Han Solo - TBS [P3] - 3.75 Inch Figures (Exclusive)

As the Rebel fleet assaults the unfinished Death Star, Han Solo leads a mission to destroy the battle station's shield generator on Endor's forest moon.

OK, here’s the short answer. Hasbro elected to resurrect a revised version of 2011’s TVC Han Solo (In Trench Coat) (VC62) for the Walmart exclusive The Black Series [Phase III] 3.75” line because it was the closest Han Solo action figure that supports the character in The Force Awakens and they wanted to bring him into the line as soon as possible. Hasbro told us that themselves, so it’s the Gospel truth. The fact of the matter however is that this figure, in just a few short years, has aged to the point of being obsolete now. This may end up being an inauspicious effort. It pains us to say that because we think the figure looked rather lovely in The Vintage Collection. But in The Black Series [Phase III] line? Not so much. Interestingly, Hasbro went to a great deal of trouble to revisit the soft-goods trench coat. It’s not screen accurate because it’s missing the two front pockets that previous versions had, but the vinyl like material used this time around helps it to keep its shape and it does a world of good for how it drapes onto the character. We actually prefer it to any older version. It’s just a shame that they neglected the pockets. Aside from a few repainted details on the actual figure itself, the real reason to consider this figure is solely for the trench coat.

Originally starting out life in the hugely popular vintage-styled The Saga Collection line, most of Han Solo comes from 2006’s VTSC Han Solo (In Trench Coat) figure. And quite frankly it held up quite well for many years. Then for The Vintage Collection, they took most of the body from the VTSC figure and then the head from the Han Solo figure in 2009’s TLC Shield Generator Assault Battle Packs set with a newly cut the trench coat. The final results gave us a “newish” version of the same old figure, but it felt refreshed, albeit a little recycled. But we certainly accuse Hasbro of any duplicity with releasing that figure. Anything new was welcomed back then. The material used for the trench coat this time around has a brushed look instead of a harder streamlined look and the camouflage pattern is completely different. In fact, due to the difference in the way the camouflage pattern has been applied, the 2006 trench coat and the 2011 version really look worlds apart from each other. But now we have a completely new material and camouflage pattern for the Walmart exclusive figure. And as we’ve already mentioned, we like it the best despite its screen inaccuracy. We believe you’ll love it too.

Where things start falling apart is with the paint operations on the head sculpt. Many aren’t happy with this head sculpt of Han Solo on a good day, but if you thrown in bad paint operations, well, things just go to heck rather briskly. Then you have the stick legs, the barreled chest and the strange pose and stature. You really need the soft-goods trench coat to hide the mess underneath. This version of Han Solo is absolutely in need of a complete redo from the ground up. Hasbro should have known better than to use this version in 2015. Even a reuse of 2015’s TBS [P2] Han Solo (#19) from the final wave of general release 3.75” super-articulated figures would have been such a better start. Hopefully this updated version of Han Solo doesn’t unnecessarily clog the pegs and prevent the new figures from arriving. And by that we mean that Hasbro cannot repack it into future case assortments. One of the most important things for collectors is to get modern replacements for all of the figures they grew up with and played with during their childhood years. Han Solo doesn’t bring us any closer, unfortunately. But there are so many other characters that have yet to be attempted first, so we don’t expect a revisiting of this character any time soon.