ASAJJ VENTRESS

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“An assassin trained in the ways of the dark side by Count Dooku, Asajj Ventress yearned to be considered a true Sith, but such status wasn’t allowed under the Sith’s Rule of Two.”

One of the notable carry overs between both the 2D and 3D Clone Wars was Dooku’s ill-fated apprentice, Asajj Ventress.  While she didn’t make the jump to the movies the way her follow-up Grievous did, Ventress nevertheless became quite an important piece to Clone Wars’ overall story when it was expanded upon for the 3D series.  Just don’t talk about the fact that she kind of just disappears because the episodes that were supposed to close out her story were never produced.  That just seems rude.  Ventress has been in a pretty good spot when it comes to toys since the very beginning, with a handful of both animation and realistically-styled figures going back to the days of her 2D appearances, but she’s just now finally make her way into Black Series, with a figure I’m taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Asajj Ventress is figure 07 in the Clone Wars-portion of Star Wars: The Black Series’s latest incarnation.  She heads up the fourth assortment since the re-launch, and is the only directly Clone Wars-inspired figure in this particular set.  Asajj is based on her initial appearance from the 3D show, when she was still serving as Dooku’s apprentice.  It’s definitely her most tried and true design, and probably the most distinctive of her looks, really.  The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation. The articulation scheme on this figure is generally fairly decent, though it does feel a little more restricted in a few spots than other more recent figures.  The skirt is certainly a piece of that, though it’s not too terrible in that regard.  The tabard at the front is really the biggest issue for the legs.  Also, somewhat oddly, they’ve opted to give both of her wrist joints a side-to-side joint, rather than forward and back, which, to me, feels like it would be the more natural motion given her style of lightsaber.  But, it’s not exactly a new thing for people to not understand how Ventress and Dooku should be be properly using their sabers, so I guess I shouldn’t be too shocked at this point.  Otherwise, Asajj’s sculpt, which is all new to her, is a pretty nice piece of work.  She ranks very highly on the list of translations from animation style to realistic.   She maintains the overall likeness of the character, but still looks like a really person.  The detailing on her outfit is pretty sharp, with the best work definitely going into the wraps on her arms and mid-section.  The construction on the skirt works pretty much the same as the smaller Clone Wars version; the bulk of it’s cloth, with the belt and tabard being plastic.  I quite like the cloth they’ve picked for the skirt itself; it hangs well, at the sheen looks quite slick in photos.  Asajj’s paint work is pretty solid work overall.  The face uses the printing tech that’s become the norm for the line, which works well here.  The rest of the detail work is fairly clean, and she doesn’t seem to be lacking any notable coverage.  Asajj is packed with her two curved-handled lightsabers, which she can hold (slightly incorrectly), or keep on her belt.  They can also be combined into one thing, which is kinda awkward, but also is accurate, so good on them for keeping that detail.  Just the two sabers does feel maybe a bit light, but I don’t know what else you could giver her, really.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ventress is one of those characters that really grew on me as Clone Wars progressed, and after my re-watch of the show in the last two years with Super Awesome Wife, she was definitely one of the characters I was hoping to see show up in Black Series.  I was certainly glad to see her announced, and the final figure’s an overall pretty nice product.  I wish the wrists worked better for her, but otherwise I do quite like the figure.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure for review.  If you’re looking for Black Series, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.