Review: Star Wars Black Series Colonel Ward from The Mandalorian and Grogu
- Mephitsu
- 3 minutes ago
- 7 min read
"This isn't about revenge. It's about preventing another war."
Ahead of the release of Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu on May 22nd, a wave of Star Wars Black Series figures was unveiled and subsequently released. The five-figure general release wave arrived in March and April across the US, where the wave also included a white box ‘first edition’ variation sold via Walmart and Target. In the UK, the wave appeared to be held until the week of May the 4th.
The general release figures use the same black box packaging as the wider Black Series, with an assigned accent colour that is a blue-purple tone and used on the name plate, the numbering, the band under the window that confirms the source as ‘The Mandalorian & Grogu’ and on the artwork. In this review, we are taking a look at the New Republic’s Colonel Ward, the number 04 release in the wave. The artwork shows the Colonel, in her X-Wing pilot flight suit and helmet, with her arms crossed, looking outward with a cloudy sky behind her. The figure connects directly in the wider montage of artwork, preceded by the number 03 figure of AT-RT Driver and then sitting before the Imperial Remnant Stormtrooper at number 05.
The colour-hued artwork is repeated on the back of the box, along with a short synopsis of the movie rather than the character/trooper. This is to avoid spoilers ahead of the movie hitting cinemas. The box opens via the top or bottom flap, held closed by a piece of tape. Inside, Colonel Ward sits in an inner-shaped plastic tray with the X-Wing pilot helmet to the top left. If you are looking for a blaster or any other accessories, they are not missing - Hasbro has simply not included any. The figure tray sits in a blue/purple-hued backdrop by way of an inserted cardback that itself incorporates an embedded image of a planetary sky scene.
Colonel Ward is the first Original Trilogy styled X-Wing pilot release for some time, with all previous versions utilising the 13-year-old Luke Skywalker body from the first ever Black Series wave. The suit, which remains broadly the same as the Rebellion era, is cast in the iconic orange and includes folded material textures as well as pockets and fastenings. None of these are painted. The boots are a dark grey, as are the gloves, and we do get paint detailing here with silver cylinders painted on the right boot, and a silver and red comms panel on the left glove.
The white flight vest is an individual piece, cast in the base white colour and with the straps for the life support included and painted in grey. The life support pack itself is another individual item in grey with painted black, white and blue controls and switches added.
A flexible hose connects the base of this pack to a socket on the left-hand side of the vest. The costume concludes with the grey belt and webbing, which hangs down and around the knees, coming back up the rear of Colonel Ward and connecting back into the belt. Like the flightsuit, this belt and webbing are textured and feature details such as clasps and fastenings, but none of it is painted. The only other painted detail are the code cylinders on the left-hand shoulder.
Sigourney Weaver has featured in several action figure lines ahead of this release, notably her various Alien and Aliens figures from NECA and across at least three different Ghostbusters lines. This Star Wars version presents a good, if not stern, likeness. Particularly impressive when viewed face on, but less so in side profiles. It uses the usual facial print tech to add realism to the eyes and lips in particular. The hairpiece is an individual piece, and certainly similar to the onscreen look, but without the full volume, a decision made to allow the X-Wing helmet to be wearable. The hair is left solely in the base auburn colouring, while on screen the hair is seen to include highlights and perhaps a touch of grey.
The X-Wing Helmet is a soft plastic solution, cast in off-white and with a very in-depth level of detail applied first as paint to create the blue panel, and then vi decals that include the New Republic symbol as well as squadron or unit markings. Most of these are a crisp gold, as are elements of the ridge trim, which has a black base overall. The helmet features a protruding mic for the comms system, coloured grey with a black end piece. Inside the helmet are two brown internal padding sections and a yellow translucent visor.
The visor looks great initially, but it becomes immediately problematic when you try to get Ward to wear the helmet. Unlike the older Luke figure, the visor is not fixed in place but held in by two pegs. This means when the helmet is pushed over the hair, the visor pops out and feels like overly hard work to get it back into position. I did think the pegs were to allow some clever articulation, allowing the visor to be raised or lowered, but that is not the case. The helmet would have been better served with the visor fixed in place.
The flexibility of the helmet plastic allows a tight fit around the Colonel’s hair, and once in place, it looks natural and not oversized, which is often a problem for action figures with helmets such as these.
Proportionally, the figure aligns with Weaver’s 5ft 11 build, and therefore, she is much taller than the original Luke X-Wing Pilot base, which presented Luke Skywalker as 'a little short for a Stormtrooper'. There are obvious opportunities here for re-use, with the body being relatively non-descript in terms of gender, and I’ve already seen kit-bashing by adding other pilot heads like Trapper Wolf to this new body. In terms of a broader comparison, the 2026 version is better proportioned and lacks that wide-legged stance that the Luke X-Wing and subsequent pilot figures have always carried.
vs 2013 Luke Skywalker X-Wing (right)
The new figure is also more detailed but lacks the same level of paint app, and while sometimes the paint was more of an issue in terms of how the white of the vest didn’t cover the orange base plastic, there was a degree of ‘real world’ weathering on figures like Wedge and Luke. I also felt the helmet execution on the original figures is better, both in terms of structure and the decor, which again did include some weathering
Colonel Ward has 21 points of articulation, following the usual principles but also benefiting from both boot cut and forearm swivels, where the boots and gloves are cast as individual pieces and connected to the body. The legs have sufficient movement to kneel and sit, while being stable and secure enough to hold most generic poses. More dynamic positions might need a stand, with peg holes on both feet to help with that. The arms are wide-ranging in terms of coming with the butterfly shoulders, and the neck is quite articulate. The only downside is the waist joint, which lacks much forward movement, although the Colonel can lean back quite some distance.
Having all this articulation is great, but without any accessories as such, the Colonel’s posing is very much either holding her helmet or more generic positions, such as gesturing to Mando or talking on the comms. She does have a trigger hand, so she can accommodate a blaster, and as seen in these images, a simple hold-out blaster does fit with the outfit and what you’d expect Republic Pilots to have equipped. The blaster opens up a wider range of action stances, firing off at Imperial hold-outs or the scum and villainy of the Galaxy.
Blaster not included
Colonel Ward is a spot of colour and relief in a wave dominated by grey and white Imperial Troops and Mando himself with his Beskar silver finish. She also represents the New Republic, and expands that category in cross-sourced collections to sit alongside figures like Hera Syndulla and alongside the presumed release of live-action Zeb. There is little to critique on the figure, which is well proportioned and executed, crisp in the colouring and detailed enough, even if a few bits have gone unpainted. The head and helmet combo works well enough, save the visor, which seems overcomplicated in the way it's fixed, and the likeness for Sigourney Weaver is as good as we’ve had on any other modern line.
Blaster not included
The lack of a weapon, or something other like a datapad, makes her a bit vanilla in her posing. For those who like more dynamic and battle stances, I recommend raising the spares bin and finding her an appropriate blaster. Going forward, it will be interesting to see if this body gets re-used with the potential to explore other pilots from the Original Trilogy, in particular, perhaps even finally giving that 2013 pilot Luke a makeover for the 50th Anniversary next year?
Keep Track of all the Star Wars Black Series figures from Hasbro at our comprehensive
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About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...