I’m still having some camera issues, so my apologies for a couple of the pics not being quite up to standard, but I’m out of time and I’m going to run with them. During Top Ten Week, I snagged the second wave of Star Wars Black Series from BBTS. I’m still conflicted on Star Wars Black as a whole. I enjoy Star Wars, but not to the extent that I need every Tom, Dick, & Greedo adorning my shelves.
I want to see this line thrive. I love this scale and I want to see just how far Hasbro can take Star Wars at this scale (and maybe G.I. Joe someday… just sayin’), but I am going to have to draw line. The problem is that I’ve already crisscrossed it so many times with the first eight figures! Take Han Solo as an example. I definitely don’t need multiple Solos. Heck, it even doesn’t make sense if you think about it. Multiple Solos.
But which version of Han Solo I would need? This first one is certainly a good choice. Han as we first meet him (well, maybe before we meet him, but hold that thought). I think though, that I’m partial, strangely, to a Bespin Han Solo with the full jacket. But is that something this line will even do? I think that’s the rub with The Black Series. We know roughly a dozen of the figures so far. We don’t know the extent that the line can sprawl. We don’t know how deep into character versions can go (or how deep the collectors want it to; it seems 6” collectors might prefer more characters to more versions).
So for now, this is my Han Solo if I want one in six-inch. Fair enough. Luckily, it’s a character with a few flaws, but is overall another solid outing in what’s turning into a great twelfth-scale line.
From the neck down, the figure has an excellent sculpt. This is New Hope Han Solo and it more or less screams it from every fold, seam, and sculpted stitch. I’ve said it multiple times, but Hasbro has really learned from their time with Marvel Legends. It’s made Star Wars Black a line that is knocking figures out of the park right out of the gate. Aesthetically, this is an iconic figure, no doubt.
Now, it’s not quite perfect and that’s mostly above the shoulders. The neck is just a tad too tall and that’s going to bother different collectors to varying degrees. It bothers me quite a bit, but I think it’s largely because everything else is down so well – it’s like missing a touchdown by inches or arriving just a few minutes too late. I take stock in all they got right, but they’re so close to getting it all right, that I’m getting hung up.
The head sculpt itself is similarly close, but while I have to nitpick the neck as an unfortunate mistake, I can’t really say much about the head sculpt. Harrison Ford is just… nearly impossible. Even my Hot Toys Indiana Jones – Hot Toys – wasn’t quite able to get the likeness. It’s just tough. I’m kinda curious to see if Han Solo returns to the silver screen in new films, and gets a figure, if Gentle Giant can scan Harrison Ford and just nail it, or if even that technology still can’t quite pin him down. Continue to Page 2…
Glad to see your camera’s back in (somewhat) functioning condition! 🙂
Great review and pics, as per.
Part of the problem with the head sculpt is the tendency to go all heroic, with high cheekbones and lantern jaw and all that. I might be misremembering somewhere, but I could’ve sworn Harrison Ford had a slightly puffier, almost chipmunk-cheeked face in A New Hope. And where’s his chin-scar?
Never mind about the scar. Was looking at the screen at the wrong angle, so it didn’t show up.
Man, I wish HTS would ship my set already because everybody and their brother have gotten theirs. Those accessories are sweet! An excellent hand grip and trigger finger, removable belts, and movie-accurate weapons. What more could we ask for twenty bucks? It puts most of Mattel’s similar price range offerings to shame.
Star Wars collectors are the Yin to Grouchy Smurf and Little Mikey’s Yang, so I would wager that Black will be around for a while. This line is basically it for twelfth-scale right now, with DCUC five figures short of ending and Marvel Legends looking kinda iffy at present. It doesn’t hurt that Hasbro is delivering the goods, either. OT fans such as me love collecting both characters AND versions, to say nothing of army builders and cult favorites. (I want Lando but I also want Lobot, who I’ve always viewed as Lando’s sidekick or “aide” as the ESB credits list him. He is to Lando as Chewie is to Han.) You do make a great point regarding the prequels because adult collectors who enjoyed those are now being joined by the Millennial Generation, kids who have since grown up and have the cash to spend on stuff from their own childhoods.
Harrison Ford’s likeness will always be impossible to nail down. The head sculpt here has Han’s hair parted down the middle as Han wears it in both the movie and the vintage card pic for the very first Han figure. But checking out the box back, he looks more like a Fifth Beatle in the cantina showdown with Greedo. Plus, that’s also how the vintage Big Head Han turned out! So it’s all far from being an exact science.
