Toybox REVIEW: Star Wars Black Series Asajj Ventress

Release Date: February 2021

RRP: $19.99/£19.99

Given that the Star Wars Black Series has been running since 2013, it's amazing that there are so many key characters from Star Wars: The Clone Wars that still don't have figures. But with the raised interest in the franchise's television output thanks to The Mandalorian as well as Hasbro doing a little reshuffle of their main 6" collector line, it seems this is finally being rectified. As well as a whole wave of special exclusive Clone Wars releases in themed packaging recently, the main range is getting in on it too - the long awaited Black Series Asajj Ventress is finally here. After being saved from slavery and becoming a Jedi Padawan only to see her Master murdered right in front of her, Ventress eventually ended up in the employment of Count Dooku as his personal assassin. After being betrayed by him as well, Ventress returned to her home on Dathomir to join Mother Talzin's Nightsisters before eventually going it alone as a bounty hunter. Her path would eventually lead her back to the Jedi Order, fighting alongside Quinlan Vos on a mission to assassinate Dooku before eventually meeting her death at the hands of her former master.

As we're revisiting Star Wars: The Clone Wars it's back to yellow accents on the not-so-new-anymore style of Black Series packaging. The slanted spine features some great artwork of Asajj Ventress, although her expression on there is not quite as menacing as you might expect. Like the toy itself, the artwork has taken the animation for the model and given it a more realistic style to fit in with the rest of the Star Wars universe. The figure is designated the sixth release in the Clone Wars assortment, following on from Cad Bane. Unfortunately, slight differences in the artwork means her mural piece only connects to the standard release of the bounty hunter and not the exclusive version that also included Todo 360. On the back of the packaging you'll find that same artwork again along with a brief character bio (in multiple languages), explaining her position as Dooku's assassin and how she technically wasn't a true Sith. Open the figure up and you'll find Ventress comfortably sitting in her moulded plastic tray alongside her lightsabers.

Asajj Ventress has had several different costumes in multiple forms of media over the years, but as the figure is directly part of the Clone Wars assortment Hasbro have naturally opted for her first "Sith Assassin" look on the show. The colours of the figure are more vibrant than I remembered them looking on the show itself, but looking back and referencing stills they look pretty spot on in fairness (I'm probably just conflating it with the Tartakovsky version in my head, since that was my introduction to the character and thus always the first one I think of). Ventress its dressed in a deep purple gown with lighter coloured bandages around her arms, waist and legs. The latter may be completely covered by the flowing fabric dress piece, but there's proper moulded detail on them (technically they're reused from the Dark Side Rey figure, but even so they fit perfectly here). Moving back to that dress piece, it's made from a thick plush piece of fabric that really gives the figure an element of regency, held in place by a lavender belt piece with a patterned purple and gold tabard running down the centre. The belt piece also has two holes to fix Ventress' lightsaber hilts just like she does in the show. The head sculpt is a realistic interpretation of the animation model, which opts for a fairly neutral but somewhat menacing expression. There's no tonal difference between all the markings like there is on the animation model, but instead they're all really sharp and really stand out on Ventress' near-white skin tone. 

Hasbro have made some interesting changes to Black Series articulation since the recent relaunch, and with a lot of the figures now adopting swivel hinge elbows instead of double-hinged ones it doesn't feel like the female body is getting quite as shafted as it was before. Asajj Ventress has quite a lot to offer under that big fabric dress , with the whole body featuring the following in total;

- Ball jointed head, neck, waist and hips

- Swivel hinge shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees and ankles

- Butterfly hinge shoulders

That last one on the list is an interesting one, because as nice as it is to see them on the figure they really don't add that much as you'd think. There's only about a millimetre of extra movement each way from the joint, which is enough to bring the arms forward a little bit but not enough to get a really good crossed arms pose (a pose a lot of Ventress artwork seems to be in) and have her continue to hold it without pressure. Still, it's very pleasing to see that Ventress retains full leg articulation underneath the dress - and in some ways can use it better than other figures since the way the swivel hinge knee contorts the leg isn't on show. While the dress stops Ventress from pulling the splits or anything extravagant like that, there's still a lot of room inside there to move the legs about and get a decent action pose out of the figure. Bending the leg also allows the skirt to be comfortably hitched up for certain poses as well, adding even more variety to her repertoire. While there are still some people out there who prefer plastic pieces as opposed to soft goods, anything other than fabric on something like this would completely neuter the figure. In fact, just to prove the point even further if anything is problematic on this figure it's the soft plastic tabard - the thing is just a tad too long and many poses will just leave it awkwardly hitting the ground and acting almost as a third support for the figure. Making it soft goods would have easily fixed this issue, but presumably if that were the case the decor on it probably wouldn't look half as good. It's a shame as it does limit certain poses, but Ventress still has plenty to offer that should keep fans happy.

Ventress comes packaged with her twin curved hilt lightsabers, each featuring a removable translucent red blade. The hilts have been moulded in dark grey plastic as opposed to the dark silver colour they tend to be depicted as on replicas/role play toys, but personally I think the dark grey feels a bit closer to the animation model look. It also means there's considerably less paint to potentially rub off on them, which is never a bad thing. Though scaled down and simplified the hilts are an excellent representation of how they look onscreen, featuring those all-important black stripes running down the curve but also all of the ridged detailing towards the top. Though the twin blades can be wielded in both of Ventress' hands, her hilts are also able to connect into a double-bladed lightsaber with a unique curved hilt. The toy manages this simply by putting a plug on the end of one hilt and a socket on the other, which gets the job done nicely. They may come apart whilst posing the figure just because getting Ventress into a good-looking pose with it isn't that easy, but the connection itself is pretty secure and shouldn't come apart when you're not moving the arms about. The red blades are really vibrant and almost feel like they're glowing under the right light, giving Ventress exactly the right kind of menace you want her to have whilst posing her.

A Black Series Asajj Ventress figure has been at the top of my Star Wars list for some time and now that Hasbro are paying closer attention the series in the line, I'm glad it hasn't taken too long to come to fruition. While there are some minor issues that could have easily been fixed/avoided and the costume won't necessarily be to everyone's tastes, it's a figure that's come out far better than some might have expected thanks to the soft goods dress. Plus if you don't like the outfit, it's a figure rife with repaint/retool potential that Hasbro will hopefully be wise enough to capitalise on (bounty hunter and Tartakovsky Clone Wars are musts). It's great to finally start seeing important Clone Wars characters getting their due in the flagship 6" collectors line, and I can't wait to see what Hasbro are going to cook up next.