Shaak Ti

Height: 10.5 cm to top of head tails

Articulation: 14 points total - Swivel neck, swivel waist, double jointed shoulders, swivel right elbow, right forearm swivel, swivel hips, double jointed knees.

Colors: Molded olive drab, dark brown, white, clear blue; Painted dark brown, orange, blue-grey, dark blue, silver, brown, white, black.

Accessories: Light Sabre (blue blade); Handheld computer; Display base.

Release Data: Released in North America on April 2nd, 2005, at a price of approximately US$6. This item is still in production as of April 18th, 2005.

Gallery: 8 images.

Author: ExVee

I'm not really what I'd call a Star Wars "fan". I mean, sure, I enjoy the movies, and the Clone Wars shorts. But I don't go at all for any "Expanded Universe" materials or the like. I don't even buy the toys, or didn't, anyway.

Then I was watching the third and final Clone Wars series, and without going into plot detail, one Jedi Master featured prominently in the secondary storyline, and as often happens, I got to liking the character, and naturally wanted the inevitable action figure representation that would be released with the Revenge Of The Sith line. Sadly, Star Wars Merchandise Day was a bust - having but a single store locally that participates can make for a bit of problem. But I had only a couple weeks to wait before I'd get one.

While many Star Wars figures have action features, advertised prominently on the packaging. But not all the figures have such gimmicks, and as the packaging has to be uniform, the result is "features" like "Republic Senator!", "Protocol Droid!", and in Shaak Ti's case, "Jedi Master!". It doesn't bother me that she lacks an action feature, as they often take away from the quality of the figure itself. Plus it's hard to determine what sort of action feature she could have, outside of possibly a generic light sabre slash.

The Figure

Perhaps there was an appeal besides the portrayal of the character in Clone Wars that influenced me, as her skin is quite orange. It's not so good, though, as it tends to clash with the drab colors normally worn by Jedi, and the blue-grey and white striped head tails don't help much either. The sculpt of the figure is excellent, mostly. The molded fabric detail is done nicely, with folds and wrinkles in the appropriate places. The only part where it doesn't go so well is on the back, which seems mostly too smooth, and yet has two large wrinkles right across the middle of the back. In this case it feels like it should be a one or the other situation - either have the back with folds and wrinkles, or just be smooth. This doesn't look right.

There seems to be less detailing on the lower half of the body, as the legs are completely hidden by a real fabric skirt. While it's pretty decent looking, I tend to never like fabric in these applications, because it has to be so thick relative to the size of the figure that it doesn't move right, and it's no exception here. I assume this choice was made to preserve leg articulation, but I think I'd have preferred lost articulation if it meant a better looking skirt. There's not a complete lack of detailing on the legs, as there's subtle woven fabric detailing, plus appropriate folds and wrinkles around the ankles of the boots.

The head tails look slightly scaly, and have lines molded in ringing the tails every few milimeters, which are supposed to be lined up with the stripes. On my figure, this worked out only on the left tail. The right is not lined up nearly so well, and actually looks as if it may be missing a few of the stripe paint apps. The entire head, tails and all, are made from a slightly soft plastic for a little flexibility.

Articulation is the normal mixed bag of a Star Wars figure. The neck articulation is really restricted because of the head tails, but the figure can manage to look a little to either side. Both shoulders are universal joints, but the left arm has no additional articulation, and is molded with the elbow bent, and the hand molded with the palm facing up and turned a little inward. The right arm is kind of clever. Instead of a hinged elbow which would ruin the look of the sleeve, the elbow is an angled swivel, so turning the swivel makes the arm bend. And a little down the forearm is a straight swivel, to turn the hand. It's by no means the most articulation, but it's handled well, I think.

The waist can swivel, but since the body isn't perfectly round, if you turn it too far, the edges of the torso hang off in the front and back. Plus, the sash hanging off the shoulders can dislodge the light sabre grip if you turn the torso very far to the right. The legs are more even, but less useful. The hips are the typical vertical swivel joints, but the decorative piece hanging off the front of Shaak Ti's belt prevents those from being much use, as I imagine the skirt also would. Hinged knees, but with swivel joints at the base, so the lower legs and feet can be turned. This does help stability somewhat, fortunately. And it realy needs help, since one of the feet is molded bent, presumably for a particular pose such as with the left foot back slightly for an action pose. If you work at it, the figure can balance okay without the stand, but obviously best results will involve using the stand.

