Editor’s Note:  This review has been updated with our second look at TVC…

Original Review:  Chris - 6/18/2011 05:03 PM

As Jay Sherman would say, “it stinks”.  Let me start of by saying this mold has the potential for being very decent (a 9 out of 10), but it was betrayed by a couple of decisions.  First, is there any film based picture in existence that shows Barriss with a purple and brown costume?  Anywhere?  Ask yourself, does the costume in the figure pictures resemble the costume in the reference photo? Every photo I can find sure seems like her costume is mostly black in the movies.  The ORIGINAL photo of this figure showed an all black costume.  The only place this particular color scheme seems to appear is in the Clone Wars series.  Having the movie line influenced by the cartoon is a bitter pill to swallow.

Next, we all know this was originally supposed to come with a soft goods cape.  Hasbro was forced to ditch that idea for an unspecified reason.  Stuff happens. We get that.  But that doesn’t change the fact that the plastic cape and hood simply undermine this figure.  The range of motion that the articulation on this figure would provide is sabotaged by the inflexible cape.  The leg and shoulder motion is limited by a big chunk of plastic.  That same mass also wants to pull the figure over backwards.  The plastic hood pushes the head forward so that Barriss is permanently in a brooding stance.  The head cannot be removed from the hood which is also separate from the cape.  This means that you cannot choose to ditch the plastic accessories entirely.  You’re stuck with the hood and without the cape, the hood makes little sense.

I was really looking forward to this figure.  Barriss and Luminara are distinctive and interesting looking Jedi.  An upgrade to the iffy Saga Barriss was much anticipated.  If this looked more like the early photos, I would probably have bought two or three.  As it was, I broke my sample removing the cloth skirt for the photos.  I don’t think I’ll be eager to get a replacement.  I’ll wait for Hasbro to do better version. 5 out of 10.

Updated Review:  Bret - 7/09/2018 07:05 AM

Yep, this figure has a lot of issues, most of which Chris covered above back in the day.  In addition to everything Chris mentioned, I have a few other negative points. 

Something about the strange texture of the surface of the plastic on the face reminded me of Frankie Coffee Cake from A Bronx Tale.  Not sure what happened there, but otherwise, the paint applications make for a striking visage, even if the diamond tattoos lack sharpness.

I have a problem with the plastic cape.  It is sculpted in such a way as to reach the floor, and then bunch up a bit.  However, it doesn’t actually reach the floor.  The bunched part of the plastic cape either floats above the ground (if you can get the figure to stand without that support) or rests at an unnatural angle, and then just looks odd.  Also, the figure isn’t balanced well, so in order to not tip over completely when positioned in a neutral stance, the figure needs the support provided by the bottom of the plastic cape as well as whatever minimal support you can get out spreading out the soft goods skirt.  It’s bad execution.

The lack of range of motion of the shoulders/arms/hands means you cannot pose the figure as she is seen in her brief shot inside Petranaki Arena on Geonosis.  That would be a cool pose for any Jedi, but the articulation level would need to be fully modernized.

Finally, it may be specific to my sample, but the right knee joint is stuck.  Any attempt to force the ball hinge to move would have resulted in snapping the piece right off, so I couldn’t try to get poses much more dynamic than as you see in image 13.  Another sample would probably be a bit more posable.

So the figure is nice looking, but the negatives are important, and weigh heavily on the final score.  It’s a below-average TVC figure, unfortunately.  It also doesn’t help that Hasbro never updated Barriss’s master, Luminara Unduli, in TVC.  Now, it seems unlikely that we’d see either figure any time soon.

Hasbro definitely should re-sculpt Barris into an all new figure, if they ever considered releasing the character in the future.  This is a rare instance of a sub-par figure in TVC from what we’ve re-analyzed so far.  If you need this character, it’s the best one out there, and you may be satisfied with it.  The character had a much larger (and surprising) role in The Clone Wars animated series than she did in AOTC, but many fans would probably consider her a minor supporting character and low on the priority list.

Verdict: Re-sculpt (Low priority) 

It’s not a definitive version of Bariss Offee.  Values on eBay are rather inexpensive.  It may be because the figure isn’t very good, or it may be because fans aren’t interested in the character.  I would tend to believe it’s the former, because Jedi characters should perform very well at retail.  Pick up the figure if you must, or if you think it’s the best we’ll ever get.  Or, hold out for a better version if you can play the long game.

Verdict Guide:
Re-sculpt = The figure is not definitive, and a new version should be developed.
Re-issue = This version is definitive (or close enough), and shows sufficient secondary market demand to warrant a straight repack.
No Action = This release does not require new attention.