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REVIEW: STAR WARS CLONE WARS ASAJJ VENTRESS and DURGE
By Thomas Wheeler

Thank God Hasbro has decided to produce some of the characters unique to
the Clone Wars animated shorts airing on the Cartoon Network in a more
realistic form, although they do have an "animated-style" assortment planned. The style of the animated is -- strange, and frankly very primitive looking. But
that doesn't mean there aren't some interesting figures.

I don't really need another Yoda, or Anakin, or Mace Windu, but a couple of new characters have been introduced into the Clone Wars line that have previously not been seen. First up we have ASAJJ VENTRESS, a female who claims to be Sith, and is formidable in a fight, as she can expertly use two lightsabers at
once. She looks a little like a slightly meaner version of Aurra Sing. The figure is done very capably, with good articulation in the arms for lightsaber posing.

Next up we have DURGE, a bounty hunter who's been assigned to the Separatists. This being is reportedly 2000 years old and has been kept in stasis for at least a century. And boooyyy, did he wake up grumpy! He's already racked up a considerable bodycount in a few issues of Dark Horse's Star Wars comics, and wreaked some considerable havoc in the animated shorts, as well.

The figure is noticably larger than average despite a basically humanoid appearance. About the only problem with the figure is that his feet are not well
sculpted for standing. There are two variations of Durge, and one comes with a
speeder bike. I suspect the feet were designed more with this in mind.

Durge is armored, and looks like someone that would scare either Jango or Boba Fett, which makes sense since for some reason Durge really has it in for
anyone who wears the armor of the Mandalorians, which includes the Fetts. Finding out that the entire Clone Army is based on Jango's DNA -- well, let's say
he doesn't take it calmly.

Both of these figures are obviously fast-sellers, representing both new and significant characters. Will they turn up in Episode III? It's not impossible, as producer Rick McCallum has stated in Star Wars Insider that characters from
the animated shorts would appear in Episode III. Could be very interesting to
see both of these individuals turn up. Meanwhile, I definitely recommend the
figures.