Hoth Chewbacca - POTF2 [FB/CT] - Basic

A long time ago....
A new Star Wars movie will premier in movie theaters next Summer. It is Episode I of the Star Wars saga and the first movie in a new trilogy that goes back in time a full generation to tell the story of Luke Skywalker's father Anakin. We will see how Anakin became a great Jedi Knight but then turned to the dark side to become Darth Vader.

Chewbacca, like all members of the Wookiee species, was indigenous to the jungle planet of Kashyyyk. Honorable, intelligent, and friendly, though fierce and dangerous when angered, Wookiees were a proud species who once made contributions to the Galactic Republic. Wookiee senators represented Kashyyyk in the Galactic Senate. Their respectable position changed, however, when the Imperials seized power and began enslaving the extraordinarily strong Wookiees as laborers. In Chewbacca's case, he escaped slavery and death with the help of a young officer by the name of Han Solo, who destroyed his military career to save the innocent Wookiee. A life debt was established, and Chewbacca joined Han in his adventures through the galaxy. Later on, the duo played significant roles in the Rebel victory over the Empire, and the Wookiee species was restored to its position of honor in the galaxy.

We guess Kenner/Hasbro decided to call this figure Hoth Chewbacca instead of Chewbacca (Hoth Outfit) because Chewbacca doesn’t wear any more clothes in cold weather than he does in hot weather. In fact, he wears "no" clothes (unless you consider a bandolier clothing). Either way, the awkwardly entitled action figure is a neat concept, but we’re not sure how it works as far as the aesthetics are concerned. Making Chewbacca snow-covered is a relatively easy task to complete. The addition of white paint should do the trick (and it does here) but instead of looking frost-bitten, the globs of white paint make it looks more like Chewbacca has hold over a section of wall complete with “WET PAINT – DO NOT TOUCH” warning signs on it. It’s not like we don’t appreciate the gesture because we do. Making ANY Chewbacca unique from the last isn’t an easy task. And a Wookiee without pants, it makes it hard to creatively sculpt new takes on the character, so we are going to extend a little bit of a longer arm of grace out for this release. The Power Of The Force “2” FlashBack Chewbacca brings collectors a never before attempted take on Chewbacca and that is something that should interest most.

It’s honestly very hard to tell if Hoth Chewbacca is a good action figure or not. We simply mean that it is hard to see the sculpt with the heavy deco given to him between the varying highlights in his fur and the snow covering too. It’s especially difficult to make out his trademark blue eyes which is always a trademark feature of this fan favorite Star Wars character. Hoth Chewbacca is also still too short. As one of the tallest characters in the Star Wars saga, it just doesn’t make sense why Hasbro has overlooked his proper scale all of these years without any signs or indications of consciously updating it. With all of this being said, you can probably tell that we’re a bit on the fence about this release. We’re more impressed with the effort of trying to being a new Chewbacca to the line instead of the actual figure itself. We think that The Empire Strikes Back is a difficult film to base Hasbro action figures on because the character pool is significantly limited. There just aren’t as many unique and fresh faces in this film like there are in Episode IV and Episode VI. So Hasbro really has to think outside of the box when making characters from Episode V.

Hoth Chewbacca comes with six points of articulation. This minimal articulation doesn’t work so well for a character like Chewbacca, who holds his bowcaster with two arms. Then again, in this scene we don’t recall him firing at the Probot. That was all Han Solo, correct? A swivel head (with inhibited movement) is joined by swivel shoulders, a swivel waist and swivel hips. You couldn’t choose a more basic action figure with regards to articulation. Hoth Chewbacca also comes with a bowcaster accessory. It’s the same stinking version since day one and we have to admit the sculpt is quite tired at this point. It’s much too chunky and too small. And it lacks a strap. You can see we’re just full of complaints here. Overall, we’d probably rate Hoth Chewbacca around the average mark. He needs a lot of updating to meet our standards, but he does serve a current purpose in the line. Hoth Chewbacca also comes with an Episode I FlashBack Photo pack-in gimmick. It’s just an “OK” addition, but we have to admit that it is a neat way to get some advanced early looks at the characters in Episode I. But other than that, Hoth Chewbacca may keep you wishing for more.