It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed a Black Series figure, the Nightbrother Warrior is my first one this year! Gamestop and Hasbro jerked me around a bit with this exclusive, first it was delayed quite a bit, which I understand due to global conditions, but some places have had this figure forever. Then they canceled my order and made it available to order again very soon after canceling, so I re-ordered. Then they ended up shipping me two figures, the canceled figure and the re-order! So I was already a bit down on this guy when he arrived. Let’s take a look!
The packaging is crisp, clean, and classy, and includes an illustration on the side that makes a mural when combined with other figures in the Gaming Greats line up.
The Nightbrother is not exactly overflowing with accessories, he comes with one weapon and that’s it. It’s game appropriate and he can hold it well in a one or two-handed grip. It’s cast in a slightly metallic gray and has some paint for the straps and claw on the pommel.
Since I have two, a second weapon would have been nice for army building purposes as there are some other wicked looking maces in the game. The sculpting is really nice. He’s built on the Lucasfilm 50th Anniversary shirtless Maul body, which also re-used the first Maul’s lower body, and it’s such clever re-use I wonder which is the chicken and which is the egg. He is a little on the buff side to perfectly match the game’s more emaciated Nightbrothers, but it works pretty well.
The face is new and features a bit of a sneer and some nice pointy horns that are surprisingly sharp for a mass market toy. It made me go and double check the recent Maul and his horns are fairly sharp as well, if not as long. The articulation is a bit of a mix of old and new Black Series styles which makes sense since he’s half a new figure and half old. I especially like the way the ball and sockets in the head and neck allow for expressive tilt. The Nightbrother has:
- Swivel/hinge shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, and ankles
- Double hinged knees
- Ball and socket neck, head, and mid-torso
- Swivel thighs
- Butterfly pectoral hinges
He doesn’t have a waist swivel, which makes some of the posing look a little weird and the skirt does get in the way of forward leg movement. If you move the legs too far forward, it will make some stress marks where the skirt sculpt is slit as seen in the two photos above.
You can kick the leg forward, but it will cause those stress marks and the belt to ride up. I also noted that the ankles are very loose between indents and the feet are rounded off on the bottom, so balancing the figure can be challenging. I did end up slicing the skirt with a razor where the stress marks were on the skirt and it allows for better movement without the belt riding up as seen in the two photos below.
Paint is pretty nice with sharp work on the tattoos and some chalky parts on the chest and arms. His pants and boots could have used a dirty wash as they feel a bit too clean. I was thinking the textured paint they were bragging about using on the recent muddy Mando would have been good here for the chalky paint the Nightbrothers have all over their bodies in the game.
The tattoos on the face looked a little off around the mouth at first, but they are actually fairly close to the source material, though I still think the yellow line in the middle of his upper lip should be a little more to his left.
I give Hasbro plenty of grief for some of the boring or ineffective parts re-use they have done lately, but this one works really well for me. He’s a striking figure and the sculpting and bright yellow and black tattoos make this guy pop on the shelf. He’s just cool. The Nightbrothers were frustrating as heck to fight for me in the game, but I love having them in figure form to go with my Black Series Cal. I just wish there was some hope of getting the Nightsister Zombies, Merrin, or Taron Malicos to go with them.
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Source: Fwoosh
