Editor’s Note:  This review has been updated with a second look…

Original Review:  Chris 2/03/2014 06:18 AM

I’ve often wondered what the result would be if you combined a Padmé Amidala ornate costume with an action oriented figure and the answer is this Luminara Unduli offering. Okay I’ve never wondered that.  I just lied for the sake of an introductory sentence.  I’ve lied for less, so I feel no shame.

The tragic flaw that leads to this figure’s downfall is almost Shakespearean.  An otherwise capable upgrade is undermined by a single shortcoming.  The plastic headdress drapes over the shoulders of the figure.  This means that the figure is precluded from striking virtually all desired saber dueling poses.  Once the arms are raised even a few degrees, it forces the headdress to pop off the figure’s head.  And under other circumstances that head sculpt would be a major talking point of this figure as it bears great likeness to the character.

Did you know that I hate Attack of the Clones when evaluated as a complete movie?  If you didn’t, my name is Chris.  PLEASED TO MEET YOU.  The full title of the Dr. Strangelove movie is “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”.  The full title of my autobiography would be “LunchBox or:  How I Learned to Stop Hating the Prequel Trilogy and Take Enjoyment from the Parts That Are Good”.  I’m not sure that will fit on the dust jacket.  All three PT films are garbage when evaluated as complete movies, but there are genuine moments of Star Warsy greatness within them.  With liberal use of the chapter stop button on your remote, you can turn Episode II from an abysmal movie into a fun 50 minute romp.  So while I hate AOTC, I don’t hate figures from the movie.

One of the positives about Episode II is that it does a good job of expanding the visual pallet of the Jedi ranks.  Sometimes it didn’t work, but Luminara Unduli and her padawan Barriss Offee were two Jedi who captured fans imagination from the beginning.  Unfortunately I feel Hasbro has punted on the recent upgrades of both. 

The number of pictures for a given gallery will often tell you how much fun I have posing the figure for the photos.  As this figure’s gallery stops at three images short of 20, tells you it wasn’t exactly a party.  Too many poses I would have liked to try were impossible due to the headdress.  The objective part of my scoring system is largely derived from that fun, and as such, I feel figure only deserves a 5 out of 10.  It’s a shame.  The lower body articulation isn’t off the chars by 2013 standards.  The hips are swivel joints and the ankles are the regular ball joints instead of the rocker angles, but even with that, there is good upward and downward range of motion at the ankles meaning that at least a few good fighting poses could be achieved if not for the one enormous limitation mentioned above.  6/10 Bantha Skulls

Updated Review:  Bret - 11/02/2018 07:05 AM

Chris hates AOTC.  I…don’t care much for AOTC.  But we both wholeheartedly agree that the film inspires some great figures and toy designs.  Hasbro has tried a couple of times to give us a proper Luminara Unduli figure, and each time has fallen short.  The first offering was from the blue Saga line that really should have been an AOTC line, but even Hasbro thought the movie was so bad they’d leave it as the only one without it’s own film inspired line-look.  The first 28 figures were all from AOTC, but the generic packaging was an interesting, if somewhat prescient, decision.  Luminara was released in that line as a fairly non-standard underarticulated figure.  The upper body had some moveable joints, but below the waist was just one piece.  The figure was essentially pre-posed in a very dynamic look.  It was actually quite striking at the time, and I recall it being one of my favorite figures.  It still looks cool in the midst of a Battle of Geonosis display.  But of course, times change, and so do our expectations (demands) for what a collector grade figure should be.

I hated photographing this figure.  And I’ve decided I basically hate the figure because of it. As for Chris’s criticisms about the figure, crazy thing is… it’s true. The headdress, the articulation. All of it. It’s all true.  This figure really was designed poorly.  The headdress won’t stay on if you move the arms or turn the head.  The articulation is not acceptable for a Jedi, even when this figure debuted.  Luminara can only just barely be teased into a THWG.  I had balance issues which were particularly frustrating when trying to photograph.  And perhaps not least of all, why does Luminara have a shmata for robes?  She has a removable robe that has a hood (which I actually never realized before until taking these pictures), and she has a separate skirt.  Both soft goods pieces are cut from a terrible piece of a thin rag.  So she has 2 shmatas, perhaps a first for a Hasbro figure.  And the main robe with the hood barely stays on her shoulders when you try to pose the figure.  It’s all very frustrating.

The figure itself looks nice (if you’re not bothered by the shmatas).  The face is well done, as are the special chin tattoos.  Her braided pony tail hair is also nicely sculpted when you remove the headdress (or it falls off).  The hands are sculpted in a rather unhelpful fashion, making the saber loosely fit in her grip, no matter what pose you try.  You may also need to spread out the overly long shmatas to help provide some extra base as you try to get Luminara to stand upright without tipping over.

So, if you can get the figure in a satisfactory pose, it does look nice, but it’s an overall frustrating experience to play around with it.  Collectors, as well as Luminara Unduli herself, deserve better.  This isn’t definitive, not by a long shot, somHasbro has some work to do.  Fix the headless somthat it remains in place without hindering the arms, add ball jointed hips and wrists, add an unlit saber hilt and belt peg hole, replace the shmatas with better sod goods (like her Padawan, Bariss), and sculpt the hands to better grip the saber…oh, and a meaningful THWG is a must.  I reluctantly stay with Chris’s 6/10 rating, even though I’m tempted to drop it to a 5.  You know what?  Screw it.  Chris almost gave it a 5 anyway, so I’ll just push it over the edge.  It now gets a 5. 

Verdict: Re-sculpt (Low priority) 

Luminara Unduli is an intriguing looking Jedi, and even though they’ve tried several times, Hasbro still hasn’t gotten her right.  This figure is the best one out there, but due to the numerous shortcomings and the increased exposure that the character received in The Clone Wars she is deserving of another shot at definitiveness.  Current eBay prices are fairly low.  Pick one up if you don’t already have one, because if there is a re-sculpt, it will probably be very far down the line. 

Verdict Guide:
Re-sculpt = The figure is not definitive, and a new version should be developed.
Re-issue = This version is definitive (or close enough), and shows sufficient secondary market demand to warrant a straight repack.
No Action = This release does not require new attention.