Han Solo (Smuggler: Tatooine) - Heroes Of The Rebellion - 1:6 Scale Figures

As the galaxy struggles in the oppressive grip of the tyrannical Empire, a meagerly equipped Rebel Alliance strives to strike a victory against their overwhelming foe. Slim hope comes when secret plans to the Empire's mighty Death Star are stolen by Rebel spies, but when Princess Leia's starship is attacked and boarded by Darth Vader and his troops, she is forced to hide them in the memory banks of an astromech droid named R2-D2. Fleeing with the secret plans, he and his counterpart, the protocol droid C-3PO, escape to the backwater planet of Tatooine leading the Empire to begin an exhaustive search of the barren world.

Eventually the droids find their way into the possession of idealistic young Luke Skywalker, whose dreams of adventure and excitement far away are fulfilled at terrible cost when the Empire's stormtroopers come looking for them. Along with the droids and the wise Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke embarks upon a mission to return the lost plans to the Rebellion, venturing to Mos Eisley spaceport in search of transport to Alderaan. Here at the Mos Eisley Cantina, the travelers encounter Han Solo.

A former smuggler and space pirate, Han Solo is the rugged, devil-may-care captain of the Millennium Falcon. Sharp-witted and quick with a blaster, Han is noted for his narrow escapes from dangerous situations, many of which are the result of his own brash and arrogant behavior. His skill with a blaster and uncanny luck are equaled only by his extraordinary piloting abilities. After winning the Falcon from fellow gambler and friend Lando Calrissian, Han extensively modified his ship to become one of the fastest space vessels in the galaxy. For this reason, he and his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca are hired to transport Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and young Luke Skywalker on a mission that will forever alter Han's roguish course. After helping to rescue the Rebel leader Princess Leia from the clutches of the evil Empire, the often charming yet insufferable pilot wins the heart of the beautiful Princess, and in her cause, finds a focus for his flyboy talents. No longer a reckless vagrant, Han Solo becomes a general in the Rebel Alliance and is recognized as one of its most deserving and courageous heroes.

Sideshow Collectibles celebrated the 30th anniversary of Star Wars (and A New Hope) in style with the announcements of 12” figures of characters featured from that very first Star Wars film. They got to all the core characters and finally in June of 2008, Han Solo (Smuggler: Tatooine) was released to thunderous applause. Not only did Sideshow create a magnificent masterpiece here, they have created the definitive Han Solo 12” figure based on his outfit from A New Hope. While this figure uses the “now inferior” Art S.Buck body frame, it suits Han Solo very well because the height and frame are both very accurate for this character. Han Solo had the smallest costume changes in the film and all have been captured in this 12” figure package. Because Han Solo didn’t change outfits in the first Star Wars film, Hasbro included accessories like interchangeable hands with gloves and for exclusive collectors, the “different” cantina blaster with the figure. It is this attention to detail that proves that Sideshow is very much into giving collectors the most authentic Star Wars products on the market. Han Solo (Smuggler: Tatooine) is certainly the epitome of authenticity. Complete with a screen accurate costume, a plethora accessories and great portrait, Han Solo will be making many collectors of high end items very happy.

Han Solo has an excellent portrait. The hair style and color are perfect and are in proportion to the rest of the features on his face. The eyes are incredibly lifelike (one of the traits that Sideshow is able to nail time after time) and while his lips appear too much like they are wearing heavy lipstick, the whole package is quite stunning as all the different pieces work together very well. The white shirt and black vest complement each other perfectly and his navy blue pants with the red blood stripe couldn’t fit his frame better. The boots are cast in a rubbery material and are cast in a glossy black. They look exactly like the boots seen in the film. The outfit is beautifully completed with a real leather belt with metal details. It hangs low on the waist as it should and the functioning leather holster can house his blaster pistol. Han Solo also comes with a beverage, droid caller, interchangeable gloved hands and an Imperial issue blaster. We have no complaints on the amount of accessories included with this figure. This is the second attempt at Han Solo in the Heroes Of The Rebellion line. And it is a world away better than the “Bespin” Han Solo that was one of the first figures in the line.

Probably the most surprising aspect of the figure is the edition size. The Han Solo (Rebel Captain: Bespin) figure from 2006 had a combined edition size of 10,000 pieces. This Han Solo has a combined edition size of less than half that at 4,977 pieces. Clearly there has been a drop in collectors, but we are perplexed that not more people were interested in this figure. Perhaps the economy has a lot to do with this, but Sideshow made the A New Hope Han Solo with such precision that we think should have been enough to pull a few more collectors back into the fold. But this commentary is really rhetorical. It doesn’t matter how many people are collecting. This Han Solo 12” figure is absolutely one of Sideshow’s crowning achievements (especially for the time) and it quickly became one of our favorites so far in the line. Characters from the first Star Wars film always hold a special place in most collectors’ hearts and this couldn’t be any truer for this Han Solo figure. We do have one big complaint however. We need Chewbacca to make Han Solo complete. So we request to Sideshow to make this a priority, because only Chewbacca can make this Han Solo better than he already is.