Nightsister Merrin — Star Wars The Black Series #GG 28

Overview

Nightsister Merrin at #GG 28 is the Gaming Greats Collection’s Mantis Crew Nightsister figure — the magic-wielding Dathomirian from the Jedi: Survivor video game (and its 2019 predecessor Jedi: Fallen Order), one of Cal Kestis’s closest allies across both games. Released July 2025 as a single-boxed mainline release. Non-exclusive — the sixth mainline-distributed Gaming Greats figure. MSRP $24.99 (year-imprinted 2024). Four accessories: a knife, a removable plastic vest, a staff, and a green witch effect for Force-magick combat poses. 18-joint articulation including butterfly shoulders and the rare swivel-boot articulation. The figure captures Merrin’s Survivor-era configuration with screen-accurate accessory engineering supporting both melee combat (knife and staff) and magick-effect (the green witch effect) display configurations.

The Mantis Crew Position

The packaging text frames the character context cleanly: a powerful magic-wielding member of the Mantis Crew, Merrin spent most of her life in Dathomir after escaping the massacre of her coven. She became an ally to Cal Kestis, leading her to leave Dathomir and pursue her own path. The Mantis is the player crew’s ship across both Fallen Order and Survivor — Cal Kestis’s mobile base of operations and the social hub for his allied characters.

For collectors building Mantis Crew displays, Merrin completes a meaningful subset of the crew with available figures (Cal Kestis at #GG 02 Deluxe and #GG 17 Survivor, Greez Dritus and Cere Junda still pending Hasbro releases). The figure represents one of Cal’s closest allies in plastic form, supporting the canonical character group display from both games.

The Four-Accessory Loadout

Hasbro included four accessories with Merrin: a staff, a green witch effect, a knife, and a removable plastic vest. This is one of the more generous accessory loadouts in the Gaming Greats Collection at the $24.99 mainline price point — comparable to the four-accessory Darth Malak at #GG 20 and substantially richer than the standard mainline two-saber configuration most figures ship with.

For collectors evaluating accessory-per-dollar value, Merrin sits among the better-equipped mainline Gaming Greats figures. The varied accessory types (melee weapons, costume removable, magick effect) support multiple distinct display configurations rather than just the standard saber-on/saber-off binary.

The Knife and Holster

The knife fits well into both hands, and it can be stored in the holster which is located on Merrin’s back. The dual-hand grip support and the back-mounted holster combine for screen-accurate display flexibility — collectors can adopt the deployed-knife combat configuration, the holstered-knife at-rest configuration, or the dual-hand defensive configuration where both hands are free for magick gestures. The functional holster mounting is the kind of integrated equipment design that elevates figures above generic loadout configurations.

The Green Witch Effect

The figure’s most distinctive accessory: a green witch effect representing Merrin’s Nightsister magick abilities. The green witch effect has a hole in it which lets you plug it onto both hands (this works very well). The effect supports the screen-accurate display of Merrin’s Force-magick channeling — the green energy emanating from her hands during combat sequences, a defining visual element of the character’s depiction across both Fallen Order and Survivor.

The dual-hand mounting capability means collectors can adopt configurations where the magick is channelled through one hand (with the other hand free for the knife or staff) or both hands (for the maximum-magick combat configuration). This is the kind of character-specific accessory engineering that distinguishes well-tooled figures from generic ones — Hasbro committed to capturing Merrin’s specific visual identity rather than substituting a generic accessory loadout.

The Removable Vest and Permanent Belt

The belt is not removable, but you can take Merrin’s vest off. The vest is the figure’s primary removable costume component — supporting both the with-vest (canonical Survivor combat configuration) and without-vest (alternative or pre-vest configuration) display states. The integrated belt provides the structural anchor for the holster mounting, so its non-removable status is appropriate to the engineering design.

For collectors who want kitbashing flexibility or display variation across costume states, the removable vest is meaningful. Most Phase 4 figures ship with permanently bonded costume elements; the vest’s removable design is the better engineering approach.

The Staff

The figure is able to grab the staff nicely. The staff is Merrin’s secondary melee weapon — a Nightsister-style combat implement supporting two-handed grip configurations or single-hand display. Combined with the knife (single-hand combat), the figure supports multiple weapon-display configurations across the four-accessory loadout.

The Sculpt and Paint Application

The figure was sculpted nicely, and the details in the face are impressive and were well painted. Detailed reviewers’ assessment is positive — Hasbro committed to capturing Merrin’s specific Dathomirian Nightsister character configuration with sharp definition. The face reads correctly under display lighting and matches the in-game character model.

