I had very high expectations going into Rogue One, and I was particularly excited by the prospect of Donnie Yen joining the Star Wars universe. Fortunately Yen’s character of Chirrut lived up to all of my very high expectations, was my favorite part of the movie, and was therefore my most anticipated figure. Let’s take a look at the Black Series 6-inch scale Chirrut Îmwe.
Chirrut comes with two accessories: his bowcaster-like projectile weapon called a “Lightbow” and his walking/butt-kicking stick. Both are sharply sculpted and look to match the movie props well.
The bow has two long prongs that can fold in and it can also twist on it’s axis, so Chirrut can hold it a few different ways. It would work a bit better if Chirrut had double elbows, but I got him into the Lightbow-holding poses I wanted for the most part. I’m torn about the lack of strap on the Lightbow. The weapon has a strap in the film, so I want it for accuracy, but these don’t usually work well at this scale.
The cane has a lot of nice detail and is flexible, but it holds its shape well. Both accessories can be tucked into the belt that goes over the shoulder, but I don’t think that was intended.
The sculpt is a decent match for Donnie Yen, though not 100 percent there. The jawline seems a little off to me and the hairline a little high at the temples. I do wish he had a couple of different hands for some sweet martial arts poses.
Chirrut’s outfit is fairly complex with a few different layers. Hasbro wisely chose to make the lower two piece sash two different pieces of soft cloth.
It allows for a lot of movement that the figure wouldn’t otherwise have. It does look a little thick at the waist and maybe rests a little higher than I would think. The waist of the cloth robe on my figure is kind of tucked under the upper torso ball joint.
The articulation is pretty standard for the Black Series with the following POA:
- Swivel/hinge neck, shoulders, wrists, hips and ankles
- Ball-jointed neck and waist
- Swivel hips
- Double-hinged knees
The figure moves well and while he can’t do the full splits, Chirrut can get in a wider stance than many recent Black Series figures. The right wrist moves up and down and the left wrist moves in and out.
The paint is the weakest point as per usual with this line. Chirrut has some pretty noticeable blue eyes in the movie and they don’t stand out well here. The sculpted hairline isn’t quite covered by the hair paint, which kind of gives Chirrut an almost balding look.
The other odd thing is that the upper robes are a really dark blue or black plastic and they are have a much more blue look in the film.
Overall this figure is very close to hitting the mark, but drops the ball with the paint job. I’m used to the face paint being off, but it does seem weird that they didn’t get the right color for the costume. That said, it’s a really fun figure to play with.
My main problem with this figure is that I don’t have a Baze to go with him yet! Baze and Chirrut haven’t hit the States yet. I picked this one up from a Hong Kong seller and payed way too much for shipping. Pre-Orders are up at BBTS for a whole case, but there are a lot dupes in there, so Chirrut and Baze may be a tough hunt when they do start showing up.
