The Good: Amazing sculpt, Good articulation, Decent playability, amazingly good accessories!
The Bad: Minor balance/articulation issue.
The Basics: The latest Aurra Sing figure once again prioritizes quality and realism over the animated look, making it the most worthwhile version of the figure to buy!
While it might seem that lately I have been getting in loads and loads of Star Wars figures (I have, some, in order to be able to capitalize on the enthusiasm surrounding the theatrical release of The Phantom Menace in 3-D) , but I honestly am a pretty discriminating collector and reviewer. I was pretty surprised to see a new sculpting of Aurra Sing and, despite my having the Power Of The Jedi Aurra Sing and a 12” Masterpiece Edition Aurra Sing doll (reviewed here!) , I could not resist picking up the Discover The Force version on the hopes that this would be the ultimate version of the character. And Hasbro came close enough. Despite some minor balance and articulation issues, this Aurra Sing is truly awesome and worth picking up.
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 Discover The Force Aurra Sing is the fourth sculpting of the character for the 4" toy line and she is yet another “clean” version of the character. Still, the Discover the Force version is pretty cool. She features the packaging that includes 3-D glasses and a 3-D image on the back of the card, used to coincide with the theatrical release of the 3-D version of The Phantom Menace.
Basics
The Aurra Sing figure is very well-detailed and follows in the current tradition of making figures of characters that have a layered look actually layered (the best example of this before now is the Saga Legends IG-88 figure, reviewed here!) and in that regard, this Aurra Sing is a real triumph of quality. The ruthless bounty hunter stands 4 1/16" tall to the top of her antenna! Aurra Sing was released in 2012 as part of Hasbro's Discover The Force Collection and appears to be an entirely different sculpt from the Clone Wars version of the character. The alien bounty hunter appears to be cast entirely in soft plastics.
This toy is an immaculate 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 pretty cool sculpt. Added to that awesomeness are the layered elements. Over the solid smooth cast of Aurra Sing, the character is given her baby vest – which barely covers her bustline – and the hanging belts and holsters below her waist. Cast in very flexible plastic, these elements truly make this an incredible and distinctive sculpting of the bounty hunter.
The coloring details are similarly impressive. Sure, Aurra Sing’s tiny fingernails are molded right on, but what is more impressive is how precisely they are painted a glossy black. In the pockets on her vest, there are little silver tools and her belts are colored to look like chains. More impressive than the eerie pale skin tones which get appropriately darker around her eyes are the highlights in her hair. The beads in her hair are colored and her hair is not simply a monotonal orange color. Instead, there are several shades of orange and black mixed together to give the figure depth and personality uncommon in a 3.75” figure! The only coloring detail that is not as precise as it could be is the actual outfit. Aurra Sing’s orange outfit is exceptionally clean for both a bounty hunter and an individual on assignment on Tatooine!
Accessories
Aurra Sing is a bounty hunter who comes armed to the teeth. This version of Aurra Sing features her usual blaster rifle, two pistols and a carrying case with three lightsabers taken, presumably, from Jedi she has killed. As part of the Discover The Force Collection, Aurra Sing also comes with a stand. The black stand has two pegs for the holes in Aurra Sing's feet. The stand is 2 11/16" wide, 1 7/16" deep and 1/4" tall. It simply tells fans that this figure is from Star Wars and has a slot for the Galactic Battle Game card. The pegs fit perfectly into the holes on Aurra Sing’s feet and allow her to stand in any outlandish position not supported by her sometimes poor balance.
Aurra Sing's blaster rifle is a 3 7/8" long silver blaster rifle designed to take the long shot! At least as impressive as the new, long rifle’s sculpt, this version of Aurra Sing’s rifle is truly colored in an expert fashion. The emitter tip has a gold diode and the strap is painted gray, with appropriate positions left silver for the pegs that would connect the strap to the gun! The ribbing on the underside and the brown butt make this look like a functional futuristic firearm! Aurra Sing looks great with this weapon slung over her shoulder, in a one handed or two-handed grip!
Aurra Sing also comes with her two blaster pistol sidearms. Aurra Sing has a whole Western flavor to her and her holsters on her hips hang low and look cool with the black and silver pistols in them. The 3/4" identical blasters fit both the holsters and in Aurra Sing’s hands and they look great in either place! These are incredibly detailed pistols that include molded details like dual trigger guards!
Finally, this Aurra Sing comes with a case with lightsaber handles. The lightsaber hilts are silver with gold highlights and look like lightsabers. They fit into a case that folds up. The case, while clearly made to hold the lightsabers and be held in Aurra Sing’s hands (which it does just fine!) is smooth and clean in a way that does not match the rest of the figure. Furthermore, because the case is a solid piece made of thin plastic, it is hard to believe that it will hold up well when folded over (to close it) repeatedly.
Playability
The four inch toy line was designed for play and Aurra Sing is good in that regard. This Discover The Force figure has mediocre to poor balance, though. Flatfooted, she is balanced in most poses. Aurra Sing is amazingly articulated, though, and all that could be improved in the figure on the articulation front would be giving her ankles. Aurra Sing comes with a decent twelve points of articulation! Aurra Sing has joints at the knees, groin socket, bust, shoulders, wrists, elbows, and neck. Many of the joints are hinged ball joints, allowing exceptional articulation. As a result, there are freakish amounts of articulation from the knees, shoulders and elbows! This Aurra Sing is great for its poseability as a result of all of these joints!
For whatever basic or improbable poses one might find where she will not remain standing, the base is solid. The base negates the figure’s balance problems and makes this a great display piece, if not an awesome toy.
Collectibility
Aurra Sing is part of the 2012 Discover The Force four-inch series, a series of Star Wars action figures that is a strange mix of dull characters and neat new sculpts. Aurra Sing is one of the few “draw” figures cast for the Discover The Force series and given that both female Star Wars action figures and bounty hunter figures usually appreciate, if you can actually find this Aurra Sing figure inexpensively, she seems like one to move on!
Aurra Sing is number 1 of 12 in the Discover The Force collection.
Overview
Aurra Sing is an impressive sculpt with great coloring detailing and while she could use a tiny bit more articulation and better balance, the stand goes a long way to solving the figure’s worst problems, making it exceptionally easy to recommend fans buy this figure!
For other bounty hunter figures, please check out my reviews of:
Vintage Collection Boba Fett
Saga Legends Bossk
Legacy Collection Zuckuss
8.5/10
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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