Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Star Wars The Black Series Kyle Katarn & Quinlan Vos review

It's been so long since I reviewed a Black Series figure, eh? Or at least a pair of them? Why don't we fix that with reviewing not two, but THREE characters? We already know I love Jango Fett since he remains my favorite non-Force using character out of the galaxy represented by the 6 movies Lucas made, but some of you may know Kyle Katarn and Quinlan Vos even less, so I will fill in the blanks for you. Kyle was once a recruit for the Imperial forces as a Stormtrooper, but he eventually defected to join the Rebellion after he realized the harm the Empire caused rather than be a protector of the galaxy. He would later be a part of the New Jedi Order alongside the likes of Grandmaster Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade, becoming a prominent dude in numerous events from the invasion of the Yuuzahn Vong to tackling the Dark Nest Crisis and the Second Galactic Civil War. As for Quinlan Vos, he was known to hail from the Clan Vos, served as a double agent known for hiding deep in the shadows, and he even pretended to align with the Dark Acolytes of Count Dooku during the Clone Wars rather than serve as a general (and that was a seemingly good idea to spy on the Confederacy of Independent Systems before he wrestled with the dark side of the Force briefly). TCW (and the Disney canon we got using only the movies and TCW) would have him act closer to the Dude from Big Lebowski, while Kyle Katarn is a name ruined by a Disney shill known to go "HeLlO tHeRe, KyLe KaTaRn HeRe", gross. Anyways, let's see if these figures are worth buying.


Here we have Kyle Katarn in-hand. As with most Black Series figures of late, we have a blank torso underneath a PVC overlay representing his shirt. I always appreciated how in spite of the casual nature of the clothes and their color scheme, Kyle Katarn does at least stand out on his own with the forearm guards, a prominent holster, and a shoulder pad on the right side of his body. While the shoulders being lower and the head sitting up high is a common issue with most Black Series figures, it isn't as bad on Kyle as it would be on other Jedi who probably worked out harder than he did to get their reasonable builds during the Clone Wars (shirtless Anakin and Kit Fisto, anyone?). I wish the brown on the belt and shoulder pad would look somewhat less like unpainted plastic, though. While the gun holster keeps his blaster in place, the lightsaber hilt doesn't like staying pegged into his belt. Speaking of, the hilt lacks silver paint all throughout. It would be one thing if they all lacked that detail from the beginning, but with the price increase affecting all Hasbro lines, what is the excuse for this? 


His head sculpt thankfully looks less like the Disney Shill who would spit his drink out from a totally convincing reaction and more like the FMV actor from Dark Forces II, Jason Court. I get a sense of nobility from a man willing to steer away from his past as an Imperial recruit as he helps Luke Skywalker and friends with the New Jedi Order and the New Republic. Thankfully the beard isn't as digitally printed as some other characters or at least it doesn't seem that way. Articulation is standard for all Black Series figures, with a double ball neck with less range than I'd like, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, rotation and single elbows at the forearm joint, ball jointed wrists, a ball joint at the torso, ball jointed hips, thigh swivels, similar joint systems used for the elbows also applied on the knees, and ankles that hinge as well as pivot. In addition to a somewhat underpainted lightsaber and equally somewhat underpainted blaster, he comes with a swappable swooshing blade that probably should have been more common in other releases from the past. Does that justify the price hike? Probably not.


Up next, we have Quinlan Vos. If you're hoping to fudge him into a Star Wars display void of any TCW & Disney canon characters, you may need to do some custom work. While he did wear Jedi armor in some capacity, it wasn't in the exact same style as this. The chest originally didn't look like what Anakin, Obi-Wan, and most generals wore in the Clone Wars, and the outfit's colors were generally darker (and arguably moreso than in Skywalker's case). That being said, this is supposed to be based on his TCW appearance, albeit in live action, so it gets that right with that regard. As for the proportions, the arms have a bit of muscle to them, yet the head seems to sit up a bit higher on the next than normal. Maybe it's from the way the way his torso armor requires it be longer, but it can look a bit off in some angles. Not as bad as some Marvel Legends but still worth mentioning.


His head sculpt could mostly work at remaining intact with the face, but the hair needs to have the dreads replaced with long, greasy hair. I've seen some figures that have had their hair detach easily without any glue from the factory, so that should customizers out if they plan to use epoxy clay to sculpt that new hairdo. His articulation is mostly the same as Kyle, only he comes with two lightsaber blades. Would have been cool if he had red ones, but he never turned to the dark side in Disney canon (boo).


And finally, we have Jango Fett, who despite being a known Jedi Killer, but he may be equal to the prowess of Kyle while struggle somewhat against Quinlan. Anyways, this is the second version of a Jango Fett buck we got in the past, with the first one going as far back as the early-mid 2010s (before they started going too hard in with peg warming Force Awakens and Rogue One characters), and it also had a reuse with the Gaming Greats version that I reviewed 3 years ago (which was based on how he appeared in the video game Star Wars: Bounty Hunter. So far, this figure looks pretty good, so what's the issue to be had with its aesthetics? Firstly, I already mentioned the half-painted lightsaber hilts on the two Jedi covered earlier, so what can be said about the bounty hunter's armor? The chest area has been painted with silver paint, but the forearm guards and all of the leg panels have nothing going for them. I mean, the hoses and the part meant for the flamethrower have some detailing, but once again, we shouldn't have to expect less and pay more. And while the indigo on the rest of the figure looks fine along with the areas of the figure that are painted, the brown could go for some additional paint to make it look less cheap, like it was carved out of chocolate rather than resemble the leather of the materials from the actual suit. 


His head sculpt is a saving grace, because it is a huge improvement from the Gaming Greats version and even most of the Clones whose helmets come off. I almost want to do head swaps where applicable, though Black Series heads rarely come off with ease. Articulation is otherwise functionally the same, though with some limitations by the shoulder pads, straps, and hoses...more on those later. His guns are equally as underpainted, which is even worse since Jango is known to be a shiny boss. On the bright side the helmet does have the articulated antenna piece, which is something, I guess.


Here he is next to the Gaming Greats version of himself, which was honestly not too bad of a figure beyond the helmet proportions. My copy has some added weathering and leather straps that miraculously haven't snapped off all these years later. The heads under the helmets are vastly different, but I don't think swapping the helmets would be easy given how well they fit on their opposite heads as well as how consistent the silvers are. Hell, new Jango has his almost see through, it's stupid.


One thing I need to warn everyone is that Hasbro's quality control problems are hitting this figure hard. If you bend the elbows, regardless if the forearm is rotated to the inside or not, the hoses behind the arms will snap. Same goes for the belt straps if you move the legs even as carefully as possible. The former's issue stems from how stiff the materials are used for the hoses versus the starting points where they connect to the forearm armor, while the latter went as far as leaving a small gap within the chain, which makes the belt materials so thin that they cannot withstand the flexibility. How does a toy company NOT look through these issues?! I may have my issues with Kyle and Vos, but the problems that plagued Jango Fett take him from being a figure that's make me say "The lack of paint sucks but the figure is still good otherwise" to having so many issues I'm more than conflicted. If you love Dark Forces, Kyle Katarn is the best one. If you like Quinlan Vos regardless of which canon he abides by, maybe wait for a sale. If you're a Jango Fan, be ready to deal with these issues unless you want to fix them immediately. But as I always say in these reviews, NO ONE SHOULD HAVE TO FIX THEIR TOYS OUT OF THE PACKAGING!


Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Kyle & Vos)
⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Jango Fett)

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