Star Wars The Black Series Han Solo figure review
Bespin is the center of the original Star Wars trilogy. Need proof? Luke wears his tan jumpsuit in Dagobah yet we affectionately refer to it as his Bespin Fatigues. Once Han Solo sheds his blue/brown parka he doesn’t change outfits yet his ESB look is commonly called Bespin Han.
Not so shockingly these are my favorite looks for both characters. The Star Wars Black Series has released a Bespin Han so good that I doubt I’d need a Figuarts “upgrade.” At this point Hasbro has significantly closed the gap with their overseas counterparts that I might not need to go the Figuarts route again. That’s a testament to the really strong work from Hasbro further evidenced by Bespin Han.
Packaging: Absolutely nothing new here. Han is #70 in the line and has the traditional gray scale image on the front and a mini-bio on the back.
The bio is more of a synopsis of Han as a character, not this specific attire, which is a little weird.
Likeness: Of the main three it seems like Harrison Ford is the easiest to capture the likeness followed by Carrie Fisher and then Mark Hamill. I think this is my favorite Ford likeness as it does an outstanding job of capturing the subtle nuances of Ford from ESB.
There’s the flow of the hair, which is noticeably different than his style in Star Wars. The expression is perfect as he looks ready to deliver some snarky sarcastic line to Leia or 3P0 or be mildly annoyed with Lando flirting with Leia. And they’ve even got the scar on his chin.
Hasbro nailed the flow of the shirt with the fold along the left side and the lining just off center. The jacket hangs nice as well without being too bulky and cumbersome. Han’s holster leans further to the right like he wore it and is not perfectly centered. All of the lining along the side of his pants is sculpted and the boots come up just below the knee. They’re not plain and have some impressive texturing to add a little more detail. This is really great work.
Paint: Han’s outfit isn’t too complicated from a paint perspective. Hasbro got the right shade of blue for the jacket. His left eyebrow could use a touch more paint toward the edge, but otherwise the face work is solid. Most of the yellow lining on the pants came out sharp and at that size, I can cut Hasbro some slack.
MORE:
- SDCC’20: Pre-order WWE Legends Series 8 now
- The Rental movie review
- Mattel WWE Ultimate Series 7 lineup, latest Legends two-pack revealed
- DC Comics reviews 7/21/20 – Batman #95, Justice League Dark #24
Scale: Han is scaled just right — taller than Luke and Leia and about eye to eye with C3-P0.
Articulation: The one area where Figuarts still has the advantage over Hasbro is the articulation, but it’s getting better. Han is largely functional despite some missing expected articulation points. The holster doesn’t help a lot in this category as it’s made of a harder plastic and restricts some of the movement.
He’s really missing the bicep joint and I wish the torso joint had deeper back and forth range for seated poses.
Han Solo has:
- neck
- ball-jointed shoulders
- elbow
- wrist
- wrist hinge
- torso
- hips
- thighs
- knees (double jointed)
- ankles
Accessories: Han comes with his trusty blaster.
The tip and barrel lack the silver paint, but otherwise it’s a great likeness of his main weapon. It also fits snugly in the holster.
I’d love if he came with swappable hands so he could do more than grip the blaster. An open left hand would be great.
Worth it? I got Han for $20, which is a fair deal even without the standard Build-A-Figure piece found in other lines that have a lot more accessories.
Rating: 9 out of 10
With just a bit better articulation, Han would be perfect. I still really like him even with those issues.
Where to get it? At this point Amazon is your best bet.