Star Wars: The Black Series Captain Rex review

Captain Rex is one of my favorite characters from Star Wars: The Clone Wars. With a badass personality and experience that Anakin and Ahsoka rely on from the 501st Legion, this guy is one of the many reasons that stand by why I love Clone Troopers more than Stormtroopers. Sure, the Stormtroopers may be seen as a piece of pop culture, but their experience in the battlefield is nowhere near as sharp as that of their Clone predecessors, and their armor is nowhere near as sharp or customizable as the styles of multiple troops from the Clone Wars. I never got most of the Clone Wars figures, but this figure, which was once a HasCon exclusive in 2017, could be a pretty good reentry in the Black Series, right? Let's take a look at Star Wars: The Black Series Captain Rex!

Here we have Captain Rex out of the packaging, and it's a pretty good take on the character design. Clone armors for the more higher-ranked soldiers tend to have more going on with them, such as the shoulder pauldron, the hip skirt, and the added markings to signify who this Clone is. His armor is based on his Phase 2 appearance, which had somewhat altered from his appearance in the earlier seasons, but unlike someone like Commander Cody or Gree, who both had their armor match up the Phase 2 appearances as seen in Revenge of the Sith, Captain Rex isn't as different from the other Clones. Honestly, I don't mind it; him being a new character helps keep him unique from the other Clones that were in other media before him. This version of Captain Rex is more based on a live-action appearance, which is perfectly fine by me because, despite the clear difference in appearances between the live-action and animation versions of the characters, The Clone Wars is still in the same universe as the Star Wars films. The armor looks accurate to the character design, but I also love how the armor is not "fresh-off-the-assembly-line" in terms of looks; there's a good amount of paint apps resembling dirt and scuffs to reflect on this war-torn look, there are kill marks added on the forearms, lower legs, and the sides of the helmets. Some of the blue paint apps have slight scratches to make them look scratched up from being in battle. The helmet looks dirty, and other parts of the figure, like the shoulder pauldron along with the belt and the skirt, look pretty good. Speaking of the skirt, it looks fairly thin but it doesn't take away from the look of the figure, unlike Darth Vader's somewhat dense cape.

Helmet sculpt looks pretty good, as a live-action take on the helmet design he had in the show. That said, I do find the brownish lines a bit distracting. It almost feels like they added a bit too much to an already cool-looking helmet. Maybe the helmet would look better without the odd lines, though I'm sure that's how it's supposed to look if it was done in this style.

Articulation is alright for a clone captain! The head is on a ball joint, shoulders move front and back, in and out (shoulder pauldron slightly hinders the left shoulder), double-bends at the elbows, and while both hands swivel, one hinges up and down while the other hinges in and out. There is a diaphragm joint of sorts, which is slightly hindered by the armor details. Hips move front and back, in and out, swivel at the thighs, bend at the knees on double-joints, and the ankles pivot sideways as well as hinge front and back.

His two guns, which were first seen in his holsters, can now be removed and inserted into his hands. His right hand better holds one of the guns because of the trigger finger while the other slightly struggles. Hate it when that happens.

You can also display him without his helmet, which is a nice touch, but the head ends up looking small on his body. Maybe it'd be better if you could swap the heads. The Power Rangers Lightning Collection figures had helmets that could be swapped if people want to have the civilian heads on them instead.

This figure was previously used as a HasCon exclusive. It appears mostly identical to the retail version, but it has more weapons and possibly cleaner armor. Even if this one had more weapons to display him with, the twin pistols are more iconic for Captain Rex.

Rex is a pretty cool figure overall. I feel he's worth getting if you're into The Clone Wars, Clone Troopers, or badass captains like Rex. Considering how he's also in the realistic style that better fits the movies, I think this guy is certainly worthy of any fan's collection. The only things I don't like are the odd stripes on the "face" of the helmet and the left hand not holding the guns properly. That aside, get him!

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