Star Wars The Black Series Barriss Offee & Clone Commanders Bly & Guile review

If we ignore TCW, then we can easily understand that a character like Barriss Offee was not a terrorist but instead a pacifist; unlike the questionable change first started by Dave Filoni and later by Disney for their canon, this character would always find non-violent methods of self-defence and take the role as a healer instead. While some would argue over characters like the noble Plo Koon or the somewhat distant Ki-Adi-Mundi representing the epitome of being a Jedi, Barriss may go a step further in being more of a peaceful individual rather than one who would be on the offensive. She would even have a Padawan of her own before both of them died, along with Aayla Secura in Felucia. Speaking of, the Clone Troopers involved in their mission and murder were none other than Commander Bly and Lieutenant Galle. Under the 327th Star Corps, they fought like any other subgroup and Jedi during the Clone Wars, with Bly having a consistent friendship and possible crush on Aayla Secura before killing her, while Galle was involved in a different city of the planet alongside Offee for the EU. Disney, however, claims that he was in the same scene where Bly and his men kill Aayla, so while it's nothing severe like any other piece of media they worked on, the decision to repurpose a different Clone as him sheds light on how little he was used for their canon compared to the EU, even ignoring TCW. Anyway, let's review these three!

Let's start with our pacifist Jedi (who is not a terrorist, Dave Filoni), and as with all the other members of the Order, she is mostly covered in a a cloak; much like her former master and unlike most Jedi characters, her robes are black, though she has a more detailed torso as well as deco in her cloth goods and hood piece. The latter gives off the impression of her looking frosted up somewhat, though I know some will think their figure is dirty at first glance. One thing I do like is that, in addition to the belt, we get some deco for the hands, which may look out of context as card diamonds to some. Either way, being mostly covered in cloth goods, the petite nature of the character helps her feel more filled in at the price point. Since most figures tend to make up for their heights by wearing cloth goods, while others don't. That may explain why Anakin and Obi-Wan have no robes. Who knows. That being said, there is no way to peg her lightsaber hilt on her belt.

Her head sculpt is generally good, though the facial markings below her eyes and on the bridge of her nose are either a little thicker or not as dark blue as they should be (while the eyebrows are a little thicker than normal). Thankfully, the skin tone is accurate, but her facial expression must be the reaction to Disney's ever-so-wise decision in turning her into a pacifist for their lame version of canon. Her articulation is standard for the line, though it appears she has an "outdated sculpt" below the waist. Her head is only on a ball joint, with some of the range limited by her hood, shoulders rotate, move in and out, butterfly joints, elbow joints with rotation instead of bicep swivels, wrist rotation with hinges for moving up and down, a single torso joint, ball joints for the hips, thigh swivels, double jointed knees, boot rotation, and ankles that hinge as well as pivot. Makes me wonder who Hasbro reused while making this figure, but even I can't tell since Black Series reuses aren't as easy to pick out as others.

As for the Clone Troopers, Bly is a 2020 release, while Galle is as recent as a few months back. The former uses the 2.0 version of the Clone Trooper buck, and the latter is the most recent version. Key differences include the double-jointed elbows and knees on Bly that Galle lacks, while the visors are somewhat shaped differently for the eyes. That and the unibrow are different for both in terms of thickness. The white on Bly is more vibrant and does give off the look of having some remaining sheen on an otherwise war-torn armor, yet Galle is somewhat faded and appears somewhat matte. I mentioned how it made a bit of sense for the Sandtrooper I reviewed a while back because of how dirty he turned out, yet it appears more effort was put in making Bly appear that way, despite having shinier plastic compared to Galle's duller white with only a few scratches. They both share the regular Clone pistols in their holsters, yet Bly has a long-range rifle while Galle instead has a medium-sized blaster.

The biggest difference between th etwo is that Bly only has a macrobinoculars that go over his visor, and Galle instead has a removable Clone helmet. Funny how the lieutenant has that feature while the Commander doesn't.

Here we have the Clones with the Jedi they would later kill, almost like a twisted friend photo that many fans would meme about because Order 66 jokes are common. Aayla has been reissued with an extra lightsaber, but I do not know the other differences beyond that. Overall, the two Clones and Barriss work well enough for what they're supposed to do. I wish we had a few more character-specific accessories for Barriss, but the Clones having three weapons and different things to do with their helmets makes them work well. I don't know if they will ever be in Ollies like a lot of Disney canon characters, so if you really want these, good luck. As for me, with how samey the line can be, at least I don't have to buy anymore characters with my roster being closer to completion.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