Review : Kanan Jarrus (Rebels)
Star Wars 6-Inch Hero Series
Wave/Series : Aldi Exclusive (UK)
Released : December 2016
Price : £6.99
Hasbro's 6 inch hero series is a scaled down version of their larger 12" figures. The aim of the figures appears to be to get a Star Wars presence into the discount stores of the US, UK and beyond. In 2015 the first 5 figures were sold in the UK exclusive to Aldi, you can read our overview HERE.
In 2016, Aldi have repeated the offer - bringing in stocks of the first five releases, and then five new releases we have not seen before in the UK.
Each figure is packed in an economically sized box. This follows the design of the standard Star Wars line from Hasbro. The box starts at the base with a red glow, and fades to a black background through the rest of the packaging. The front is dominated by the window, through which the figure is visible on a Black Series style red insert card. A white Star Wars logo is planted underneath the window, while the character name sits very bottom left along with the recommended 4+ age. The Disney and Hasbro logo's sit side by side bottom right.
While the right hand spine of the box carries the logo and then a bunch of legal small print, the left is a glorious artwork of the figure - reminiscent of how Diamond present their Select figures, albeit on a smaller scale. Anyone wanting to keep these in the box will be torn between displaying the front and the figure, or these wonderful art panels.
Round the back is another Star Wars logo, and under this sits the name of the film from which the figure is based. There is then a brief couple of lines of red text about the character, this is repeated in several other languages. The rest of the rear is taken up with safety notifications in various languages.
Once opened, via either the top or bottom flap, an inner tray slides out into which the figure is tied. This inner tray is four sided, not fully enclosed like the Black Series. It also carries some background detail rather than being a solid red, although it isn't clear what this is intended to be.
Kanan comes packed with his lightsaber hilt molded into his right hand. Beside him in the packaging is the blade, and under this I was surprised to also find his blaster. He stands, like all of these Hero 6" figures, at 5 3/4" high - this puts him undersized in the 1/12 world. Like every release the plastic used feels hard and brittle, and hollow - there is no weight in Kanan at all.
He is designed straight off the Rebels cartoon series, there is no "realism" in this figure and that makes him quite unusual in any 6" range. There is something appealing about the animated design, and I sit here now thinking how good a Ghost crew would look all in this same style.
Outside of the constraints of realism, the design works really well and this is a solid representation of Kanan from Series 1 of Rebels. The face is longer and slim, like the animation, with a smooth hairline back to his trademark pony tail. The costume is accurate with the ribbed undershirt with its rounded collar. The clone trooper armour over the right arm and shoulder and down tot he trousers with knee pads and boots. Being an animated character the sculptors have not had to rely on putting in details like a lot of clothing folds.
Paint is pretty decent, although a long way from perfect. The skin tone is shiny, but not excessively so. The hair a flat brown, and on our review copy there was paint missing on the pony tail leaving the skin tone underneath. Each costume element is the right shade, but there are no extra effects - no washes or dry-brushing. They have retained the Rebel symbol on the shoulder pad, which is good. Around the belt there is some softer bleeding of the grey into the black of the belt.
Articulation is four points as always. Kanan comes with a fixed neck that rotates fully into the torso, other figures we have looked at have had a ball joint. The arms are articulated at the shoulder but only to rotate around the torso. The waist is the final joint allowing the torso to turn. There is no movement in the legs at all.
Accessory wise, the light-saber hilt is molded directly into Kanan's right hand. The detail on the saber hilt is OK, it's definitely Kanan's, and it's cast or painted in a solid silver. Saber blades on the 2015 figures of Vader and Kylo Ren were perhaps a little too solid in colour, and it is good to see on Kanan there has been a move to a more translucent plastic. Nothing as good as the Black Series, but certainly an improvement. The blade slots into the hilt and pops into the socket quite tightly, this leaves you able to display Kanan with either lit or unlit saber. As I mentioned, Kanan also comes with his blaster - and this is loose and can slot into his left hand. The detail isn't bad on the gun and it is cast black plastic.
Lining Kanan up with his Black Series counterpart shows you clearly the size issue, but also how good a job Hasbro did with the Black Series in bringing Kanan into the real world.
I think Kanan will appeal as a niche figure, and will be received by those who wanted an animation accurate Rebel figure. It would be nice to see the other Rebels in the same scale, but I am not sure Hasbro will ever go that deep on this range. For now Kanan stands alone as an animated sculpt and at £6.99 does what you need him to for your collection - or even just for the kids to play with.
I score Kanan a 3 out of 5 based on the small price vs what you get.
