Long overdue is an understatement.  Chirrut Îmwe has finally arrived in proper super-articulated 3.75” form.  And he is glorious.

This is one of the best figures Hasbro has produced, and that’s saying quite a bit, as they’ve hit many home runs over the past 2 years.  On the heels of K-2SO coming in the previous wave, we now have 4 of the 6 members of the Rogue One team in TVC.

First off, the face.  The sculpt is pretty good, and the Photoreal seems to capture the milky eyes pretty well.  As usual, samples may vary wildly.  Mine happens to be slightly askew, but not enough to be too noticeable.  The effect, from a reasonable distance, is excellent.  A small, but measureable improvement over the RO 5POA figure.

The figure sculpt is top-notch, with a lot of detail sculpted into the outfit.  The bits of armor are well represented.  There is a separately sculpted bandolier/cloak piece, which fits snugly on the figure.  It’s probably removable, but there was no reason for me risking breakage to prove this one way or the other.  Chirrut comes with a soft goods lower skirt, which comes in two pieces of differing colors.  This adds some outstanding depth, while allowing for lower body range of motion, as well as a little dynamism if you can coax it into an action position to help simulate movement in the figure.

The articulation is top notch.  All the blocks are checked to qualify for the best Hasbro can offer in 2020.  Chirrut sports the barbell neck, along with ball joints at the shoulders, elbows, wrists, torso, hips, and knees.  He’s got the now ubiquitous thigh swivel.  Most importantly, he comes with ROCKER ANKLES!  This is always worthy of an ALL CAPS mention.  This style of articulation elevates every figure to a level beyond most others, allowing for action poses that are more varied and realistic than can be achieved with mere ball jointed ankles.  The range of motion of most of the joints is outstanding.  The head could probably stand a little more range, while the sculpt of the armor cuff on the left wrist also impedes full potential of that joint.  But none of this is a dealbreaker.

One bonus with the articulation is that Hasbro manages to accomplish something here, that they’re just starting to show in a few of the most modern figures.  The elbows and knees are able to bend past 90 degrees.  This is allows for some exceptional natural-looking poses.

There is one negative with the figure, however.  The aforementioned plastic cape/cloak that is part of the separately sculpted bandolier assembly hangs low enough that it may inhibit certain poses.  Kneeling can be beautifully achieved with the available articulation, but the cloak can prevent the knee from touching the ground, creating a strange floating effect.  You can possibly work around this.  I did my best in photo 15, but I had to photograph from an angle that hid the offending hovering knee.  It’s not a big deal, and the monstrous customizers out there can probably solve the problem using their mohel skills on the bottom of the cape.  But enough about this very uncomfortable train of thought.

The accessories are excellent.  You get Chirrut’s trusty walking stick, feared by stormtroopers across the galaxy.  Chirrut can be posed in a variety of convincing ways ranging from peaceful contemplation to raising hell.  The stick fits a bit loosely in his right hand, which is sculpted in order to better accommodate the grip on the second accessory, the crossbow, which comes in two pieces.  Chirrut’s articulation allows for a perfect two-handed weapon grip on this weapon, and he looks great as you can have him shooting down a TIE Fighter from the stormy night skies of pretend Eadu.  The only complaint I have with the accessories is that the bronze horizontal crossbow piece doesn’t fold away as it does in the film for basic carrying when not at the ready.  Also, that same piece can easily break off.  It’s stuck in place with two tiny dabs of factory glue.  Don’t be a Neanderthal and break it off accidentally.

It’s a nearly perfect figure.  If I must nitpick, it would be the left wrist articulation and the too-long plastic cloak.  Posing the figure for this gallery was a lot of fun.  Sometimes this exercise can be a chore, but not in this case.  I really love this figure, and will give it a 9.  It’s really a 9.5, but I felt that the nitpicks I just described must force me to keep the score shy of a perfect 10. But you will love this figure.  Now we more urgently need Hasbro to complete the crew with Baze Malbus and Bodhi Rook.  Let’s do this!