Paint and Deco

Overall the paint is done well - colors are even and uneven borders are minimal, even on the small, intricate details of Shaak Ti's decorative piece hanging off the belt, and even the fingernails! (oddly silver though they may be). This does not hold true so much on the head. Besides the previously mentioned trouble with the head tail stripes, there's some kind of big issues.

First, the head had to be molded a milky white, since that was the most prominent color on this piece. That's fine, since white doesn't cover colors terribly well. But the orange on the face doesn't cover entirely, and the base white is quite visible just below the chin, making it look very sloppy. The edge between the orange of the face and the head tails is also poorly defined, as the paint is uneven. The whole effect just really makes the face LOOK painted on, wrecking any illusion to the contrary. Shaak Ti also has a sort of tiara thing, but instead of being a molded detail, the silver pieces are simply painted on the head, except for the small bit that goes between the upper parts of the head tails, which seems to be molded in. The rest, which frames the upper half of the face, just looks like blobs of silver paint. The large white mask Shaak Ti has over each eye is painted on. Remember I said white doesn;t cover other colors well? The proof is in the very noticeable orange tint to the mask. The eyes are painted okay, though they're a little vague, as there's simply a black line to represent eyelashes, with a connected dot as the pupil. I acknowledge that on a figure this size, extensive detailing in the eyes is difficult or maybe impossible, but it still feels underdone. Finally, the lips are painted in a color I can't quite pin down, probably because the area is so small. The paint is uneven, looking like Shaak Ti sneezed while applying her lipstick.

So, yeah. Most of the body has nice paint work, but then there's lots of problems crammed into one small portion. Might've been nice to have the same number spread around the body so no one part would seem so bad.

Sculpt get 8/10

Articulation gets 7/10

Paint and Deco gets 5/10

Accessories

-Light Sabre

The traditional weapon of a Jedi. The blue blade is removeable from the grip, though it doesn't seem like it at first. If the blade doesn't want to come off easily, gently twist it and the grip in opposite directions. It should start to turn easily, and then you can safely take the blade off. The reason to do so is that the grip has a small peg which fits into a peghole on the figure's belt for storage. I'm not sure what it means, but there seemed to be a small amount of glue on the peg end of the blade when I removed it. Possibly removal was intended but then last minute dropped as a feature? Either way, just be careful when separating blade from grip.

The grip fits securely in the right hand, and a small range of nice poses can be acheived with the articulation in that arm. The lack of articulation in the left prevents any kind of two-handed pose, but the left arm can be raised into a sort of fencing position, so it's not a complete loss.

-Handheld Computer

Or as I prefer to think of it, Gameboy Advance SP. That IS what it looks like. Anyway, it's just a single piece of thin plastic, bent at an approximate angle of 120 degrees. The piece is actually too thin to be held in either hand securely, so it just sort of falls to one side or falls out entirely. Sad, Shaak Ti can't play MegaMan Battle Network.

-Stand

Kind of generic, 7.9 cm wide by 5.1 cm deep at its largest dimensions. It has a variety of connection parts on all edges, made to fit with other stands in seemingly any combination. There's a single peg which seems to be oriented specifically for the left foot, though the right will also work if you don;t mind the figure being off center. As I said, use of the stand isn't necessary, but it will be helpful in many cases.

Accessories get 7/10

Closing Remarks

Yes, there's problems, but really not more than you'd expect from the average Star Wars figure. I admit that I wouldn't have bought it if not for the fact that I like the character, but unlike, say, Marvel Legends War Machine, the problems are neither numerous enough nor severe enough to actually detract from my appreciation of the character, so I'm still happy with it. If you're a major Star Wars fan, odds are you already bought the figure, but if you're more casual about it and are looking for a push one way or another, I'd say go for it. There's things I'd change, but it's still a fine representation of a great character. To be objective, I'm giving Shaak Ti a rating of Good.

-ExVeeBrawn, 04/18/2005