Over the weekend, we shared a first look at some new Star Wars figures from Hot Toys. However, one of them is now coming under fire, and that's the Hong Kong-based company's take on The Clone Wars-era Ahsoka Tano.
The figure is unique because it's taken the animated version of the Jedi Padawan and given her a photorealistic look by utilising the likeness of Ahsoka actress Ariana Greenblatt. What's the problem? Well, it's the costume she's wearing.
While it's hard to believe now, Ahsoka wasn't always a beloved character; in fact, she was outright hated by many when The Clone Wars began. However, both her fans and detractors agree that the costume she wore early on—a short skirt and tube top—was problematic and overly sexualised, especially for a 14-year-old fighting in a war.
When the visuals were updated, the series moved on from that in its third season, giving Ahsoka a new outfit that was tweaked and redesigned by Dave Filoni and George Lucas. Fans have since tried to pretend the original skimpy outfit never happened, but it's reentered the conversation thanks to this Hot Toys figure.
When Greenblatt appeared in Ahsoka, she was wearing the updated costume in scenes from the movie that had originally portrayed her in a tube top and skirt. Even now, the Barbie star is only 18, and many are questioning why she's been put into this controversial outfit and why her breasts appear to have been enlarged.
While Hot Toys was likely just trying to give fans of The Clone Wars a live-action Ahsoka with her original animated look, it has somewhat backfired with this product launch (still, given that it uses her likeness, Greenblatt and Lucasfilm surely had to sign off on it).
Ultimately, the complaints online are unlikely to make much of a difference. The figure is already on sale and limited to 2500 pieces, so it's not as if Hot Toys is now going to scrap it or take the design back to the drawing board.
"I watched a ton of Clone Wars episodes. I mean, when I was getting ready for rehearsal and all of that, it was just always on in the background," Greenblatt previously said of her preparation for the role, adding that the younger version of the Jedi "is still Rosario [Dawson]’s Ahsoka mentally."
"[I] had to combine the characteristics and combine how Rosario talks," she said, revealing that she visited Dawson on set "to observe how she would walk and talk, and everything Ahsoka. I just, like, soaked up all of her body language because I really, really, really wanted to do it right."
Do you think it was fine for the company to produce this version of Ahsoka Tano, or was this costume better off forgotten?