Asajj Ventress - Life-Size Busts

Deep and layered are the schemes of the Dark Lord Sidious, Sith Master and architect of the fall of the Republic. Perceiving in young Anakin Skywalker a strength as yet unseen among even the greatest of the Jedi, the Sith Lord engineers elements into his plans, rich in contingencies, that might either turn the troubled Jedi to his own purpose, or else destroy him altogether. One such element is the dark Force warrior Asajj Ventress.

Found by Sidious' apprentice Count Dooku on the harsh world of Rattatak, Ventress is recruited into the service of the Sith. Gaunt and bitter, the wiry assassin is trained in the Jedi arts, but her heart is a cold, blackened stone, scorched by resentment against the Jedi who abandoned her and hardened by the cruelties of her brutal world. In a savage gladiatorial contest, Ventress displays lethal excellence. Her remorseless slaying of her competitors, either with precise lightsaber strokes or cruelly innovative wielding of her ample Force powers, impresses the Sith, though Dooku himself tests her to determine the true depth of her resourcefulness and mastery of the darkest applications of the Force. Ventress is provided with a ship, new weapons and a purpose – to destroy Anakin Skywalker – a task to which she takes with glee.

Though Dooku is confident in his new assassin's abilities, Lord Sidious knows that her victory or failure is immaterial. Ventress, for all her Sith aspirations, will only ever be a tool for him to wield and throw away. She will either kill Anakin, removing one more Jedi impediment to his own ascension, or through death by his saber, she will move the youth ever closer to the Dark Side and assist Sidious' acquisition of him as a disciple.

The popularity of Asajj Ventress goes back to 2003 where she was introduced in the original Clone Wars multimedia event (2003-2005) and perhaps most memorable in Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars micro-series. Her popularity didn’t seem to diminish beyond that as she made multiple appearances in the comics and other publications. By the time the 2008 The Clone Wars film and television series made their debut, the character Asajj Ventress had come full circle in her own little way and was to be one of the main characters in this new multimedia project. Some were wary of her “new” look. Sure, she had a similar head shape and outfit, but why was her face very different from the established character? And what was up with al of those purple lines on her face? Apparently Asajj Ventress is entitled to experience a metamorphosis of her own and that’s exactly what Dave Filoni did as he proudly added her to The Clone Wars property. Still calm, cool and collected, Asajj never appeared more untrustworthy than she did in The Clone Wars TV show and a lot of that has to be attributed to Filoni’s new vision for her. Still a nemesis and eternally at odds with Anakin Skywalker, Asajj Ventress allegiance to the dark side enabled her to remain a useful pawn in the plans of Darth Sidious (and Count Dooku for that matter).

Sideshow Collectibles thought that it was time to introduce Asajj Ventress into the Life-Size Bust format. The final product is quite astounding, but we admittedly have to question how she made it to the final cut for consideration already. There is little rhyme or reason to the Life-Size Bust line and this is something in which Sideshow Collectibles indirectly agrees. The point of this line is to pull the most the most strikingly diverse characters (mostly aliens) as well as a few core main characters too from the Star Wars universe and develop them into 1:1 scaled interpretations. If you look across the rich line already developed you’ll find they’ve done C-3PO, Boba Fett, Darth Maul and Yoda, but then they have also released Bossk, Greedo and Admiral Ackbar. All of us have an affinity and affection for all/most Star Wars characters, but it would be foolish to say that they all have similar popularity across Star Wars fans. So it goes without saying that Sideshow Collectibles is indeed making this a very diverse line. To protect its novelty, Sideshow Collectibles has ensured the highest quality materials used, the incorporation of mixed media (like soft-goods) when required and edition sizes that are low enough to create demand after the items have completely sold out from their website (which to date has happened countless times across multiple busts).

Asajj Ventress from a sculpted point of view is indeed a work of art. We have to express however that she is entirely too lightweight to command the hefty $499.99 MSRP that she averages. Asajj Ventress feels much too hollow sadly, and if you’re looking for a high end collectible with weightiness and substance, this may not be the piece for you. From an artistic point of view, Asajj Ventress completely succeeds. Her affectation shows alertness and determination for the task or trial at hand. And her beautiful but alarming eyes draw your attention into her presence closely. As evil as she is, Asajj Ventress has alluring qualities and it’s easy to find her beautiful, depending upon your point of view. What makes the Life-Size Bust interpretation of Asajj Ventress most special is that this is the very first realistic interpretation of her in collectible format based on her appearance in The Clone Wars. Visually, Asajj Ventress is captivating. Check out those eyes, those lips and the faint but obvious head tattoos. If you look even more closely you’ll see the imperfection of her smooth skin and the pores where hair follicles don’t seem to grow on her. To complete her look, Sideshow has added a soft-goods hood made from a smooth felt-like material. That imitates the properties of suede. Sideshow intended to produce a quality interpretation of Asajj Ventress and they have. She is almost perfect. We’ll end our thoughts there.