Star Wars The Black Series Savage Opress & Kit Fisto review

Savage Opress and Kit Fisto never net each during The Clone Wars television series, but wanting to cover as much with two figures in one review rather than individually, they're paired up as with all Black Series figure reviews since late 2022. Whether or not you like The Clone Wars, and regardless of how much it and similar shows under Filoni clash with continuity in either the 6 movies, the EU, or Disney canon as a whole, one can say Savage Opress makes for a great new character for the Jedi to fight against without having to contradict anything that came out in the past (like with Asajj Ventress). Sure, it led to the the search for Darth Maul that shut TPM haters up and annoyed continuity experts, but Opress and Cad Bane were good ways to have new characters without compromising continuity too much (in theory). As for Kit Fisto, even if he wasn't that prominent in the Prequel Trilogy, his design stood out as much as his smile. I also think that the appearances he had in either EU or Disney canon are generally worthwhile. Hell, I liked that he had an apprentice, unlike Anakin Skywalker being stuck with Ahsoka. Anyways, let's see how these two turned out!

Let's first cover Savage Opress in-hand. This figure is a brand new sculpt and reuses nothing from any version of Darth Maul. One would think this would be the case for a character related to the red and black demon, but Savage Opress is a character who demands more respect and thus deserves a new figure such as this. As part of a "Deluxe" line, what we have is a figure that is a taller mold and has more than one accessory. The armor is sculpted to match the show, but the paintwork adds some dry brushing to make it appear worn out and similar to metal instead of dealing with pure plastic. The separation between his torso armor and forearm guards is also nice, as is the fact that he has lai.ted fingernails. Insert nail polish emoji for a certain audience on the internet. Unusually, his loin flap is PVC while his skirt remains made of cloth, but I'd rather it not look bad like with 2023's comic Hawkeye. Something I will criticize, however, is the lack of silver paint for the lightsaber. We still have paint apps, yes, but are you telling me you're charging more than $30 for a Deluxe figure and it doesn't have silver for its lightsaber?! I bet we have to wait for a Maximum line for better quality figures that are only polished mass-retail items. Oh wait, we had Hyperreal and it sucked!

On a more positive note, his head sculpt is done incredibly well, and I don't have any complaints about it beyond my concerns for the horns snapping off. I just like that his facial structure is not a repeat of Maul's. With his two lightsabers deployed in a pose to showcase the articulation, we have a double ball neck, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, rotation at the elbows, single-jointed elbows, wrist rotation, slight wiggle for the hands (they don't appear to have traditional hinges), butterfly joints, a diaphragm joint, ball jointed hips, rotation above the knees, hinged knees, and ankles that hinge as well as pivot, though they feel a little looser than I'd like.

He also comes with a unique spear weapon befitting a Zabrak specimen such as himself. It's got a fitting length for him, and more importantly, he can dual-wield it without issue. As for his height, he towers over Maul and just about any other Black Series figure in the line. It makes sense given how Mother Talzin and the Nightsisters made his height to 7 feet,  it would that be enough to justify spending $30 for a slightly taller Black Series figure? Not really. I mean, Chewbacca was basically a regular release, yet Hasbro pushes this approach to find some way to release a specific character and make extra money out of it. Is it a bad figure? No, far from it. But I feel we're not quite there with making a Black Series figure worth its price. Maybe an alternate damaged head and some silver paint could help.

As for Kit Fisto, this is a reissue of an older Black Series figure we got back in 2020. For as brief as Kit Fisto's role was in Revenge of the Sith, it was at least noteworthy for his brief fight with Palpatine before he died. However, we don't have a robe for him to wear, much like with Ki-Adi-Mundi from last year. The body is a reuse from AOTC Obi-Wan, which means the proportions don't quite fit this character that well. The body especially feels undersized next to the head, and the larger eyes don't help much. Then there's the fact that the dreads from the front have the bands painted onz yet the ones on the back do not?! Don't pull that shit on me, Hasbro!

His head sculpt is meant to represent the way he looked in Episode 3, with the big eyes and the single dreads in the front. While the details are nicely applied, I can't help but feel it's slightly off, and not because it was changed from Episode 2. He has the same general articulation as Savage, only with thigh swivels, a y-shaped hip system that makes the legs move out at an angle somewhat, and double-jointed knees. His lightsaber is not accurate if you're an eagle-eyed fan.

Here he is ready to go against Palpatine for a second round. Sadly, I feel Kit Fisto falls short somewhat because of his inaccuracies and use of the AOTC Obi-Wan buck. I get that he is a reissue, and while I am happy to have another Jedi character in my Prequel shelf, I know there is still room for improvement.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Savage Opress)

⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Kit Fisto)