Asajj Ventress (Dark Side Disciple) - Lords Of The Sith - 1:6 Scale Figures

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's apprentice Count Dooku on the harsh world of Rattatak, Ventress is recruited into the service of the Sith after she proves herself worthy of their attention. 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 in both covert infiltration and combat techniques. 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 depths of her resourcefulness and mastery of the darkest applications of the Force. Ventress is provided with a ship, new weapons and a purpose- 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 in dying by his blade herself, she will move the youth ever closer to the Dark Side and assist Sidious's acquisition of him as a disciple.

Asajj Ventress attained superstar status very quickly. “Bad” female characters strike a chord with fan boys and Asajj Ventress is such a dark character and that couple with a striking appearance leaves an indelible mark on fans’ psyches. A character that has had nine lives in the Expanded Universe, her supposed “death” always ended in a cliffhanger and you believed she was dead until her next resurfacing. This too happened in Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars during her duel with Anakin Skywalker. Thanks to her introduction in the Clone Wars multimedia event, she was promoted to main character status in Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars micro-series where she was reinvented to look a little more evil than in the other sources that she appeared. Sideshow Collectibles decided to add her early on to their roster of amazing 1:6 Scale Figures and she was offered up for pre-order right before Thanksgiving 2006. And we were extremely thankful for her based on the prototype images we saw. With an impressive attention to detail, Asajj Ventress is faithfully replicated into one-sixth scale and features an exclusive that hasn’t been done since in the 1:6 Scale Figures line, an interchangeable portrait. The regular portrait is based on her appearance in Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars and the exclusive portrait is based on her appearance in the various comic books. Both are done extremely well and can be removed from the body and replaced without too much difficulty. We like this feature a great deal and we hope that Sideshow continues with portrait diversity as often as possible.

Sideshow Collectibles designed a spectacular 1:6 Scale Figure for Asajj Ventress. Her costume is just stunning and the details are so intricate, we can’t believe what they were able to accomplish on a figure of this size. These types of things are normally reserved for the larger-scaled Premium Format figures. Her belt along is worth rejoicing over and it is shiny and fits perfectly around her waist and has all the spots necessary to hang her lightsaber hilts as needed. Her dress fits like a glove on her upper body and has a sewn wide vertical wale that just looks purely fantastic. The lower portion of her crepe dress is dyed in black and covers her legs. There is an underwire sewn in the hem to allow for optimal posing options. But that may sound better than it is. We wrestled forming our sample and every time we got one section the way we liked it, when you touched another section, the first section would be affected and not hang the way we wanted. This feature will clearly be a learning curve for all, but we love having this option. Asajj Ventress also comes with her collar and it has been manufactured in plastic and completes the entire outfit very nicely. The boots have been cast in a firm rubbery plastic and while they look a little too “gothic” in our opinion, they are what they are and very faithful to how they looked on her in the comics and cartoon. Lastly, she comes with a dark brown robe that has a worn (not torn) look to it. It is a fantastic accessory for some poses, but it will cover up her trademark outfit if you decided to display her with it on her person. She utilized the female Art S. Buck body template and it suits her character very well.

It seems that fans cannot get enough of Asajj Ventress. Nearly every collectible form she has been made has sold through completely. And the same is true for this 1:6 Scale Figure. Although Sideshow Collectibles made an ample supply of this figure with 7000 combined pieces, she too has disappeared and can only be found on the after market. But if you want the totally cool portrait from the comic books, you are going to have much harder of a time finding the exclusive version which is limited to only 2000 pieces. And we think this extra included “head” will be worth the extra premium you pay for it. Sideshow Collectibles’ breathtaking line of 1:6 Scale Figures has something for everyone in it. They’ve only been releasing the core characters from the Original Trilogy in dribs and drabs over a long period of time to allow for slots to be filled with the likes of cult favorites like Asajj Ventress. We hope that more characters from the Tartakovsky-inspired Clone Wars micro-series come to pass because some of the coolest characters ever can be culled from that series. Asajj Ventress may be one of the more popular figures from the Clone Wars, but we still hope that more like her are on the way. While we still wait for the definitive 3.75” scale basic carded action figure from Hasbro (we’ve been so close but no cigar), you can believe when we tell you that this 1:6 Scale Figures version of her by Sideshow is and will remain the definitive version of her is this scale. She is excellent in every way, despite being made using the Art S. Buck body mold. She is a prime example of what makes being a 1:6 Scale Figures collector so rewarding.