Sculpt--4/5
For Episode II, Hasbro gave us a plethora of action-posed Jedi figures which looked cool but had limited posing possibilities. However, for Episode III Hasbro is going in the other direction, making more statically-posed figures with added articulation. This Revenge of the Sith Aayla Secura figure is a good example of this contrast, with her somewhat neutral pose. The only pre-posed parts of her body are her arms which are permanently bent at the elbows at about 90 degrees. This is the only major thing I find wrong with the sculpting of this figure as having the arms permanently bent severely limits the posability of the figure.

Everything else about the figure is great. It's got a nice headsculpt which comes sort of close to Amy Allen, plus it has tendrils that aren't action-posed like the Saga Aayla figure. Textures are pretty much the same as the Saga version, which is just fine by me. Some fans may be disappointed in the absence of the "real-feel" skin that the Saga version had.

Articulation--4/5
Aayla Secura has fourteen points of articulation: ball-jointed neck, ball-jointed shoulders, right arm bicep-cut, wrist cuts, ball-jointed midsection, waist, hips, ball-jointed knees, and ball-jointed ankles. I cannot reiterate more how awesome ball-jointed ankles are. Out of all the ROTS Jedi figures so far, Aayla is the only one that has ball-jointed ankles, and that makes a ton of difference when combined with the ball-jointed knees. Another nice articulation point is the ball-jointed midsection. In addition to rotating, the first Aalya figure had articulation that allowed the upper body to tilt side to side; this time you can tilt the upper-body forward and back (but not side to side). An additional standard waist joint at the beltline adds a bit more posing flexibility as well.

Sounds good so far, right? Unfortunately, the articulation is not perfect. The arms are severely limited since the elbows are permanently bent. This could have been avoided with some angled elbow cuts, but I can see how this could have been difficult to add because of Aayla's relatively thin arms. What really bugs me is the lack of any kind of cut on Aayla's left arm. A bicep-cut or elbow-cut is definitely needed here. As is, you'll find it difficult to get more poses out of these arms. It's a shame that the articulation was so close to being perfect.

Features--NA/5
Yea! No gimmicky action features!

Accessories--4/5
You get a display base and Aayla's lightsaber. The blade of the lightsaber is removable and the hilt can be attached to Aayla's belt via peg and hole. I'm glad this type of functional hilt is making a return; it's nice to be able to attach the hilt to the belt for non-action scenes or dioramas. The included display base is supposedly styled after the planet called Felucia, but you'll find that Hasbro has recycled the same base for figures who are set on Mygeeto and Kashyyyk. I don't mind the recycling though because this base looks freakin' sweet with some very nicely sculpted plants and forest-y floor details like tree stumps and leaves. The base also has various connection points that allow it to connect to other display bases.

Paint--4/5
The paint job is much better this time around. Aayla's face looks much more natural than her Saga version, showing more muted colors and correct, darker eyebrows. The spots on her tendrils are a different color this time around, with light yellow spots instead of black. Also new is the weathering of Aayla's skin. A slight brown wash has been applied to parts of her body to give her that dirty, in-the-field type of look. I like it--it really helps add to the fact that she's getting dirty and fighting battles. Solid job on the paint.

Packaging--4/5
I'm really digging the ROTS packaging. I love the color palettes that Lucasfilm's marketing department chose, and I think that the orange Star Wars logo is a nice change of pace from the silver and gold iterations of the past. The shape of the cards also takes a dramatic step away from the rectangular cards we've gotten in the past. A large Vader helmet looms at the top of the card, looking down at the raging lava below. In the dome of Vader's helmet you can see an image of Obi-Wan and Anakin dueling it out and crossing lightsabers.

The bubble covers most of the card and goes right up the bottom edges of the card. The sides of the bubble are taped to the back of the card which makes it slightly hard to get the figure out of the package in a hurry, but MOC'ers will have nothing to worry about. After opening a couple of figures, I was beginning to miss the old packages that I could just tear into without having to worry about sticky tape. There's also a nice layered effect with the use of two cardboard inserts within the bubble featuring the Star Wars logo and a photo of the character. The cardbacks are likewise well designed with perhaps the best cardback layout design I've seen in years. There a nice photo of the character from the movie, a short description of the character, a photo of the actual toy, and nice cross-sell imagery to get you excited for the other toys in the line. Considering how much less space there is on these cards makes the design all the more successful.

Overall--4/5
This is a good improvement over the last Aayla figure, and fans of the character will love it. The only drawback is the incredibly limited arm articulation, or lack thereof. In the end I was able to get quite a number of poses I liked out of the figure, so I guess it's not all that bad, though it's still kind of a bummer knowing that this figure could have been even better with just one or two more articulation points. Recommended!

--Photos and review by Garett Yoshimura
garett@carrotnetwork.com