The Good: Good articulation, Decent playability, Good accessories, Decent balance
The Bad: Much lighter on the sculpting and coloring details than the new version.
The Basics: The first Aurra Sing figure from the Power Of The Jedi toy line still has enough for fans to covet!
Aurra Sing may not have the name recognition of many of the Star Wars bounty hunters – certainly not in mainstream culture – but her very brief presence in The Phantom Menace was enough to inspire quite a bit of merchandising. In fact, earlier this year when Wal-Mart released its exclusive Discover The Force line, Aurra Sing was figure number 1 (that’s reviewed here!). As I thin out my collection, I realized that in addition to the new version and the 12” Masterpiece Edition Aurra Sing doll (reviewed here!) , I still had the original Power Of The Jedi version of Aurra Sing, which represents her first action figure. And in evaluating her, it is worth noting that Hasbro got quite a bit right with the figure!
For those unfamiliar with Aurra Sing, Aurra Sing is the lone, known, bounty hunter seen in The Phantom Menace (click here for my review of the film). Ghostly pale and armed to the teeth, she fires down upon the podracers for unknown reasons.
The Power Of The Jedi Aurra Sing is the first sculpting of the character for the 4" toy line.
Basics
The Aurra Sing figure is very well-detailed, at least for a figure of that time, and prioritizes giving Aurra Sing one primary pose that she looks badass in over increased flexibility. Aurra Sing looks awesome holding her rifle in a two handed grip and lining up a shot that will kill a Jedi! The determined bounty hunter stands 3 13/16" tall to the top of her topknot hairdo! Aurra Sing was released in 2000 as part of Hasbro's Power Of The Jedi Collection and lacks the character’s fine antenna. The alien bounty hunter is cast entirely in soft plastics.
This toy is a decent sculpt; for a character that was seen ridiculously briefly, this looks just like every picture that exists of her, at least by form. Aurra Sing is a freakishly thin, pale white woman with bright orange hair flowing out of her head in a topknot. Looking mostly humanoid, she has five elongated fingers on each hand and she wears a simple form-fitting outfit and boots that come up to her knees. With molded details like the ties and beads in her hair and bandages tied around her bicep and wrist, this is a fairly detailed sculpt. Despite not having the antenna imbedded in her head, Aurra Sing is molded to look very accurate.
The coloring details are very simple though. Outside a smear on her bodysuit to make her look weathered, Aurra Sing is cast in monotonal colored plastics. She has minimal details painted on, like the chains in her crotch area are molded there, but not uniformly painted. Similarly, her skin is a creepy gray-white. Aurra Sing’s eyes are piercing and gray in a way that makes them look appropriately unnerving. While the color scheme may be a little more monolithic than with the current figure lines, this Aurra Sing still looks pretty awesome and the unclean look to her outfit is a nice selling point (after all, she’s a bounty hunter operating on Tatooine!).
Accessories
Aurra Sing is a bounty hunter who comes significantly armed. This version of Aurra Sing features her usual blaster rifle and a blaster pistol. While she has the appropriate holsters for her pistols on both her thighs, the gun on her left side is molded into the holster and is not removable. On her right side, though, Aurra Sing has a removable blaster pistol that is instantly reminiscent of Han Solo’s blaster, save that it has two trigger areas! At 3/4" long, the gunmetal colored pistol is immaculately detailed. The sides of the gun make it look like it has controls and it fits perfectly in her holster or her right hand. While the pistol can fit in her left hand’s grip, it does not look as good there.
Aurra Sing's blaster rifle is a 3 7/8" long silver and brown blaster rifle designed to take the long shot! This gun may be augmented with more colors for the strap and butt, but it is detailed in similar monotones to most of the figure, which is nice in that it matches the quality of the figure. Aurra Sing looks great with this weapon slung over her shoulder, in a one handed or two-handed grip!
As a Power Of The Jedi figure, Aurra Sing also features a Jedi Force File. The little magazine has pictures and describes Aurra Sings habits, abilities, enemies and provides ideas for play with the figure. The Jedi Force File appeals to trading card collectors as well as toy enthusiasts.
Playability
The four inch toy line was designed for play and Aurra Sing is good in that regard. This Power Of The Jedi figure has surprisingly good balance. Flatfooted, she is balanced in her primary cocky pose. Moves out of a flatfooted position, Aurra Sing is much more likely to fall over, but she does have the holes in her heels that would allow her to easily be plugged into any of the playsets or vehicles that have the accompanying pegs.
This version of Aurra Sing is poorly articulated, though. The Power Of The Jedi Aurra Sing comes with only five points of articulation! Aurra Sing has joints at the groin socket, shoulders and neck. While the shoulders are ball-and-socket joints, all posing for the figure involves straight arms. Her head and groin socket joints are simple swivel joints. Despite the limited posing options, Aurra Sing actually looks pretty cool.
Collectibility
Aurra Sing is part of the 2000 Power Of The Jedi four-inch series, a series of Star Wars action figures that featured many new characters and resculpts from the four films that were out at the time, as well as a number of concept figures. Given that this was the first Aurra Sing figure, it seems to have maintained its value well in the secondary market, despite there being newer (and better) sculpts of her available. Still, if you can find her as a bargain, this is a fine figure to pick up!
Overview
Aurra Sing is a very cool figure and despite her few faults, she remains one of the better Power Of The Jedi figures and one worth picking up!
For other Power Of The Jedi figures, please be sure to check out my reviews of:
Bespin Escape Princess Leia
Amanaman with Salacious Crumb
IG-88
Tessek
Deluxe Princess Leia with Sail Barge Cannon
Dagobah Darth Vader
Bespin Escape Lando Calrissian
Bespin Capture Han Solo
Tatooine Patrol Sandtrooper
Saesee Tiin
Ketwol
FX-7
Bespin Guard
7.5/10
For more Star Wars toy reviews, please check out my index page!
© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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