BO-KATAN KRYZE She watch channel value
Star Wars "Dollar Store" 6-Inch Figure
Item No.: Asst. F5823 No. F5828
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: n/a
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $5.00
Availability: July 2022 Appearances: The Mandalorian
Bio: Plastic-free packaging! (Taken from the figure's packaging. There is no bio.)
Image: Adam's photo lab.
Availability: Click here to buy it at Amazon now!
Commentary: Not a bad figure! The sculpting for
Bo-Katan Kryze appears to be derived from the same digital source as her
The Black Series figure, with some changes. Many of the pockets, seams, and folds are identical. You'll notice less paint and some simplifications, like the belt is molded to the figure, the "Night Owls" symbols are molded and raised instead of painted, and that there's a lot of unpainted gray, just like
The Retro Series figure. I think that was a misstep in both cases - it needs something to break it up - but other than that, this is a pretty nice example of what Hasbro can do for $5 when a super-articulated figure is $25.
If you could only pick one Bo-Katan,
The Black Series does it better. The working holsters, removable helmet, silver chestplate, painted belt buckle, painted knee and shin armor, and added articulation make it a much better figure - but it also costs five times as much. For $5, this figure has swivel arms, a swivel neck, and a swivel waist - and that's it. She stands well, she looks good, and if you feel like painting her I'm sure she'd look just as good as Hasbro's higher-priced figure.
To see Hasbro make a toy at a price that seems absurdly low given the rest of their catalog is always a joy, but she does fall short in terms of functionality. She can stand with no problems - mostly. If you swing an arm forward to aim her gun, she's fine, but if both arms swing forward my sample tips forward and face-plants. A few extra minutes in the oven could probably fix the soles of her boots to not do this, but again, it's $5. This is a low-cost toy for people who will never pay $20 or $25 for an action figure, which is probably another reason why action figure collecting has resulted in fancier, higher-priced items at the expense of active kid impulse-buys. She's good enough, but not great. The helmet paint is good, the sculpt is impressive, and this might be phenomenally good custom fodder for people looking to electroplate a figure, or do a Sofubi-style custom, or to throw it at a kid to keep them away from the good stuff.
Since she has limited paint, it's easy to dismiss her - but a lot of old figures did well without a lot of paint. Kenner's 1983 Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker had a painted hand, painted face, and painted eyes - and that's it. Some of the Ewoks were unpainted save for the eyes, nose, and mouth. Hammerhead's only paint appear on his eyes. The Power Droid had painted feet, and some stickers. It's really amazing to see what they do to keep costs down, particularly when compared against to the generally colorful Kenner guys of old.
This is a nice figure for the price, but mostly I love what she represents. Could you imagine how cool it would be to have access to 3 3/4-inch Stormtroopers of a similar build for $5? There's a 6-inch Imperial Stormtrooper hitting stores now, for $5, and I haven't found any yet. I'm not saying I want
all figures to be cheap, but when filling out dioramas or army-builder scenarios, sometimes a 3-5-jointed figure can fill a slot just as well as one for $25. Got $5 and nothing else to buy this week? Check her - or Mando, or one of the other ones - out. You probably won't be a convert, but this is one of the few formats I'm trying to be "complete" on and I've got everybody except Chewbacca (who I am fairly sure has never come out in the USA.) I sincerely hope they throw Boba Fett and R2-D2 in this assortment soon.
Collector's Notes: I got mine from Five Below. This figure comes in a new assortment (F5823 started with plastic-free packaging in 2022, B3946 was the previous assortment form 2015-2022, which sometimes had an open window and sometimes had a plastic sheet.)
--Adam Pawlus
Day 2,954: August 25, 2022
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