We’re wrapping up our look at the latest 6 inch scaled Star Wars Black figures with Kanan Jarrus. Kanan is another figure from the animated series Star Wars Rebels that has been translated into a more realistic style in order to fit in better with the Black Series style. Let’s take a look at Kanan Jarrus!
Star Wars Rebels is probably my favorite Star Wars thing going right now. That means a lot more than it used to since Disney is producing arguably more Star Wars than we ever have seen before. The show captures the tone and feel of the original trilogy while incorporating concepts and ideas explored in the prequels and the Clone Wars.
I was very excited to see that Hasbro was going to take these characters and put them out in my preferred style of figure (6 inch articulated figures). I have the Rebels 4 inch figures, but they don’t really scratch that itch like this style of figure does.
Accessories
Kanan comes with a couple of accessories, his lightsaber and blaster. The blaster has a original trilogy pedigree, having been used briefly by Luke in Jabba’s palace and the sculpt matches up with that weapon well. It’s just plain black plastic and has a bit of a metallic dry brush and it’s a little rubbery so you have to futz with the barrel to make sure it’s straight. The gun fits securely into the holster on the hip.
The saber is pretty neat because it splits into three parts, blade, emitter and handle to match the functionality seen in the show. Kanan hides his saber in plain sight by taking it apart and placing it in different parts of his belt. The handle can attach to the back of his belt and the emitter attaches to the front.
The saber is also a bit rubbery but I can forgive that because I think it’s needed to allow it to split apart. While I love that they did this because hiding the saber is a big part of Kanan’s character, I’m a little worried about losing the tiny emitter piece. I would suggest caution when handling the figure with the pieces attached to the belt, they can be easily knocked off.
Sculpt
The idea of these figures is to translate the Rebels animated style into a more realistic style and I would say that Kanan is mostly successful in this regard. The clothing has textural detail that isn’t present on the show and that lends a bit more realism.
The boots look good, but I’m starting to think they might be reversed as they curve slightly outward a bit. I might try to swap them later to see if one way looks more natural than the other.
The head sculpt looks more realistic than Kanan’s cartoon appearance, but it’s a little soft. I wonder if it’s based on a particular person, because it doesn’t feel particularly like Kanan in the facial features. I also think a live action Kanan would have a longer face and a more prominent nose than this sculpt has.
I think I might be a little pickier about the likeness than most since Kanan’s my favorite character. He does look clearly like Kanan at a glance with the ponytail and beard.
Articulation
Kanan has standard Black Series articulation as you would expect with the following points of articulation:
- Swivel Hinged neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, ankles and wrists
- Ball jointed neck and abs
- Swivel thigh
- Double jointed knees
The movement is decent and I will always miss double elbows, but after such a great moving ab joint with Ahsoka, Kanan’s minimal movement there is a little disappointing.
I was glad to see that the glued on holster does not negatively affect hip movement. I think I would have preferred the up/down hinged wrist to the in/out hinges they used here. I like to have my Jedi pointing their sabers at bad guys.
Paint
Paint on Kanan is good, but I feel like the right arm armor is a much darker green metallic than it should be. I wonder if the more muted color scheme was part of an attempt to make it more realistic. The face has zero paint, which is to be expected at this point, but at least the eyes are in the right place.
Overall
Kanan is a nice figure. The sculpt is strong and his accessories are appropriate and fun to play with. It also feels like a solid hunk of plastic. I think the head sculpt is a little off from what I would expect from a “realistic” Kanan Jarrus, but I suppose that is a matter of interpretation. It’s really neat having a poseable Kanan after all the 5 POA figures and it’s fun to have him fight Stormtroopers and Bounty Hunters. I can’t wait to get the rest of the Ghost crew in this style.
Check out Robo’s video review of both Kanan and Ahsoka:
I bought this Dr. Doom cloak from eBay seller rickhor409 for some extra Jedi style.
