Exo-6 has been making Sixth-Scale Star Trek figures for quite a while now, but oddly enough they went in hard with Voyager. Now, I’ve learned to look a lot more fondly on Voyager when I see what passes for Star Trek these days, but still not enough to pay $200+ a pop on Voyager figures, even though I think they look amazing. But when Exo-6 started tapping into Deep Space Nine, I was all like, Shut up and take my Gold-pressed Latinum! So far I’ve checked out Captain Sisko and Quark, and now it’s time for DS9’s second in command, Major Kira Nerys.

I love Kira as a character and I love Nana Visitor’s portrayal of her. I don’t want to go all political here, but Kira managed to project herself as a strong woman without having to resort to the tired girlboss tropes that are so commonplace today. She was opinionated, independent, sensitive, passionate, impulsive, and nearly all of this was conveyed beautifully in the first handful of episodes. But that’s what you get when you pair great writing with talented actors. Anyway, I was extremely excited to get this figure, so let’s get to it… The packaging is nice, albeit rather straight forward. You get a window box with a sleeve over it, much like what Hot Toys has been doing for a lot of their stuff. I often lament about how expensive figures should come with some higher quality presentation, but as I get older I care about that sort of thing a lot less. One odd quirk about Exo-6 is that their habit of using less-than-stellar pictures of the figure on the box, which seldom live up to the quality of what we actually get and that trend continues here. Everything about the packaging is collector friendly, and Kira arrives all ready for display.

Exo-6’s Captain Sisko, and the rest of the DS9 Starfleet Officers we’ve been shown, reference Season 5 onward by wearing the Starfleet uniforms that debuted in the movie, First Contact. Eventually, Kira would wear one of those uniforms, but I’m glad they didn’t go that route for her figure… at least not yet. What we got is her Bajoran Militia uniform, and I’m pleased with that. It’s changed a bit over the Seasons, I think this is about middle-of-the-series design, and it still works in context with the Starfleet figures. I’ll also note that they resisted the urge to maker her preggers, which she was in Season 5, although if you’re a talented customizer, maybe you can make that work. The uniform is mostly crafted in a very soft and stretchy red cloth, while the shoulders and arms are tailored in a heavier cloth with a printed crisscross pattern. The tailoring is immaculate and the stretchy parts of the uniform fits the figure perfectly. The thicker sleeves can come off as a bit baggy in some poses, but it’s not something that I’m too concerned over. The boots are cast in a reddish-brown soft plastic with high heels and the pants remain tucked in nicely. Both her comm badge and her collar rank are sculpted in plastic and she has a pleather-type belt with a molded holster for her phaser. It doesn’t look like the phaser holster is easily removable, which is something I would have liked to see, as she obviously didn’t wear it most of the time. On the other hand, probably would have always displayed it on her anyway.

I don’t think the portrait here is quite the slam dunk we got with Sisko and Quark, but I do think it’s a solid effort. The biggest issue I have with it is that under certain lighting the lines under her eyes look a lot more prominent than they should, which in turn makes her look older than she should. Maybe it’s because I always found Visitor to be really attractive as Kira and I just think this sculpt could have been a little more flattering to her. It’s not nearly as noticeable to me when I’m not punching in close under bright lights, but it is there, nonetheless. Otherwise, I think the eyes are painted very well and they nailed the mouth, and the nose makeup beautifully. Exo-6 has also shown quite the eye for the subtle art of creating realistic skin tones, and that’s certainly the case here. The hair is also a great sculpt, and while Kira has had a few different styles throughout the series, I think this one suited her best. Of course, her earring is recreated with some lovely detail, complete with the chain that clasps on to the top of her ear. Like I said, I think this portrait is solid work, but falls a little short of what we’ve seen with the first two figures.

As for articulation, I can’t be sure about exactly what’s going on under that uniform, but I know I like it. Kira has a lot more range of motion than Sisko or Quark and I attribute that to the lack of padding under the clothes, as well as the use of a more stretchy cloth. Now, with that having been said, I still tend to be cautious when posing her, because I don’t want to get the material snagged in her joints. Which brings me to have to point out that the thin costume material does betray the jointing going on under them, particular the knees. Because of the high boots, you will not always be able to get her feet flat on the floor in wider stances, but she does balance pretty well, despite the high heels. Hands include: Fists, relaxed hands, splayed finger hands, a right phaser hand and a left hand for holding the PADD.

As for accessories, there’s a lot of “been there, done that” with the inclusion of a Starfleet issue PADD and Tricorder, These are both nice accessories and Exo-6 certainly has them perfected by now. The Tricorder continues to use the clever magnet design so it can be displayed opened or closed, rather than bother with a fragile hinge. But, I think Exo-6 cheaped out here by not giving us a Bajoran Tricorder and a Bajoran PADD. Accessories tend to be limited with these releases, and I think the cost really warranted going the extra mile here. I’ll also add that while the Phaser hand works OK for the Tricorder, I would have liked a more dedicated hand for that piece of equipment.

Thankfully, they did include her Bajoran Phaser, which fits into the holster on her belt. I’ve always liked this design and still have the toy version that Playmates produced back in the day. Exo-6 did a wonderful job recreating it here with some nice sculpted detail and lots of paint hits. The dedicated hand works really well with it too.

And finally, you get the same Transporter Pad style stand we’ve been seeing with all of these releases, but with one difference. Kira gets a waist ring on top of the post instead of a crotch cradle. I’m not entirely sure why they did this, but I would have preferred the crotch cradle, as I worry about the waist loop damaging the uniform over time. Otherwise, I like these stand designs. There’s also a transparent character card that can be clipped onto the stand, but I don’t bother with these.

I hope it didn’t sound like I came down too hard on Kira, because truth be told I do really love this figure. I think it’s probably a testament to how amazing Exo-6’s Star Trek figures tend to be that even a really good figure garners some criticism by comparison. I had precious little to nitpick when it came to Sisko or Quark, but Kira wound up earning a few quibbles, which I think were justified. The good far outweighs the problems, but if I were to lean hard on something it would be the accessories. She really needed more Bajoran equipment. And not offering an Essentials version with a Celestial Orb feels like a colossal misstep. Oh, and for the record, if they redo Kira in the Starfleet Uniform with the super cute hairstyle, I’d be on board for it. In the meantime, Odo should be up for release any time now, my preorder for Dr. Bashir is locked in, and I do believe a certain Trill will be dropping for preorder next!