Aayla Secura - ROTS - Basic (III 32)

Aayla Secura is an empathic and highly intelligent Jedi Knight with impressive fighting skills. During the Clone Wars, she leads a battalion of clone troopers against the Separatist forces on the planet Felucia.

The Revenge Of The Sith line provided ample opportunity for Hasbro to update many of the Jedi we saw in Episode I and Episode II. Not all of them got great updates, but Aayla Secura received a significantly better one. The blue Twi’lek is notorious for being in the Expanded Universe first and whose popularity from those stories brought her into the films. She went from background character to one of the most popular Jedi of all time. You can almost use this as an analogy to explain just how far she has come as an action figure from the original 2003 figure released in the Star Wars “Saga” line. Her first “appearance” in the toy line was cool and captured a small audience, but it was her release in the Revenge Of The Sith line that allowed collectors to appreciate what a great action figure she’d become. The Revenge Of The Sith Aayla Secura figure is so close to perfection, but falls short because Hasbro decided to cut corners when it came to her arm articulation. It’s actually very frustrating to see a figure that is this well-sculpted to only have its definitive status diminished by arms that are functional, but very far from perfection. We’ll have to wait for a definitive version to be released, but this one will temporarily hold that place for now. (Editor’s Note: A gorgeous definitive Aayla Secura is part of 2012’s The Vintage Collection.)

Aayla Secura comes with 14 points of articulation, although, they're not the “standard” 14 points we’re used to seeing. She comes with a ball-socket head, 2 ball-jointed shoulders, a right swivel bicep, 2 swivel wrists, a ball-socket torso, a swivel waist, 2 swivel hips, 2 ball-jointed knees and 2 ball-jointed ankles. her legs are literally the best part of her. Because of the generous articulation included in them, you can attain more realistic action poses now than even the "permanent" pose of the 2003 figure, especially since that older figure was essentially a statue. For some bizarre reason, some of her proportions like her arms, and even her face, look ever so slightly chubby. We don’t think it is terribly noticeable, but we’re very surprised that this final result slipped passed Hasbro when they have such strong acumen when it comes to ensuring figures are authentic to their movie counterparts. Aside from some of her joints being a little too loose for our personal taste, Aayla Secura has very few negative points. There of course can be enhancements to this figure made to make it better, but it’s a very fine figure as is. You will be interested to know that the details in her sexy Jedi outfit look fantastic. The “leather” parts truly look like real leather and Hasbro's sculptors have etched the perfect amount of texture in the outfit’s various parts to make it look incredible.

Hasbro brought forth the same lightsaber technology that they started in the 2002-2004 Star Wars “Saga” line. The blade can be detached from the hilt courtesy of a very tiny, brittle and easily breakable peg on the blade. Collectors have been complaining about this technology for years. While it’s awesome to have your figure be able to hold an unlit lightsaber hilt, the risk of breaking off the peg on the blade (should your figure fall over for instance) hasn’t been worth it for most collectors. We’d rather see a separate hilt and separate lit lightsaber included with the figures. It’s cheap enough for Hasbro to do and we hope they head in that direction. That being said, the hilt complements Aayla Secura perfectly. It fits nicely into her hands and best of all attaches to the hole in her belt flawlessly. While we really didn’t see her wield her lightsaber too heavily in Revenge Of The Sith (aside from the failed attempt to protect herself during the execution of Order 66), she did wield it in Attack of The Clones. So this version of Aayla Secura is perfect for any Geonosis Arena diorama you wish to put together. This Revenge Of The Sith version of Aayla Secura is a very fair representation of her. But we know that Hasbro can do better and we’re eager to see where that ends up. But for now, this is the best Aayla Secura money can buy.