Star Wars The Black Series Starkiller figure review
We’ve been fortunate to get some pretty great Star Wars games over the years. Easily one of my favorites has been Force Unleashed featuring Darth Vader’s Secret Apprentice — Starkiller.
Voiced by mega Star Wars fan Sam Witwer, Starkiller quickly became a fan favorite. As the Star Wars Black Series line began knocking out characters from various games the demand for a Starkiller figure intensified. That only grew when a Vintage Collection version was revealed.
Black Series fans finally got their wish when Hasbro revealed Starkiller in a San Diego Comic Con exclusive set with two Stormtroopers and a respectable amount of accessories. Hasbro did the right thing by announcing a pared down version of would be coming on his own. That figure finally arrived, and I couldn’t wait to break him down.
Let’s see if Starkiller was worth the wait or if my hopes for a long overdue Black Series figure gets killed.
Packaging: Starkiller missed the closed window packaging era and gets to settle back into the semi-classic Black Series setup with the plastic window with the aqua blue accent color. There’s also a silver Gaming Greats sticker.
The side drawing is great with Starkiller triggering his Force Lightning and the silhouette of Darth Vader in the background.
His bio is solid and as usual, is informative without spoiling the game experience for folks who might not have played Force Unleashed yet. Bonus points for the simple inclusion of the Force Unleashed logo.
Likeness: Starkiller head sculpt is pretty good. I can see some customizers painting it up sharper to further bring out Witwer’s likeness. It’s there, but some of the details are a little fuzzy.
His hair sculpt is mostly painted though making it raised slightly from his head would have helped. Additionally, creating the minor widow’s peak would be more game model design accurate. His expression is good suggesting a dude you do not want to cross or see coming for you.
The rest of the figure is pretty much an exact replica of the design from the thin collar blade armor complete with small dial. There’s some scratches and nicks incorporated into the sculpt to show there’s been some wear and tear on it. The sculpt does a nice job of conveying it’s made of more of an armored substance.
Starkiller’s outfit is appropriate as well from the ripped left sleeve and tapes/wraps around his hand. On his left arm, the sleeve is mostly intact but there are some rips and tears.
I really like the work done on the waist section with all the straps and wraps crisscrossing. His skirt piece has the shredded and holy ripped look from the game. Starkiller’s tall boots continue the wrapped layered look.
Paint: Starkiller doesn’t have the most colorful attire. It’s a mix of greys and browns with some subtle green in the mix as well. There’s some silver accents to help break up the uniform as well as some decently painted blood scratches on his arm and left forearm.
The inkjet painting is pretty good with some red under his eyes to simulate a lack of sleep. I do wish the hair sculpt was sculpted on as the paint doesn’t quite nail the look properly.
Scale: Starkiller is about average height. Clearly, he should be looking up at Darth Vader and probably eye to eye with Stormtroopers.
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Articulation: Like any lightsaber-wielder, Starkiller needs exceptional articulation with deep set range in the knees, elbows and waist. Bonus if the neck articulation is better than average too.
His skirt piece looks like it could cause problems, but it is made of a soft enough material that it’s easily maneuvered out of the way for posing. It’s made of a harder plastic that can be somewhat frustrating to work around for a solid kneeling pose, but otherwise it’s fine.
Starkiller’s elbow range is just fine and compensates for the lack of double-jointed movement.
My biggest gripe with him is his hands are slightly too wide making it hard for him to properly grip a lightsaber.
It’s too loose allowing the lightsaber to easily slide out of his hand.
Starkiller has:
- neck
- ball-jointed shoulders (with butterfly joints)
- elbow (with swivel)
- wrist
- wrist hinge
- torso
- hips
- thighs
- knees (double jointed)
- ankles
Accessories: Starkiller is a regular figure and you knew Hasbro wasn’t going to plus him up with accessories given the deluxe version. All this version has is his red lightsaber.
I wouldn’t have complained if Hasbro included a lightning effect or the alternate head sculpt just to help make him more than a baseline figure. You can kind of fudge The Emperor’s lightning hand though the peg doesn’t fit snugly in the wrist.
Worth it? Starkiller is $24.99. Yeah, he’s got original sculpting, but Hasbro already got that paid for with the exclusive figure. To help increase the value Hasbro needed to added something else and it’s certainly not like they were lacking with Starkiller specific extras.
Rating: 9 out of 10
With a tighter head sculpt, just a bit more range in the torso and better hands to tighten the grip, Starkiller would be a showcase Black Series figure. He’s still really good and one of my recent BS favorites.
Where to get it? Cal isn’t too hard to track down these days. He’s available on Entertainment Earth and Amazon.
As an Amazon and Entertainment Earth affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.