geek aesthetic: Star Wars: Jyn Erso (The Black Series™ 3.75") Review

So, as you can probably guess, my hobby right now circulates around the super-articulated Star Wars 3.75" line. Believe me, I fought it - I was literally in the middle of Game of Thrones again, but then Rogue One came out and blew me away with its fabulousness. That movie totally made me cry - obviously I won't say why, in case some of you haven't watched it. It threw me directly back into the Star Wars game, and my newfangled income has served me well!

I know the Black Series gets a lot of flak from consumers due to Hasbro's often-lazy paint apps and poor distribution decisions, but I don't see why these aspects have to contribute to the perception of a specific product from the line. Overall, The Black Series is a quality collector's series, and, for the most part, Hasbro delivers on that. Ever since I first came across that little Rey figure I knew I had to start collecting the premium line rather than settle for the average TFA Basic line. I've already established I'm not really a 6" figure collector, mostly due to two things: one, the 6" is basically a blown-up version of the SA 3.75" (except painted more inaccurately, in my opinion), and the 6" scale is too large to fit a collection of in my shoebox of a room. On a side note, I'm not paying all that extra money for a couple extra centimetres of plastic (of course, the reverse argument can be true: why pay for less plastic for a few less dollars when the larger format is better value for money? However, I'm a hardcore lover of the original figure format of 3.34", and as such am a little reluctant to accept the 6" series as Hasbro's mainline collector-focused format).

It's been a while since my last review of The Black Series line, so I thought it'd be a good idea to reestablish all these things before I continue on to the review. Also, I've been reading up on a lot of action figure sites and apparently people have an issue with the new packaging. I have a C-3PO from an earlier phase of TBS (review coming eventually), and it has the more traditional bubble/card-back packaging. I've got to admit, I personally like the new box style. I think it gives something a little extra to the line; a bit of luxury, so to speak. However, if the box is the bloody reason these things are so expensive then I take it all back!

So. Can anyone guess where I got this figure from? Anyone? Yes, that's right - eBay. God, I love that site. Used to have strong feelings against it because everything seemed so expensive (I suppose $50 seems pretty expensive to a ten-year-old), but there are actually some really awesome deals out there when you look long enough. Unfortunately, every Jyn figure I saw online was way too expensive to justify, even with my considerably larger budget. Surprisingly, the cheapest figure I found was from jaqjnrnsw, an Australian-based seller; it was an auction, but luckily for me no one else was interested. I ended up getting the figure for about $32 (could've been cheaper but my internet fucked up and kept telling me I'd been outbid even though I hadn't actually been outbid at $20). I was perfectly willing to pay such a price as it is a hard-to-get figure from a limited release line. I ordered and paid on the 8th of January, and it arrived on the 11th! I was super stoked at how fast this came, seeing as I'm typically used to waiting over seven days for any package to arrive, particularly when it's a Star Wars figure being shipped out to me.

Seeing as this was an auction and not a sale, I had no choice but to accept whatever quality the figure was in - as some of you might know, I always try to make it a point to contact the seller and ask if it is possible to send the best painted/manufactured figure from their remaining stock. I was exceedingly fortunate that the very few flaws were not significant, and I easily fixed paint gaps with some acrylics and a needle (as I'm not actually in possession of a brush small enough nor a hand steady enough to use such a brush).

Anyway, that was the introductory part of this piece. Now, on to the figure itself!

Sergeant Jyn Erso

I had already bought my TBS Luke and Leia off eBay when I decided to keep fleshing out my collector line of Star Wars action figures. So - why Jyn, out of all the available figures? Well, as I mentioned earlier, Rogue One got me back into Star Wars. If you have not seen the movie Rogue One, don't read this paragraph. The movie was so good, and I really appreciated how they kept romance out of it. For the main trilogies, I understand it - it adds another dynamic and there's more screen time to establish lasting bonds between characters. One movie would not have been enough time to construct a believable romantic premise between (I assume) Jyn and Cassian. I felt that there was some subtext there that meant a relationship could have evolved, but I suppose that's all part of the heartbreak of the ending - not only did they all die, but they died before getting to explore the parameters of their acquaintance. Something or other about the futility of life and the tragedy of war, I suppose. I've only seen it once, so I haven't really made time to construct a meaning from it. The Cassian figure is on my list of figures to get, but it isn't a priority at the moment, seeing as the movie was mainly Jyn's anyway. As for Jyn - I just really love her. Not as much as Rey, mind you, but she's part of this whole new feminist Star Wars revolution (with female protagonists as opposed to female semi-background leads) and she's kick-ass cool and handy with a blaster.

This figure stands solidly with no balancing isues.

