AAYLA SECURA

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“A cunning warrior and Jedi Knight during the rise of the Clone Wars. A master of the emotional detachment necessary in the Jedi Order, she tried to pass on what she learned”

Even before the tide had generally turned on how people viewed the Star Wars Prequels, there were certain elements that were always pretty well accepted.  Pretty much, anything having to do with Clones, of course, but also a good chunk of the newly introduced Jedi Knights also picked up quite a fanbase.  It helped that they added new ones for each film, and it helped even more when The Clone Wars added further depth to a good number of their stories.  First appearing as one of the Jedi sent to rescue Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padme from Geonosis in Attack of the Clones, Aayla Secura was a pretty popular character right from the start.  Look, being a blue skinned space chick in a revealing outfit gets you a lot of good will with fanboys.  She resurfaced for Revenge of the Sith, this time paired off with fan-favorite Clone Commander Bly, and she got a rather memorable send-off during the Order 66 sequence.  Despite her fan favorite status, her figures are definitely a bit spaced out.  It’s taken her a decade to finally make her way into The Black Series, but she’s finally here, and I’m taking a look at that figure today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Aayla Secura is part of the first main assortment of Star Wars: The Black Series‘s 2023 line-up.  She’s under the Attack of the Clones heading, where she’s figure #3.  Though she’s officially billed as an AOTC Aayla, thanks to her design remaining consistent, she’s able to work as both the Revenge of the Sith and Clone Wars versions of the character as well.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and she has 28 points of articulation.  Aayla’s articulation scheme isn’t quite as impressive as some of the other more recent Black Series figures, being a bit more on par with the pre-2020 stuff.  She’s still able to get some decent poses, but she’s not quite as agile as she could be, I suppose.  Part of this is centered around re-using some parts, as she makes use of the legs from Vice Admiral Holdo, as well as the right arm from Aurra Sing.  Everything else appears to be new.  It’s a pretty decent sculpt, up to par with the rest of the line.  She’s not the spitting image of her on-screen counterpart, but we also only briefly see her on-screen counterpart anyway.  She winds up a little skinnier, I think, than she should be, and her face looks a little rounder, but the rest of the detailing works pretty well.  Her color work is largely handled with molded colors, with just a little bit of paint to cover the basics.  Her eyes seem just a tad askew on my figure, but otherwise, things are basically what they need to be.  Aayla is on the lighter side for accessories, including only her lightsaber.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ll be honest, I’m starting to slow down on Black Series these days.  Most of the assortment that Aayla’s in wasn’t anything I was dying to own, so I largely skipped on this round.  I did decide to grab Aayla, if for no reason other than that I have Commander Bly, and you can hardly have Bly without his General, right?  She’s not exactly ground breaking or anything, but she’s got a fun visual, and it’s nice to finally get her added to the line after all these years.  And, more Jedi is always a good thing.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.