Kylo Ren (The Last Jedi) - S.H. Figuarts

S.H. Figuarts is a new standard figure series that incorporates the Bandai action figure "Art" under the theme "Pursuing Character Expression through Humanoid Action."

Kylo Ren has a distinct look to him in Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, especially when compared to his appearance in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. This required all licensees to develop all-new sculpts of this character. We’re sure this was a bit of a setback since the differences are subtle but necessary. Unlike The Force Awakens when his “helmeted” visage too priority in the various toy and collectible lines, The Last Jedi has focused on him without his helmet on his head. For S.H. Figuarts, they tooled an all-new version of the character too. The figure is nice, but we think they missed the boat with a couple of the figure’s features. The head sculpt is decent, and the “photorealistic” technology utilized gives him a natural and believable likeness. But the shape of his head feels off, almost too rounded, and negatively affects all of the great strides made to develop this high-end collectible. Still, it’s not a terrible portrait. We think that generally speaking, collectors are going to be satisfied with the results. We just wished they hit it out of the park, which in our opinion they did not.

The arms also stand out like sore thumbs to us as well. We don’t understand where the breakdown happens, but so many of S.H. Figuarts figures have issues with arm and hand size. In this case, Kylo Ren (The Last Jedi) has arms that are too short and too thin. They don’t hang right at all. The smallness of his arms is only compounded by the smallness of his hands, especially the fisted attachments. Thank goodness this figure comes with four extra sets of interchangeable hands because you need to see his fingers opened up which gives the illusion that his hands are bigger than they are. But as you can see, a large rounded head with short arms and small hands gives a very distorted perspective of this character. It’s a shame that these issues weren’t addressed before the figure went into production. If you can get over the issues, Kylo Ren (The Last Jedi) does have some redeeming qualities. His articulation system is astounding. He can attain any pose you wish (within reason) and looks amazing achieving them. He also interacts beautifully with all of the accessories included. Whether you’re posing him with a fully lit lightsaber or just the hilt, Kylo Ren (The Last Jedi) looks great.

S.H. Figuarts has decided to include an interchangeable portrait here: his helmeted portrait. But they designed it cleverly in that it’s two pieces. There is a neck joint piece, and then the dome of the helmet attaches to the top of it. What’s nice about this feature is that you can disassemble it and pose him either holding it or looking at it on some display. It’s well-designed, and we love how they approached it for this release. You do get a great deal of versatility with Kylo Ren (The Last Jedi), and fans of The Last Jedi will certainly enjoy adding this action figure to their collections. Again, if they could have found a way to revise the head sculpt and arms, Kylo Ren (The Last Jedi) would be a perfect release. Kylo Ren (The Last Jedi) is also part of a unique BB unit promotion S.H. Figuarts put together. If you buy Kylo Ren (The Last Jedi) along with the Elite Praetorian Guard (With Heavy Blade), you’re entitled to receive BB-8 (03) as part of the deal. Although BB-8 (03) comes in its own box, the other two figures don’t receive any special packaging at all. It was a nice gesture by S.H. Figuarts. We hope they do more things like this in the future.