Editor’s Note:  This figure was not reviewed at the time of its release

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is one of the best video games in all of Star Wars.  I think most people would put it in their top 3 or 5, and many would have it at #1.  It had a thoroughly engaging storyline set almost 4000 years before Yavin and included several memorable characters that collectors wanted translated into plastic form.  We’ve gotten a few other characters over the years from this source, and there are several others that fans would still like to see made today.  Bastila Shan was a Fan’s Choice Winner, although this is not noted on the package.

Bastila Shan started out as a Padawan in the story, and helped capture Darth Revan.  In the process, Revan had lost his memory, and was reconditioned to return to the Light.  Bastila had fallen in love with Revan, during their travels together to unlock the secrets of the Star Forge.  Bastila was eventually captured, torutured, and turned to the Dark Side by Revan’s former apprentice, Darth Malak. At a key moment, Bastila’s love for Revan prevented her from turning him over to Malak.  Revan was able to destroy Malak, and turn Bastila back to the light.  The two ended up marrying and having a child, although Revan ultimately left them both for the Unknown Regions.  (There it is again.  What’s so great about the Unknown Regions?  Nobody knows.). Bastila had a special Force ability called “Battle Meditation”, which allowed her to raise the performance and morale for her allies during battle, while doing the opposite to her enemies.  She wielded a double-bladed lightsaber.

The figure is excellent, if not perfect.  The actual sculpt is quite good, with all the basic articulation expected.  It would have been better if she had the full range of Jedi-caliber articulation, but there are no ball jointed hips.  The paint applications are adequate, although the face could be a little better.  Likeness isn’t really a concern, as the source is a video game with rather dated (but still good) graphics.  Bastila can hold onto her lightsaber in any number of ways, including an effective THWG.  She also comes with an unlit hilt, which can hook into the hole on her belt, although it does look a little odd because of the length. 

A solid figure, but nothing special, save the rarity and the source material.  I’ll give it a bonus point above a baseline 7 because I loved KOTOR.

Verdict:  No Action (Maybe re-release outside the mainline in an exclusive multipack.) 

Other than the lack of ball jointed hips, the figure is about a definitive as we have any right to expect for a character from a now non-canon video game.  The TVC figure was extremely hard to find, like its wavemates Ponda Baba and the Echo Base Trooper.  Like Ponda Baba, it was re-released in the Black Series.  Even still, eBay values for loose and carded figures from both lines are fairly impressive.  It’s hard to say that the figure should be released, yet again, in the mainline.  Maybe some kind of KOTOR multi-pack would do the trick.  HasLab might be a nice venue for KOTOR themed figures and toys.  Perhaps a multipack, including Bastila, HK-47, and a few never before released members of the team to go along with an actual Ebon Hawk.  Hasbro has gone so far as to announce a straight repack of the 11-, almost 12-year old figure, complete with the original simplified articulation of the time.  They seem to hear the fans want KOTOR figures, although this may have been one of the weaker ways to answer that call.  But I digress.  Let’s hope Hasbro figures out how to give KOTOR proper attention, even in this current era of source media saturation.

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.