Wave 3 of the Star Wars Black Series Galaxy Collection was made up of four figures, with three of them part of The Mandalorian collection in the shape of Greef Karga, Kuill and Moff Gideon as seen in Season 1. The wave also included the first figure from The Rise of Skywalker, the Dark Side Vision Rey. In the US the wave began to turn up at the end of 2020, while UK supplies were delayed until February due to Covid 19 and Brexit delays.
Rey is the first figure in the Galaxy Collection from The Rise of Skywalker, and is therefore number 01 in the line and lays down the precedent for the design with an ice blue colour scheme running round the box and into the artwork.
The figure is specifically named as Rey, with the Dark Side Vision added in subtitles to position the exact scene from which the figure is taken. The side art features a hooded Rey with the double bladed saber held across her body. Above her are the statues from the Sith temple on
Exegol. The blue colouring changes the hue of the picture to a more tranquil blue, and paints the saber blades as white. This image could, in this context, just as easily be a Jedi Rey.
The same image of Rey is repeated on the reverse of the box just above the numbering, confirming her as #01 in the Rise of Skywalker line. As there is no details at the time of writing what figure will come next, I carefully undid the side panel to see if the hidden part of the tabs held any clues....sadly they do not.
Alongside the rear art work is a short piece of text that reads...
"While searching for the Sith wayfinder, Rey envisions her turn to the dark side. Wielding a double-bladed lightsaber, her rage and immense power is frightening"
3.5
The Rey head sculpt has been getting better on each execution of the figure, and this Dark Side Rey is another decent likeness to Daisy Ridley. The head sits under the hood and the two are not attached, the head features a full face print treatment that darkens around the eyes for that Sith look that the figure is looking to achieve. The hair piece is sculpted, in place and painted but is not visible under the hood.
This is the same head from the standard Rise of Skywalker Rey release from 2019 (#91) with the face print adjusted to the more sunken Sith features. It would have been good to see a new head sculpt for the release, adjusting the head to include an open mouth look with the sharpened teeth - much more menacing.
The hood is made of a softer texture lined plastic and is glued to the figure - there is no option to remove this. The same ribbed texture is used in Rey's outfit down the torso and arms, with the arms ending in Rey's exposed fingers where the hand piece is cast in flesh tones with the bottom of the sleeve painted over with black. This does have some very minor issues where the black doesn't cover all the flesh tone it should. A ring is sculpted on the left hand and is neatly painted in black considering the scale.
The belt piece is smooth black plastic and part of the lower skirt which extends down with both a front skirt and rear skirt with gaps right up either side to aid articulation. The skirt uses a less defined ribbed texture and is cast in the base colour plastic which does differ ever so slightly from the upper torso and arms. beneath the skirt, the legs are sculpted with a bandaged effect rather than the lined texture and are again cast in black.
There are soft goods used as a final cloak piece and attached to the figure at the shoulders. The material is a similar one to that used on Darth Vader. It is cut to hang behind Rey and there is not sufficient to wrap it round the body or to create folds like the Vader's. The mix of soft goods and sculpted parts creates textural and colour anomalies in the figure. While both options have pros and cons, the mixed approach here doesn't work as you'd expect the cloaks hood to be the same colour and texture as the cloak?
3.5
The big thing with this version of Rey was of course another new lightsaber design with the folding dual blade. Hasbro have made this work at the 6 inch scale with the hilt including a hinge that allows the blades to be positioned in either configuration. This looks and feels quite robust, although it doesn't seem to close far enough to allow both blades to be exactly parallel - one always looks to be leaning away from the other.
The hilt itself is detailed with the shaped emitter, down through the main body to the grip section. The colour applications are also good with a silver base plastic with burgundy and black applied on top.
The lightsaber arrives with both blades fitted, but they are removable and come with a shaped end piece to line up with the shape of the emitter and the cut out it requires in the blade to accommodate it. Both blades are a deep translucent red, they are perfectly straight and the plugs on the end are quite substantial - although the fit into the hilt is tight.
4.0
Rey has a decent articulation count of 18 in total, including butterfly joints at the shoulder. The new dual jointed neck has not been included as it would have thrown the look of the neck and chest in the cut of her robes. Thankfully they have not added back in the pivot which can be a real eyesore.
Head : ball joint neck
Body : waist ball joint
Arms : butterfly shoulders, ball joint shoulders, single joint rotating elbow, wrist pivot
Legs : ball joint hips, thigh swivel, single joint rotating knees, ankle rockers
The head moves independently of the hood, with a good range of movement afforded it. The only issue this presents is that if the head is looking more down the hood looks too big. The best look is to have the head all the way up so the hood is casting a shadow over the eyes.
The arms are impressive, with the single elbow able to fold back almost on itself so Rey can mimic crossing her arms across her chest. This also works really well for saber wielding poses.
While the legs are fully mobile, the skirt pieces do not afford anything other than a standing pose. There is an argument here that a soft goods lower skirt solution would have allowed the leg articulation to be used to its full extent - although the trade off would be the figure looks as we saw with Vice Admiral Holdo.
4.0
As choices to launch the Rise of Skywalker collection goes, the Dark Side Rey is a bit of an odd choice considering the other characters yet to be made from the movie.
What we get is a pretty well executed recreation of the Rey from the Vision although it suffers from the split decision on soft goods vs sculpted parts leaving a hood with one texture and colour that then doesn't match the robes that flow from it. The head sculpt is a re-use also and the opportunity to go for a sharp filed teeth version of Rey is a miss.
The folding lightsaber is done well considering the scale and the hinge seems robust enough for play, although I think over time it will loose the ability to hold in position. There is also a small niggle that the blades are hard to get parallel when the blade is folded as the hinge wants to push them apart.
Figures from Rise of Skywalker, as with the other sequel properties, will always come down to fan demand and while Rey scores a solid 3.5 from me, she may well struggle to clear as many units as the three Mandalorian figures she is packed with - a fact Hasbro appear to be clued in to and why she is only 1 per case while Kuill, Gideon and Karga are 2 each.
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...
action figures, reviews, review, articulation, rise of skywalker, black series, star wars, galaxy collection, rey, dark side, vision, sith
There is a gold/bronze saber hilt Rey Dark Side variant in circulation. What can you tell me about that?