Chewbacca - TSC - Basic (SAGA 005)

At last, we have the not-so-mighty Chewbacca, the Battle Of Carkoon wave’s only real stinker. It’s frustrating to receive such an old version of Chewbacca when in 2004, Hasbro gave us the most incredible VOTC Chewbacca! Why couldn’t they reissue him and include the chain? That 2004 figure is already based on Return Of The Jedi, so to choose a Power Of The Jedi sculpt with little articulation and not the greatest likeness is a step back for the line. Despite the frustration this figure may cause many, there’s something to like about every figure, and there are definitely a couple little positives to touch upon as well. And while the re-use of the old Power Of The Jedi Chewbacca figure for this “new” release may not be a welcome thing for most of us, the inclusion of mixed media parts make it interesting at best. (Has anyone else out there questioned why Jabba’s court didn’t find it odd that Chewbacca wasn’t able to overpower Boussh due to her small stature? We’re just curious.)

With new Han Solo [in carbonite] and Princess Leia (Boushh Disguise) figures bring offered in the The Saga Collection, Hasbro had to fit everyone’s favorite walking carpet in there somewhere since he’s an important part of the Jabba’s Palace scene in Return of the Jedi. And this is a figure that should have impressed us more than it did. All Hasbro needed to do was to include a better sculpted version of Chewbacca and the complaints about this figure’s execution would have easily gone away. While it’s a reuse of the POTJ figure, Boushh’s prisoner isn’t a straight repack. It comes with a “real metal” chain for Princess Leia to lead him through Jabba’s court. It has good and realistic functionality. What’s more, Chewbacca has a rather decent new paint job that makes this figure look light years nicer than it did when we first saw it in the line five years earlier. Still, the figure does look dated in The Saga Collection and it would be nice if Hasbro didn’t reach so far back in their catalogue of parts to reissue figures. (There are exceptions of course. Look how good Barada turned out.)

It’s hard to find good things about a bad figure and twice as easy to complain about the bad things! Now that all of the positive stuff is out of the way, it’s time to let everyone know what’s so bad about this figure. The worst thing is the lack of articulation. In 2006, we shouldn’t be seeing action figures with only 6 points of articulation (with rare exceptions like Barada). Another annoying thing is the total lack of accessories (other than the attached chain and the standard display stand and hologram figure). As Boushh’s prisoner, Chewie didn’t carry anything during this scene in the movie, but it would’ve been nice to at least have a weapon included to make it feel like we’re getting a little more for our money. Some may argue that this is unnecessary, but it feels like we’re being slighted by this figure as is. So in conclusion, this Chewbacca figure looks very good standing behind the awesome Princess Leia (Boushh Disguise) figure and that’s about it. The new paint job is appreciated, but that’s really about all this figure has got going for it, unfortunately and Hasbro could have saved their money. It might be a nice figure to have for a Jabba’s Palace display, but it’s certainly not an absolute must-have for your collection.