If you ask me, Deep Space Nine was the pinnacle of Star Trek - I can appreciate each series for its own merits (even if Voyager and Enterprise could have been a lot better), but DS9 got my attention from the very first episode I saw, and never let go for the next seven years. And the most gorgeous woman on DS9 was... actually I always thought it was Kira Nerys, but clearly it was meant to be Jadzia Dax. They had a hell of a casting session trying to find someone with flawless model looks who was willing to commit to a weekly TV schedule, and redesigned the whole Trill makeup so as not to be tacking an ugly bit of latex to Terry Farrell's forehead once they found her. Unfortunately Dax was dull as dishwater for the first year, so I never paid her much attention - luckily she later grew a sense of humour and adventure (hence marrying Worf, on both counts). And now, thanks to Diamond Select and Art Asylum's rather impressive ability to sustain a series of collector's action figures, even with Star Trek's heyday long gone, here she is in plastic form.
DS/AA's Trek figures are big - the Original Series ones started out a bit taller than the average figure, and the Next Generation line upped the bar by increasing the scale firmly to 7". The DS9 figures (thankfully) are to scale with their TNG crewmates - would have been nice had TOS been in scale too, but if wishes were horses - and since Jadzia's willowy height was well known, her figure stands a towering 7 1/4" tall. Her body sculpt is accurate and capable, with a well-developed figure beneath a rugged heavy cloth uniform, subtle crinkles at the hips and shoulders to show realism in the fabric but nothing that keeps the whole thing from looking nice and sleek. The paint isn't up to the same standard, sadly - the matt black uniform and gloss black boots are good, but the slate grey shoulders are a bit sloppy on the edges, and that being the major paint application on her, it does tend to show. On the plus side the colours are very faithful to the real uniforms.
Jadzia's face is a fair representation of Terry Farrell - the smile is a little bit caricaturish, and detracts from her overall beauty, but on the flip side it does convey the confident, fun-loving nature of her character (post-first season) quite well. The paint on her face is all quite crisp, especially her clear blue eyes, and the distinctive Trill spots down the sides of her face and neck are, if not perfect, at least a very credible rendition of the real thing, which some lucky makeup artist got to apply by hand every day (especially lucky when she wasn't in uniform for some reason, as the spots do go all the way down).
The Trek figures are all well-articulated, and this is a good example of them. The ball joint neck has a good range of motion, in spite of Dax's twist ponytail, the arms are quite mobile with ball shoulders, peg elbows, swivel biceps and wrists, and the legs - peg hips, knees, and ankles - while they can't take many adventurous stances, are capable of a lot of subtle positioning, within the bounds of Jadzia's sculpted posture, swaying her hip out to the right a bit. Her waist is a bit irksome - in order (I assume) to keep the parts compatible the waist on Dax is at the same level as on TNG figures like Dr. Crusher, wearing a one-piece uniform, but that means that Dax has her waist joint a couple of millimetres below the obvious point for it, the bottom of her two-piece uniform's top. Call it a minor sacrifice for the good of the line in general, I suppose.
These Star Trek figures are a good series, but if there's one thing they deserve recognition for, it's their accessories. Nowadays you're lucky if you get a batarang with Batman, but every Trek figure comes loaded with toys - in Jadzia's case a veritable arsenal of Starfleet and (due to her interest in Klingon culture, and being married to one) Klingon weaponry. Without a doubt the most impressive is the bat'leth, the Klingon 'sword of honour', over five inches long, sharp and heavy and deadly-looking. There's also a d'k tahg (Klingon dagger), which is just a single piece of plastic so the secondary blades don't move, but looks quite good as is. Higher up the technological ladder Jadzia has type-2 (pistol) and type-3 (rifle) phasers, both of the style used on DS9, rather than re-uses of TNG accessories. And just to round things out, she also had a bottle of raktajino - Klingon coffee, and the beverage of choice for practically everyone on Deep Space Nine while they were on duty. This impressive range is hampered somewhat by Jadzia's hands, which aren't really sculpted to hold things - the bat'leth and rifle can be wedged in fairly well, but the smaller accessories are difficult to get to stick without using discreet blobs of putty to hold them in place. Still, it's a great haul of accessories.
