Han Solo/R-3PO - TAC - Droid Factory (3 of 6)

The Alliance's command center on Hoth includes the diverse tactical expertise of the impetuous Han Solo and the protocol droid R-3PO.

As the 30 (77-07) line was dying in the early summer of 2008, Hasbro teased us of things to come with the new pack-in premium that would be included in basic figures with and incredible set of figures in the Walmart Droid Factory exclusive. Six great sets of characters culled from across the entire Star Was saga were made and needed to be purchased together in order to form the very first Build A Droid figure, C-3PX. The sets were extremely popular and sold very well (although some collectors could find them on clearance by the end of their shelf life). But perhaps even more exciting than the C-3PX Build A Droid figure was the droid included in each set as part of the two-pack. These sets gave us never-before-received droids as well as upgrades to previously released versions (depending upon your point of view). While new doesn't always mean better, the Droid Factory definitely gave us the latest sculpts available for the figures. One of these sets, the Han Solo/R-3PO provided collectors with a new take on the 2007 VTSC Han Solo (Hoth Outfit) figure as well as an arguable upgrade to 2003's SW [S - P3] R-3PO (Hoth Evacuation) ('04 #02) figure. The set was of course based on Episode V and it gave collectors two great figures for a very fair price. Oh, and it included a droid part to build yet another figure too. The Han Solo/R-3PO (3 of 6) two-pack comes with C-3PX's left leg.

There have been multiple comments from eagle-eyed collectors that there were in fact two different red-colored protocol droids at Echo Base. If you compare 2003's SW [S - P3] R-3PO (Hoth Evacuation) ('04 #02) figure figure to this Droid Factory R-3PO, you will find that the two protocol droids vary quite a bit. In fact, the variances are very obvious, you may just be able to consider them as the two separate red 3PO droids. Each R-3PO figure has its strong points and weak points and we kind of wish that the best points from each were used to make the definitive version of this droid. The Droid Factory R-3PO is a repaint of the 2006 TSC C-3PO (With Ewok Throne) (SAGA 042) figure so you know this figure has more articulation than the 2004 figure (as well as more authenticity). However, the 2003/2004 version has a stunning paint job that has not made its way to the Droid Factory R-3PO. Gone are the weathering, battle-damage, scrapes and scratches. R-3PO looks a little bit too clean and it is a shame that extra attention to this detail wasn't given to the droid. Great paint jobs can add a whole new level of quality to figures and we must admit that while we love the sculpt of R-3PO, we love the Star Wars [Sgaa - Phase III] version's paint job much better. But we love the new R-3PO's articulation much better. So we are torn ourselves about this.

Han Solo is not necessarily a step up from the 2007 VTSC Han Solo (Hoth Outfit) figure, but it is a great figure nonetheless. The VTSC version was actually supposed to come with the head attachment (with the hood up) that this figure does, but Lucasfilm, Ltd. asked Hasbro to change it before release. Hasbro must have successfully resold the concept and it was approved for the Droid Factory release. Hasbro also decided to change the coat back to blue for this release (from the brown seen on the VTSC figure). We are of the opinion (and proof dictates) that Han Solo's jacket is brown, but perhaps it was an ode to the vintage figure again to cast it in a blue plastic for this release. Whatever the reason, the figure has been decorated beautifully with lots of weathering detail and Hasbro has include fine paint highlights to better use of shadowing. Han Solo also comes with removable goggles and macrobinoculars (which have also been repainted from the VTSC version). As a set, the figures don't interact terribly well, but they still do look quite fine together. And it is nice to get the Han Solo with a head that got temporarily canceled. And while we would have preferred for R-3PO to get a better paint application, as a whole, the set still gets the highest marks from us. This set has "value" written all over it.