Articulation: Jyn has sixteen areas of articulation (I learned the difference between areas and points recently - 'point' is the incorrect vernacular as it refers to an individual joint's range of movement rather than the actual part, or 'area', where the joint itself exists). She has a ball-socket head, swivel wrists and thighs, and ball-jointed shoulders, elbows, torso, hips, knees and ankles. Like with previous Phase III Walmart Exclusive acquisitions, Jyn's legs moved in and outwards as a opposed to backwards and forwards; unlike said previous figures (whose stance may be adjusted by twisting the hip joint outwards and the knee joint inwards), the holster strap inhibits the twisting of the hip joint, thereby making it difficult to adopt bending or sitting stances. However, this is not a major issue, and can probably be rectified with a skilled blade if one deemed it necessary.

The flaws to watch out for: the only real concern for this figure is the paint job. There were a few lazy paint apps on mine, and these were mostly centred around the upper portion of the figure. I had a couple weird paint smears below the eye and along the collarbone, but these were easily fixed with my paints and needle. Also, the hairline is fairly hairy too; the paint seems to be afraid of reaching the moulded hairline, so it may be necessary to tighten up the paint applications here also. Aside from that, paint applications are fairly simple and straightforward. Also, there's a slightly awkward arch to the left calf of the figure, whereby it almost appears as though the bone curves inwards slightly - be sure to check for this. Aside from this, I'm pretty pleased to say the joint colours match fine.

Be careful for lazy paint applications on the face, particularly when it comes to the eyes and hairline.

Weird manufacturing choices: I know I've already mentioned this, but the thigh joint simply makes no sense on the figure. I could understand it perhaps if it actually provided functionality, but the blaster holster being moulded onto the lower torso and lower thigh renders the joint useless. Furthermore, without use of one joint, the pair joint on the other leg becomes relatively useless by extension. It appears that this unnecessary joint application was a move by Hasbro to provide consumers with a flashier super-articulated figure; a sort of display piece as to what they are capable of on figures in the 3.75" scale. However, it makes one wonder why Hasbro would waste funds on this gratuitous tooling effort when they could be diverting these funds to improve the basic figure articulation or, God forbid, increase the figure output of The Black Series 3.75" line. Like previous Phase III figures, I have an issue with the ball-joint in the hips. They limit natural action poses such as running, as they only move in and out and twist instead of moving backwards and forwards. This is a fairly minor gripe, though, and only something to consider if you really have your heart set on achieving super-dynamic posing. An odd choice to make in this line is the inclusion of swivel wrists, and not ball-jointed ones. At this point in the game, swivel action mainly feels outdated. While the movement is pretty extensive and dynamic, I can't help but feel the figure would have really benefited from ball-jointed wrists. Lastly, I find myself wondering how the head and torso joints could be considered ball-jointed as the range of movement I found tended to be more swivel than ball-jointed. However, I'm unsure if this is merely a design flaw or if I simply haven't loosened up the joints enough to merit such movement. I'd like to stress here that these are all really minor, nit-picking aspects of the figure that I've placed here for the hardcore collectors who only admit technically perfect figures to their own collections.

This figure poses nicely with her rifle; she grips the blaster tightly in her hands, making poseability options virtually endless.

Accessories: now, a previous complaint of mine was that a figure came with only one meager accessory. And technically, so does this one. However, I think this one definitely pulls it off better, and I'll even go so far as to say it's one of my favourite parts about this figure. Jyn comes with a blaster that fits nicely and securely in her holster. There are front and back pieces to the blaster that mean you can assemble the blaster into a rifle, which I think is a pretty awesome and dynamic feature. You push the plug on the back of the blaster into the back piece, and slide the front of the blaster into the front piece until it securely interlocks. It's pretty darn cool, but has the potential to fall apart if you aren't careful - be sure not to drop the pieces, or you'll never find them again.

Things to love: the sculpt of this figure is just amazing - while I have to say that the face doesn't closely resemble Felicity Jones, the likeness is there if you look for it. The 'makeup' look from the 6" version is scaled way down so Jyn looks comfortably feminine, but not Disney Princess-esque. The vest is nicely sculpted, accurately coloured and drapes well over her upper body - of course, this is detachable, but to do so would remove a vital eye-catching component from the outfit. Her hair is superbly rendered in Jyn's messy bun, with her signature layers falling out of the knot. The body is proportioned nicely, and sits well alongside other figures in the 3.75" line. The hair is absolutely stunning, and the simplicity of the outfit is highlighted effectively by the sculpted wrinkles in the pants and shirt. Finally, the accessories provided for the blaster are epic and really elevate the functionality of the figure. This figure is a faithful representation of Rebel Sergeant Jyn Erso from Rogue One, and I strongly recommend that fans of the movie and/or the scale get this for their own collection.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for my The Black Series [PIII]: Leia Organa review coming soon!