Star Wars The Black Series Bo-Katan Kryze figure review

Bo-Katan Kryze was one of the standout new characters in Clone Wars. As the more militaristic sibling of Satine, Bo-Katan fell in with some bad influences before aligning with the Jedi during the Clone Wars. Like many Star Wars characters, her heroic journey saw its share of tragedy as she battled alongside Sabine Wren in Rebels.

I was thrilled to see Bo-Katan appear on The Mandalorian, which no doubt helped bump her up on the priority list for Hasbro’s Star Wars The Black Series. Given the plethora of viable options from Season 2 including you know who, I was glad we got her now. Let’s see if I can hand the reins of my Mandalorian leadership to this figure.

Packaging: The golden orange/grey color scheme continues for The Mandalorian characters.

I love the color as Hasbro keeps adding new figures to the respective theme waves, they’ve made a point to carry through the mural. That might eventually make for a crowded shelf, but I appreciate the attention to detail.

The bio does a nice job of summarizing Bo-Katan’s journey and her current state leading to her encounter with Mando.

Likeness:  Bo-Katan represents an unusual challenge for the Hasbro team. She started as a cartoon character and we’ve seen how Hasbro has adapted Clone Wars/Rebels characters in the more realistic portraits.

In The Mandalorian, Bo-Katan is played by Katee Sackhoff giving the sculptors an actual actor to use for the likeness. Sackhoff has a distinct face with strong cheekbones that allows the sculptors to provide an amazing likeness. I can almost picture her on the bridge awaiting Moff Gideon.

Maybe if I wanted to be super picky I’d say her hair could flare out a bit more along the sides. It’s sculpted closer to the head to allow for her helmet to go on without any trouble, which is a perfectly reasonable compromise to me.

Hasbro did exquisite work on the outfit and armor elements. Bo-Katan’s attire has many layers from the Nehru collar to the Beskar armor parts along her chest. The depth of the armor is intact as well so it’s not a simple matter of having the paint cover all the detailing.

There’s no shortage of texturing in the clothing either with folds, patterns and piping. The work on the gauntlets and shin/knee guards is very well done.

Paint:  Hasbro might have used a darker shade of grey for the armor and the brown straps. The brown stands out a bit more as it’s noticeably lighter than it appeared on the show. Also, the red lighting on Bo’s head band is absent.

These aren’t major issues so much as a few smaller items that could have been addressed. Overall, the quality of the paint work is on point. I love the work Hasbro does with the Clone Troopers and now the Mandalorians with faded, worn and damaged paint effects on the armor.

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Scale:  Bo-Katan is about half a head shorter than Mando and Hasbro again keeps nailing the scaling of characters compared to Mando. I really wish I was able to track down the Clone Wars Season 7 Ahsoka now to pair up with Bo-Katan as well.

Articulation:  Bo-Katan doesn’t have double-jointed elbows, but the joint is well executed to the point it essentially covers the same range.

Her neck joint moves up enough to do some good flying poses especially with the torso joint’s solid back and forth range.  The shoulder pads are made of a softer plastic allowing for easier posing.

 

 

The only tricky part with her articulation setup is the kneepad is sculpted above the knee creating a weird visual of it hanging when the knee is bent.

Bo-Katan Kryze has:

• neck
• ball-jointed shoulders
• elbow (with swivel)
• wrist
• wrist hinge
• torso
• hips
• thighs
• knees (swivel)
• ankles

She can hit some deep stances and is another impressive modern SWB figure for me. I’d written this line off due to the restrictive articulation, but the figures from the past year really got me back in and I haven’t regretted it yet.

Accessories:  Bo-Katan is well equipped as he comes with a pair of blasters. As usual, Hasbro’s work on the details in this scale is really impressive holding up very well against reference images.

She also has her jetpack. This is also crammed with details and is so well done it’s almost easy to take for granted the work put into it.

Her final, equally important accessory is her helmet. The paintwork, showing the scoring and grime from years of battle, are very well done.

Worth it?  I got her for $20. Given the unique sculpting and reasonable amount of accessories, that’s a pretty decent deal. The SWB figures never hang on pegs long so getting one for $20 now almost feels like a steal.

Rating: 10 out of 10

I mentioned the strap color, the hair and headband lights as minor issues, but they don’t take away from an amazing figure that works in both Clone Wars and Mandalorian displays.

Where to get it?  I found her at Target, but if you strike out at retail you can always go the Amazon or Entertainment Earth route.