Death Star Trash Compactor (Luke Skywalker & Han Solo) - SW [S - P1] - Scene Packs (1 of 2)

Luke, Han, and Chewie infiltrate the Death Star to free Princess Leia. While making their escape, they dive down a garbage chute and become trapped in a trash compactor with a hungry dianoga. Then the walls begin to close in on them, and our heroes are caught in a tight squeeze!

Admittedly, one of the best conceptual multipacks released during the Star Wars “Saga” era were the Scene Packs sets. Many collectors thought of them as up-scaled Cinema Scenes. Obviously, these sets were literally a “freeze frame” of film from the various Star Wars films. And more often than not, it required Hasbro to tool scene specific versions of our action figures. By this we mean that the figures would ONLY work in these multipacks and pretty much nowhere else. But for collectors that loved dioramic packaging and that DID want a freeze frame of a Star Wars film, the Scene Packs sets couldn't have been more important to them. Thankfully, Hasbro started off these conceptual sets with a scene from A New Hope: the Death Star trash compactor scene. Not only did it give us four all-new awesome action figure updates of four of the main characters in Episode IV, the set also gave us a large intricate base of the trash compactor’s garbage and most importantly, a brilliant dianoga beast. In order to complete the scene and complete the dianoga, it required purchasing both sets. And as a Walmart exclusive, its availability wasn’t exactly great and the “high” MSRP hanging around $17 was a shock to the system. Still, most collectors made the Death Star Trash Compactor Screen Scene sets a priority and overlooked the cost so they could complete this beautiful diorama for their own collections. These multipacks soon began fetching premiums on the aftermarket and all hell began to break look as well. Let’s just say that some collectors were panicked to add this set in their collections.

The Death Star Trash Compactor (Luke Skywalker & Han Solo) (1 of 2) inevitably became the most popular of the two sets. If you think about it, these were the first completely all-new sculpts of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo donning stormtrooper disguises since The Power Of The Force “2” line. Yes, the expression of Luke’s face is less than five second of film specific, but we still love the approach taken with him regardless. The set comes packaged beautifully. Hasbro decided to pack in the bottom half of the dianoga with Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. The dianoga comes with a “bendy” tail, so you can wrap it around Luke Skywalker as if it is trying to pull him under the garbage just like the film. Also, Luke’s arm is extended and you are able to make the Han Solo figure reach out and grab it as if to aid Luke from the clutches of this beast. The dianoga is a pretty eerie creature and it has rows of sharp teeth that appear as if they could do some major damage to him. Had it not been for the trash compactor beginning its cycle, the dianoga may have never let Luke Skywalker go. The best part about Luke Skywalker is the inclusion of two ball-jointed knees. This allows you to place him in a crouched position in the garbage. And despite his goofy face, we think Hasbro has done a remarkable job with the sculpt. Luke Skywalker just look like he’s been ripped right out of the scene. For $17 you get two all-new figures, a new base, a removable piece of debris and half of a dianoga creature. That is a value. We don’t understand why collectors are complaining about the prices of these sets.

Han Solo is another excellent update as well. He is a little bit harder to stand unassisted, but it is possible. Like Luke Skywalker, Han Solo has been posed to be very scene specific. His arm is outstretched to assist Luke Skywalker from the dianoga, but despite this intended pose, Han Solo does look good in action by himself. He doesn’t have the exact same issues as Luke (as far as looking like needing assistance or something similar). Despite the exaggerated pose, Han Solo is a tremendous upgrade from The Power Of The Force “2” mail-away figure. The head sculpt is decent, but the body is streamlined and looks very screen accurate. Both Luke Skywalker and Han Solo are exciting updates for this era of collecting. No, they’re not definitive updates, but they’re perfect for this multipack. The trash compactor base is astounding. We’re thoroughly impressed with its intricacies, its removable parts and how well it interacts with all three figures, including the dianoga tail. What’s more, you can “cut along the dotted line” of the included backdrop and enclose the base for a true-to-film background. It truly looks remarkable when fully assembled. Plus, this set attaches to the Death Star Trash Compactor (Princess Leia & Chewbacca) (2 of 2) so that collectors can recreate the entire “widescreen” scene from Star Wars Episode IV; A New Hope. Collectors shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss this set if these aren’t the figures you’d hope to have released with this exclusive. We honestly feel it’s some of Hasbro’ greatest work.

About This Review: This review is dedicated to the loving memory of Mark Grimshaw, more affectionately known as studlydudly here at Jedi Temple Archives. His estate bequeathed a portion of his personal Star Wars collection to Jedi Temple Archives and this Hasbro product is one of those items from it. We miss you terribly, Mark.