Star Wars Black Series Kylo Ren Review

Even though the Star Wars hype is somewhat dying down, and the magazine covers are no longer adorned by our favorite characters from a galaxy far far away, I’m still very much in love with the Star Wars 6 inch Black Series figures. And since I have only taken a look at one of the figures from The Force Awakens, it is time to review one of the main characters from that movie. Enter Kylo Ren.

The packaging
Same as all other The Force Awakens figures, Kylo Ren comes in a nice, reusable window box. The figure is clearly displayed and it features a nice illustration on the front. It has come to my attention that these illustrations are done by Gregory Titus, who has an amazingly interesting Instagram account, where he goes in depth, explaining his process of creating these illustrations. I highly recommend checking out both his website and Instagram account. You’ll find some highly insightful stuff.
I like how the read up on the back of the packaging says; “Kylo Ren commands First Order missions with a temper as fiery as his unconventional Lightsaber.” The movie has definitely shown us that Kylo is an unstable mofo, who can’t control his rage outbursts.

The Figure
Let me start by saying that I have never been a fan of soft goods on an action figure. That is why I’ve never warmed up to any of the Hot Toys offerings, even though they are considered the cream of the crop. The same goes for the NECA Mego line or the recent Mezco 1:12 collection. The only exception, considering soft goods, that I can remember liking, were the clip-on capes on the old Kenner Batman figures. And the reason I liked those, is because you could remove them if you wanted to. The Kylo Ren figure in question is covered in non-removable soft goods. Even though I appreciate this look for the character, it’s just not my cup of tea. The soft goods are too fiddly, the cloak is too long and flares out at the bottom like a dress. You just can’t win with soft goods on an action figure.
But, on a positive note, the soft good curtain does not impede any of the articulation and the hood looks pretty cool on my copy. But at the same time it’s disappointing that there is no way of displaying the figure with the hood down. It will not stay down if you don’t alter it in some way. Another win, is that underneath the cloak there is a well articulated, and in this case, more importantly, a fully sculpted figure. It seems that underneath the “outdoor” look, there is another, fully sculpted “Starkiller base” costume. What I’m going to do, is track down another Kylo Ren figure and cut off all the soft goods. That way I’ll have a figure, with a distinctively different look, which is more fun to pose around. Best of both worlds, everybody wins.
The sculpt of the helmet is very well done, Kylo looks super menacing. All other sculpted parts look good as well, especially the pleats on the sleeves. The glossy black on the boots is a great feature to break the monotony in all the black plastic.
After posing the figure around, I must admit that the soft goods cloak does look really badass in some poses. You just have to shift it around a little bit.

The Articulation
Despite being completely covered by the cloak, Kylo Ren has a well articulated body. More importantly, the present articulation is not impeded in any way. The exception being the head, since it cannot look down or up, because of the plastic cape. Kylo Ren sports double jointed knees and even though the elbows are single jointed, they meet at an even 90 degrees. Even the diaphragm joint is perfectly usable, despite being invisible. The amount of forward motion in the ankles is also much better than most Black Series figures. I have nothing bad to say about the articulation, except that holding the lightsaber double handed is rather cumbersome. For example; this figure cannot hold the lightsaber overhead with two hands. It looks like removing the plastic cape (for the “indoor” look) will give the arms more range of motion.

The accessories
The only accessory Kylo Ren comes with is his lightsaber. The hilt is beautiful for this scale. I love how it looks when you remove the “blade”. It has a detailed sculpt and well executed paint application. The “blade” is molded in semi translucent plastic, which is not translucent enough in my opinion. I would have also preferred it, if it was a deeper shade of red. The fact that the base of the “blade” is sculpted inaccurately to the movie does not bother me at all. I like the look of it and it makes the lightsaber appear even wilder in design.
Something that it painfully absent from the accessories is an interchangeable hand. A second left hand would have been enough to give this figure so much more style.

In closing: Kylo Ren is a great figure. He has usable articulation and is well sculpted. Even though I’m still not a fan of the soft goods, this figure offers you the option of permanently stripping it for a different look. For the above reasons, this figure gets a solid recommend. Pick him up if you can find him.

Pros
+ Nice articulation
+ Fully sculpted body under the soft goods
+ Good looking soft goods hood
+ High fun factor