The Revenge of the Sith line-up consisted of what I personally refer to as “apology figures”. Quite simply, the ROTS line had a lot of figures that we’d gotten in one form or another in past lines, and they were all vastly superior to their previous versions as near as I can tell. Many are even in identical costumes to what their last figure wore such as the Royal Guard, Sae Sae Tinn, or the figure I’m about to take a detailed look at for you; Ki-Adi-Mundi. And what an apology from Hasbro he turned out to be folks!
Ki-Adi-Mundi represents a major jump in quality from his previous figures. While his Episode I figure was a neutral sculpt with standard 6-point articulation, his Episode II figure basically reused the previous sculpt and only improved the right arm’s articulation slightly. Episode III sees an all-new Ki-Adi-Mundi figure though, loaded with articulation, and sporting a number of nice accessories as well. The figure makes for a winner in my book, but read on to see all the gory details about everyone’s favorite Conehead since Beldar!
PROS
-Sculpt: One of the most accurate looking figures in the ROTS line if you ask me, Ki-Adi-Mundi sports a lot of intricate detail work in his sculpt. More than maybe other Jedi even since some of his sculpt is hidden by his softgoods robe accessory, but received no less attention when Hasbro created him.
Ki-Adi’s body is sculpted with multiple layers of his Jedi tunic, and it features a number of folds and creases to increase the realism of the figure. The top of the tunic sports some ribbing details across the shoulders that really aren’t even seen on-screen and are obscured by Ki’s outer robe completely, and his trademark high collar of his tunic is sculpted up and over his neck giving the tunic a look as if it is a separate part of the figure. And, technically, it is separate as the neck is not a part of the torso but a separately sculpted piece that is glued into the tunic’s collar.
Ki’s tunic also features a fine texture, as many figures do these days, which only serves to heighten the realism of the sculpt. The texture is faintly carved into the plastic so it doesn’t stand out too much, but just enough to be an improvement.
Ki-Adi’s pants feature similar texturing in the sculpt and look great. His boots are also nicely detailed with little details like stitching and leatherwork to make them stand out from a smooth sculpt, as well as a series of 5 buckles on the outside length of each boot to show how Ki laces up his footwear.
Ki-Adi’s headsculpt is also nicely done and completely accurate to the character. Every wrinkle and fold of his conical head is captured, and that makes for a lot of wrinkles and folds. Guy’s got a really rumply head. His likeness is nice and neutral. Not too mad, not too surprised, but not too happy or calm either. His mouth isn’t agape either, which is a plus ever since we got that screaming Mace Windu in the Saga line. Suffice it to say, this Jedi Master lives up to Hasbro’s sculpting standards.
-Paint Aps/Deco: The paint application to Ki-Adi is a bit more complex than some Jedi figures maybe would get. This, combined with a nice overall application to my sample, makes for a definite positive.
Ki-Adi’s head is where the most paint aps take place, with the eyes being especially detailed. They feature a black outline around the lid, a yellow eyeball, and a black center. No cross-eyes or sloppy application to the eyes either, always a plus. The beard and hair are painted white, and there’s a leather knot in his hair on the peak of his head that got a quick shot of brown paint.
The skin tone of his hands and head are both a pale skin tone with a darker wash. The wash highlights the detail of the sculpt on the head as well, showing all the wrinkles. It’s a good example of how a quality sculpt sometimes needs a quality paintjob to really show how good a job was done.
Beyond Ki’s head though, are his belt and boots. Ki-Adi has a belt sculpted to his body under his robes, and it’s painted a nice light brown color. A leather pouch off his belt is also painted the same color, and the belt features a couple small gold-ish rivets and belt-buckle. The details under the robe, which you wouldn’t even see on the figure unless you took the robe off, and which you don’t see in the film at all, are pretty tremendous. Nice attention to detail from Hasbro.
-Articulation: With the previous incarnations of Ki-Adi-Mundi, you basically got a one-pose-wonder, with limited articulation. The Episode I version had a basic 6 points of articulation, and the Episode II version of Ki was articulated at the right arm to recreate him deflecting fire from battledroids. The ROTS Ki sports a lot more articulation though, and can assume a number of great action poses, neutral poses, and just about anything you could want.
Ki-Adi-Mundi has articulation at:
-2 ball/socket shoulder joints
-2 angle-cut elbow joints
-2 standard wrist joints
-2 standard hip joints
-2 ball/socket knee joints
-1 standard waist joint
-1 ball/socket neck joint
And with 12 points of articulation total, Ki-Adi makes for a poseable Jedi. Hasbro’s done well for the collection 2 Jedi figures so far, and that’s a good thing. Like I said, these figures are (to me) as much an apology for past versions as we will ever get. There is no comparing this figure to his evolutionary brothers, not in the slightest.
Ki Adi is definitely among the better, even of the Collection 2 Jedi figures though, and he earns high praise from me here. He’s been one of the more fun figures I have opened from the ROTS line. I fixed a couple blaster bolt effects to him earlier just to see how an assassinated Ki-Adi looks (with my Bacara figure shooting at him) and it makes for a neat mini-diorama on one’s desk.
