Review : Director Krennic (Rogue One)
Star Wars Black Series (Hasbro)
Wave/Series : Rogue One Wave 2 (Phase 3 Wave 8)
Released : November 2016
Price : £21.99
The 2nd batch of Rogue One 6" figures took a little longer to arrive than the equivalent 2nd wave of Force Awakens last year, but a little over 6-weeks since Rogue Friday the 3 brand new figures have arrived on UK shores. Here we will be looking at Director Krennic who is joined by the Scarif Stormtrooper Squad Leader and The Force Awakens C-3PO. The rest of the 6 figure wave is made up with re-releases of Jyn Erso, Cassian Andor and the Deathtrooper.
Director Krennic is number 27 in the Phase 3 (red band) releases and is packed in the now very familiar black sleek boxed packaging with red spine and backdrop in the window. The grey scale art work remains in place in the right corner, and is a very nice rendering of Krennic with some very stylised facial lines.
Round the back this same image is replicated and across one side of this is the four language write up of Krennic's role within the Rogue One story, although this contains no spoilers or plot details.
Out of the pack we find Krennic, resplendent in his white cape, packed alongside his sole accessory - a short grey blaster pistol.
After a few "ropey" human likenesses in recent waves, this particular sculpt captures the look of Ben Mendelsohn quite well, although the figure does look a tad older than the character and from some angles does have a look of Ian McKellen's Magneto from the X-Men movies.
This likeness is helped by a much improved paint job on the head. First off, the skin tone is not glossy as seen on Jyn or Cassian. Without the gloss, and with the depth of the sculpt and Mendelsohn's features the face looks crisper and shadow and highlights show up much better under natural light.
The eyes are neat with a stark white base and the eyeballs are a crisp blue. Over these eyes is a thin black line that is recessed into the sculpt and adds a menace to the stare. The eye brows are a neat, thin grey line. The hair also holds quite a bit of sculpt detail and again although the grey is a matt flat coat, the lack of any paint effects isn't noticeable as the light picks up the ridges and detail of the hair. This grey look is also quite natural looking, and wouldn't have been a bad shade on the Episode Han Solo figure.
The costume, although not true Original Trilogy, is pretty much the Imperial Uniform we have been waiting for and I suspect we will see parts, if not all of it, again in future releases. Admiral Thrawn springs to mind immediately, but with a tweek to the insignia then tunic would suit any number of Imperial Officers.
The top section is crisp plain white but look closer and you will find panelled details and to the side a red and blue Imperial Insignia that is crisply painted with a silver background and each of the 12 cubes painted either red (top) or blue (bottom) without any paint bleed what so ever. To each side of the tunic is some more silver detail. I am not sure if these are pens or clips - the detail is a bit soft - and they do look like a paint splodge at a distance. However to give Hasbo their due, these are screen accurate - and if you compare is also identical to the one Tarkin wore in A New Hope.
The two arms are also a plain white, with very little in terms of ruffles or folds in the fabric giving it that starched crisp look you expect from the Empire's officer class. Krennic wears plain black gloves which are glossy black and when you inspect these there is more to the way these are sculpted than perhaps you would expect and they do look realistic in terms of being a stretched leather material.
Round his waist is a gloss black belt with a brushed silver buckle. To one side is a holster, which is also screen accurate and it is a workable holster too with the pistol sliding in to the holster easily, although it sits the "wrong" way round to natural gun slinging and would be accessed by reaching the opposite hand across. Round the back of the bet, and hidden in most poses, are three canisters clipped into the belt.
The trousers are obviously inspired by the uniforms of the Third Reich, and link in to uniforms from the original Trilogy and to the ones worn by the First Order in The Force Awakens. These trousers that Krennic wears boast some pretty impressive flared wide-thighs and are coloured, again flatly, in a matt black colouring. In contrast the boots, that start at the knee, return to the highly polished gloss black of the gloves. These boots look plain, but look more closely and you will see some strap detail round the back of each as well as some bunching of the leather around the ankle.
Krennic's cloak is cast in a white rubber plastic, and is essentially unpainted and relies on the white of the rubber material only. This works to be fair and is helped by some pretty nice sculpting around the cloak shoulder and down the sides to represent how the real cloak would hang. You can keep the cloak on Krennic or remove it easily enough as it is simply sitting on his shoulders with a collar that wraps round the neck area. This gives Krennic two looks in one figure, although the uncloaked version does suffer from awkward looking shoulders if the arms are flat to the body.
Talking of articulation, Krennic has the bulk of what we expect from the Black Series. To be fair you will only be posing Krennic in a neutral stance but it is nice to know there is some give in the joints if you want to let your imagination run wilder. The head continues this new joint we've been seeing recently where as well as a ball the ball is then hinged in the neck and this let's Krennic rotate his head and look down. He doesn't quite look at his toes in the same way Jyn does,, but the angle in which he does look down really adds some menace and authority to the figure and is how you will see him in a lot of the promotional images.
The shoulders, although looking a tad odd as I mention, are fully jointed so can come out fully to either side or be rotated above the head. The elbows are then a single rotating joint and the hands are on a pegged hinge so do rotate, and flex back and forth within the sleeve. With cloak in place the arms are redundant, but out of cloak this arm articulation will help you get Krennic into firing poses with his blaster, or for me the key one of standing with his hands behind his back.
The torso joint has been skipped, thankfully so as it would have ruined the lines of the tunic. The waist joint however is back and works in line with the belt. The movement in this waist join is minimal, but will add a touch of character to poses - a lot of Krennic's promo poses have had him slightly side on to the camera.
The hips are sat under the lower skirt of the tunic and offer little movement, although you can move them to a partial sitting position or out to the side in a wider stance. You can see a thigh split, just under the line of the tunic, but on the figure we are reviewing here these do not move at all. The knees are double jointed as usual and are disguised really well. This will let Krennic kneel if you want him captured by Rebels on your display. The final joints sit in the ankles and these rockers help Krennic stand really well in most poses, in or our of cape.
The one accessory is the blaster, which I think many will keep in Krennic's holster. If you wish this will fit into the right hand with the trigger finger fitting neatly thanks to some give in the plastic. Unlike some of the Force Awakens weapons, a harder plastic has been used here so the details are better pronounced. There is also a tone tone finish, with the gun cast in grey plastic but then with some brown applied on the grip.
Rogue One has started really well with figures like the Death Trooper and K-2SO, and Krennic builds on that. He may be just an officer in a dress uniform but he is well executed, is one of the better human likenesses in recent releases and he carries himself well with some real character behind the face. I can't really fault Krennic. The cloak works, although it will open up the debate on rubber vs soft goods. You may argue more paint apps should be included considering the price, but I fail to see how they could have added much to a black and white figure? I am going to go out with a 5 out of 5 score for Krennic as I can't see much else Hasbro could have done - they've pretty much nailed him on this release.
