Heyblibbers.  Yippees.  Farting camels.  These are the things that for many long time fans were the beginning of the end of their unconditional love for all things Star Wars.  But those were trifles.  Blips.  Minor bumps in the road.  It was the scene from Attack of the Clones where Anakin bared his soul to Padmé that may arguably have been the point of no return for fans.  This scene is definitely among the worst in any Star Wars film, and probably ranks up there as one of the worst scenes in any film - period.  Now, I haven’t seen The Human Centipede, so I had to leave some room for even the slim possibility of there being something more terrible. Hayden Christiansen has gotten a lot of grief from fans for his portrayal of Anakin, but we have to realize that he was given some historically bad dialogue.  When you think of cringeworthy, this is the scene that your mind should conjure.  And it’s even more epically bad because it’s actually two scenes back to back.  But whether eating at dusk, or hanging out on the couch by the fireplace, nothing worked.  If I could pick one scene from any Star Wars film that should be straight up deleted it would be this.  Lucas should have reserved some of his hatred for the Holiday Special for this scene.  He should have done everything possible to strike it from public consciousness.

Anyway, the figure itself isn’t nearly as terrible as the scene from whence it came.  It’s a typical Padmé-in-a-dress figure, in that it’s a salt shaker bottom with decent articulation above the waist.  It’s got ball joints at the neck, shoulders, and elbows, finished off with swivel wrists.  That’s all this figure really needs, although I will say that most of the time Padmé is sitting during the scene.  There are only a few times in Star Wars where characters are sitting down to eat, and even fewer of the figures we have from those scenes have the articulation necessary to actually sit down. 

Since “salt shaker” seems to be par for the course for figures in ornate gowns, I’ll reluctantly allow it, but Hasbro should always use the pennies saved and either add accessories or environmental pieces, or even something to another figure.  In this case, Padmé comes with two pieces of her outfit that can be removed in order to help recreate both version seen on film.  The feathery shawl can be present to represent her look during dinner, and can be removed for when she’s making Anakin feel like an idiot after dinner.  The choker/scarf piece can also be taken off, but this wasn’t so on screen.  It’s removal seems necessary to help facilitate the optional shawl.  The figure comes with a slender drinking glass as well.  Perhaps a space pear would have been a welcome accessory that was missed.

The face sculpt is decent.  Not the greatest likeness to Ms. Portman, but passable at this scale.  I’m sure FACE! paint application would help the situation, but it’s okay as it is, especially for a 12+ year old figure.  While the articulation is nice (and, frankly, necessary), it does negatively affect the aesthetic of Padmé‘s shoulderless dress.  The dress itself is very well sculpted, the gown flows nicely.  The paint adds a nice shimmer to the outfit.  Overall, it’s well done.

The figure serves its purpose.  With 7 as the baseline for a collector-grade super-articulated figure, this would have to fall short of that, by definition.  It’s a 6 out of 10, but a very respectable 6 out of 10.  It’s worthy of being added to your collection, whether you’re a completist, an admirer of all of Padmé‘s outfits, a fanboy of figures from eating scenes, or you just like Star Wars.  It’s not a game-changing accomplishment by Hasbro, but it does its job well enough.