Cal Kestis Vintage Collection Review

 Back in 2019, Cal Kestis made his figure debut in Hasbro's Black Series to coincide with Force Friday as the last episodic Star Wars film hit movie theaters. However, that was based on the Jedi: Fallen Order video game. Vintage Collection fans and collectors begged Hasbro to make Cal in the one true scale of 3.75 inches, and Hasbro ignored them. While giving Black Series collectors not 1, but 2 Black Series figures. VC fans complained LOUDLY! Especially when background JFO figures got made. But fast forward to the present. Hasbro finally made Cal Kestis! But it's based on his new look from Jedi: Survivor, the new video game coming soon.

Cal sports 17 POA, and a first for me in VC figures. I had to place him in just boiled water because his leg joints were extremely tight! This was a problem on a couple 3.75 Black Series Deathtroopers, but not on a Vintage Collection figure I had owned. I repeated the process a day or two later and now the legs move easily, and I am not fearing I'll break the figure if I pose him. This problem has occurred with Hasbro's Dungeons and Dragons 6 inch line, and a couple of the new Black Series figures. But, if a figure you acquire has that problem with extremely tight joints, boil some water, and once it does take it off the burner and place the figure in water. Customizers do this to swap parts, but it helps loosen tight joints and gets rid of extra glue residue. Cal's articulation features the new ball jointed hips, however his holster inhibits the movement of his left leg. But his arms, upper body, head and knees and ankles move quite well with some practice. Standing isn't an issue, but I would recommend a stand if displaying him loose, and you will need one with small pegs because his boot peg hole is small. In one of my pictures I left him in an action pose and an hour later he was still standing! His upper body articulation was no trouble at all. He does have a vest that covers any waist articulation but it is described as being a ball joint, however the vest does inhibit any leaning forward of the upper body but it moves well side to side.

Cal comes with a lot of accessories! The best one is BD-1, the tiny Droid who accompanies Cal on his adventures. Sadly, he doesn't fit on his back as seen in JFO, but he has 3 POA just like his Black Series counterpart. Cal also comes with a blaster that snugly fits into a holster. His left hand is sculpted to hold the blaster. He comes with an unlit lightsaber hilt that attaches on his right hip. His lit lightsaber has a blue blade, and can fit in either his right or left hand. A THWG (two-handed weapon grip) can easily be achieved in dueling poses. My sample was also very cleanly painted, no streaks or flaws that I was able to see. They even did great on his stubble as Cal doesn't have the baby face he had in the previous game. I would recommend buying this figure, thanks for reading and please feel free to share this blog post!

Now, is Cal essential for your collection? Well, it depends on your collecting preference. He fits into the Clone Wars era/post Order 66 timeline, so if you want a Dark Times period figure (between ROTS and ANH) he fits. If you love video games, you might want to add him. But as someone who doesn't play new video games, I like Jedi figures, and to be the 2nd Jedi in this new wave of VC figures (Cal is a carry over figure in the next VC wave with Piett, Phase II Clonetrooper and undercover Cassian Andor) with Imperial Light Cruiser Luke as the other one, he was an easy buy. Despite having to place him in just boiled water to loosen him up, it is a good figure. Well sculpted and cleanly painted, and some extra accessories in this case do justify the $14.99 retail price.