Lando Calrissian - Mini Busts

Once a card-playing scoundrel and successful smuggler, Lando Calrissian became Baron Administrator of the floating metropolis Cloud City. An old friend of Han Solo's, Lando found he had a knack for administrative duties and enjoyed being a businessman and community leader in the lucrative Tibanna gas mining operation on Bespin.

Worst.... Lando Calrissian likeness.... ever! You know something, we just don’t’ understand how the bulk of Gentle Giant Ltd..’s products are so excellent while some leave a lot to be desired. The saddest thing about the Lando Calrissian Mini Bust is that it’s basically perfect except for the portrait. How something as hideous as this interpretation of Lando Calrissian can skirt buy the licensing department at Lucasfilm, Ltd. is beyond our comprehension. To be completely fair, things can go awry at the factory level. So it’s more than possible Lando Calrissian could have looked a lot better in prototype status than it does as a final product. We’re a little reluctant to believe that this pieces went downhill at the factory level,we remember this piece looking awkward in the earliest ad slicks released by Gentle Giant Ltd.. Whatever happened here, we can tell you that this isn’t Gentle Giant’s best work. And Lando sadly needs an all-new head sculpt.

We suppose if you put a miniature-sized brown paper bag over his head you’ll be able to appreciate him from the neck down. Gentle Giant’s sculptors did a fantastic job on his midsection, especially his cape. The dragon patterned gold lining in his cape is gorgeous and it is adorned in a lot more color than we originally realized. Sideshow Collectibles’ 12” Lando Calrissian figure also had a brilliant cape, but Gentle Giant Ltd.. takes it to another level. Just check out the photo gallery above and see just how much detail went into replicating the interior pattern. Then compare it to Sideshow’s 12” Lando Calrissian figure. The differences are evident. Another things that impresses us about the cape on the Mini Bust is the beautiful drape it has. It clings closely to Lando’s frame creating a perfect silhouette yet bunches where it needs to to show its silkiness and fall. You'll likely be impressed with how well this part of the Mini Bust has been decorated. That is of course if you can get past those dark circles around his eyes. Yikes!

Lando Calrissian just happens to be on of our most favorite Original Trilogy Star Wars characters. We find it a little disappointing that we have waited so long for the Mini Bust interpretation of him to come after the line has been active for almost a decade and get a finished product looking the way it did. It’s frustrating for so many reasons. And his likeness should have been relatively simple to replicate The hairline and the facial structure for the most part look right on par, yet the shape and personality in the eyes and the rosiness in the melanin of his skin is just off on multiple levels. But we should perhaps give credit to the rest of the Mini Bust since that is where this piece remains flawless. The colors are exact and the details like the belt and collar are flawlessly executed. So it drives us mad that the parts where Gentle Giant did excel at will be overshadowed by how bad the face sculpt is. Whatever you decide, know that you’ll be left feeling this Mini Bust is mediocre at best.