I want a Bespin Han too. He is very popular with fans given that it’s his iconic look throughout most of the much-loved ESB. I can see Hoth Han being made thanks to the blue/brown/ jacket color controversy. For ROJ, Endor Han is basically ANH Han with a soft goods trench coat and some color variations. Carbonite Han is Bespin Han without the jacket, but he would be a good choice for another two-pack so more folks have a chance of getting the elusive SDCC carbonite block.
I say nice shots all around. I have to wait to Christmas to open mine. The wait will be eager indeed. I bought myself another member of this wave (was only these two left) and easily have a, whats the star wars what if title Galaxies?, display idea plannd.
Bring on Chewie, C-3PO, and any troopers. I gotta back track cause I recalled the toyfare trooper gang from TFT and like to get that crew. If the ESB Han jacket is removable can pull off the scout’s look.
Ah! The TFT Trooper Gang! That’s a great subline! Now I will have to do this.
Something about this guy didn’t do it for me, and I’m still not sure what it is. Now that you mentioned his neck being slightly too tall, that’s all I can see, but I don’t think that’s it. I think it’s the headsculpt. It’s so close, but not quite there. I don’t really fault Hasbro for that. I guess I blame Harrison Ford :-).
I almost bought this guy for the accessories alone. he is packed with them! Greedo, on the other hand, only comes with a pistol. I suppose I shouldn’t have expected any more for a character with only 2 or so minutes of screentime, but I was a bit disappointed with his accessories, especially as Greedo’s sculpt looks amazing.
I might buy Han if I find him on sale somewhere. Rest assured, if I do buy him, it will only be to set up some sort of diorama where he’s constantly shooting Greedo (first).
The face isn’t perfect but it’s the long neck that really spoils the figure for me.
I’d say it’s a tie between the neck and the lighter painted eyebrows for me.
he looks vaguely southeast asian from some angles… weird.
So true.
Been looking forward to this guy for a while, and it seems I might have to turn to BBTS or other e-tailer to get him, as I’ve already mentioned my only source for 6″ black is Target, which stalled out on sales and now has a dozen figures collecting dust.
Ford apparently has one of those faces where it’s hard to nail down a good likeness, despite all the films and previous figures he’s had to draw from. I can see this guy being ‘hot’ from people wanting to custom a 6″ Indy, too, but if he’s going to get some obvious variants, I’d wait for pick of the litter on them. Can we presume this head is as swappable with others? that would be a great start to X-wing/Trooper army building. StromTrooper Han & Luke are canon, anyway.
(I know Biggs had a mustache, but no reason X-Wing Han can’t be someone else.)
I mainly want Han for a custom 6″ Joe, which I hope you can check with Greedo before/during his review to see if you can swap his hands for Han’s spare set?
The neck bothered me as well. Also, I think my biggest problem with his head sculpt is that he has too bland of an expression. If you look at pictures of Han Solo, he almost always has a smirk on his face, and I wish they had sculpted him to have something like that.
The long neck doesn’t bother me enough to NOT buy this figure, so I’m getting him once my local stores have him in stock, although I am a bit worried with the amount of Pilot Lukes and R2’s on the shelves…
Great review and pics too!
A bonus smirking head woulda been nice. Maybe if get another Han he will have that mug and can swap heads.
Okay, this came to mind dealing with the gloved hands, well the trooper rifle but did he don gloves the falcons guns?
To use them that is.
he was wearing the gloves in the scene where they board the falcon at Mos Eisly…and I believe he wears them when he mans the guns on the falcon as well.
The one picture had me checking IMDB – The Phantom Menace is only 20 years old if Han rounds up. Way up. From 14.
Or, In Han’s world:
This review is nearly 6 years old.
In that last pic–is that a grammar error or a joke?
Silly Noisy.
I said you would buy every figure in this line. So far, with the exception of the hard-to-find SDCC exclusive, I’ve been right. Not worried about Series 3, either.
Like William Shatner and Bruce Campbell, Ford’s handsomeness is too generic to be easily captured in a tiny sculpt. Actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger have features like big cheekbones and a really strong jaw than can be exaggerated or caricatured in a small figure sculpt to make it appear more like the actor. Shatner, Campbell and Ford don’t really have that, and it’s why their head sculpts are so tough to nail. A good enough sculptor can pull it off, though – NECA finally got Campbell with their Evil Dead II line. I’ve never seen a really good Shatner, however, and even Hot Toys’s Arnie Kim struggled with Ford’s face.