Cal Kestis - TBS [P3] - Six Inch Figures (93)

A Jedi Padawan during the Clone Wars, Cal Kestis narrowly escaped the horrors of Order 66 and was forced into hiding. Together with explorer droid BD-1, he embarks on a journey to rebuild the Jedi Order while evading the terrifying Imperial Inquisitorius.

Fall 2019 brings Star Wars fans a lot of new Star Wars Entertainment, and one of the featured multimedia events is the Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order video game. It has all of the elements and vibes of any other Star Wars video game multimedia event, but we’re feeling strong connections to Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. This connection is important because The Force Unleashed multimedia event was so much more than a video game. It was an experience. It was a story. And if you weren’t a gamer, you were still interested in the characters, and wanted to purchase the merchandise like the action figures and other things to not miss out on it. That’s where we feel Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order is headed. There is a “Starkiller-ish” lead character, Cal Kestis, a droid sidekick and a new “dark” character to keep everyone’s interest piqued thus far. Let’s hope the game exceeds expectations, and that Star Wars fans everywhere in the world will want to see more action figures from this video game come forth from Hasbro in the future. The Black Series [Phase III] Cal Kestis 6” figure is an excellent release. We’d give the action figure a perfect score, but once again, Hasbro gave the figure lanky legs that are a tad too spindly and way too long for the characters proportions. This is a frequently occurring trend we hope to see Hasbro fully resolve at some point. Aside from that, the figure is pure excellence.

What we know about Cal Kestis is that he’s a human male Jedi padawan. We also know he’s physically fit because of the jobs he’s had during his lifetime. And we know he has a great work ethic and possesses strength in the form of humility. We don’t know much about his Force sensitivity. Maybe we’ll learn more about that in the video game. But he did pick up some finely tuned Jedi skills like the Force push and he learned how to wield a lightsaber properly. Hopefully, we learn more about how he developed these skills. We’d hate to see him “just have them” like Rey or something similar. Ironically, Cal was chosen so he doesn’t compete with Rey in the Sequel Trilogy. It would diminish the quality of the character terribly. Despite any preconceived worry, we’re excited to see the new addition of Cal Kestis in the Star Wars universe. He’s a great character for marketability, and he should interest a bulk of the Star Wars collectors looking for a new Jedi to add to their ranks. Cal Kestis is beautifully designed. He has elements of Dash Rendar and Cade Skywalker throughout, yet is still fresh and unique to the Star Wars saga. Hasbro not only developed a wonderful body for Cal Kestis, but they also developed a stunning head sculpt, complete with Photo Real deco and tooling that will impress the most picky of collectors. Cal Kestis received a beautiful paint job, and there are many extra details throughout his costume to appreciate as well.

Cal Kestis comes with a lightsaber that breaks down into hilt and blade. It’s one of the longest hilts we’ve seen in the toy line, aside from Darth Maul’s, and it has a pronged end to it where the blade attaches. Cal Kestis can hold it with both hands together, or in either hand. And thanks to an incredible articulation system included two “butterfly” shoulder joints, Cal Kestis has a range of movement like no other. We’re happy to see Hasbro implement this premium articulation into so many of their figures now. Collectors will no doubt enjoy this action figure. But perhaps the greatest addition/accessory to a 6” action figure in a long time is the BD-1 droid that comes packed alongside of him. Always riding on Cal’s shoulder’s we hope BD-1 becomes a character that everyone enjoys, not much different than BB-8, but perhaps a little more serious in nature. BD-1 has a significant amount of articulation for a tiny droid. It comes with a swivel head, two swivel shoulders and “knees” and a couple of other points. It looks like a miniature AT-ST, for lack of a better description. Once again, we hope this tiny character is fully used in the video game. As far as his appearance in the video game, all we know at the moment about Cal Kestis is that he’s the main protagonist of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (which releases on November 15, 2019). The rest and best is yet to come. The figure is also available in First Edition white packaging.

This sample has been provided to us by Entertainment Earth.