If you haven’t played Jedi: Survivor yet, you’re about to have some plot points spoiled.  In fact, if looked at the images first, you already have.  But let’s be honest.  If you haven’y played the game yet, you never will.  Stop lying to yourself, and just go back to playing Candy Crush on your phone.  As the name on the pill suggests, Merrin is one of the few Nightsisters who survived General Grievous’ massacre on Dathomir.  The character debuts in the first game of the series, Jedi: Fallen Order.  She initially starts out dubious of outsiders, but eventually you (as Cal Kestis) gain her trust, and she joins the Mantis crew together with former Jedi Cere Junda, pilot Greez Dritus, and of course Cal. During Jedi: Survivor, Merrin fights along side Cal at several points, usually against boss-level enemies, and she is also his romantic interest, as indicated by the last picture.  It’s surprisingly difficult to simulate a kiss with two 3.75” characters.

Merrin serves as a milestone of sorts for the Vintage Collection.  She is the first figure from the wildly popular Jedi video game series that is not Cal himself or one of the many anonymous enemies.  The later have all been repaints and/or minor retools of existing trooper figures.  Prior to this release, VC265 - Cal Kestis was the only 100% newly tooled figure from the series.  In a vacuum, Merrin was not the correct choice to be the second figure.  Strictly based on fan requests, the Second Sister (Trilla Suduri) is far and away more in-demand, but when considering the context of the line, some sense can be made of Hasbro’s decision for the second Jedi series named character.  The aforementioned VC265 Cal is based on his appearance in Jedi: Survivor (the second game in the series).  The Second Sister only appears in Jedi: Fallen Order (the first game in the series).  We don’t have Fallen Order Cal, which is almost a prerequisite for a Second Sister.  Almost.  Fans of the Inquisitorious would want her strictly as an Inquisitor, and wouldn’t care about the lack of in-game context.

Regardless, Hasbro likely opted for a Jedi: Survivor Merrin to serve as a companion piece to VC265.  Unfortunately, this decision might not have connected with fans.  Despite Hasbro Pulse now only stocking very low levels of Vintage Collection figures, Merrin never sold through despite being a 100% newly tooled figure.  Aside from the Rocket Trooper (which has zero new tooling to the figure itself), every other offering from the assortment sold out on Pulse a while ago.  She is likewise in-stock on Amazon as of the time of this writing.  But she is sold out on Entertainment Earth, which may indicate popularity with the more hard core fans.  Anyway, I hope this doesn’t sour the prospects of more Jedi series figures.  I absolutely love the games, and would happily take a lot more figures from the source.  If Amazon and Bain Capital didn’t deal a fatal one-two blow to Toys R Us, we’d likely have every major character already instead of just two.  As for myself, I was very excited when this Merrin was announced.  It’s the figure I wanted the most from this assortment, hence why I reviewed it first.

Okay, we’ve now had three paragraphs discussing subjects in the orbit of the figure, but what about the figure itself.  It’s everything you’d expect out of a newly tooled figure in 2025.  It doesn’t have any fatal flaws that necessitate thousands of word of explanation.  But it’s not perfect.  It loses a point for a foe that has been creeping up with increasing frequency lately:  it’s not EV-9D9 disproportionately long thighs.  It makes the figure look goofy, for lack of a better word, in certain poses, but unlike other recent long-thighed releases, it doesn’t affect the balance in fighting crouches.  For an example of what I’m talking about, look at image 6 above.  I think it looks weird like Merrin’s legs are bending two thirds of the way up the shins.  If I’m alone in this opinion, I’ll stop bringing it up in future reviews.  That issue aside, the range of motion throughout the figure is outstanding.  The knees and elbows both bend beyond ninety degrees.  The ankles have excellent range of motion both up and down, which really allows you to take advantage of the exceptional knee bend for aggressive fighting poses.  The other bummer (which also would preclude a perfect score) is the lack of hinged wrists, which is common on female figures due to the thinner arms.  It’s is sorely missed when interacting with all three accessories (the spear, knife, and the green majik effect).

To facilitate that majik effect, Merrin comes with swappable right hands.  One has the classic c-grip for gripping either the spear or knife, which tucks away in a sheath in the small of the figure’s back.  The other hand looks like a “Force push” hand.  The green majik effect has a recess the exact shape of that hand.  As a result, it doesn’t so much clip to the hand as fiction holds it in place.  My experience was that it was a bit like a Wacky Wall Walker.  It got a little less grippy with each use, but that was likely operator error.  My old eyes probably weren’t allowing me to align the hand and recess properly.  The only reason I brought this up was so I could make the Wacky Wall Walker reference for my fellow Gen-X’ers.  Once I got it securely on the hand, I had zero problems with it falling off.  If you recall back the press photos for Merrin, she’s posed with her palm up and the swirling green accessory is pointing skyward like a conjuring effect.  That’s not my take on it.  I feel like it’s supposed to mimic the energy blasts she shoots at Cal’s enemies, which is how I posed it for the gallery.  If my read is correct, it lends credence to my criticism of the lack of hinged wrists.  It would have made those poses more effective.

In the game, Merrin is probably overpowered, so much so that it begs the question why she isn’t the protagonist.  She appears to have all the capabilities of a Jedi combined with a smattering of X-Men powers.  That story telling fault aside, all those capabilities demand a highly posable and dynamic figure.  Hasbro delivered on that, and the Photo Real paint applications on the face nicely capture the emotional detachment that the character embodies.  If you’re passing on this release because you’re unfamiliar with the source, you might want to reconsider.  Merrin is a cool character and now has a well executed figure.  If the frequent rumors of the Kestis-verse coming to Disney Plus bear fruit, you might regret skipping this Nightsister Merrin.