Qui-Gon Jinn — Star Wars The Black Series #40
The Black Series Qui-Gon Jinn — Red Line #40, 2017. The Phantom Menace Jedi Master with green lightsaber and Jedi robes. Liam Neeson portrait. Collector guide covering all three Qui-Gon releases.
Overview
Red Line #40 is Qui-Gon Jinn — Qui-Gon Jinn, Jedi Master, teacher of Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the man who found Anakin Skywalker on Tatooine and insisted the Jedi Council accept him as a Padawan over their explicit objections. Qui-Gon is The Phantom Menace’s most philosophically interesting character — more committed to the living Force than the institutional Jedi Order’s rules, willing to act on his own judgement when it conflicts with the Council, and ultimately responsible, in both the positive and tragic senses, for setting the entire Skywalker saga in motion.
The Liam Neeson portrait is pre-Photo Real and approximates his specific features at this production era’s standard. Three total Black Series Qui-Gon releases — this Red Line 2017 original, a 2021 Galaxy Collection TPM update, and a 2023 Force Spirit variant — track the character across both his physical and post-physical appearances. MSRP $19.99.
The Character
Qui-Gon Jinn’s specific position in the franchise is as the Jedi who was right about the wrong things at the right time. He identified Anakin Skywalker as the Chosen One, insisted on his training against the Council’s better judgment, and died before he could complete it — leaving Obi-Wan to train a boy he wasn’t ready to train. The tragedy of the prequel trilogy is built on this specific handoff: Qui-Gon’s conviction that Anakin was the answer to a prophecy met Obi-Wan’s uncertainty about his own readiness, and the combination produced the padawan training that ultimately failed.
His philosophy of the living Force — the idea that the Force speaks through present moments and living things rather than through prophetic patterns or institutional doctrine — set him at odds with the Jedi Council throughout his career. The Council respected his ability but found his independence inconvenient. He was never made a Council member precisely because he would not be managed.
The duel on Naboo with Darth Maul is the film’s defining action sequence and Qui-Gon’s death is its emotional centre: the moment the Sith return from apparent extinction and claim their first Jedi victim in a thousand years, specifically the Jedi who most nearly understood what was happening and what needed to be done about it.
Accessories
Green lightsaber with removable blade — the specific colour that distinguishes Qui-Gon from the blue-saber Obi-Wan configuration, and one of the rarer lightsaber colours in the franchise’s Jedi roster. The blade removes from the hilt for deactivated display; both hands can hold the hilt in the standard two-handed high guard stance that characterises Qui-Gon’s combat style.
Articulation: standard Red Line scheme for a robed Jedi figure, providing the stance and guard poses appropriate to the character’s display.
The Liam Neeson Portrait
The Liam Neeson portrait is one of the more challenging pre-Photo Real assignments in the Red Line wave — Neeson’s specific features at around 45, the particular quality of calm authority in his face, and the long hair that frames it are all approximated in hand-applied paint. At display distance the portrait reads as the character; close inspection reveals the era’s precision limits. The 2021 Galaxy Collection TPM Qui-Gon delivers improved likeness at Photo Real quality.
All Three Black Series Qui-Gon Releases
Qui-Gon Jinn (2017) — this figure: The original Red Line TPM configuration. Qui-Gon Jinn (TPM) (2021): Galaxy Collection update with Photo Real Liam Neeson portrait. Qui-Gon Jinn (Force Spirit) (2023): Post-death Force ghost configuration, translucent blue with the specific ethereal finish used for Force spirit figures. The three releases cover the character’s complete canonical arc: living Jedi Master, and Force spirit who speaks to Yoda and Obi-Wan from beyond.
Qui-Gon and the Force Immortality Tradition
Qui-Gon Jinn was the first Jedi to achieve consciousness after death — the ability to maintain individual identity within the Force rather than simply dissolving into it. Yoda and Obi-Wan both learn this technique partly because of Qui-Gon’s pioneering of it. The 2023 Force Spirit figure represents this specific achievement; the Red Line #40 represents the living Jedi before that transition.
For display: Qui-Gon alongside Obi-Wan Kenobi ROTS (P2-08) creates the teacher-student relationship that precedes the Obi-Wan-Anakin teacher-student relationship — the chain of mentorship that defines the entire prequel era. Qui-Gon alongside Darth Maul creates the Naboo duel display.
Phantom Menace in the Red Line
The Red Line’s prequel era representation expanded significantly with Qui-Gon at #40 — the first TPM Jedi in the numbered sequence after the Clone Wars-era Obi-Wan and the ROTS figures that came earlier. The Phantom Menace has historically been the most underrepresented prequel film in the Black Series relative to its cast, and Qui-Gon’s inclusion acknowledged both his importance to the saga and the persistent collector demand for the character. The 2021 Galaxy Collection update confirmed that demand had not diminished.
Secondary Market
The Red Line Qui-Gon holds above-retail secondary market prices — the character’s importance and the pre-Photo Real portrait’s limitation both contribute to sustained demand for the 2021 GC update, but the 2017 original retains its own collector constituency. No production variants documented.
Verdict
The Galaxy Collection TPM Qui-Gon (2021) is the display recommendation for Photo Real Liam Neeson portrait quality.
The Phantom Menace has always occupied an unusual position in collector consciousness — simultaneously the most criticised of the prequel films and the one that introduced some of the franchise’s most enduring designs. Qui-Gon Jinn, Darth Maul, the Naboo fighters, the Trade Federation aesthetic: all of these originated in a film whose reception was complicated but whose visual contribution to the franchise was substantial. The Red Line #40 Qui-Gon acknowledges that contribution at the numbered-sequence level, placing the first prequel Jedi Master in the main line between the Rebels’ Ghost crew and the Original Trilogy figures.
Buy the Red Line #40 for: the first Black Series Qui-Gon Jinn and its place filling the gap in the Red Line numbered sequence; the TPM Jedi Master configuration; or as a budget alternative where the 2021 version is unavailable.
Part of Star Wars The Black Series | Red Line. Related: All Qui-Gon Jinn figures | The Phantom Menace | Jedi Order faction | Obi-Wan Kenobi ROTS P2-08.