Star Wars The Black Series Ahsoka Tano review – The Mandalorian version
It’s weird how for so long Ahsoka was just an animated character in the Star Wars universe. She was arguably the most important characters to not have crossed over into the live action universe. Until Rosario Dawson brought Anakin’s padawan to the small screen in a memorable episode of The Mandalorian.
We’ve had a full season of Boba Fett with another appearance of Ashoka, but Hasbro finally gets The Mandalorian version of Ahsoka into the Black Series line. Let’s see if the now adult Jedi reaches her full figure potential.
Packaging: I’m still a big fan of the new style packaging. Per her show appearance, Ahsoka gets the orange yellow color choice that seems intentionally close for both The Mandalorian and The Clone Wars.
The bio is cool making Ahsoka sound like an aimless samurai traveling wherever the Force takes her to help others.
Likeness: It’s been pretty cool checking out the evolution of Ahsoka. First as a young child, then an older teen, a young adult and now as a mature woman.
Hasbro had a unique challenge here in trying to capture Dawson’s likeness while maintaining some consistency to previous Ahsoka figures based on an animated appearance. Her head tails are shorter all around now and her face is wider and fuller. The sculpt shows a maturity from the earlier Ahsoka figures.
Some of her design elements remain intact like the headband — although slightly different now — bare shoulders and longer arm sleeves.
I really like her costume. The arm sleeves are styled like wraps with holes on either side with very minor armor-plated gauntlets.
Her tunic has great texturing, and the belt is very intricate with loops and rope strands along the right side. She’s wearing loose pants that flare out as they bunch into the boots.
Shin armor is Ahsoka’s lone holdover from The Clone Wars. Playing up that samurai motif more, Ahsoka has shoes that split her toes.
Paint: Ahsoka’s face printing allows for a crisp application of her face tattoos and horntails.
Hasbro didn’t shortchange any of the painted detail — the studs and beaded sections of the rope strands get full coverage. My figure just had some stray marks on her hand and her shin armor. And there’s some glue marks along the left side of her head. I’m hoping those will come out as well.
I was able to see two Ahsokas on the pegs and one had some stray black marks on her face. While those probably would come off, I didn’t want to take the chance.
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Scale: Ahsoka hasn’t gained any height over the years and is still shorter than the average figure. She’s consistent with the height of the previous Ashoka figures and matches up well with the realistic animated conversions of the Rebels figures. Of course, these will get swapped out with the Ahsoka actress likenesses.
Ahsoka is also shorter than Mando. And I need the Mandolorian version of Luke ASAP so I can put former padawan and heir to the Skywalker Jedi legacy together.
Articulation: Ahsoka’s Mandalorian figure is an improvement on her Rebels figure, which lacked butterfly shoulders.
Like every other Ahsoka figure, the head tails restrict some of her neck movement. She’s got the longer elbow joint, which basically allows for the same kind of range as figures with double-jointed articulation.
Her knee joints are interesting. It’s one longer joint, which bends deep enough to simulate the double-jointed knee effect. Hasbro also incorporated a swivel joint since it could be hidden with the pants. That’s very clever and a case of Hasbro providing more with a figure than just the standard articulation.
Ahsoka Tano has:
- neck
- ball-jointed shoulders (butterfly joints)
- elbow
- wrist
- wrist hinge
- torso
- hips
- thighs
- knees (double jointed)
- ankles
Accessories: This isn’t anything new at this point, but like most of Black Series figures, Ahsoka doesn’t come with a ton of accessories. She’s got her signature dual lightsabers.
This time they’re far more detailed and intricate, which is fitting since this is her first live-action interpretation. All of that extra detailing should apply to her sabers as well.
The designs are different on both and a bit more paint applications on the larger one. The hilt paintwork is mostly crisp with a random runoff from the interior sculpt.
Like the show, Ahsoka’s saber blades are now fully white. This is an unusual color for the Black Series and it really stands out. I do kinda wish Hasbro would do lightsabers with the same inner glow they gave the Darksaber as that effect looked very cool.
The value for Black Series is always pretty bad with one or two accessories. Ahsoka would really benefit from having her Jedi robe and it’s frustrating that so often that obvious detail is “left out” with this line.
Worth it? Hasbro’s price increase to $25 raises the question of the value of all their six-inch lines. This is at best a $22 figure, but the challenge of actually finding it on shelves means you can’t wait for a sale.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10
The value for Black Series is now impacting the score overall. Ahsoka is missing her robe. For most Jedi, the robe isn’t a unique part and it should just be included with every Jedi now especially at the increased price point. Otherwise this is a great live-action version from her Mandalorian debut.
Where to get it? Target is just getting this wave in stores. Amazon has had the figures in and out of stock while Entertainment Earth has him available for pre-order.