"Extremely hostile to outsiders, Nightbrothers are skilled fighters proficient with a variety of weapons. Among their ranks may be found archers, capable of launching ranged energy bow attacks with deadly accuracy."
A good proportion of the Jedi: Fallen Order storyline was set on Dathomir, and instead of the usual Imperial Stormtrooper fodder, these missions set Cal Kestis against a swathe of Night Brothers. Hasbro converted these into a Gaming Greats release in 2021 with the Night Brother Warrior, and followed this up in 2022 with the figure we are reviewing here - the Night Brother Archer. The Archer was part of the Gaming Greats line and featured the usual slanted side packaging with turquoise blue colouring. It features the Gaming Greats hexagonal sticker on the window and was number 10 in the series positioned between the Umbra Operative Battlefront Clone Trooper and Sev from Republic Commando.
The Night Brother base figure dates back to the 2021 Publishing Wave 'Sith Apprentice' Darth Maul which itself re-uses the entire bottom half of the original 2013 Darth Maul from A Phantom Menace. This means we have a newer torso cast in a pinkish-red skin tone and embellished with some lighter salmon-coloured patches on the chest and arms. This is then painted over with black markings and a white circular emblem on the chest. The neck is an individual piece and is cast in black and connects the painted black of the chest with the head. The legs are the same as the original Night Brother and feature brown cast legs with voluminous trouser legs that tuck into glossier black shin-height boots. Over the top of the legs sits a softer skirt piece with a built-in belt and painted silver button.
The head is executed in a reverse of the body cast in black and then painted over with the soft pink/red skin tone to create the facial patterns. The facial pattern is crisp and most likely applied using some of the facial printing technology as do the eyes. The horns project from the head in bone colour and are sharp and angular and not softened by the use of more flexible plastic.
Our Night Brother has 19 points of articulation and is very much a figure of two halves. The legs are the very old 2013 format with pinned double-joint knees. They sit quite wide in their stance to begin with and are not overly easy to pose in upright stances, but can get into kneeling positions.
The torso is much more extensive in its movement with arms that include pinless joints at the elbows, and a shoulder that features both the pivot and butterfly joint. The head/neck joint which is ball jointed at both the top and bottom is the most expressive joint allowing the Night Brother to tilt his head adding to his menace.
As you would expect from the title, our Night Brother Archer comes with an energy bow - a new addition to the Black Series line and cast with a grey body and a red 'string'. While other energy weapons, particularly Omega's Energy Bow for comparison, the energy element has been created like a lightsaber with a translucent coloured plastic. Sadly, the Night Brother gets a dull painted red over the grey which is clearly less impressive.
The bow fits into either of the figure's hands, the right being the easier of the two to slot around the inner grip of the bow shaft. There is sufficient articulation for a handful of 'drawn' positions, but there is of course no projectile for the weapon to fire with as such.
These Gaming Greats of 2021/2022 were very much on the table because they could re-purpose other figures and the Night Brothers are a good example of that, directly repainting the Sith Apprentice Maul and throwing in a cheaper to develop a new weapon. While the weapon does the job, it really could have been better and that sums up the Night Brother Archer as a whole - a good release, without being great suffering more from the figure it originates from and the legs in particular. Good as background characters to enhance your Black Series Cal Kestis, very much the same role they play in the game.,
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About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...
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