Asajj Ventress - TVC - Basic (VC364)

Trained in the ways of the dark side by Count Dooku, assassin Asajj Ventress longed to be considered a true Sith. During the Clone Wars, she fought for the Separatists with her twin red-bladed lightsabers.

Finally! It only took Hasbro 17 years to produce a modern, realistic, and super-articulated action figure based on Asajj Ventress’ likeness from The Clone Wars series. But it’s here, and it looks pretty good, even if it’s not perfect. Hasbro’s been branching out character selection for The Vintage Collection. And while it’s wonderful to receive a diverse selection of characters from the Star Wars universe, it’s a bit painful for longtime original Star Wars collectors to wait until Hasbro produces action figures based on “old school” Star Wars and not the garbage from Disney Star Wars. That said, Asajj Ventress is an action figure we’re confident will satisfy you, but we must admit that it probably needed a little fine-tuning before being sent into production. Asajj Ventress is a significant character who made her debut in the Clone Wars series created by Tartakovsky. And most of her fans are fans because of that micro-series. The look of Asajj Ventress was more ominous and mysterious, whereas the character from Dave Filoni’s series looks a bit reserved in appearance by comparison. We’d love to see Hasbro produce a version of Asajj Ventress from Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars, but we believe that ship has sailed since Filoni’s The Clone Wars took center stage. But if they change their mind, we’re sure that another older interpretation of Asajj Ventress would go over exceptionally well with collectors. That said, Asajj Ventress is about as established in the Star Wars universe as many other characters in the Original Trilogy.

So, let’s talk about the action figure. Firstly, the portrait is gorgeous. It faithfully represents the animated character through a realistic interpretation. It’s not much different than what Hasbro did with Ahsoka (VC102), Anakin Skywalker (VC92), or Obi-Wan Kenobi (VC103), but perhaps more effective with Asajj; we hope they’ll keep peppering these characters into the lineup. The paint operations capture the details and ornamentations we see on the character’s head beautifully. The Photo Real paint operations look splendid here and make the figure look magnificent. But as you travel down the arms of the figure, you’ll notice how chunky they are, especially when compared with 2008’s TCW [B] Asajj Ventress (No. 15) figure. The 2008 animated version has delicate arms with contour and shapeliness. However, that aesthetic is nowhere to be found in this version, which greatly disappoints us. A bonus here is the belt. There are two holes for collectors to plug the hilt accessories into, and this was not an option on previous Asajj Ventress action figures. While it requires some diligence to get them fastened into their respective spots, once assembled, you’ll appreciate the effort Hasbro employed here to make this character screen-accurate to The Clone Wars series. The center skirt also looks more detailed in The Clone Wars version, but The Vintage Collection’s interpretation isn’t terrible. We only wish that Hasbro would go above and beyond to make the details as premium as possible for an expensive, collector-focused line like The Vintage Collection.

Asajj Ventress comes with four accessories: two hilts and two lit lightsabers. That’s a decent number of accessories to accompany 3.75-inch action figures. Asajj Ventress interacts with the accessories well, and although it seems like the figure’s hands are not wide enough to accommodate them, much to our surprise, they do a fantastic job. The two hilts connect, and the same is true for the lightsabers, mimicking what we saw with Darth Maul’s lightsaber, namely an extended hilt or handle for a single weapon. Hasbro designed a mixed-media figure of Asajj Ventress, incorporating soft goods into the plastic action figure. They included a smooth, pima-like purple cotton for the main skirt, and then the decorated sash is a silky ribbon consistency in a lighter purple with gold print for the pattern. None of this inhibits the figure’s articulation system. Below the skirt are 2023's TVC Morgan Elsbeth (VC295) legs cast in single tone purple plastic. They didn’t paint any part of the figure in multiple colors underneath, and we find that to be extremely lazy on Hasbro’s part. We’d have loved to see Hasbro add a Count Dooku hologram as they did for the 2008 animated figure or another accessory to make this feel like we’re getting our money’s worth. After all, The Vintage Collection MSRP rose to $16.99 per basic figure, and that feels criminal at this point. Will this finally be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for collectors? At what point will action figures be unaffordable? That said, Asajj Ventress is a lovely addition to the line. We hope other characters are on the way.