SH Figuarts Chewbacca figure review

January 22, 2018 Jeffrey Lyles 0 Comments Chewbacca, Han Solo, SH Figuarts, Star Wars

Has there been a more unsung hero in pop culture than Chewbacca? He had to deal with a constantly broken-down ship; ill-fitting handcuffs; being a decoy for a probe droid; re-assembling a fussy droid; Jabba’s smelly dungeon and organizing teddy bear sidekicks all without getting a lousy medal. Fortunately, SH Figuarts knows how to honor Chewbacca with a terrific entry in its Star Wars line.

bandai sh figuarts chewbacca figure review - front package

bandai sh figuarts chewbacca figure review - package side

bandai sh figuarts chewbacca figure review - package rear

Packaging: Nothing new from the standard package except for the noticeably bigger and taller packaging. The Figuarts packaging is functional enough in recalling the old Kenner treatment, but it’s nothing you’d have to keep MOC thanks to the figure largely being obscured. The rear of the package helpfully has some images on the showing various poses and display options.

Likeness: Harrison Ford might be the hardest to get the head sculpt, but Chewbacca has some complexities to properly render as well. It’s really doing the hair properly so it has a layered look and hiding the articulation points as much as possible. Figuarts pulled this off really well in giving the hair some depth so it’s not all neatly arranged in one direction.

The head swap choice is somewhat odd. It pegs into place easily, but leaves a noticeable seam line if you don’t line it up just right. And even when you do it’s somewhat hard to unsee it.

The default head sculpt is the calm, thoughtful looking expression that looks like Chewbacca is considering Han’s latest, ridiculous scheme. Chewie’s bandolier and pouch don’t come off, but that’s part of his look and I’d never take it off of him anyway.

Scale: The Star Wars scale is relatively easy. Chewbacca towers over everyone and Leia looks up at everybody. Figuarts has the scale down with Chewie being about a head taller than Han Solo and a head and a half more than Luke.

Paint: Chewbacca doesn’t require a ton of paint, but Figuarts understood the need for variations to the fur. There’s a good amount of dark brown and light brown to break up the base brown used.

bandai sh figuarts chewbacca figure review - front

bandai sh figuarts chewbacca figure review - rear

bandai sh figuarts chewbacca figure review - right side

bandai sh figuarts chewbacca figure review - left side

Articulation: For Chewbacca, I really just need him to hold his bowcaster…and maybe throttle Lando and some Stormtroopers. The Figuarts version nails so much of the unexpected articulation needs — Chewie can crouch! — but thanks to the face plate setup, there’s not a lot of left to right range in the neck. Also somewhat frustrating, the arms and hands don’t come together perfectly for Chewie to hold his bowcaster.

bandai sh figuarts chewbacca figure review -kneeling with han solo

bandai sh figuarts chewbacca figure review - with han solo

bandai sh figuarts chewbacca figure review - crouching

Chewbacca has:

Neck
Shoulders
Elbows (double-jointed)
Wrist
Waist
Hips
Knees (double-jointed)
Ankles

Accessories: Chewie’s bowcaster looks terrific and slings across his shoulder with no problem. Additionally, there’s five hands to swap out. As usual, this is my least favorite aspect of pretty much every Figuarts figure since they’re so blasted hard to swap out. Just use hot water to avoid any problems.

bandai sh figuarts chewbacca figure review - in tray

bandai sh figuarts chewbacca figure review - bowcaster, alternate head and hands

Chewie has an alternate head sculpt with more of a growling, ferocious expression. This is a much better second portrait and adds more options for action scenes.

Worth It? While I’ve gotten the rest of the figures (save Padme) for reasonable prices, Chewie was a bit more expensive at just under $90. That’s the cost of not pre-ordering when he was about $40 cheaper. At his original price, he’s a great value.