What Is The Best 6-inch Scale Han Solo Action Figure?

Let’s continue our retrospective of 1/12 scale Star Wars action figures! I covered Luke Skywalker earlier this week. So I think it’s more than appropriate to talk about the various action figures of Luke’s best (human) friend: Han Solo. Do we have an ultimate 6-inch scale Han Solo action figure? Click through for an overlook of all the Han Solos you can get in the 1/12 scale!

Your action figures are no reason to shoot yourself, Harrison!

As before with Luke I will of course include both The Black Series and S.H.Figuarts. Model kits are not included though. I also don’t include the Carbonite version of him, which is just an accessory.

Without much further ado let’s cut to the chase! Here they are, all the Han Solo 1/12 scale action figures you can get! As reference I also include a few photos of Harrison Ford as Han, so you can see what an action figure of him should look like!

A New Hope

	Harrison Ford as Han Solo in A New Hope. Any ANH era action figure should resemble that likeness. Harrison has a somewhat assymetric face, so it’s not that easy to sculpt perhaps, but he has various very distinctive features which should, in theory, make it easier to sculpt him than a young Mark Hamill.
	The very first 6-inch scale Han Solo action figure is at best a mediocre effort by Hasbro. Apart from the atrocious paint apps, something that plagued all the early TBS figures, the sculpt is just not there. It sure does resemble Harrison, but it’s a passing resemblance at best. The giraffe neck doesn’t help here either. The figure has to be lauded for its wealth of accessories. A similar release today would be considered a “deluxe” variant. At the time the figure was somewhat of a peg warmer. It was later repacked several times, there is also a 2-pack with Greedo and of course the anniversary release.
	And this is what S.H.Figuarts came up with. While maybe not 100% perfect either this is, in my opinion, the very best likeness of OT era Harrison Ford to this day. It captures the essence of the character and looks a LOT like Harrison. SHF took great care to sculpt the hair like in the Harrison Ford promo photo from above, which was very apparently used as a guide to sculpt this figure. Please note the added detail of painted chest hair. No other Han Solo figure has that feature.
	Han Solo in Stormtrooper Disguise reuses the previous Black Series headsculpt and thus has all the same issues. A sculpt that is just “ok” and paint apps that were no longer appropriate in the early 2010s.

The Empire Strikes Back

	Harrison Ford posing as Han Solo in his Empire Strikes Back Bespin Outfit. Harrison’s appearance didn’t change all that much throughout the trilogy, unlike Mark Hamill, who also had a car accident which required some facial surgery.
	This is the Han Solo figure from the exclusive Exogorth set. Photoreal was added as a feature and this figure is a huge improvement over previous efforts by Hasbro. However, while the likeness is decent I feel that all modern photoreal Han Solo sculpts by Hasbro are still somewhat off. I cannot exactly pinpoint what it is… I feel Han looks too old, also all of the Black Series Han figures seem to wear lipstick, which just looks a bit odd. Hasbro tried to faithfully recreate Harrison’s assymetric features, mouth and nose a clear evidence of that. Overall it’s a good effort, but just not perfect.
	The regular Bespin version of Han uses the same sculpt as the exclusive version of him. So all the same things apply to this figure as well. Decent effort, but Han looks too old and something just doesn’t feel quite right.
	The Han that came with the deluxe Tauntaun set is certainly one of the worst, if not THE worst Han Solo 1/12 scale action figure. The figure has both a bad likeness and bad (facial) paint apps.
	The photoreal update of Hoth Han in the Archive series further proves how bad the sculpt is. I cannot tell you who that person is supposed to be. Cary Elwes perhaps?
	The Hoth Han that come in the convention exclusive with Leia uses once again the same headsculpt as the other two ESB based photoreal figures. And thus it too has all the same issues. It looks decent but it’s just not there all the way. Also, Han never wore lipstick. Something about all the photoreal TBS Hans just feels off to me.

Return of the Jedi

	Harrison Ford as Han Solo in Return of the Jedi.
	The Endor version of Han Solo by Hasbro is yet another decent effort, but again, the likeness just doesn’t seem all that right. It’s a decent likeness, but something just feels off. Also, Han REALLY never wore any lipstick, why Hasbro insists on using a rather dark lip color for Han Solo photoreal figures is somewhat puzzling.

