Baze Malbus — Star Wars The Black Series #37

Overview

Red Line #37 is Baze Malbus — former Guardian of the Whills, Chirrut Îmwe’s partner, and Rogue One’s heaviest-armed member of the Jedha pair. Where Chirrut (#36) fights with a staff and a lightbow and a quality of serene conviction that seems to make him untouchable, Baze fights with a MWC-35c Mortar Cannon — a crew-served repeating heavy blaster that he carries and fires solo — and a pragmatic scepticism that amounts to the same thing. He is the Force-works-you-cover-me practical counterpart to Chirrut’s Force-is-always-with-me philosophical approach, and together they are Rogue One’s emotional core.

Jiang Wen’s specific Baze Malbus physique — broad, powerful, the weight and presence of someone who has been in difficult situations for a long time — translates at 6-inch scale into one of the Red Line wave’s more physically distinctive human figures. The heavy cannon accessory adds both practical display value and visual bulk that communicates the character’s role immediately. Two total releases: this Red Line original and a 2021 Galaxy Collection update. MSRP $19.99.

The Character

Baze Malbus’s arc in Rogue One is built on a single emotional question that the film answers in its last minutes: does he believe what Chirrut believes? He presents throughout the film as the secular counterpart — the one who carries actual weapons rather than faith, the one who rolls his eyes at the mantra, the one who stays because Chirrut stays rather than because the Force called him.

His death scene is the film’s answer. After Chirrut falls, Baze begins repeating “I am one with the Force, the Force is with me” — not mechanically but as grief made into prayer, as the only language available to express what Chirrut meant to him. He was a believer the whole time, or he becomes one in the moment it matters most. The film doesn’t resolve the ambiguity, which is the honest answer.

The heavy cannon is the visual language of Baze’s character: he is not the elegant warrior, the Force-guided fighter. He is the man who carries enough firepower to protect Chirrut from the galaxy’s hostility, who has been doing that specific job for years in the Jedha streets.

Accessories

MWC-35c Mortar Cannon (the heavy repeating blaster that Baze carries and operates solo — a crew-served weapon pressed into one-man use, which is a specific statement about his physical capability and his operational philosophy) and a blaster rifle as secondary weapon. Both fit the figure’s hands. The mortar cannon is one of the more substantial accessories in the Red Line sequence — it adds significant visual bulk to the figure’s display presence.

Articulation: 19 points. The upper body articulation is somewhat limited by the armour and cannon configuration, but the figure achieves the standing-with-cannon pose that is Baze’s primary display configuration accurately.

Both Black Series Baze Malbus Releases

Baze Malbus (2016/2017) — this figure: The original Red Line Rogue One release. Baze Malbus (Rogue One) (2021): The Galaxy Collection update with improved Jiang Wen portrait. The 2021 version is the current display recommendation for portrait accuracy.

The Chirrut-Baze Pair and the Rogue One Display

Baze and Chirrut at consecutive numbers — #36 and #37 — are the Red Line wave’s most naturally paired display. Everything about their display relationship is complementary: the staff-and-lightbow versus the heavy cannon communicates the difference in their approaches to force immediately; the monk’s robes versus the armoured ex-Guardian’s equipment tells the difference in their relationship to institutional faith; the facing-out standing poses work together in a way that two isolated figures don’t achieve.

The complete Rogue One team display: Chirrut and Baze at the centre for the emotional anchor, Jyn (#22) and Cassian (#23) flanking, K-2SO (#24) at the back for height. Against Krennic (#27) and Death Troopers (#25) as the Imperial force, this creates the complete Rogue One conflict in two formations.

Secondary Market

The Red Line Baze Malbus holds above-retail secondary market prices — slightly less than Chirrut due to the character’s lower profile with casual collectors, but sustained by Rogue One ensemble collectors who buy both simultaneously. No production variants documented.

Verdict

The Galaxy Collection Baze Malbus (2021) is the display recommendation for improved portrait quality.

Buy the Red Line #37 for: the matched Red Line pair alongside Chirrut Îmwe #36; the original Rogue One wave production; or Red Line sequence completion.

Baze’s Heavy Cannon as Character Statement

The MWC-35c is not a practical choice for a single operator — it’s a crew-served weapon that one person carrying it makes a specific statement about their physical capability and their priorities. Baze carries it because he has the strength to do so and because the scale of firepower required to protect Chirrut in the environments they operate in demands it. The cannon is not subtlety; it is the opposite of Chirrut’s approach, which means the two of them together cover every possible threat response from “serene deflection” to “overwhelming force.”

The cannon’s presence as an accessory is the figure’s most display-distinctive element. A standing Baze with the cannon held in two-handed firing position communicates the character’s tactical philosophy immediately — this is the heavy support half of a complementary pair, and the figure should always be displayed with the cannon deployed.

The Jedha Survivors

Chirrut and Baze survive the Jedha City holy city sequence — they’re present when Cassian and Jyn escape the city, they join the Rogue One mission because they have nowhere left to go after the Death Star’s targeted strike. Two Guardians of the Whills whose temple and city have been destroyed, who have nothing left to protect in an institutional sense, choosing to protect a specific set of people in the one mission that might make the destruction matter. The figure captures both of them at the beginning of that choice.

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Part of Star Wars The Black Series | Red Line. Related: Chirrut Îmwe P3-36 | All Baze Malbus figures | Rogue One | Jedha scene.