Review : Rey (Starkiller base), Star Wars Black Series, Kmart (US) Exclusive (Hasbro)

Review : Rey, Starkiller Base Star Wars Black Series (Hasbro) Wave/Series : Kmart US exclusive 2016 Released : April 2016

Price : £34.99 (UK Import Price)

Following up from the 2015 release of their exclusive Starkiller base Kylo Ren, Kmart brought us the counter-part Rey figure in April 2016. The idea was to release a figure as well as a diorama base and that the diorama bases could be connected to replicate a larger scene from The Force Awakens.

Rey arrives in an oversized box that still follows most of the design principles of the Black Series, phase 3. The box is a gloss black with Black Series and Star Wars logo and the grey scaled artwork for Rey.

This is however the first release where the grey lined art and red spine are on the left hand side and not the right. This is deliberately designed so the red spine can be placed up against the red spine of the Kylo figure allowing the figures to be displayed in box while still giving the idea that the two are connected.

The other difference is that the backing red card insert that frames the figure contains some additional detailing to represent tree's. This was the same on the Kylo figure and the method has been used again since on Kmart's Jyn Erso release.

On the back of the box is a larger image of Rey in the grey lined art and a small quantity of text that sets the background for Rey as a "resilient survivor" and her place on Jakku as we find her at the start of The Force Awakens. This is the same text as used on the normal Rey release, with the BB8 section chopped away. This feels lazy, particularly as this is a set that is specifically designed to represent a specific place and event within The Force Awakens and yet no mention of this is made in the bio.

Out of the pack and you are presented with a pre-posed Rey already standing on her half of the diorama. A second diorama section is slid vertically to the side of the packaging. Rey comes with her light saber which is already in her hand and held in place with a clear elastic band.

Rey is identical to her previous releases in terms of sculpt. The head remains a little featureless and is somewhere between the paint application of the original (poor) release and the tweaked and better looking 2016 version. The face still lacks definition as without deep facial features you can't rely on natural light to pick out the facial likeness.

Rey stands just under 6" high and is clothed in her Jakku scavenger gear. There is an outer sash that crosses her chest and then flows down to become a skirt of some description. Under the wrapped gown are a upper tunic and some knee left trousers, and her arms are wrapped in a similar bandage type material down to some leather braces around her wrists. Slung round her waist is a belt, which contains a pouch or bag of some kind around the rear.

Boots are ankle high and fairly featureless, although there is some pattern when you get up close. As was done with Kylo, the boots are painted to look like they are coated in snow. This is not overly effective and adds little to the figure considering once in the diorama the boots are hidden anyway form most angles.

Articulation, and we start at the head which is on a ball joint. It rotates a full 360 degrees, but there is almost no movement up or down which leaves Rey looking straight ahead in all poses.

The shoulders are ball jointed, with her left getting up to a full 90 degrees to her body while the right sticks a little due to the shoulder sculpt. Elbows bend and swivel and there is both a swivel and joint on the wrist. This all means a good wide range of arm movement.

The waist is jointed, but moves very little - springing back to a central position. Hips are ball jointed and if needed you can use these and the knee joints to get Rey into a splits or kneeling position. However, the sculpted robe does restrict the leg movement and you could argue maybe should have been soft goods, but that will always be controversial and not to every ones tastes.

The previous Rey releases have all stood pretty well with articulated ankles. On this version the ankles are extremely weak and floppy and standing her outside of the diorama stand is frustrating.

The Lightsaber is the same as packed with the Luke Skywalker releases to date (X-Wing, Bespin and Tatooine). This makes sense as it is essentially the same weapon. The hilt is silver with the red ignition button painted. The blue blade is clear yet vibrant and can be removed if you want to pose Rey handing over the unlit weapon - assuming we ever get a new Episode 7 Luke?

It is worth mentioning at this point for clarity that Rey's staff is not included in this pack.

The diorama is a chunky piece of plastic designed to look like ice and snow. It is hollow so doesn't weigh a vast amount. The foot holes are not pegged, which would have been great, and instead designed for the foot to slot into. This doesn't really hold the figure all that well, especially with the weakness on Rey's ankles.

The pose is also predetermined by the foot holes, leaving Rey facing Kylo in a one handed light saber pose - something she didn't do in the film. The figure has enough articulation in the arms to hold the saber in two hands, albeit at a lowered angle and not one of immediate readiness to fight. This feels like a miss.

Going back to the base itself, the colouring is also too cartoonish and not screen accurate. Rey & Kylo were fighting in a snowy forest, not on a glacier. For realism we should see also see twigs and stones as well as the snow covering. The colour also goes too blue in places, although not as bad as it was on the Kylo figure.

The stand does slot into the Kylo piece, but not securely in that they don't lock together. The third piece simply pushes in behind these two pieces - but again doesn't lock in place. That means as a diorama it can't be moved as one piece and has a habit of coming apart.

I do applaud the idea behind these type of diorama displays, but the implementation on this set leaves a lot to be desired. Rey is a rehash of the original Jakku figure with a bit of white paint. It needed some upgrades to reflect the version of Rey as she fought Kylo. She also needed to be posed with a two handed light saber position. Rey also carries some weak ankle joints - and there is nothing worse on an action figure designed to stand on it's own.

The base is also stylised and doesn't really bear any resemblance to the environment in which the two were fighting. It doesn't feel like it would have taken much more effort to sculpt this as a forest floor. The base would have also been better with some options for foot placement, driven by pegs and not big foot holes in the snow. The way they connect to the other parts is also poor.

My final issue is price and availability. While Kmart were selling this in the US for around $25 (discounting down to $15 at some points) you couldn't get this for much less than £35 in the UK via import. And the price is rising all the time. While I am not adverse to exclusives, if they are limited to one country then the rest of the world should be able to obtain them much easier and at a fairer price.

Should you buy this figure? Well I guess it depends if you bought the Kylo set and if you want the full diorama. All you really get in this set that you can't get elsewhere is the base - and that is not too well executed. For £35+ there are better figures and sets to put your money towards.

Having chased down this set for a number of months I am really disappointed now it is here and score it a low 2 out of 5.

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