The Disney Era

	Harrison Ford returned as Han Solo for the Sequel Trilogy. Any old man Han action figure should look like that.
	Instead Hasbro decided that this is good enough for a Force Awakens Han figure…. Hasbro had access to 3D reference material this time, yet they somehow managed to create a rather mediocre sculpt of Harrison Ford. The figure later received a running change with the correct hair color. This is certainly one of the worst 6-inch scale Han Solo figures in existence.
	I cannot overstate how much of an artistic achievement the SHF version of Force Awakens Han is. This is, without a doubt, the very best action figure likeness of Harrison Ford in existence. Hot Toys doesn’t come close here either. The SHF version of old man Han obliterates the TBS version and shows how bad TBS figures were around 2015/16. Again: this figure looks 100% like Harrison Ford. Photos may not do it justice. The figure is on my desk and it really is a miniature version of Harrison Ford. It’s only unfortunate that the very best Han Solo action figure is sculpted after one of his lesser popular versions.
	And then there’s Alden Ehrenreich. It’s moot to discuss whether or not Alden even remotely resembles young Harrison Ford. This is not what Lucasfilm were going for when they cast Alden for the Solo movie. So let’s focus on his likeness and whether or not his action figures do look like him.
	I think the Alden Ehrenreich Solo action figure is a good effort. It’s not entirely helped by the incredibly bored/sleepy expression Hasbro chose to gave Han, but the overall likeness is decent, as it should be since digital 3D rerefence material exists for all modern era Star Wars characters. This figure will probably be hardly anyone’s favorite Han Solo action figure, but I feel it’s a better effort than any of the OT era TBS figures, since the likeness is better here.
	Hasbro didn’t cheap out and actually gave Han Solo in his Mimban trooper outfit an all new headsculpt. I believe this sculpt is even a little bit better than the previous release and a really good representation of Alden Ehrenreich. This is an excellent action figure for various reasons: firstly, it really does look like Alden Ehrenreich’s Han Solo, secondly, you can easily transform this figure into an excellent looking Mimban trooper, which can be used as a troop builder. Again, this will probably hardly be anyone’s favorite Han Solo figure ever, but objectively speaking it is one of the very best.

And that’s it! These are all the (major) action figure variants of Han Solo in the 1/12 scale!

So the question is, do we have an ultimate Han Solo action figure? This question has an easy answer, but with caveats.

In my opinion the S.H.Figuarts The Force Awakens Han Solo action figure is THE very best action figure of Han Solo ever. Nothing comes close. The likeness is literally perfect. You also get the premium SHF materials, fluid articulation and that overall premium feeling. The only real, and quite huge, downside is, that TFA Han is probably one of the least popular versions of Han.

When we talk about OT era Han Solo action figures I feel that once again S.H.Figuarts comes closest to achieving “ultimate” status, because their A New Hope Han has the best likeness and it easily beats any of the modern Hasbro efforts. The SHF version also really captures the essence of the character with the facial expression. Something about all the photoreal Hasbro sculpts just feels off to me. Maybe it’s the paint apps, the lip color, or something about the shape of his face. Also, all the TBS photoreal Han Solo figures look a little bit too old.

And then there’s Alden Ehrenreich… The Mimban trooper version is excellent. It has a great likeness and it can also function as a really great looking trooper.

So in my opinion if you want the very best OT era Han Solo, you should track down the SHF version of ANH Han. If you can tolerate the sequels or just appreciate truly excellent action figures then the SHF TFA Han is the very best figure you will ever get. And Mimban Han is another excellent choice.

So there are a number of really great Han Solo action figures, at least one of them is even an ultimate version. Sadly, none of the OT era Black Series versions of him really do it for me. They are decent, they are ok, but all of them look off to me.

Are there any major version of Harrison Ford’s Han Solo still missing? Not really. Han never changed costumes all that much in the OT and Hasbro/SHF have all the major variants covered. Maybe a version of Han post defreezing with wet hair etc could be made, but that is incredibly scene specific. One could argue that Han in The Rise of Skywalker has a somewhat different hairstyle, but for all intents and purposes the TFA version of him will do here and a TROS release is not needed.

So what do you think? Do you agree that there is indeed an ultimate 1/12 scale Han Solo action figure? And what is your own personal favorite 6-inch scale Han figure?

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