Chewbacca - LC - Basic (BD31)

Chewbacca must quickly prepare the Millenium Falcon to leave Tatooine when stormstroopers arrive in pursuit of the ship’s new passengers. The Wookiee fires up the engines as Han Solo exchanges blaster fire with the Imperial troopers.

Don't get us wrong. We love Chewbacca and we love the vintage-styled sculpt. But we have to admit that Hasbro has gone into overkill with it. A little too soon in our eyes, Chewbacca gets revisited again but this time with a molded headset and “voilà”, a new basic action figure. Unfortunately, it is not entirely "new enough" in our eyes and maybe could have even been released as a Saga Legends figure where it may have felt more at home in that line instead. Of course Chewbacca is a very popular character, so it only makes sense that he get another shot in the basic line. But it is our opinion that while Chewbacca is indeed a great character, we are in more need of an Episode IV Luke Skywalker or Princess Leia figure first. Your opinions may vary, but we think our requests are reasonable. We also understand the need for Hasbro to refresh a figure periodically and tweak it so that it can enter the basic figure line as “new enough” for most collectors. Chewbacca (First Mate or Copilot or “insert whatever subtitle here”) is not that different in our books. We suppose that since Han Solo got the same treatment as 2007’s TAC Han Solo (30 11), it was only a matter of time before we got Chewbacca with his head set. And while the figure lacks a little in our opinion, the new head set is pretty cool. We think it is great to get a headset as a detachable piece that plugs into a hole in the head. While many of you out there do not like holes in your action figures, we think that you would be forgiving of this because Hasbro did quite well going this route. The headset looks like exactly what it is: partially painted on the figure, partially a new sculpt. Chewbacca is however a stellar sculpt and likely will not aggravate anyone too much and we suspect that if you were to buy just one Chewbacca figure this year, this will be your Chewbacca of choice.

Chewbacca has the ultra super-articulated status of greater than 14 points (15 to be exact). He is very moveable and the only way he can be upgraded now if he were to get ball jointed hips. Oh, what a wonderful enhancement this would be! Noticeably darker than even the recent releases of this beautiful sculpt, Chewbacca has a unique paint job that we have not been graced with until now. He is actually very dark when compared to the other Chewbacca figures that utilize this sculpt. Gone are the bright yellowish streaks in his fur in place of a much browner (and muted) color. (The paint job closely resembles the Chewbacca figure from 2005's TSC Early Bird Figures set than any other at the moment.) The portrait is definitely reminiscent of the very first VOTC Chewbacca, but it is indeed a new sculpt as Chewbacca is not showing his bottom teeth this round. Also new to this release is the color used for his bandolier strap, bag and crossbow. The silvers are more platinum and the browns are darker and richer. So, for a figure than is essentially a “repack” (we use this term VERY lightly here), Hasbro went to town with the decorating of it making it truly unique is almost every sense of the word. Preferring a head sculpt that was more like the Early Bird Chewbacca than the VOTC Chewbacca, we think this new Chewbacca tends to look like a Return of The Jedi version rather than what we saw in A New Hope. In Episode IV, Chewbacca had a pulled back look (almost as if a can of hairspray was used to keep it in place) and this didn’t change until the next two films. We may be looking at things a little too deeply, but we think we make a valid point here and it does make Chewbacca look the slightest bit out of place in the wave (just a tad). Of course this doesn’t discredit the distinguished sculpt of this action figure much at all.

When the VOTC Chewbacca was released in 2004, we knew that it was going to get quite a workout, maybe not to the extent it actually did, but we knew it was good and that subsequent releases were indeed inevitable. Not too many scene specific versions of Chewbacca are left to do by Hasbro. Clearly it is their intent to utilize the VOTC mold wherever possible, but it is obvious that they are tapping out of ideas. What is left? Well, we would like to see an Episode III version of Chewbacca get made using this sculpt with significant head retooling and ball-jointed hips. We would also like to see an Episode IV “trash compactor” or “Chewy in chains” version. It would also be nice to get an “Ewok sacrifice” version of Chewbacca tied to a stake. And lastly, we would like to see a Chewbacca with a “Tarzan” vine and maybe a bonus Ewok pack-in. Fat chance, we already know the answer to that one. It is quite possible that Chewbacca may take a little break now in the basic line (not including any Saga Legends repacks). Hasbro had covered the Chewbacca bases quite well and they have done marvelous work on all of them. And we are fine if this character takes a break, overkill is never a good thing. We did put the 2007 TAC Han Solo (30 11) and this new Chewbacca in the new and big Millennium Falcon and they look great in it. It is quite amazing that we are reaching a point in the line where we are content with so many of our figures now. The culture of the hobby was quite different in the late 90s. We loved the The Power Of The Force "2" product (for the most part) but we seemed to know in our veins that bigger and better was possible. Well, that time is now folks. Despite any economy issues, now is clearly the time to be a Star Wars collector. We are getting our definitive action figures one by one (and at an alarming pace) and there is very little room for improvement on many. Chewbacca could use a few tweaks here and there, but for the time being, if you want a Millennium Falcon co-pilot, this is your figure!