Lando Calrissian - RC - Basic

The Star Wars Retro Collection is inspired by the 1980s STAR WARS figures and features original figure design and detailing! Continue your collection from the galaxy far, far away!

Billy D.! Billy D.! Billy D.! No matter how hard 3.75” super-articulated collectors try, we cannot seem to get Hasbro on board to produce a stunningly definitive modern interpretation of Cloud City’s Baron Administrator for The Vintage Collection, or other 3.75” super-articulated line. At least Hasbro isn’t shy about producing action figures of the beloved character. Hasbro made a fantastic version of Lando Calrissian (39) in The Black Series [Phase III] 6” line. And now we have the character in the Retro Collection to celebrate 40 years of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Cast from the original vintage Kenner figure (and not the original molds), Hasbro faithfully replicated the 1980 ESB Lando Calrissian figure and placed the figure on a replica vintage Kenner card back with original artwork details. A few extras, including distressed weathering and wear to make it look “older” than it is, are also applied. If you’re a fan of the Retro Collection line, then Lando Calrissian is a required purchase from wave 2. And it’s probably one of the better ones from the Walmart exclusive group.

Interestingly, Hasbro chose to recreate the version of Lando Calrissian that is commonly known as the “without teeth” version. In 1980, Kenner produced two versions of Lando Calrissian. One version came with the white sclera and white teeth. The other version removed this extra detail, and the eyes were all-black, and no extra paint detail was given to the mouth. We prefer the version without the extra white detail because that extra white paint makes Lando Calrissian look foolishly happy and it doesn’t reflect the on-screen character. A side-by-side comparison of the Retro Collection Lando Calrissian next to the vintage Kenner Lando Calrissian shows that Hasbro came closest to recreating an exact match. You’ll be impressed with how accurate the details of the two figures are. There are some paint color differences between them, but overall, Lando Calrissian is perhaps the most accurate vintage Kenner recreation in the Retro Collection. The vinyl cape is a tad lighter, but that’s the biggest difference. Well, there is another.

The biggest “biggest” difference is the color of the Bespin blaster included with Lando Calrissian. This time Hasbro cast the blaster in black plastic, which we believe is the first time this has occurred. The Droids line also did not utilize an all-black Bespin blaster either. We did receive a gray Bespin blaster with Squid Head. But all other Bespin blasters were cast in blue. All were released in The Empire Strikes Back toy Kenner figure line too. We’re not sure why Hasbro decided to change all of the blue weapons that came with the original figures to black, but perhaps they felt it was more accurate to have black accessories than blue ones. One thing we should mention is that the figures in The Empire Strikes Back wave of Retro Collection hold their weapons much better than the figures in the Star Wars wave. We’re happy to see Hasbro updating little things like this because they’re quite problematic when trying to display the figures on a shelf in your collection. Still, they need to release many more figures in this line. There aren’t enough.