Han Solo - LC - Saga Legends (SL16)

Han Solo never intended to join the Rebel Alliance, but circumstances threw him into the battle. His breath mask provides him with oxygen while on an asteroid, where he has landed the Millennium Falcon to hide from the Empire and make repairs to his ship.

In the 2009 Legacy Collection Saga Legends line, Hasbro decided to show some love for The Empire Strikes Back and released one really awesome and one really terrible figure thrown into the mix. The awesome figure was Chewbacca (SL15) [Mynock Hunt] which sported a great paint job and marked the first time this figure was included with a gas mask. The terrible figure is the figure the subject of today’s review. Much to the chagrin of [nearly all] collectors, Hasbro dusted off the outdated Han Solo (Bespin Capture) figure from the 2000 Power Of The Jedi line to include in the modern Saga Legends line. Ironically, Han Solo (Bespin Capture) was the groundbreaking figure of the POTJ as it was the first figure to sport a “ball jointed” shoulder (which was also carried forward into other figures later in the line). But time wasn't too kind to this figure and it looks a lot more like a good POTF2 figure than a defining POTJ figure like say Tessek or FX-7 (Medical Droid). To make matters worse, Hasbro decided to make him different enough from the original release, so if you are a one-of-every-figure collector, then this is another to add to your list.

This Han Solo figure has a few changes from the 2000 Power Of The Jedi figure. First, his gun is no longer gray and has been cast in black. It appears to be the same exact mold however. The color blue that has been used to color his sleeves as well as dye the plastic molded vest is in a different and darker shade in a similar color family for this release. And lastly, the rather bright yellow blood stripe has been eliminated in favor of a more natural (and screen inaccurate) appearance. We're surprised they ignored this important detail. And while this is qualitatively our own opinion here, we think the paint job of the face was much better in 2000 than it is in 2009. The gas mask accessory makes this figure specific to the mynock hunt scene while the Millennium Falcon landed in the space slug, so we think this action figure qualifies as “new enough”. Too bad it's a "bad" sculpt. We have been clamoring for a new Han Solo (Bespin Outfit) for quite a while now, but this certainly wasn’t the way to deliver him. And while an all-new version is inevitable in the very near future, we would have rather seen a more modern updated figure thrown into the Saga Legends line than this figure.

The Saga Legends line in general has been very lackluster since July of 2008. The voice of collectors has been removed and Hasbro thinks they know best what sells in this line. Maybe they do, but incessantly repacking the same dozen and a half characters is getting old fast. We think they couldn’t be more wrong. We hope that they return the Fans’ Choice vote soon because it is really the only place where we can throw in our two cents to give the harder to find figures a second chance at retail. But gauging by Hasbro’s choices, well, we know what just sits and peg-warms, don’t we? If you missed this figure back in 2000 (which is highly unlikely), you know have a second chance, albeit he is a little different this time around. Despite it not being the greatest figure, Han Solo does look pretty cool next to another mynock hunter and his wave mate, Chewbacca (SL15). We hope Hasbro can find a way to revitalize the Saga Legends line. We remember that the figures in the 2007 Saga Legends line were just as exciting to purchase as many of the basic figures from that line. That “magic” just doesn’t exist anymore. And it is because of wasted placeholders in the line like this Han Solo figure. We hope change is in the air!