Asajj Ventress is a deadly and tragic disciple of the dark side. She has the talent to be a powerful Jedi, but violence and loss have filled her with hatred. As a child, she watched her parents die at the hands of a brutal warlord. A kind Jedi, stranded on her planet, took her in and began teaching her the ways of the Force, but he was murdered before he could finish her training. Alone again, Asajj clawed her way to a powerful position and was discovered by Count Dooku. She joined his cause and is one of the military masterminds for the Separatist forces. With her incredible piloting abilities, she lured Anakin Skywalker into a trap - and nearly defeated him, so great is her skill. With savage precision, she leaps headfirst into battle, eyes burning with hate, wielding her curve-handled lightsabers in a never-ending quest to destory all that is good in the galaxy.
Before the Clone Wars cartoon introduced the whole concept of Nightsisters and Dathomir as part of her story, Asajj Ventress was originally from the planet Rattatak, with the Rattataki species all being pale-skinned and bald. Star Wars continuity has always been a little bit loose and wibbly, even before Disney took over and gave it a fresh start.
Before the Black Series figure, this was easily
the best Asajj you could get. This is based on the original Genndy Tartakovsky micro-series (because that's all there was in 2005), meaning she's wearing a full skirt, dark bracers, and a top that's more like wrapped bandages than an actual garment. The ties on her belt flap around behind her wildly, with the pattern on them etched in, and there's a look of strain on her face. Until the CGI Clone Wars cartoon made her a more major character (and thus gave her a consistent design), Asajj was often coded as a black woman, with obviously African facial features - a trend this figure continued.
While today one of Ventress' defining features is the series of tattoos or whatever markings on her scalp and jaw, that wasn't a thing back then: the animation didn't have them, and so this figure doesn't either. We do get the black circles around her blank eyes, though -
clearly they hadn't quite figured out how to best untoon things, yet. Her skirt is dark brown, matched by the bracers and collar, but those get lighter apps for detailing that the skirt doe not. Her skin is gray, slightly darker than the white of the shirt, and there's a subtle wash on the torso to help those bandages look better. Her belt is two-toned, matching the sculpt perfectly, and her curved lightsabers get silver and black so they don't blend in with the arms carrying them.
The first few Unleashed women were just standing around posing sexily, but Asajj gets to be just as dynamic
as the rest of the figures. Moreso, perhaps! She's rushing forward to attack, moving so fast that she's nearly horizontal. A single foot is in contact with the ground, her other leg raised with the knee bent so it's hovering in mid-air, distorting her skirt. Her arms trail off behind her, like she's Naruto-running, and she's clutching her lightsabers. The hilts are part of the mold, not separate, but the red blades are removable.
The sense of speed is furthered by the design of the display base.
It's a patch of overgrown land, presumably representing the Yavin 4 jungle where she fought Anakin, with a branch and several vines, and there's a cloud of dust being kicked up behind her as she runs. The base is molded from translucent plastic, so the clouds can be something other than solid, while all the foliage needs to be painted. A few stray leaves are being kicked up in the dust, and all the grass is flattened pointing away from the point where her foot touches the ground, as though pushed away by an incredibly strong shockwave.
When she was introduced in Clone Wars, Asajj Ventress was just another "cool design, no character" character, like Boba Fett or Aurra Sing. The later cartoon really did a wonderful job of fleshing her out, to the point where she was supposed to get two starring arcs in Season 6, and when that got cancelled, they were turned into a full novel instead. It's kind of weird to see her old design on this statue, but there's no denying how cool the pose is.
-- 02/21/26
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