Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,863: Kylo Ren (The Black Series / Titanium Series / 40th Anniversary)

KYLO REN 40th Anniversary
The Black Series Titanium Series 3 3/4-inch Action Figure
Item No.: Asst. C1857 No. C2574
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #03
Includes: 1 stand, hood helmet, unhooded helmet, 2 lightsabers, 4 footpegs
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $14.99
Availability: August 2017
Appearances: The Force Awakens

Bio: A dark warrior storng in the Force, Kylo Ren commands First Order missions with a temper as fiery as his unconventional lightsaber. (Taken from the figure's packaging.)

Image: Adam's photo dump.

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

Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Commentary: I've been meaning to open this one for a while! This Kylo Ren came out millions of years ago, back in 2017. Remember 2017? At that point Disney had spearheaded only two movies - which at the time were largely loved - and Rebels, at which point fans were more or less on board. Hasbro was riding high before overproduced items started to back up at retail, and before fans started to bristle at the idea of lining up all day to buy some toys. We got some neat stuff - these guys were a riff on Titanium Series figures from nearly a decade before, which came in giant Sea Monkeys aquariums, cost about the same, and were also pretty cool. The 2017 ones riffed a bit more on the collectible statue angle.

Kylo Ren was arguably better than the basic figures, as he has ball-jointed shoulders and swivel wrists. The legs and torso are metal, and there's no leg articulation to speak of - you can swivel the waist. What I love about the figure is that he draws inspiration from a moment in the 2015 film that absolutely riveted me the first time I saw it, when Kylo Ren used the Force to freeze a blaster bolt in place while giving Poe Dameron the business. (This has since been swiped in Star Wars Visions.) A bigger The Black Series monument/statue would also replicate this moment, debuting at $50 but dropping to an oh-so-fair $24 these days. But I digress - this little version lacks the bolt and scenery, but you get an awesome weighted figure that stands freely and has a genuinely lovely "swooshing" lightsaber in addition to a normal one. And a second helmeted head, meaning no Adam Driver, a pensive bison who may sneeze in your McFlurry.

The figure part has the cape and general look and feel if 2015, but has some silver paint highlights. I assume this is to remind you he's metal, if the weight wasn't enough to do it. The figure stands nicely but includes four tiny foot pegs you can plug in his base, which features a reversible backdrop.

With the endless products and increasingly tired fans getting pulled in multiple directions it's no shock this - and almost everything from the first few Disney movies - came out in abundance and sat a bit. Which is a pity - it's good! It's a bad toy, but it's an excellent little statue for your desk and you can connect them together to form a bigger diorama. The photo backdrop is nice, but so is the etched foil portrait on the back that reminds me a bit of 1990s Topps foil chase cards. I think it was a mistake to brand these as "The Black Series" - Hasbro branded everything aimed at adults with that name - because these were secretly very nice figures. Compared to the then-$8 plastic guys on shelves, you got some nice extras that would've probably done better if given better packaging and maybe a better display environment. This is also one of the few figures in the format that's not arguably worthless, so clearly the free market agrees with me that it's pretty good. The sculpting is sharp, the pose is nice, and I'd say you should track one down on the cheap if opportunity permits.

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

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,863: October 12, 2021

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 2,373: Luke Skywalker (The Black Series / Titanium Series / 40th Anniversary)

LUKE SKYWALKER 40th Anniversary
The Black Series Titanium Series 3 3/4-inch Action Figure
Item No.: Asst. C1857  No. C1858
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: #03
Includes: 1 stand, 1 backdrop, 2 blasters, 4 footpegs
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $14.99
Availability: April 2017
Appearances: Star Wars

Bio: Luke Skywalker was a Tatooine farmboy who rose from humble beginnings to become one of the greatest Jedi the galaxy has ever known.  (Taken from the figure's packaging.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

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

Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Commentary:  When I first saw Luke Skywalker as a die-cast metal figure, my question was "...why?"   Like some of you, I'm old and remember Hasbro's "Forged Figure" line in Titanium Series last time.  They were nifty metal figures that came in Sea Monkey-like cases for about $15.  These newer ones are a bit better, but the question remains - why?  It's not bad at all, but you can't help but immediately identify this as a gimmicky thing that probably won't last more than a year, even if they are executed quite nicely.

For the 25th anniversary, Hasbro put out a similar Luke Skywalker in a little diorama, but it also had a Leia and was about $15.  This gets you less figure for more money, but it's heavier and has a much nicer paint job.   Luke's head is a new sculpt, as is the rest of him - the body is metal with plastic arms and a plastic head that looks more than a little like Dax Shepard.   Because the body is metal, Hasbro opted to make it a pair of solid chunks - the waist rotates, but the legs are a statue.   The figure has really fantastic ball-jointed shoulders and a fine neck joint, but you aren't going to get as much out of him as you did your figure from The Vintage Collection a few years ago.   He does have a working holster, though, and that comes in handy.

Luke has two Stormtrooper blasters - one has a red blast effect on the tip, the other does not.   This lets you put him in an action pose with the spare blaster tucked on his belt.  It looks cool, but it also looks a lot like something out of 2002 when Hasbro went full-on statue crazy with the "Saga" line and the 7-inch Unleashed figures.   This is clearly meant to be a display piece, but it's a cool one - it has a backdrop you can flip over, and there's a new paradigm in foot pegs.  The big display base has a whole mess of holes on it, and Luke has 4 plastic pegs - you decide where you want Luke to go, and pose him accordingly.  This is a neat idea, and it seems to work well on my sample.

I won't lie to you -  you don't need this figure.   Since the 6-inch The Black Series went from a great entry-level line for new or lapsed fans to a beast unto itself, here's a new expression you can start if you want to engage in a small collection.  The stands can connect to one another and you can keep a nice row of them on a shelf.   Given the price, you may not wish to do that, but I can't assume the line will go  beyond 20 or 30 figures over the next year.   I'd assume they have plans for the next one or two movies, but beyond that?   It'll probably just be a nice, small collection to briefly enjoy and move on.  Maybe they'll actually forge R2-D2 this time...

If you see these on clearance, though, get them. Get lots.  I bet you'll enjoy using the display base dioramas for other purposes.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Entertainment Earth
, but they showed up at GameStop about a month ago in big shippers.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 2,373: May 29, 2017