In researching this figure in order to take the diorama shots at the end of the above gallery, I was actually surprised to learn (or probably more accurately, “remember”) that Amidala wore this outfit in two separate scenes.  This is interesting because it seemed that every time there was a new setting, the queen had a new outfit to wear.  This one is known as the purple travel gown, and she appropriately wore it first when she left Coruscant to return to Naboo. On the landing platform, she discussed some next steps with Qui-Gon Jinn, and then led her entourage on board her royal starship.  This was right before Jar Jar Binks exclaimed, “Weesa going home!” like a schmuck.  Immediately afterwards while on board the ship, Amidala remained dressed in the same outfit and sat on her throne while she declared that she was going to ask the Gungans for help.  You would think that would be the last time we see her in her travel gown.  But for whatever reason, despite the fact that Lucasfilm had created so many detailed and ornate outfits for the queen, they decided to reuse the purple travel gown for Qui-Gon’s funeral scene.  Strange choice.  You would think LFL would have developed a special royal funeral gown for that scene.  It’s almost like the rest of the wardrobe was at the dry cleaners, and this gown was the only one available for Natalie Portman to wear.  So, anyway, this figure fits two completely different scenes.

Padme’s various outfits throughout the Prequel Trilogy have generally been converted to plastic rather well.  Many of the figures are of the salt shaker variety, which should suit us just fine, since many of the gowns were not meant for any action-based scenes.  In most cases, the gowns are so large and ornate, that doing anything other than plastic (as opposed to the premium level soft goods) would just end up looking weird and under-detailed.  And since Padmé‘s legs are usually completely hidden underneath the robes, saving costs on sculpting articulation would be fine, as long as the savings were converted to additional articulation in a more deserving figure.  In fact, the legs have no articulation.  This figure does take under-articulation a half-step further, as the design of the sleeves hinders the full range of motion of the elbow joints.  Additionally (or, is it subtractionally?) the headdress is sculpted (accurately) in such a way as to hinder the range of motion of the head.  The shoulders themselves are fully ball-jointed, but the nature of the sculpt of the sleeves makes it more or less ridiculous to move them.  There is a swivel waist, with works fine, but frankly, you don’t really get much of an impact by turning the waist, since the lower part of the gown does not have a particularly distinct front/side/back.  Therefore, in reality, the most motion you can realistically generate with this figure is a bit at the elbows, and the swivel wrists.  It’s just enough to allow Amidala to aim her blaster straight ahead.  Other than that, this is about as close to a statue as you can get in an collector-quality Star Wars action figure.

As for paint, it’s generally applied decently, although a lot of the details on the headdress and face are a bit underwhelming.  The criss-cross pattern on the headdress isn’t particularly sharp, with the paint application missing a bit.  The face doesn’t really look like Natalie Portman, but I guess that’s fine since the makeup is still supposed to be disguising her identity.  I think the face paint should be a bit whiter due to the concealing make-up, but it’s pale enough to be acceptable.  The cheek and chin marks are bit heavy handed.  I wonder if a bit of the FACE! technology would improve things a bit, but that’s nothing Hasbro need to explore, nor is it likely they would in our lifetimes.  Padmé‘s hands hold the blaster a little weakly.  I would assume that Hasbro sculpted the hands a bit on the large side with the intent to grip the blaster more securely.  Personally, I could have done without the superfluous weapon, and instead gotten a finer sculpt to the queen’s hands.

This figure should fit nicely in the long line of Amidala’s ornate outfits.  I am not the least bit bothered by the near-statue quality of this figure.  I think most collectors, even those that are fervently against the 5POA line, would accept the occasional figure that judiciously minimized articulation in the interest of aesthetics, logic, and cost savings.  This figure would be a perfect candidate.  As for grading, I’ll give this figure a 7.  It doesn’t do anything spectacular, but it does its job well.  I’ll give it 7, and we should consider it definitive.  I cannot think of any legitimate reason to revisit this version of Padmé.

Build-A-Droid 

Padmé Amidala contains the left arm and flame effect of L8-L9.  This prototype combat droid participated in a multi-gladiator fight-to-the-death in the arena pits of the planet Rattatak.  L8-L9 was destroyed by another gladiator named Asajj Ventress.  Source:  Clone Wars (non canon).

Verdict: No Action

As stated above, this is a definitive Purple Travel Gown / Qui-Gon Funeral Padmé Amidala.  It’s not a mind-blowing figure, but like Jango’s clones, she does her job well. 

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.