Chewbacca & C-3PO - TBS [P3] - Six Inch Figures (Exclusive)

Encountering a Stormtrooper in Cloud City, C-3PO was blasted at point blank range and his limbs were scattered. Chewbacca gathered the parts of the protocol droid and partially reassembled him.

In case you weren’t aware, part of the job description to be a collector of The Vintage Collection is to remain in a constant state of bewilderment and deflation. While there is overall disappointment in the way Hasbro treats The Vintage Collection when compared to The Black Series [Phase III] line, it’s not often that we feel envious of our 6” brethren that collect them. But now we’re envious. Hasbro has cobbled together a magnificent duo based on scenes from The Empire Strikes Back where C-3PO is shot by an oddly-voiced Imperial Stormtrooper and blown to smithereens. Chewbacca then find him and gathers back his parts as Ugnaughts play a nearly literal monkey in the middle with C-3PO’s head. Chewbacca eventually claims victory and gather’s C-3PO’s parts in a cargo tray. But with little to no time to begin a full repair, C-3PO’s partially assembled body is thrown into a cargo net and Chewbacca carries him around on his back for the duration of their time on Bespin. In a most beautiful way possible, Hasbro updated previously existing Chewbacca and C-3PO figures to develop an Episode V-specific collaboration of the two, making it one of the finest, and most expensive exclusives in the entire The Black Series [Phase III] 6” line to date. If you can get past the price, the set includes the best versions of each character so far in the line. Chewbacca has a new head sculpt specific to The Empire Strikes Back. And while C-3PO is enhanced from previously existing parts, most of the figure is new due to the implementation of the “removable limbs” feature added to his extremities.

Chewbacca is based on the original figure produced in The Black Series [Phase II] lineup. Back in the day, Chewbacca had a rough start in the 6” line. Originally scheduled to appear in The Black Series [Phase I] line, production issues prevented the figure from arriving on time and Chewbacca was pushed out to the first wave of the new line look change. This version of Chewbacca didn’t necessarily meet collectors expectation because the likeness was off. But now, Hasbro tooled a delicious new head sculpt, complete with newly parted hair and a likeness that is ripped right out of The Empire Strikes Back. Hasbro also enhanced some of the coloring, but we’re not sure if they nailed it perfectly. Regardless, this is the nicest-looking Chewbacca in 6” scale. We don’t know if Hasbro will be able to top this likeness in the future. Chewbacca comes with the same bandolier and satchel as previous releases. But new is the inclusion of an E-11 blaster which we’re thankful to see since it is a scene-specific prop utilized for the scenes on Bespin. Chewbacca can hold the blaster decently, but it’s not a perfect fit. Chewbacca’s hands were designed with the bowcaster in mind, so we’re content knowing that we’re not going to get him to hold the new blaster perfectly. Like all other 6” Chewbacca figures, the head sculpt doesn’t articulate in a full range of motion like we’d hoped to see, but the figure looks so incredible that you’re probably not going to care. Photo Real appears to be applied to Chewbacca’s eyes, but it’s a tad difficult to confirm this because of how deeply inset they are on the portrait. Regardless, the deco on Chewbacca is fabulous.

C-3PO is about as fascinating as Chewbacca, but perhaps lacking slightly in deco. Hasbro took previous C-3PO tooling and added in the all-new functionality of removable limbs. C-3PO comes with five accessories, four of which are clusters of multistranded (and colorful) wires that make up and accent the stubbed limbs. The two arm “clusters” are articulated (isn’t that amazing?) and are easily removable to interchange with the fully developed arms. However, the leg wires are approached differently. Instead of inserted a wire cluster into the hip area, Hasbro developed wire “sleeves” that go over the thigh area to mimic the battle-damage C-3PO sustained from the Imperial Stormtrooper blast. When transformed into battle-damaged droid, C-3PO looks marvelous. What’s more, Hasbro added a soft-goods cargo net (as well as instructions on how to use it) that slings around Chewbacca’s neck and hangs down his back. Because of the prickly edges of the thigh leg wires, we weren’t successful adding them in the cargo net with the figure. We have to remove them to get C-3PO in the net. Perhaps we were rushing, and you might have more success than we did. Regardless, we managed to C-3PO into the next with screen-accurate preciseness. The setup is astounding and one of the greatest combinations of figures we’ve seen in the line to date. Even better, Hasbro included all of the full limbs so you can rebuild C-3PO and have him completed after R2-D2 fixed him on the Millennium Falcon. Posed together, Chewbacca & C-3PO are gorgeous. We only would have loved to seen more deco applied to C-3PO. If there is one bone to pick with this set, it’s the $50 MSRP. $39.99 would be a much fairer price.