Release Date: February 2021
RRP: $19.99/£19.99
One of the highlights of The Mandalorian season two for many Star Wars fans was how it helped bridge the gap even more between the live-action and animated sections of the franchise, with many core characters making their leap to live-action after years of development in the animated series. One such character was Bo-Katan Kryze, the Mandalorian and former Death Watch operative who defied both Maul and the Empire before being presented with the Darksaber in a bid to unite Mandalore once more. When she appears in The Mandalorian (played by her voice actor Katee Sackhoff), not only is she instrumental in teaching Din Djarin that the ways of Mandalore are more flexible that he was taught, but has lost the Darksaber at the hands of Moff Gideon. She has been a key character in the development of the Mandalorians for many years now, which is why a Black Series Bo-Katan Kryze figure is LONG overdue.
The tenth release in the Mandalorian selection of the revamped Black Series, Bo-Katan Kryze comes packaged in that now familiar mural artwork packaging - given a dusty orange secondary colouring to denote which area of the wider Star Wars universe this figure hails from. The spine artwork features the Mandalorian leader in all of her armoured glory, with a number of Mandalorians also flying high in the background. You’ll also find this artwork repeated on the back of the box alongside a VERY brief character bio. Given how long Bo-Katan’s been in the Star Wars universe now you’d think there would be plenty to say about her, but Hasbro have instead opted for the generic “legendary Mandalorian that fought back against the Empire” route. Open up the box and get through all that cardboard and plastic, and you’ll find said legendary Mandalorian neatly stored on a plastic tray alongside all of her accessories.
Due to both her prominence in the final season of The Clone Wars and the fact she’s the only figure from the second season of The Mandalorian released so far (yes Koska Reeves is coming but that’s also a retool of this), I’m firmly of the belief that Hasbro have been planning a Bo-Katan figure for a while now. Maybe it was originally meant to come out as part of The Clone Wars selection, but Bo-Katan’s jump into live action allowed them to tweak the figure slightly and get it out as part of The Mandalorian one. That’s all speculation on my part, but given how identical the live-action version is to the animation model (and the fact the Black Series has always given animated characters a realistic look) it doesn’t seem that far-fetched. Either way, Black Series Bo-Katan simply looks perfect. Hasbro like to boast about their photo real head sculpts an awful lot and they don’t always meet expectations, but this one really is the perfect likeness of Katee Sackhoff. The body is an all new sculpt despite having that all too familiar Mandalorian armour, and is a beautiful combination of grey, silver, brown and blue. The under suit moulded with all those wonderful fabric folds to give it a sense of realism, with the silver and blue Nite Owl armour (along with the leathery brown straps) really standing out on top. The armour has Nite Owl decals applied on each of the shoulder pads, as well a touch of weathering and battle damage.
Also included in the package are Bo-Katan’s helmet and jet pack, which can fit over the head sculpt and peg onto the figure’s back respectively. The jet pack is a smaller version than the ones previously seen with the male Mandalorian figures but certainly hasn’t lost any detail in the process, with plenty of moulded areas standing out thanks to the silver/blue colouring. Like the head sculpt, the helmet is another area where Hasbro clearly poured all of their effort into. The owl face printing around the visor has been perfectly applied, again with a little bit of damaging and weathering to give the figure a more realistic look. The helmet might look a little on the large side but doesn’t look at all wrong proportionally when fitted on the figure, and even sports a working range finder. Hasbro have done plenty of Mandalorian figures by now and they’ve all been pretty great, but they REALLY struck gold with this one.
Bo-Katan is another example of how an update to the Black Series moulds and articulation was definitely a benefit to the line as a whole, showing off a pretty great range of movement overall. Altogether she features;
- Ball jointed head, lower neck, torso and hips
- Swivel hinge shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees and ankles
- Thigh swivels
That sounds like a little less in terms of variety when compared to some of the other recent releases in the line, but it's how all these joints work together with the sculpt itself that really make Bo-Katan something special. For starters the neck joint has been pushed right into the torso so that it's completely hidden, with the soft plastic collar flexing around the joint for seamless movement. Bo-Katan lacks a waist joint to compliment the torso, but given the thick belt around her waist it's doubtful that even if it was there it would really provide much additional movement. Even the swivel hinge knees, something I've been critical about on other figures, work brilliantly here since those Mandalorian kneepads cover most of the distracting body contortion. But the biggest asset of all, ESPECIALLY to a Mandalorian figure, are those shoulder pads! Those awful shoulder pads were the bane of the original Boba Fett figure and his many repaints, but these new ones that just glide effortlessly into the shoulder cavities are just sublime.
All things considered Bo-Katan is pretty loaded with accessories as well, it just might not seem that way because two of them are part of her armour. In addition to her helmet and jet pack, Bo-Katan also comes packaged with her twin Mandalorian blasters - identical to their onscreen look in The Clone Wars, Rebels and The Mandalorian. These are brand new pieces (not identical to the ones included with Sabine), cast in gunmetal plastic with painted brown grips. As well as fitting quite comfortably into either of Bo-Katan’s hands, the blasters can also be stored in the holsters on both hips when not in use. For a Bo-Katan figure directly based on her appearance in The Mandalorian season two, it’s pretty much a perfect set. If it were a Rebels (or even a future Mandalorian version, as who knows what will happen) you could perhaps argue that the Darksaber would be nice too, but she’s only going to lose it either way. The one already included with Moff Gideon fits just as perfectly in her hands as it does Sabine’s, allowing you to recreate all those memorable Rebels moments on top of those from The Mandalorian.
This whole last wave of Star Wars figures have all been winners but Black Series Bo-Katan Kryze really is the best of the bunch. This is just a fantastic figure in pretty much every way possible, from perfect head sculpt (the kind that REALLY gives Hasbro something to boast about with their photo real technology) to that brilliantly sculpted armour - topped off with an exquisitely applied paint job. As a core character of both The Clone Wars and The Mandalorian season two as well as a pretty significant one on Rebels too, Bo-Katan ticks pretty much all of the boxes when it comes to a must-have character. While it might have taken a jump to live-action for her to finally get her dues, she’s absolutely been worth the wait.
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