Finally, Star Wars: Dark Forces Representation in The Black Series.
The reluctant Jedi.
I was unreasonably excited to learn that the Star Wars video game franchise I grew up with, the Dark Forces trilogy, would finally be getting new action figures. If you’ve talked to me for any length of time, you know I’m a huge fan of the games, specifically Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight. I’m such a fan that my Discord’s general channel is named after the protagonist, after all.
But a figure of the most reluctant Jedi in all of Star Wars, morose mercenary with a heart of gold Kyle Katarn, is long overdue. The last iteration of the character in plastic form was a 2009 The Legacy Collection release. With the latest Black Series figure, we not only get a long overdue updated Kyle Katarn, but the first iteration of the figure in the 6” scale.
“There’s got to be a better way to make a living.”
I acknowledge I am an old man and, statistically, you may not know much about Kyle Katarn, so here’s a quick rundown on why he matters to Star Wars.
1995’s Star Wars: Dark Forces is honestly little more than another Doom clone, but the catch is that it’s got all the LucasArts attention to detail. The game has incredible (for the time) cutscenes and stellar voice acting, but the real success is in how it uses the Star Wars IP. Not content with just establishing the game’s protagonist as yet another hero in the galaxy, the game’s opening level canonizes Kyle at the time as the mercenary who stole the Death Star plans.
Throughout the remainder of the trilogy, Kyle shuts down the Dark Trooper program, battles a Dark Jedi, and even hangs out with Lando Calrissian and Luke Skywalker. The latter led to Kyle taking on an expanded role in Star Wars novels and a fourth game, Jedi Academy. Throughout the expanded media, Kyle becomes the Battlemaster of Luke’s reformed Jedi Temple, showing up as a pivotal figure throughout a number of EU titles.
Of course, Kyle’s pretty much wiped from existence these days. The feat of stealing the Death Star plans now belongs to Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor in Rogue One, and we don’t really know what’s going to happen with Luke’s new Temple between the events of The Mandalorian and The Force Awakens, beyond it being destroyed.
Kyle himself is also largely supplanted by Cal Kestis of the Star Wars: Jedi franchise, who seems to be filling the same role as the de facto video game hero. Dark Forces itself isn’t entirely forgotten by publishers — Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy have received updated ports, while Dark Forces received a remaster in 2020 — but the most important title in the series, Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight, is a little hard to get working these days. Here’s hoping for a port or, even better, a remaster soon.
“What a pleasant surprise!”
You’re really just here to read about the action figure, though, so let’s get down to it.
Kyle Katarn is #29 in the Gaming Greats sub-series, and the first with the Dark Forces line. That should be obvious, as I don’t believe the Dark Forces series has received much love in action figure form, period. Power of the Force had figures based on Kyle and a Dark Trooper, while The Legacy Collection had an updated Kyle, but that’s it.
(Hasbro, we sorely need a Jan Ors now.)
As for this figure, he’s about what you’ve come to expect from The Black Series. Kyle stands at 6” tall, which makes him a little shorter than the Obi-Wan Kenobi wave Vader and a little taller than the The Mandalorian wave Luke Skywalker. (He’s about the same size as the Jedi: Survivor Cal Kestis figure, if you’re keeping score.)
Articulation is nothing really unusual. Single elbows and knees, hinged wrists for pointing blasters and lightsabers, and a single hip ball with no chest articulation. Like the rest of The Black Series, he’s not meant to be a hyper posable figure that you put in a bunch of crazy lightsaber dueling positions, but a detailed representation of a character.
Boy, they nailed that, too. The face print here is a good match for how Kyle is depicted as the games go on, though it doesn’t appear to be based too much on retired actor Jason Court, who portrayed him in live-action cutscenes. Despite being billed as a Dark Forces figure, this is a mixed design based on Kyle’s Dark Forces II and Jedi Knight II looks. Notably, though, is the specific lightsaber included, which would be the larger hilt Kyle had from Jedi Knight II throughout his time in the EU.
Accessory-wise, the figure is a little on the thin side. There’s the aforementioned hilt, a single blade, a swooping blade, and a Bryar pistol, which appears to be reused from earlier Cassian Andor figures. Just one more thing Andor took from Kyle, I guess.
They’re fine. I don’t particularly think the swooping blade effect works as well as you’d like, and it makes the hilt heavy in a way that the figure struggles to hold it. Kyle really only has one hand that’s good for holding a hand; the other is a half-open pointing finger that can be finagled into gripping the hilt two-handed, but not well.
(I think the other hand is meant to hold the Bryar pistol with the finger off the trigger, but because of how the holster is angled, it wouldn’t make a ton for him to hold it left-handed? Maybe I’m over-thinking how this action figure holds its guns.)
There’s also just the fact that the included weapons are so low. You spend most of the games collecting weapons to use, after all. Couldn’t you include a stormtrooper rifle or a couple of thermal detonators to represent that?
To top it all off, my personal hell, the lightsaber peg, returns. Every Jedi character in this line has some form of peg and hole to mount a lightsaber on their waist, and they all suck. In Kyle’s case, there’s no clip on the hilt, so there’s instead a small protrusion that goes into a hole in his belt. It’s so small it may as well not be there, and while the soft, flexible rubber of the belt makes for some great poses, it means the hilt is going to fly off every time you move him around.
“I’d be a content old man!”
I feel like it’s a little hard for me to be objective about this one. Obviously, the appeal to me is this character I’ve loved since my childhood, which wasn’t available in a meaningful collectible for a long, long time. In that regard, I think it’s a great figure! It looks exactly like what I’ve been wanting, and while the accessories are thin, it does include everything it needs. (But seriously, Hasbro, Jan? And those Dark Jedi from Dark Forces II? It just seems like an easy slam dunk.)
On the other hand, I remain at odds with The Black Series. I’ve always found the figures to be technically excellent, but there’s something about the line that just misses the mark for me, and I’ve never been able to put my finger on it. It’s not helped by skyrocketing prices. I bought this at full price because I wanted to support new Dark Forces content, but I’ve seriously slowed down my buying of new figures.
The point stands: this is an excellent figure of a character most fans may not know about. If it appeals to you, you should get it! For me, it’s a grail figure I’ve wanted for years. For others, it may just be a piece that fits in perfectly with the rest of The Black Series. But I also think this is far from a must-have in a line that already has a lot of dudes with lightsabers.
Hasbro Star Wars: The Black Series Gaming Greats - Kyle Katarn is available now.