Maz Kanata - TBS [P3] - Six Inch Figures (49)

The destruction of her castle has forced Maz to become more mobile and take a more hands-on (and blasters-firing) role in the turbulent criminal underworld. She offers help in the struggle against the First Order by pointing the Resistance toward a mysterious new ally.

Why does it take Hasbro so long to make key characters in The Black Series 6” line when they should have been out at product launch? Obviously they couldn’t get to all of the characters from Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens in 2015, so they slowly but surely have been adding them to the line one by one ever since. Let’s face it. Whether you like her or not, Maz Kanata was a glaring omission in 2015. In fact, it wasn’t until 2016 that Hasbro released Maz Kanata in the Takadona Encounter multipack. But now with the Force Friday II launch comes new waves of The Black Series [Phase III] 6” figures and Maz Kanata finally gets her place in the sun (although her technical street date is October 1, 2017). As you’d expect, Maz Kanata comes loaded with articulation. Hasbro didn’t sacrifice any articulation in her very short stature. Loaded with 28 points of articulation, Maz Kanata can do anything and everything any other 6” figure can execute. And Hasbro didn’t stop Maz Kanata’s goodness there. Feeling that her small size doesn’t necessarily warrant a $21.99 MSRP, they graciously included her chest that was found in the bowels of her castle along with a blaster rifle and Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber hilt. It does feel like you get what you pay for with Maz Kanata. It’s refreshing getting so many accessories (even if they’re present just to make up for a loss of perceived value).

Star Wars fans are on the fence when it comes to Maz Kanata. She seems to fall into opinions that do not fall in any middle ground. Some collectors love her while the rest do not. But no matter your feelings on her there is no denying that Hasbro did right by us with how they approached her as an action figure. Many have made the comparison already. She is an alien version of Sophia Petrillo from The Golden Girls. And quite frankly, that’s exactly who we think of when we look at Maz Kanata. Her large glasses, her pruned orange/copper skin tone, her gaudy jewelry, her red pearls and her turquoise sweater reinforce that this character is aged and wise. It appears to us that Hasbro has paid close attention to her fine details and have replicated them beautifully. Even her multicolored socks are neatly applied with paint and accurately reflect the character we saw in The Force Awakens. Her eyes are warm and inviting and she is very reminiscent of Yoda. You can’t help but make the comparisons. Her outfit has been faithfully recreated on her. Hasbro sculpted a separate gray vest that is simple to remove and replace on the figure. And her goggles move thanks to swivel articulation so you can interchangeably have her wear them or not wear them depending upon the moment. Obviously Hasbro has given collectors a great deal of features with Maz Kanata. You should count yourselves blessed.

If you’re into the new characters from the Sequel Trilogy, Maz Kanata fills a very important hole in your collection. Again, we find it very surprising that it has taken Hasbro this long to get her out. In our opinion she should have been on their radar a very, very long time ago. Perhaps there is no sense being fixated on such a moot point because the figure is now released. We hope that figures like Maz Kanata work in Hasbro’s favor. We personally don’t find much interest in characters like Maz Kanata and would have been fine if they never made her for the 6” line. But from the crowds we hearing and feeling the anticipation of Star Wars collectors and can see that interest does exist. It will be interesting if she has a major role in Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. The bio on her packaging is very ambiguous and seems to hint at some bigger role in the next Star Wars film. But we can be very off on that opinion too. Either way, you should know that Maz Kanata is a beautifully designed action figure. Figures that require this much deco are very expensive for Hasbro to make. And not only is she loaded with varying colors, but Hasbro also included a ton of accessories too. We’re not sure what the total cost was to prepare this figure for us, but we imagine that she wasn’t cheap to produce. Judge her not by her size because this is a quality 6” figure.