Newly appointed to the rank of captain, Han Solo joined the Rebel Alliance in refuge on the icy planet of Hoth. Utilizing a portable scanner, Solo located Luke Skywalker who had gone missing during a routine patrol in the outer rim of Echo Base.
Gentle Giant Ltd.. got two standout Hoth-themed Mini Busts out to collectors at the same time. And both the Luke Skywalker (Hoth) and Han Solo (Hoth) mini busts have exceeded our expectations significantly in so many ways. Generally, we haven't been the most thrilled with human likenesses in the mini bust line. And while Han Solo (Hoth) is not perfect, just like Luke Skywalker (Hoth), Gentle Giant has incorporated some remarkable details that makes us fall hopelessly in love with it. And as a nod to collectors, Gentle Giant has also made a variant "blue coat" Han Solo (which will be released shortly after this brown coat "correct" version reaches retail). Han Solo (Hoth) is a mini bust that should thrill collectors of this line because it has been done extremely well. The sculptors ensured that this piece got a believable pose (from somewhere within The Empire Strikes Back) and enough detail to make it scene specific. This mini bust is inspired from the scene where Han Solo goes out on his tauntaun in an effort to locate Luke Skywalker and uses his scanner to successfully find him. The scanner is one of the most impressive (and delicate) features we have ever seen on a mini bust ever. We bet you'll be impressed also.
The antennas on the scanner are made from real metal and are extremely delicate. We were nervous wrecks trying to plug them into the tiny areas to allow them to stand upright from the scanner. Gentle Giant has gone outside of the solely polystone medium and have also included leather a soft-goods material to make other portions of Han Solo's outfit. HIs macrobinoculars are actually a separate piece and hangs around his midsection via a real fabric cord. The strap on the scanner is some leather or leather-like material. The mini bust line has come so far and these extra enhancements do so much for the aesthetics of the piece. While it seems that Gentle Giant will stay far away from cloth clothing (we're sure they'll leave that up to Sideshow Collectibles), the parts that they do choose to include as soft-goods are such a nice direction to go! We think a real fur edge around the hood would have been sublime but we won't take advantage and request this because Gentle Giant Ltd.. has done enough to make this mini bust better than it may have if they decided not to go the soft-goods route!
As mentioned earlier, this version of Han Solo (Hoth) comes with the corrected brown coat. Thankfully Gentle Giant had decided to not give him any "snow" deco. For this we are grateful. It would have really affected how good the finished costume would have looked and it is truly hard to get paint to look like snow accumulation on any figure, from the Hasbro scale to the Sideshow Collectibles Premium Format scale. So yes, Han may not look like he is out in Hoth's tundra, but maybe that isn't the point with this collectible. All of the pieces work supremely well together, from his "hood up" to the goggles resting on his cap! The gloves are perfectly sculpted and decorated and his ranking badge looks perfect as well. Gentle Giant was clever and noted that Han Solo is taller than Luke Skywalker. Whereas Luke's belt was at the base of the mini bust, Han's belt is a good half of an inch above the base with his long coat hanging over it. We love when scale is taken into account and these two mini busts look phenomenal together! This is another must-have mini bust to get if you collect this line. Han Solo (Hoth) is fairly represented in this scale and a great details and awesome paint job only make him better!
