Luke Skywalker/Han Solo - R - Mission Series (MS15)

Luke and Han face life-threatening dangers on the ice planet Hoth.

Wave 3 of the Rebels Mission Series line is turning out to be hit or miss. For the Luke Skywalker/Han Solo set, we’re inclined to lean towards this being a hit much more than it being a miss. There is one figure that is probably going to blow you away, and the other falls under the “meh” category. But together, this dynamic duo of powerhouse heroes makes for, at the very least, a very noteworthy addition to your collection. We also concur that it’s a bittersweet release. Hasbro has done some impressive things with both sculpts that have corrected issues that plagued the “better” and “collector-focused” versions. But once again, wrong and sloppy paint operations make releases like this a huge bone of contention for the hoards of type A collectors who support these lines. These aren’t action figures for your kids no matter what Hasbro or the contrarians claim. These are designed to pull at the heartstrings of lovers of the Original Trilogy desperate for a little more love than what the abysmal efforts of The Black Series lines try to accomplish. Just imagine for a minute if you would if EVERY figure in wave 3 of the Mission Series line was upgraded to super-articulated and collector-grade status. Wouldn’t this be the wave of a lifetime for The Black Series line? Would that wave in and of itself shock the waning collector market into a frenzied passion once again? We feel that if Hasbro would just refocus their efforts on the collectors once again (with the passion they do for Saga Legends and Mission Series) that the line would once again regain the notoriety and respect it clung on to for years and years. Now that we got the whining out of the way, we are happy to report that not all is out of place with the Luke Skywalker/Han Solo Mission Series set. In fact, we believe that we may have one of the best Han Solo (Hoth Outfit) figures of all time from Hasbro. Yes, we’re impressed with this. Let’s explain in detail.

But let’s talk about Luke first. Hasbro felt that another Luke Skywalker (after the wampa attack) was needed despite this character being a terrible peg-warmer in The Black Series line. But maybe that’s because they realized that the collector-focused figure wasn’t up to snuff…. at all. As discussed by many collectors at length here and elsewhere, the biggest issue on 2014’s TBS [P2] Luke Skywalker (#02) figure was that Luke still had his goggles in place. These fall off when he is swiped by the wampa’s large arm. Would you believe that Hasbro has ensured this very important detail made its way to the Mission Series Luke Skywalker figure? This version of Luke Skywalker is meant to represent him after he has been attacked by the wampa. And for the most part, Hasbro has done a pretty good job here. There are certainly issues with the deco, so let’s not us jump ahead with praise just yet. The wounds on his face look like he maybe got drunk and played with Princess Leia’s lipstick. And the wounds, although they are pretty accurate as far as their placement is concerned, give him a strong Two-Face (the Batman villain) resemblance that we have a hard time overlooking. (Maybe it’s the silly red stripes giving us this illusion.) There are missing important paint operations too. For example, only the gauntlet portions of his gloves should be gray, but Hasbro made the entire glove solid light gray (almost tan in our opinion). The gray detail in the shoulders have also been completely overlooked. The ties on his boots should be white, but Hasbro just made them solid dark gray. And last but not least, his ranking badge is completely silver. The three blue dots denoting him as commander have been left silver. It is understood that some sacrifices need to be made to budget figures, but this lack of detail is a bit too much for our liking.

The star of this set however is Han Solo. Holy cow. We truly believe that this is one of the best likenesses of Han Solo wearing his Hoth gear. Just Look at that face sculpt. He is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed ready to take on the Empire, unlike the figure from 2008’s TAC Han Solo/R-3PO (3 of 6) Droid Factory set which looks like he is falling asleep at the wheel. Also, we’re quite impressed with how “tailored” his parka hood is compared to most other “Han Solo (Hoth Outfit)” figures in the past. It’s balanced, close to the head and doesn’t overtake the rest of the head sculpt. Between the divine likeness and the unobtrusive size of his head, we have to say that from the neck up Hasbro hasn’t done better for an action figure take on Han Solo (Hoth Outfit). Yes, we’re that impressed with it. The figure also has an excellent sculpt throughout the body too. He is tall, lean and for the most part has excellently scaled proportions. We’re really taken with this figure as you can see. Here are the figure’s issues. Hasbro has chosen to give this figure a blue coat. Is this for novelty at this point. We all know it’s brown now. There should not be any more questions surrounding this. There are some color details missing on his boots, gloves and ranking badge too. Heck, he even has the holster strap around his right thigh that has been ignored since the pack-in figure in 1998’s POTF2 Tauntaun And Han Solo creature/beast assortment set. For this alone we should commend Hasbro on their attention to detail. Overall, despite some missing paint operations, obvious steps have been made to correct the ills of figures’ past. We have also noticed that characters based on The Empire Strikes Back in the budget range seem to have the least amount of issues. Coincidence? Or is someone at Hasbro just a big fan?