“This is a rebellion, isn’t it? I rebel.”
If you have not been paying attention, the Star Wars universe is filled strong female characters. Sure, there is still a gender gap in sheer numbers of characters, but I am always one to take quality over quantity. Leia is the leader, Padme is the idealist, Rey is the hope, and now Jyn … Jyn just flat-out says it: she is the rebel. Don’t get me wrong, I have always loved Leia (she was ALWAYS the brains of the Original Trilogy crew), Padme has always been about balance for me, and Rey shot to one of my top 5 favorite Star Wars characters of all time almost instantly, but Jyn, her character already speaks to me in ways that are on another level, and I have not even seen Rogue One yet.
That makes me hopeful (if not slightly foolish), but I honestly believe that Rogue One, based on the premise itself and what we have seen so far, has the potential to be one of the best SW movies yet. Again, I will stay *cautiously* optimistic, but the whole premise appeals to me on so many levels. At the center of Rogue One is, obviously, Sergeant Jyn Erso, played by the delightful Felicity Jones. Unlike keeping Rey under wraps due to a major plot reveal in The Force Awakens, LucasFilm has put Jyn clearly front and center for Rogue One, and her characterization is already a big draw to the movie, at least for me.
Because of that, while they are still trying to keep most Rogue One items out of view until this Friday (with varying degrees of success), Jyn has already had some time in the sun, thanks to Hasbro. She was one of the SDCC 2016 figures with an exclusive “pre-release,” and her standard Black Series figure is the only one that is already available for preorder from most of the major sites, such as Amazon and Toys R Us. As the touted main character, she is obviously getting multiple releases across multiple platforms and companies, but SWB is already featuring another version of Jyn for release on Force Friday.
In what seems to be another move in their quest to remind people that they still exist, K-Mart has taken on another exclusive with an “environment” base, like their Starkiller Base Rey and Kylo from last year, in the form of Jyn in her (what I am calling) “scout” uniform from Eadu. Scout gear works as good as any, I suppose, but “forest,” “adventure,” or maybe even “camping” work as well, keeping in mind that the really interesting part of this costume is aesthetic similarities to the gear work by Luke, Leia, and Han during their escapades on Endor in Return of the Jedi; I love little call backs like that.
While this is already not looking like the gear Jyn sports for most of the movie, this outfit certainly makes for an interesting figure, so I appreciate adding this one to the collection, even if it is only slightly ahead of Force Friday. Thus far, I am up to two Jyns and zero in terms of figures for anyone else from the movie, but that is going to change soon. I have a feeling this outfit and the scenes in which it is featured will help to give us some background insight into Jyn’s character, so there are some possible interesting details here and there, as well as at least one total mystery.
This figure version of Jyn looks quite different from the other SWB figure, but it does share quite a bit of commonality to the standard version. The best of the figure, pretty much everything but the head and arms is the same as the Jyn in her basic costume. The legs and boots all obviously feature with that, but the jacket/poncho/raincoat is actually just an overlay piece on the standard torso, too. That works fine, actually, since the overlay makes the figure look completely different, and just swapping out for the jacket sleeves on the arms is a pretty ingenious was of getting us a completely different version of the character, without breaking the tooling bank.
Speaking of the poncho, aside from the hat/helmet, which I will get to in just a moment, this portion of the costume gives you that OT feel more than anything else with the figure. Seriously, Jyn could have been a part of the squad sent to Endor with General Solo, and I find that really, really cool. It is painted well with a camouflage pattern, and all of the details in the bandolier and pouches are also well done. The material is that of a rubbery plastic, so there is more posing allowed here than what I expected. Another rad element is the aspiration apparatus that can actually be pulled up over Jyn’s face. If it looks familiar, it should because this is pretty much directly patterned off of the breathing devices used by Han and crew during the mynock sequence in Empire. I actually LOVE this piece due to its functionality and the fact it is cast in a translucent orange plastic; there is also no denying that the attention to detail with the technology from film to film should be really appreciated.
My favorite part of the costume, though, is the helmet. It is removable, it looks great on Jyn, and it is another one of those nostalgia pieces. The goggles are set on top and are not removable, but I love the look that is brought together by their inclusion, and the little communicator piece is nifty too. The helmet sits well on the newly sculpted head, fortunately. This new head has a bit of “helmet head” going on with the hair, but I actually prefer the way the face is painted on this one over the other. I am going to BRIEFLY plea for better paint applications on the faces of these figures (like I always do) because it would make these figures sooooooo much better, but the helmet hair doesn’t bother me because I would never display this figure without the hat.
Jyn also comes with a good amount of accessories in this release, and while we have seen some of them before, others are all-new. She has the same pistol included with her regular release, as well as the standard-issue Stormtrooper blaster. I like the pistol for her normal look, but since she has a bit more in her outfit with this release, the Imperial blaster works better for her here. She also comes with a little doohickey that can be attached to a loop on her belt. I say “doohickey” because, well, I don’t know what it is exactly. I am sure it will have some plot point in the film, but I suppose it is a grenade or something of that ilk as it has what appears to be a handle in the sculpt. It is certainly not a lightsaber hilt as I have heard speculated, but other than that, I got nothing. Yet.
The final accessory is a giant and jagged rock base which is a part of the whole selling point of this figure. I am guessing that this modeled after the terrain of Eadu, but not knowing anything else about it, I kind of like it. I mean, I find it much more interesting looking than the SK snow bases from EPVII, even though I really do not have a lot of use for bases like this in my own display. It is an interesting piece and Jyn can stand on it, or interact with it just fine, so it does add some value to the release. Now, I wonder if a companion piece will be released later to go along with this as before, but I don’t see anywhere where another base would connect with this, but that might not be the intention.
Overall, I think this is a satisfying release, and this version of Jyn is visually interesting, and the costume will definitely get that OT nostalgia going. Like I said, it is a frikkin’ KMART release, so hopefully you have one in your area. I do not, but most excellent Fwoosher Reach08 hooked me up beautifully, so that was really kind of him. Be sure to check out Man of Action Figures to see the other goods he has available! This Jyn is obviously already out in some stores, but the formal release is this Force Friday (9/30/16), so be on the lookout!