For Merrin specifically, the head sculpt needs to capture her specific facial markings (the Nightsister tattoos and pale skin tone that define the character class) along with her individual character configuration. The figure handles this cleanly across both the sculpted detail and the paint application.

The Paint Critique

Merrin is an overall very clean-looking figure, and a little wash on the outfit would have improved the appearance. Same recurring critique that affects most Phase 4 releases — the figure ships with clean paint application that doesn’t reflect the deployment grime the source material’s characters typically carry. For Merrin specifically, the impact is moderate — the Nightsister character configuration includes specific clean-looking elements (the pale skin tone, the dark outfit) that read as more screen-accurate than for combat-grime-heavy figures. But a wash application across the lower outfit and the staff would have substantially improved the figure’s visual depth.

The Articulation

18 joints. Ball-jointed top neck, ball-jointed lower neck, butterfly joints in the shoulders, ball-jointed shoulders, swivel-hinged elbows, ball-jointed wrists, ball-jointed waist, barbell-jointed hip, swivel-hinged knees, swivel boots, rocker ankles. The combination of butterfly shoulders, ball-jointed waist, and swivel-boot articulation provides strong dynamic-pose flexibility. The swivel boot joints are unusual within the Phase 4 line — supporting additional foot-positioning flexibility that most figures lack.

We placed Merrin into different dynamic poses and never experienced any frustration posing her. The figure’s articulation engineering is well-tuned across the range of motion the character requires, supporting both magick-channeling poses (arms extended with the green witch effect) and melee-combat configurations (knife or staff drawn).

The Dathomirian Nightsister Species

Merrin is canonically a Dathomirian Nightsister — a magic-wielding species variant from the planet Dathomir. The species classification is established within the broader Black Series catalogue (5 prior nightsister species slug uses in the Hasbro figure catalogue), distinct from the related but separate dathomirian-zabrak classification that covers Darth Maul, Savage Opress, and the Nightbrother characters at #GG 05 and #GG 10.

The Nightsister vs Dathomirian-Zabrak distinction matters for species-roster collectors — Nightsisters are the magick-wielding female lineage of Dathomir, while Dathomirian-Zabraks are the male combat-warrior lineage represented by Maul and the Nightbrothers. Both lineages share the planet of origin but represent culturally and genetically distinct populations within the broader Dathomirian species family.

The Mural Collection Position

Merrin sits at the twenty-eighth position in the Gaming Greats Collection mural display. For loose display, the figure works best alongside the other Jedi: Survivor figures (Cal Kestis at #GG 17, B1 Battle Droid at #GG 16, KX Security Droid at #GG 15, Riot Scout Trooper at #GG 14, Rocket Launcher Trooper at #GG 22, Dagan Gera at #GG 27) for a Survivor-era ensemble. The figure also pairs specifically with Cal Kestis Survivor at #GG 17 for the protagonist-and-ally Mantis Crew display configuration.

Secondary Market

Single-boxed mainline release, non-exclusive, July 2025. Available at MSRP through standard retail and the secondary market with broad availability. The mainline distribution and the $24.99 MSRP keep the figure accessible. Verify the knife, the staff, the vest, and the green witch effect are all included. The green witch effect is the small part most likely to be lost in transit. No production variants documented.

Verdict

Detailed reviewers’ summary captures the figure’s value cleanly: all things considered, Nightsister Merrin makes a wonderful addition to the Black Series Gaming Greats figure line-up. The four-accessory loadout supports multiple distinct display configurations, the green witch effect is the kind of character-specific accessory engineering that elevates the figure above generic loadout territory, the swivel-boot articulation provides additional posing flexibility, and the figure stands reliably across dynamic combat poses.

The clean paint application is the recurring Phase 4 critique. The integrated belt limits costume kitbashing flexibility, though the removable vest provides one meaningful customisation option. The figure’s overall design and execution are stronger than the standard mainline Gaming Greats baseline.

Buy this figure if you collect Jedi: Survivor or Fallen Order, if you build Mantis Crew displays, if you want a well-tooled Nightsister representation for Dathomirian species rosters, or if the green witch effect accessory matters to you for screen-accurate magick-display configurations. The $24.99 MSRP at four accessories is among the best value-per-dollar in the collection.

The Mantis Crew Nightsister with the green magick effect. The well-equipped Survivor mainline figure. The figure with the swivel boots and the removable vest. Mainline distribution, July 2025.

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Part of Star Wars The Black Series | Phase 4 Gaming Greats Collection. Related: Cal Kestis (Jedi Survivor) P4-GG-17 | Dagan Gera P4-GG-27 | Cal Kestis (Deluxe) P4-GG-02.