Vintage Collection Padme Amidala and Shaak Ti Reviews

 Today, March 8th is International Women's Day. So for today, I have 2 female action figures up for review. Both Shaak Ti and Padme will be reviewed. So what do I think of both figures? Read on! And for how I voted for Round 1 of March Madness, I have it in my Lagniappe section. 

SHAAK TI 

With the HasLab Gunship, comes a focus of The (First) Battle of Geonosis where we see one of the Jedi recruited by Mace Windu to go there was Shaak Ti. She survived the battle, and went on to Kamino to supervise the training of Clones like Rex, Cody and Clone Force 99. In Legends she survived and dressed like a stripper in The Force Unleashed video game. That version of Shaak Ti was in the Solo Kids Legacy Collection wave and goes for a VERY high price. Before her VC debut, the best Shaak Ti figure was in the animated Clone Wars line (2009 if I correctly recall was when it came out). 

I just opened her this morning, and I'll get to my minor gripe in a bit. But so far for 2026 Hasbro has perfectly nailed head sculpts. Shaak Ti looks amazing! Her soft goods are well done, but there is another gripe I have, which I'll dwell on later. Her legs are a reuse of Morgan Elsbeth, with lace up boots, the same as her animated Clone Wars figure. I have a photo of them below. But there are no bad paint apps, and at $20 there damn well better not be! She is the same species as Ahsoka Tano, but much older. Togrutans don't age as quickly as humans do, which is why her lekku are longer than Ahsoka's. And I was too lazy to get my Mandalore Ahsoka for a comparison. 

Articulation wise, she has the standard 17 POA. Her head is limited by the lekku, but she can move acceptably. Her elbows don't quite bend as far back as I'd like, but she can do a THWG, the photo will be below. One gripe I had was her ankles are difficult to move, so I'll have to dunk her feet in boiled water to loosen them up. I had to lean her against the wall in these photos. Her cloth skirt is also a slight problem. Like with the Luminara Unduli figure, her skirt is too long. For battle practicality, she would trip quite easily. I attempted to roll it up, but failed. It worked for Luminara though. For Shaak Ti it's going to take another way to get done. Accessory wise, she comes with a lightsaber, unlit hilt, plastic tabbard and cloth robe. Her unlit hilt attaches easily to her belt. 

Gripes aside, not a bad figure. She is as definitive as she needs to be, but they could do better. She isn't really essential, unless you're a Prequel Era enthusiast, or you like random alien Jedi. But, I do like this figure. 

PADME AMIDALA 

If there has been a figure that I've had on my wish list for a long time, it's this version of Padme. She's been on March Madness lists, as well as Last Figure Standing lists of mine over the years. And I only have 1 problem with this figure, though. But it's not a deal breaker. 

Padme is a new sculpt, head to toe. And her head sculpt is the best of any Main. I attempted to get some close ups, but you have to see her in your own hands to appreciate it. No sloppy paint apps, and they even put Natalie Portman's mole on her cheek! I have no issues with any other paint apps, as her outfit is a simple white with light tan belt and boots. 

Articulation wise she has the standard 17 POA, and I should have shown her elbow bend, which is better than Shaak Ti's. I had no issues moving any joints. And for the record, I have had this figure opened a while ago. While I didn't have a Clonetrooper blaster, or Battle Droid blaster that could fit in her hands, she can do a THWG with a Stormtrooper blaster. She has decent balance, but will likely need a stand if you display her off the card. She doesn't need Jedi Level Articulation, but she's got enough range to where she's more than acceptable. 

Accessory wise, Padme comes with a plastic shawl, long pistol and short pistol, along with a holster. My only gripe is the holster cannot store the long pistol, as I show in the photos above. For the short pistol, it's easy. And she can only hold the pistols in her right hand. I attempted one in each hand but the one in the left hand kept falling out. To remove her shawl, I had to do a boil and pop, as her neck barbell popped off when I removed her head. You can re-enact her factory chase, or even Shmi's memorial on Tattooine. She's versatile enough for both! 

Now, she's an essential figure. She's a Main, and can double for Clone Wars displays as she wore this outfit a couple times in the series. Now we need an acceptable Anakin and Obi-Wan as this Padme makes the previous versions obsolete. Hopefully they will come in time for the Gunship's arrival. 

LAGNIAPPE SECTION 

Okay, here were my March Madness votes for Round One so far: 

My rules were simple: Mains or new figures over anything Andor or sadly, Bad Batch. We should have already had the entire Bad Batch squad already, and for Andor characters, I only see them coming in multipacks. I can still find a Sixer Luthen at a local Wal-Mart, next to a VC Bespin Lando. If they came in a single carded wave, I doubt they'd move. Andor may be the best Star Wars show recently, but from a toy perspective, aside from troops, and disguises used by Cassian, there isn't much. Luthen won LFS, and I concede might win March Madness, but I'll keep voting against him, unless it's a figure he's matched up on that I don't want. I have no clue who's moved on, but that's how I voted. 

Black Series Kyle Katarn. 

Originally I wasn't going to do a photo shoot, but someone I know who has a birthday coming up, as well as a YouTube Channel, and Kyle Katarn is one of her favorite characters: Janelle Waz. Her channel is below (I don't know if the link will be active or not):

https://youtube.com/@janellewaz?si=z6ef7sa1pan3ARrl

Early Happy Birthday, Janelle! This one's for you: 

Aside from his head sculpt resembling Ryan Gosling, not bad for a Sixer. The thigh swivels are back, meaning these legs are re-used. From who, I have no clue. His blaster fits in his holster, and his lightsaber takes effort to place in his hand. I got a decent THWG, and it's much easier now swapping out lightsaber blades in this scale. I'd prefer Kyle to be in the VC, but it is what it is. I'm not a gamer so I can't tell which version of Kyle this is the source, but it's close enough to his POTF2 version, which was based off Dark Forces. Kyle's last 3.75 inch figure was based off an issue of Star Wars Tales, and the subject of a future blog post. So, if you're reading this Janelle, I hope you liked my quick review, and of course have a Happy Birthday! 

Thanks for reading! Please share this link on your social media accounts so I can get more readers! A special thanks to Chris and Nomad at BanthaSkull for allowing me to post this in the comments section and a brand new go-to-Hell at Disqus for no longer allowing me to post the link in the comments section.