Star Wars The Black Series Galen Erso review
With respect to Solo of course, we can all agree that Rogue One was easily the best Star Wars film under the Disney umbrella, yes? One reason was the tremendous cast that had some serious depth. That was best exemplified by having Mads Mikkelsen in essentially a glorified extended cameo role as Galen Erso.
Galen would become one of the surging Rebellion’s great heroes as the former Imperial architect designed a hidden flaw in the Death Star. This also accounted for one of the great “plot holes” in Star Wars lore. Why would the Empire design anything with a weak spot? My love for Rogue One is massive. So massive that I’m perfectly fine getting the supporting cast members in figure form including the Target exclusive Galen Erso.
And with a special discount price this was an absolute no-brainer for me.
Packaging: I love the updated setup with distinct accent colors for each film/series. Rogue One has an duck egg blue shade. He’s the seventh member of the Rogue One lineup and pairs up with fellow Target exclusive Antoc Merrick in the ongoing mural.
His bio is interesting as it only tells half the story of Galen’s role in Rogue One and his importance to the entire Rebellion.
Likeness: Galen’s more interesting attire is his farmer gear where he looks like a quasi-Jedi. This figure features him as an Imperial Science Officer back under the thumb of the Empire, specifically Director Krennic. Hasbro has released a Krennic figure, but he’s due for an upgraded face print to look right with Galen.
Although in his less exciting Eadu base Imperial attire, Hasbro did a solid job on the likeness to Mikkelsen. I miss the scruffiness of the semi-exiled beard Galen wore, but this semi-clean-shaven look is more in line with the Empire. The hair could have used a tweak though as the bangs should come down over his left forehead and just shy of covering his left eye. This hair sculpt more closely resembles a younger Galen before he fled the Empire.
It seems like Hasbro used the Gen. Veers figure as the base body with an overlay for the chest piece and rank lapels, His hands are a tad big though. His legs are reused from the Empire Lando Calrissian figure.
Yes, it’s not the most exciting outfit, but it’s executed well. This does make me want to buy a few more random Imperial officers so Galen isn’t alone.
Paint: Galen sports an army green outfit with a sea green top portion. He’s got the logo of the Tarkin Initiative, the secret Imperial think tank behind the creation of The Death Star.
The face printing really shines with the head sculpt as it gives Galen the dark circles around his eyes and an impressive in this scale, five-o-clock shadow. Paint apps on the figure are clean with maybe another coat of the sea green being necessary to avoid any inconsistent patches.
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Scale: Galen should be about the same height or taller than the standard Stormtrooper. He and Krennic should be about the same height, but like I said I’ve gotta wait for a better version of my guy Krennic for a real comparison.
Articulation: Galen is a science tech officer so he doesn’t need to do any flips or kicks. At best he just needs to be able to aim a blaster and sit down at a desk. Anything else is a bonus.
His elbow range isn’t as great as some of the other figures so it definitely feels more like a solo elbow joint compared to newer figures, which get enough range to mimic the double-jointed movement.
Galen Erso has:
- neck
- ball-jointed shoulders (with butterfly joints)
- elbow (with swivel)
- wrist
- wrist hinge
- torso
- hips
- thighs
- knees (double jointed)
- ankles
Accessories: Galen comes with a whopping one accessory — a data card presumably with those Death Star flaw for his Stardust to retrieve.
It’s fine and fits in his hand no problem.
Worth it? Galen normally retails for $22.99, but he’s magically hit the clearance section far earlier than anyone could anticipate. And the clearance price is pretty significant as I got him for $7.
Short of finding him at Five Below, it’s hard to beat that price. Galen doesn’t have a rack of accessories, but the exclusive pricing could have made him $27.99 so it was nice to get such a solid figure for under $10.
Rating: 9 out of 10
I’d like Galen’s hair to be more accurate and the hands smaller, but this is a nice addition to my Rogue One collection. My score definitely reflects the price. Galen isn’t worth $23 by any means but is a great deal for $7.
Where to get it? Galen is a Target exclusive so you’ll need to get him in stores or through the Target website although without the benefit of the clearance price.