Han Solo - TSC - Basic (SAGA 035)

It’s quite a coincidence that an action figure can be as good as it is bad. That’s about the best way we can sum up Han Solo (SAGA 035) from The Saga Collection. Hasbro attempted to create an Escape From Mos Eisley version of him, but in the end he’s technically screen inaccurate (based on this particular sequence of film) and just a hodgepodge of decent and not-so-decent articulation. He’s in accurate because he was wearing gloves in the film during the Docking Bay 94 sequence. Not the end of the world, right? But why is Hasbro using a 1999 sculpt in a 2006 basic figure line? In all fairness, the 1999 POTF2 [FB/CT] Han Solo figure certainly isn’t the worst Han Solo figure ever created. But since Hasbro already has the stunning 2004 VOTC Han Solo figure available, why not find some new take to do on this figure instead? Why couldn’t the new portrait they made for Han Solo (SAGA 035) just be put on the 2004 VOTC Han Solo body instead?

Probably no other action figure has been released as many times as 1999’s POTF2 [FB/CT] Han Solo figure has. This should prove how well the figure has aged, but that doesn't mean it hasn't become outdated. Of course Hasbro has made insignificant to significant tweaks on this sculpt from time to time, and there are easily over a dozen separate releases this action figure has seen in one form or another to prove it. Han Solo comes with 10 swivel and hinge-jointed points of articulation, most of which are now considered simple articulation at this stage of the game. You’ll also find to hinge-joints in the knees which at the time it was introduced was considered premium articulation. This helped Han have the ability to sit at a cantina table (had they seen release also) or just sitting in general. But as worst, collectors were happy about the ability to have him naturally seated in the Millennium Falcon cockpit. For this release, Hasbro gives us an all-new portrait and it has a better than average likeness of Han Solo. It has a good expression, but it unfortunately feels out of place on a body that is more than a half a decade older than it.

And perhaps we shouldn’t be so harsh about this figure’s body. It’s not as if the torso and legs are all that bad because they’re not. Han Solo still has an athletic silhouette and for the most part his proportions look great. The awkwardness is all concentrated on the arms and hands and stems from the weird poses of the arms and the chunkiness of the hands. If Hasbro found new arms to attach here, this figure could have looked a whole lot better. In fact, the figure may have been one of the better Han Solo figures out there in totality. Hasbro often needs to find cheap ways to bring new action figures into the basic figure line. And for The Saga Collection in a few instances, perhaps they reached too far back in their catalogue of parts for this Han Solo figure. Still, they’ve refreshed it enough to have it considered “newish”. Even the paint job is new. Han Solo is definitely one of the most popular Star Wars characters of all time so it makes ense for Hasbro to consistently get him out there. But this may have not be the wisest way to do that. We still are indecisively on the fence about this version of Han Solo. And we still equally like him and dislike him.