Ahsoka Tano has had one of the most rewarding arcs in the history of Star Wars.  She was introduced to the Star Wars world when Lucasfilm decided to stitch three episodes of The Clone Wars series into a movie, for the cost of next to nothing, and release it theatrically.  Many fans were turned off by what they saw as an obnoxious brat.  I was not.  I kind of liked the character from day one.  I’ve also been a fan of every band ever before they were popular, and I’ve liked Jerry Seinfeld since he was performing unpaid gigs when I was four.  Through the course of The Clone Wars the character matured and she grew into the fan favorite that Ahsoka is today.  For that reason, it was only a matter of time before Hasbro reintroduced the source into The Vintage Collection.

With respect to the figure, I have only one thing to say, “This.  One thousand times - this.”  This is what I want out of Vintage Collection action figures.  Figures that flow somewhat effortlessly from dynamic pose to dynamic pose are the straw that stirs the line’s drink.  What I particularly admire is that every point of articulation serves a posing purpose.  So many figures have points of articulation that are rendered ineffective by the sculpt or some unforgiving plastic garments.  Not so here.  The sculpt allows almost all of the joints to achieve their full potential, while the plastic used on the sculpted elements of the lower tunic is extremely pliable.  It moves out of the way as inconspicuously as soft goods.  The figure is so posable, that I tried to see if it could perform a Black Widow in image 13 above.  It can come close, but obviously not all the way there.  That pose should be Hasbro’s new four-minute mile.

The only downside to the oodles of freely flowing articulation is that it can be a bit of a Rubix Cubian challenge to return the figure to a neutral pose.  The preceding statement is the equivalent of the interview question when a candidate is asked to name one of their negatives, and they say that they work too hard.  You will notice that I said “almost” all of the joints above.  Ahsoka’s lekku inhibit the range of motion of the head.  This is a bit of a bummer since Maul towers over the Togrutan ex-Jedi.  As a result, she is often staring up at her adversary. The best this figure can achieve is staring at Maul’s chin. It’s hard to fault Hasbro for this since it’s a limitation of the design of the character, but as for the head sculpt itself, my God.  Take a look at it.  it’s approaching uncanny valley.  It completely blows away the “Oompa Loompa” VC102 - Ahsoka figure.

This is as 10 out of 10 as a figure can get, and the definitive Season 7 Ahsoka Tano.  The only problem is that I now hold some previous figures cheap in comparison.  I suddenly find myself wanting an updated Episode III Obi-Wan Kenobi (Mr. Nomadscout just winced reading that).  If nothing else, Hasbro please bottle what you’ve done here, and apply it to an Episode VI Darth Vader.  You’ve perfect the dueling figure formula with this Ahsoka Tano release, and we desperately need a good Episode V/VI dueling Darth Vader.