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More like "Star Wars Blue Series," amirite?
A cunning warrior and Jedi Knight during the rise of the Clone Was, Aayla fought on many battlefields. A master of the emotional detachment necessary in the Jedi Order, she tried to pass on what she learned.
Wow, did she? I admit, I've never read anything with Aayla in it, so as far as I know she's just a cool design in the movies and TV shows. In the old continuity, she was sold as a child to one of the Hutts - not Jabba, but a cousin or something. Anyway, Jeremy the Hutt's pet wampa broke free and nearly ate Aayla, but she was resuced by (Expanded Universe superstar) Quinlan Vos, who happened to be visiting at the time. In the current continuity, she was still found by Vos, but it was just on her homeworld, without the "being a child slave" part of the story. It may have still happened, they just haven't showed it yet.
Aayla was famously created for an arc of Dark Horse's Star Wars comic, and George Lucas liked the cover art so much he decided to put the character in the movies. Rather than spend time casting an actor, ILM just grabbed someone from the office and painted her blue, then had her wander around the green screen stage for a minute. Since this is specifically an Episode II figure, the sculpt and paint of the face are meant to look like Amy Allen.
Twi'leks are Star Wars' horniest characters [I think the Devaronians and Zabraki might disagree with that --ed.], so when you cross the desire to be as nude as possible with the Jedi Order's beliefs abot modesty and chastity, this outfit is the result. Would Anakin have turned evil if he'd been allowed to wear a one-sleeved, scoop-neck, belly shirt? I don't know, but it might be worth a shot. There's no such thing as an evil himbo! She's got little apron-flaps hanging from the front and back of her belt, and strips of leather almost reach her knees. She has plain brown pants, and simple boots with a very thick heel.
Aayla's sculpt is good. She's actually proportioned like a real woman would be: I'm not sad enough to try to figure out what her
measurements would be, but she hasn't been given some weirdly narrow cartoon waist and unbelievable breasts. She's the size of a slender human woman with no particular muscle tone, naturally, since that's what she really is. He clothes all have distinct textures, most easily noticed where her inner top, with its interlocking rectangles, meets her outer top, with its plain leather look. One thing they didn't bother with, though? Her belly button jewelry.
She does suffer from the same corner-cutting as many Black Series figures these days: the paint. Compare this 6" figure to the 3¾" Vintage Collection release and you'll see how uninspired this one is. There's no differentiation between the two shirts she wears, she's lacking the speckles on the top of her lekku, and while her belt flaps do get a different color in the center than along the edge, it's very similar. You could probably find film stills where this looks right, but toys need exaggeration to "sell" what they're representing. At this size - and especially this price - we deserve better.
At least the articulation is still up to snuff.
Aayla has swivel/hinge ankles, swivel boots, double-hinged knees, swivel thighs, balljointed hips, a balljoint chest, swivel/hinge wrists, swivel/hinge elbows, swivel/hinge shoulders, and a barbell neck. You would expect that the lekku hanging doen her back would limit the head somewhat, but it turns out the range of motion on the joint isn't good enough for that to be an issue. What she really needs is some articulation in those head-tails, so you could point them different directions and make it look like she's jumping around all wild. If Chun-Li and Cammy can do it, so can Aayla!
Her only accessory is her lightsaber, with a removable blue blade. We'd ask for a cloak for her, but she rarely ever wears one,
and the hood wouldn't play nicely with her lekku anyway, would it? Come to think of it, we'd really like to see the return of those "deflecting blaster bolts" effect pieces we used to get way back in the day - they'd be a fun and easy thing to throw in the packages to up the value a little.
Whether you like Attack of the Clones or not, it introduced a lot of awesome Jedi ladies, and it's cool The Black Series has finally reached a point where we're starting to get them. Hopefully when Shaak Ti, Luminara Unduli, and Barriss Offee make it into the line, they keep this same level sculpt, but do something about improving the paint.
-- 06/03/23
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