Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,980: Reva (Third Sister, The Retro Collection)

REVA (Third Sister, Kenner Style)
The Retro Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure
Item No.: Asst. F4200 No. F5772
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Lightsaber, vinyl cape
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $11.99
Availability: July 2022
Appearances: Obi-Wan Kenobi

Bio: The Star Wars Retro Collection features design and detailing inspired by the original 1970s Star Wars figures. (Stolen from the marketing copy. Packaging has no bio.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Entertainment Earth now!



Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Commentary: Given her going rate - and sitting around - this Reva (Third Sister) from The Retro Collection is probably overpriced. Competing, similarly sized figures from Spin Master have more articulation and more gear at a lower price - and given Hasbro has done a poor job assorting the cases and waves so more popular figures can be bought, Reva tends to be one of the ones you see left on the pegs. Which is kind of a shame - she's a neat, if weird, figure with problems but remains weird in a uniquely Kenner way.

As with all figures in this range, she has 5 points of articulation. I once again question the choice to do vinyl capes in this series, but I appreciate both Inquisitors have them. Reva's is the better of the two as it doesn't drag on the ground, but it did arrive wrinkled in the packaging - and so did the Grand Inquisitor's. This is really weird, as they were the only figures I've ever seen with wrinkled capes on their cardbacks. Maybe it's a unique thing to hot climates - I don't know - but it's annoying and ugly. Kenner moved away from new designs with vinyl capes by 1982, and Hasbro should take note of that. Cloth capes are generally better, especially since it can be hard to fix or replace a vinyl one.

The double-bladed lightsaber with one half of the disc is consistent with how she looks in some spots. The Fifth Brother has a full circle hilt, as does the Grand Inquisitor. It's basically the old Luke Skywalker lightsaber with some embellishments, so it certainly looks consistent with accessories from the 1980s Kenner line-up. It's a good enough design that I wouldn't mind seeing it reused with the other retro Inquisitors Hasbro will not make.

The figure itself is good, mixing in what feel like some modern design decisions alongside the clearly retro form factor. I assume the design may have been done before the show filmed, because the outfit looks mostly like the the show. The Imperial Cog on the shoulders is silver, and has an accurate design unlike the old off-model Kenner ones. (I'd prefer it be "wrong" to be consistent with the 1980s figures.) The silver buckle and rank markings are good, and she wears glossy black armor over a gray body suit. It looks good, if a little on the modern side. I assume Kenner would've skipped the gloss, but I appreciate that it looks nice.

Her head is a little strange. Obviously the hair on the side of the heads can't keep the same detail as the actress on the show, but I'm impressed that the same general form was kept while keeping the weird painted doll-esque style. What I found very unsettling at first was her lack of eyebrows. It grew on me from an "everything Kenner did in 1979 was wrong" kind of way, mostly because modern Retro figures are generally not only accurate but made with more reference and stricter approvals than the old days. We used to get Lando figures with the wrong color of clothes and Lukes with yellow lightsabers - at least they got the "black woman with black hair" part right, but the face sculpt doesn't look exactly like Moses Ingram. Maybe it's the mostly unpainted face - back in the day, Leia tended to be light on face detailing but at least she got eyebrows. As much as I would like to rake Hasbro over the coals for skipping the eyebrows, Kenner figures tended to get something wrong about so many of our favorite old figures. While I would very much prefer a better cape, I do like the sculpt and this is a generally good figure - even if it doesn't look exactly like the actress. (It's not like the old Lukes looked exactly like Mark Hamill.)

Due to the fast-fading popularity of Obi-Wan Kenobi as a show, I assume you'll find Reva cheaply for a while - and she's 100% worth "cheap." It's a Kenner figure that, as of my writing this, is $8 on Amazon. I'd be so happy to see the entire line sell for about that, because with inflation that's about how much these figures should be. She can hold her lightsaber, the sculpting is good - but not great, and the head sculpt is off-model enough that I went from finding it upsetting to finding it endearing. She's not the best figure in this wave, but she's not the worst either - get her if you're a fan of the format, but don't expect to be blown away by any specific details or features.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Entertainment Earth.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,990: December 29, 2022