Out of all the Expanded Universe (Legacy) characters, there is a special affection for Mara Jade amongst fans and collectors - and in the Spring of 2023, Hasbro made a lot of collectors happy with her release in the Star Wars Black Series. Mara Jade is a Publishing Series release, part of the 3rd wave, and she is packed in the book-style packaging with box art based on her appearance in the Dark Force Rising story. The box features grey-scale comic book art panels around the three sides with the left-hand spine mimicking that of a book with a black gloss finish, grey labeling, and grey artwork depiction of Mara Jade.
The box is plastic-free so when you open the front cover, which is held in place with a slot-in cardboard tab and not Velcro like the previous releases, you are simply faced with another box front inside, not a look at the figure itself when we had window boxes. The inner artwork is now in line with the other Black Series plastic-free boxes with the standard logo and an image of the figure. The inside of the cover flap has more Dark Force Rising artwork and a short text write-up on Mara as a character.
The Mara Jade figure is dressed head to toe in her black flight suit - cast in the base colour - with the entirety of this body taken from the original EU Black Series release, Jaina Solo, and as was also used on the Doctor Aphra release. Mara Jade even comes with the same soft plastic belt and holster as was used on Jaina/Aphra. The outfit is tweaked to meet the look of Dark Force Rising with the addition of shoulder straps, a scarf, and Mara’s goggles - all additional pieces cast in their base colour and then glued around the neck and torso. Sadly the goggles cannot be moved or worn. The upper arms look new, while the lower arms and gloves are taken from Aphra. Paint apps across the body are limited to a couple of metallic colours on the belt and shoulder harness.
The likeness to Mara Jade is good considering there is no actor on which to create a sculpt. The head is executed in a real-world setting with an angular nose and cheek structure and photo-real printing for the eyes, lips, and some subtle shading on the cheekbones. The red hair is an additional piece glued onto the head and sculpted so it flows over the shoulders at either side. There are no paint apps on the hair, it is left in the base auburn colour of the plastic.
The advantage of using the older figure body is seen in the articulation with Mara Jade having 17 points of articulation and this includes the older double joint knees and the torso combination of a T-Joint and a ball joint. All these combine to give Mara Jade a very high level of mobility in the posing, with only the elbows holding back the figure, although these still bend sufficiently for two-handed saber poses.
The included lightsaber is a new piece with a purple blade. The hilt can be hung on Mara Jade’s belt thanks to the hook on her left-hand side that dates back to the original Jaina figure. The saber blade is a nice shade of purple while retaining translucency and the blade swaps out easily enough - but the socket and plug are quite delicate and the blade on my figure already wobbles far too much. Mara Jade is also wielding a blaster, a DL-44 that also harks back to Jaina Solo. This fits into the provided holster. Both the blaster and the saber hilt have a small application of paint to add a small level of detail to the weapons.
Mara Jade only has one set of hands and these are the Aphra hands so are designed to hold a blaster with a trigger finger extended on the right hand. While the saber fits into either hand, the grip is not overly secure and the whole operation is a bit more fiddly than it needs to be. We really should be in a place like Marvel Legends where alternative hands are being supplied to do different jobs with the figure
Mara Jade, like the Publishing Series as a whole, is certainly a release for the Expanded Universe fans and while not exclusive as such, the releases do follow a similar pattern as other sub-lines like Gaming Greats where they are creating new figures with a lot of parts reused from older figures. While Mara Jade is essentially the same figure as Doctor Aphra from 2019 the execution of the reuse still brings us the Mara Jade we would expect with a black flight suit, gunslingers belt, scarf, and goggles. The head is also in keeping with the real-world setting of the Black Series line and the accessories match the character. My only complaints are the lack of alternative hands and the saber blade connection which is very weak.
Mara Jade does come with an increased RRP of circa £28 here in the UK and the pre-orders certainly had an aspect of FOMO about them with most pre-order options selling out. Since release, she had a period of relatively good availability but is now starting to sell out and prices are creeping up. One to act on now if Mara Jade is a figure you need for your Black Series collection.
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About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...
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