses a zip-line to ascend the outer walls of the palace and reach the throne room, in an attempt to capture Viceroy Nute Gunray, the leader of the Trade Federation.

Is it better to receive a subpar action figure that could pass for a decent enough update or wait indefinitely until Hasbro decides to give us an all-new and definitive version of that Star Wars character? You’d think that would be an easy enough question for us to answer, yet we find it difficult to do so. Queen Amidala is so far the best action figure in the Movie Heroes line to date, but something in our gut wishes that she would have been saved for The Vintage Collection (or some other future collector-focused basic figure line) because the feeling you get when looking at this figure that Hasbro started off on the right foot and then just stopped. The sculpt of Queen Amidala is clearly not without its share of faults, but let’s face it. There is evidence of tremendous steps forward in the right direction on Hasbro’s part to give us a near definitive version of Queen Amidala in her burgundy battle outfit. The plastic used is a little too shiny and the plastic used to cast this figure is too pliable and her hands suffer because of this, but we think that this may have to be our “hold us over” figure until Hasbro finds it in their schedule to release an update to this figure! A definitive update that is!

Queen Amidala comes with eight points of articulation. Aside from a ball-socket head and ball-jointed elbows, the rest of her including her shoulders, waist and hips are all swivel articulation. Surprisingly, Queen Amidala has more flexibility that you’d expect. She obviously is very limited with how many ways she can plant her feet on the ground, but you can have her flail her arms in multiple configurations while simultaneously cocking her head in an infinite array and it’s this interchangeability that makes the figure better in practicality than how she appears on paper. The design of the figure is borderline perfect. If Hasbro could have worked in multiple ball-joints, this action figure would hold up well for years. Amidala’s costume is nicely sculpted and the colors are relatively perfect. She comes with one of the blasters seen in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace which can be held in both hands quite well. And then this is where the figure just goes all wrong. She has a big gaping hole in her back to hold the zip-line backpack. While Hasbro did their best to make this Expanded Universe accessory look TPM-ish and if you don’t want to see that hole on her back, you’re going to have to leave this attached to her. It is a lot of fun to play with so we have to acknowledge that.

Queen Amidala’s head sculpt has been the center of debate. But we believe that it is more directly related to how well the head has been painted rather than if it’s a good paint job or not. We have seen samples where she looks pretty, some instances where she looks humanoid and then some other samples Hasbro didn’t stay in between the lines. You may have to pass on a few samples before finding one with a decent enough paint job. (But that is something we definitely do not recommend. Passing on any figure in this current collectors’ climate could be devastating.) Queen Amidala is definitely geared for kids, but we really wonder how many kids are going to be interested in this figure. Female characters are a hard sell in any toy line. But the good news here is that there is enough here for the adult collectors to enjoy. At least that is our hope. The Movie Heroes line really needs to step it up. Not only did the first wave inundate store shelves with product over 10 years old, but Hasbro chase inferior versions of many characters at an inflated price. All-new figures didn’t start getting released until this wave and it has been a real chore to find at retail. Perhaps the Star Wars line in general is in trouble. But we wonder if this was the right direction to head in for Queen Amidala. Collectors wanted an update of this particular version for years. And she will definitely leave you wanting more.