Lando Calrissian - R - Saga Legends (SL23)

At one recent NY International Toy Fair event with Hasbro, they explained to us that they would be releasing action figures based on the Original Trilogy sequentially up until we reach Episode VII. That sort of has come to pass, but what we didn’t know at the time that many of the action figures they were talking about were going to be part of the Mission Series and Saga Legends lines. As long term collectors are concerned, these simple low-budget action figures lines are a bitter pill to swallow. Basic figure lines went from 60-75 characters down to less than 30 in recent years. Paint operation quality is suffering and articulation is disappearing. Accessories are diminishing and prices are skyrocketing. As you can see, there is a lot of gloom and doom with the Hasbro Star Wars brand. But many collectors, and yes even us, are trying to forge ahead with the hand we’ve been dealt. Current action figures are far from where we want them to be, but if you can look at some of these figures in a different light, you might be able to appreciate (or at the very least accurately assess) how these action figures measure up overall in the Star Wars line. Lando Calrissian (it drives us nuts that Hasbro dropped the “Skiff Guard Disguise” subtitle) is an OK action figure. It does have its share of issues however.

Let's talk about Lando Calrissian’s major issue. JTA was the first to reveal to the collecting community at 2014's NYCC Preview Party that this version of Lando WOULD NOT come with a removable helmet. It's sadly true. Explain to us how an action figure from 1983 can come with a removable helmet, but a figure from 2015 cannot? It makes no sense. One of the greatest play features we had as kids in the Kenner era were removable helmets. We couldn’t wait for the next action figure to come with this extra accessory. We’re sure you remember that fondly as well. We’re not even sure if the helmet was a separate accessory initially for Lando Calrissian or not, but it does appear that a fully sculpted head is underneath it. The helmet is on there good, too. You can’t move it at all. Underneath though is a decently painted face. His eyes look a little too wide open and his eyebrows are very accentuated. In fact, we think they look very much the eyebrows on 2011’s TVC General Lando Calrissian (VC47) figure interestingly. You’ll probably be surprised with the amount of deco included with Lando Calrissian, but he is still missing quite a few details. We’re most surprised with his chest armor. For some reason, Hasbro cut off the bottom of the plated pattern (and leaves a harsh horizontal line in the shape of it). But if you look at the costume in the film (or any previous iteration of the character in the action figure line) you’ll see that it is indeed curved and dips down a bit. We’re not sure why Hasbro did what they did here.

On a more positive note, Hasbro sculpted Lando Calrissian’s force pike in a very stiff plastic. In fact, it’s a better accessory than what came with many of The Vintage Collection “skiff guard” figures so you might want to replace this one with the ones that are more rubbery. (Maybe not.) Sadly, you can’t pose the force pike in any screen accurate or interesting ways because of the figure’s simple articulation. The figure’s posing limitations can be frustrating at best, but if you’re just filling out a shelf display or diorama you really can’t find that much fault with the figure. (Well, if you can’t make him hold his force pike like he’s supposed to, that might be a bone of contention for you as well.) Because the Saga Legends line is notorious for poor paint operations, you will probably be relieved to know that Lando Calrissian doesn’t look that bad. A few details could definitely be revised for the better, but overall we don’t feel that there are too many issues with him. He does have an odd gold detail in the center front of his helmet, but other than that there aren’t any major eyesores here. Part of the smaller third wave of the Saga Legends line, Lando Calrissian also joins case mates Luke Skywalker (SL22) and Han Solo (SL24). The card back art has been changed to multilingual and the bio of the character is missing. Man, we really don’t like all the changes happening to the Star Wars brand. It’s very disheartening.