Barriss Offee - TCW [SOTDS] - Basic (CW50)

Barriss Offee is infected with a Geonosian brain worm. The padawan has survived the battle to destroy a droid factory on Geonosis. She is aboard a medical frigate when she and several other passengers are infected. Brainwashed by the worms, she attacks fellow Padawan Ahsoka, who struggles to save the ship and all on board.

If you are not currently a fan of The Clone Wars series on television (for shame at this point) and the figures Hasbro makes based on the series aren’t warming your heart, you likely will never be able to appreciate just how awesome the toys based on this property are. This is actually a terrible thing because lately the animated line is rivaling the realistic line as far as authenticity, articulation, accessories and paint jobs are concerned. Not all the figures are perfect, but lately Hasbro has taken aggressive strides to bring collectors (yes collectors and not kids) the absolute best quality of figures for their collections. Take for instance Barriss Offee. Despite the few decent attempts by Hasbro of her in the realistic line, she never received the full attention she deserved. (Editor’s Note: Thankfully she has been included with super articulation in the 2011 The Vintage Collection line.) She has received respect in the form of her animated figure and it’s easily one of the best figures in The Clone Wars line to date. Hasbro pulled out all of the stops as far as sculpt and deco are concerned when they made her, but you may be surprised by this statement because she is very limited in articulation. Barriss Offee comes with a mere eight points, but you know what? It’s all the articulation she needs. Barriss Offee looks so incredible and the articulation she does have is enough to meet your positioning goals (for the most part). What’s even a step better is that she has been constructed with a flawless center of gravity so the reduced articulation works even better for her. (Sometimes extra articulation is needed just to make a figure stand unassisted!)

Just look at the paint job on her face! Her skin is the perfect shade of pale green and the dark diamonds that make up her face tattoos are uniformly placed across the bridge of her nose to the sides of her face. The tattooed diamond pattern on her face is perfectly aligned and her rich sky blue eyes light up her face. She actually favors the Tartakovsky interpretation of the character that we saw in Volume 1 of the Clone Wars micro-series. This of course makes us jump for joy, but yet she also remains faithful to the Filoni-inspired appearance. We love when action figures seamlessly cross lines and can connect the multiple dots of the broad Star Wars Expanded Universe. Her head covering is textured with multiple colors and it perfectly matches the removable shawl that sit atop her shoulders. But the absolute best part about Barriss Offee is her soft-goods skirt. It’s brilliantly crafted. Cut from a sueded cotton-like fabric, it possesses the perfect texture, look and drape needed to recreate an authentic style of her outfit. It has a thickness and feel to it that we really haven’t seen before in the basic figure line until now. It has a beautiful rich presence which seems a little extravagant for a simple-living member of the Jedi Order. Barriss Offee looks fantastic. Hasbro has been really good at changing up the types of soft-goods they’ve used and now more than ever it seems like it’s become an art for them. The 2009 TLC Owen Lars (BD 46) figure may have been the one figure to start this trend as that was the first figure with a [more] luxurious fabric than previous figures.

Barriss Offee looks incredible when displayed in your collection. And she looks even better great next to her female Jedi sistren including Aayla Secura, Shaak Ti and especially Luminara Unduli. These four Jedi ladies should just prove that Hasbro is full of hot air when they call The Clone Wars line “kid-oriented”. Who are they kidding? Barriss Offee comes with three worms from the intense episode entitled Brain Invaders from the second season of The Clone Wars. One worm actually rests on her arm like an accessory while the other two are kind of obligatory additions, sort of like Yoda’s snakes. She also comes with a green-bladed lightsaber that fits remarkably well into her very petite hands. Barriss Offee is a standout figure and she will absolutely be responsible for making another group of resisting collectors to start appreciating The Clone Wars television show. While we would never say that The Clone Wars line should ever interfere with plans for the realistic figures, we say that the quality Hasbro brought forth with Barriss Offee is worthy enough to push delays on other figures. And this is quite a statement for an action figure with only eight points of articulation. We have always said that not all figures need to be loaded with 14 or more points as long as Hasbro makes strides elsewhere. For Barriss Offee, they spent time perfecting the soft-goods and giving her an exceptional paint job. She is a brilliant action figure.