Shaak Ti

Every Star Wars film has begun with an opening crawl, but it was only for Episode III that we actually got to see the events depicted therein. Granted, it wasn't in any movie: it was in the third season of Cartoon Network's Clone Wars animated series. "In a stunning move, the fiendish droid leader, General Greivous, has swept into the Republic capital and kidnapped Chancellor Palpatine, leader of the Galactic Senate." Yep, that's what we saw. We also got to see some of the lesser-used Star Wars characters. While Obi-Wan and Anakin were busy making sure that the kid's raging bloodlust was appropriately unleashed by the time Episode III rolled around, it fell to all the other Jedi to actually go out and do something. Jedi like Shaak Ti. Jedi Master Shaak Ti is an esteemed member of the Jedi Council and serves as a General in the Clone Wars. Like all Togruta, she has long head-tails called lekku that have protective pigmentation patterns. Shaak Ti proved to be quite the competent Jedi, facing General Greivous several times and, while she may not have exactly been victorious in those encounters, she still managed to walk away. By the time the final cut of Episode III was delivered, Shaak Ti was no longer in the movie, but since toys are created so far in advance, we still get a good toy in the line. The Episode II toys favored dynamic sculpts over useful articulation, particularly for the Jedi girls - they were all stuck under big molded dresses that precluded any poseability below the waist. This time, however, Hasbro has wised up, giving Shaak Ti 10 points of articulation: knees, hips, waist, shoulders and neck, as well as an elbow and forearm joint in her right arm. Why is the left arm a solid piece from shoulder to fingernails? Not a clue in the world. Just another weird choice from Hasbro. Though her head is balljointed, Shaak Ti's horny things do restrict her movement a bit. Fortunately, they're not sculpted to fall against her body, so you can get a few poses out of her. The paint apps are decent, if not great; the zebra stripes on her head are evenly spaced, but they tend to fade out as they near her face. The nice red tone chosen for her skin is good, but the area where it meets her horns is blurry. Overall it's not bad, but it could be better. The figure's sculpt is a bit above average. Her Jedi outfit is simple, but Hasbro got all the tiny details right. Her skirt is a real cloth piece, so she can kick some mighty Separatist butt, but like Luminara Unduli, she still has some sculpted details: in this case the front of her skirt and the shawl around her shoulders. You can attach Shaak Ti's lightsaber to her belt (once you remove the blade, of course) or have her wield it in her right hand - not left hand, since there's no articulation. She's also got what the packaging refers to as a data pad, a little folded silver piece that looks like a Gameboy. You know, for the times when the jump through hyperspace is just taking too long. Finally, she has the same technological base as the Royal Guard. Shaak Ti has avoided the grim reaper several times. She was originally slated to die at the end of the Clone Wars cartoon, but that got scrapped. Then she was to have been captured along with Palpatine, her death at the hands of General Grievous witnessed by the rescuing Jedi. But that idea was chopped because the opening was taking too long, so her death was moved back again, this time to a meditation room in the Jedi temple, where the newly-dubbed Darth Vader would have taken her out mercilessly (thus the included base). But again, the pacing was all wrong, so the scenes were removed. Did Shaak Ti survive the Great Jedi Purge and escape into hiding, or did she meet the same ignominious end as most of her comrades? Buy the figure and you can decide for yourself. -- 07/05/05

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