Star Wars The Black Series Cal Kestis figure review

It took me forever, but I finally played Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and it was every bit as rewarding as I heard. I decided to wait before I finished the game before checking out the main character Cal Kestis’ Star Wars The Black Series.

Cal’s default look became way too expensive to pick up, but Hasbro released a semi-deluxe version as part of the Gaming Greats line. I’m taking a look at that figure today. Let’s see if this updated version has the Force or makes me turn to the Dark Side of eBay.

Packaging: Cal’s updated figure has the new package scheme with a light blue accent color and a drawing on the side. There’s also a silver Gaming Greats sticker.

His bio is solid with a basic overview of what Cal is doing at the start of the game and his agenda without providing any spoilers.

Likeness: Cal’s head sculpt is a strong likeness for character model/voice actor Cameron Monaghan (Gotham). While the first figure looked pretty good, the big enhancement here is the face printing, which allows for a much better likeness.

As the game plays out, Cal trades in his basic look to wear a poncho. The poncho looks good and doesn’t look overly baggy. It’s got an adequate amount of wrinkles and has some damage and rips along the bottom.

Cal’s right wristband and left arm glove carry over from the first figure.

Paint: Part of the collecting aspect of the game is finding chests in the various planets he and his friends travel to on their quest.

These chests have different colored ponchos to best fit the planet’s environment.

There’s some great poncho color combinations. I’m not sure if orange and grey was the best choice, but it definitely helps Cal stand out in a Star Wars shelf. All of the detail from the silver buckles and canisters are applied cleanly.

My figure’s right arm has what almost looks like an airbrushing. It would be fine if the rest of the visible skin also had it, but it seems like an odd inclusion by itself.

Scale:  Cal is average height. He would probably be a little shorter than Kanan Jarrus. Hmmn, that sounds interesting.

Of course, I’d love to get Black Series figures of Cere, Greez, Merrin and at least the Second Sister.

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Articulation:  As you’d expect, the poncho does limit and restrict some articulation. It rides up when you raise his shoulders too high and bunches his hood piece up as well.

It does not affect the torso articulation since you can still maneuver it under the poncho. Thankfully, it’s soft so it’s not as tough to maneuver as you might think.

Otherwise, Cal has stellar articulation and is very fun to pose. I would have looked some additional hands to convey Cal using the force.

Cal Kestis has:

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

Accessories:  As a deluxe figure, Cal needed more accessories than the previous release and Hasbro delivered.

We couldn’t have a Cal figure without his trusty droid sidekick, BD-1. This is a repaint of the first figure that’s now colored in a dark maroon. The right eye on my figure has some silver coming into the black portion, but otherwise the paint job is clean.

A new addition is the Bogling, part of a species of peaceful creatures that bop along on planets and don’t try and kill Cal. It came out really cute with its big eyes, ears and feet.

There’s impressive detailing with the sculpting of the fur and small bumps along the forehead. It’s paintwork is also terrific with some gradient of the white blending in with the orange.

Another new accessory is the Jedi holocron, a key object in the game that Cal is tracking. It’s made of a translucent material to properly capture that see through aesthetic. Again, the detailing is stunning with sculpted lines along the squares and the gold lining is on point.

One obvious problem is Cal can’t actually hold the holocron since he doesn’t have an open hand, but you can just always position it in the distance.

With the poncho, there’s also a hood Cal would occasionally raise. It’s a nice inclusion to complete the poncho look and is easy to swap on and off with the removable lowered hood piece.

The previous release had a single bladed blue lightsaber, which is reused here. This time Hasbro also added the double-bladed lightsaber like Cal’s master.

It’s got green blades and the hilt has a good amount of detail. The hilt isn’t as strong as I’d like and wilts somewhat when I posed Cal holding it with both hands.

Worth it?  Cal is regularly $29.99 although as a GameStop exclusive you can frequently get him cheaper thanks to monthly discounts or random coupons. For $25, he’s a good value considering the useful extras.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

While I’d like a different color scheme, this is a solid deluxe figure especially at the coupon price. Hopefully Hasbro adds more of the main characters to the Black Series.

Where to get it?  Cal isn’t too hard to track down these days. He’s at most GameStop stores and the website. Failing that you can get him for a higher price on Amazon.