The simple fact he can hold a lightsaber with 2 hands just makes me so happy with him. Not a lot of Jedi figures can do that, amazingly enough, so value it when it happens and the figure can still be posed other ways as well. Not a common occurrence in the line… at least till now anyway.
-Accessories: Ki-Adi-Mundi is packed with a lot of stuff… All useful stuff too, and Hasbro saw fit to use some softgoods/cloth accessories too, and boy am I glad they did. You can’t always say that about softgoods, but you can with this figure.
Ki-Adi has a 2-piece lightsaber (hilt and blade), a removable belt, a softgoods outer robe, and a colorful base. The only really dull piece of them all is the base, which is a nice base for what it is, but the other accessories are all the little details I personally like to see in my action figures.
The robe, in particular, is made of a nice, thin, stretchy material with a tight stitching to it. It fits in with the scale of the Star Wars figures nicely, it forms to the figure, and the robe’s hood even works! Yes, it’s not all poofy and weird looking when it’s up, but rather it fits just right on Ki-Adi’s head. He doesn’t wear it that way in the movies ever, but he sure as hell looks good with it on.
The belt, which of course is directly linked to the robe accessory, is also nice. It’s a dark brown leathery color with a lighter brown painted around it that adds a bit of depth to the accessory. There’s also bronze and gunmetal details painted on the buckle, some rivets, and also where the lightsaber would hook to his belt. For a small accessory Hasbro made sure it got special attention with paint.
The lightsaber is the 2-piece kind, which I personally love. There’s some criticism that these sabers break, however since I haven’t broken one yet and like having a removable blade, I’m digging this. The blue blade’s simple, but the hilt has some detail painted on. The silver is given a few spots of black and it looks nice overall. Still, I prefer metal hilts, but this one’s neat as it is.
The last piece is the base, which is reused among numerous figures in the ROTS line. It’s of an alien world’s plant-life, with various green shades and browns for some plant. It connects with other similar bases, and it’s a nice pack-in. It’s just not as cool as the other stuff.
-Saber Hooks To Belt: I can’t stress how cool a feature this is really. Hasbro should make every Jedi have the ability to hook a saber hilt to his belt, and Ki-Adi-Mundi got this feature included with his gear. It’s simple, it improves the figure’s “looks” tremendously, and it isn’t terribly difficult to achieve. Even if the figure had a 1-piece saber, it’d be nice if they included a hilt to hook to the belt as an extra.
The saber’s hilt has a small post at the end of it, and easily clips to a hole on the belt accessory. Simple, effective, neat… Makes for great display if you want a “neutral” Jedi instead of one constantly kicking butt. Or it’s great if you slip your figures into different dioramas/scenes where they aren’t always engaged in combat. It’s basically just a nice feature to me.
CONS
-Bent/Posed Ankles: A minor gripe, at best, is that Ki-Adi comes with some slightly pre-posed ankles. I’m perplexed why he has these, or why Hasbro insists on sometimes adding a little “life” to a figure by making a piece of him stuck in one position.
Still, Ki-Adi doesn’t have terribly bent ankles. He can still easily pull off a neutral pose, and they help with lunging poses if you want them. Sculpting them this way just wasn’t necessary though and acts as more a hindrance when posing him.
-Rigid Skirt Piece: The skirt extension of Ki-Adi’s tunic down over his legs is a nice addition to any figure. It not only helps hide articulation at the legs, but it just looks flat out more realistic. The problem with it is that it inhibits articulation somewhat. Ki-Adi suffers from this, so seating him in his Jedi Council chair won’t be easy to do. However, the skirt does give enough for good action poses, as Hasbro saw fit to include slits up the sides of the skirt-piece. It just doesn’t bend a whole lot.
Still, I’d take this over having the extended areas of the Jedi tunic sculpted to his thighs. It’s ugly as sin on the Deluxe Obi-Wan figure from the ROTS line.
OVERALL
What can I say? The figure is fantastic. I’m pretty pleased with each and every one of the Collection 2 Jedi figures from ROTS’s line. They’re high quality, and damn near super articulated. Short of some ankle joints, maybe a little more liberal use of ball/socket joints, the figures would be perfect. But as it stands, they’re still really close to perfection and fun to play with… Err, uhm, I mean “pose”… Yeah, pose sounds better.
The removable lightsaber blade, coupled with the hilt being attachable to the belt, are both great features. The figure is incredibly poseable. The paint and sculpt are top-notch… You really can’t go wrong. Ki-Adi is pretty great customizing fodder even. He’s the only Ki-Adi you need for any diorama so buying multiples is maybe even in order.
Obviously I highly recommend this figure if you haven’t bought one already. In my area he’s actually been one of the faster Jedi figures to dry up so keep your eyes peeled if you still need one. He’s worth every penny.
