Han Solo With Torture Rack - TAC - Basic (30 38)

Han and his friends go to Bespin to escape the Empire, but Han's friend Lando turns them over to their enemy, Darth Vader. Strapped to a rack, Han is tortured with no idea why, telling Leia afterwards, "They never even asked me any questions."

One thing that we couldn’t deny in the 30 (77-07) line was the size of the accessories and figures included with the on a basic card back. And while many of us took them for granted, it was a great way to get additional “necessities” into the toy line without paying an extra premium for them or waiting for them to make their way into multipacks or other methods. Probably the biggest surprise of the 2007 line was the Han Solo With Torture Rack action figure set. It was the only figure of the year to come with an accessory significantly bigger than itself, but the point of this basic figure wasn’t Han Solo. It was all about the torture rack. With a realistic design and incredibly authentic detail, this is one basic figure that shouldn’t be missed. It is quite a sight to behold. Figures from The Empire Strikes Back weren’t that well represented in the 30 (77-07) line but it is evident that Hasbro made up for this inequity by releasing this awesome “basic” figure. We use the term “basic” very likely because this set could have been very easily passed off as a deluxe figure. Sometimes we need to be mindful of these small blessings because it is things like this that makes collecting all the more worthwhile.

As we have just mentioned, the Han Solo figure is not too exciting, but it’s quite amazing how awesome he looks when set in the torture rack. But if you were to look at the figure separately from the whole, you would have a case to make quite a few complaints. In addition to a rather terrible face sculpt, Han Solo suffers from very skinny legs that are way too close together. While he borrows legs from the very awesome 2006 VTSC Han Solo (In Trench Coat) figure, the inclusion of an all-new torso has made the interaction of the two parts not work as well as they should have. The final result doesn't sit that well with us and looks rather clumsily assembled on this new figure. And many of you will most likely not prefer to have a Han Solo with his shirt not nicely tucked into his pants. Well, we have to give Hasbro proper credit for leaving it unkempt because just watch the movie, it couldn’t be more perfect. And we also bet that many will miss Han Solo not coming with a blaster. (But come on, he was “captured” at this point and Darth Vader ripped his gun right out of his hand using the Force.) Again, this is a figure that has been designed to function in the torture rack. This basic figure is not all about Han Solo. And most importantly, this figure should not fill the space in your collection as the official Han Solo (Bespin Fatigues) vintage update.

We couldn’t be more excited for this torture rack. Expertly crafted, nicely and simply painted and completely functional with the included Han Solo action figure, the torture rack is such a comforting and reassuring accessory that proves to us that Hasbro can just about do anything if they put their minds to it. While it doesn’t light up, Hasbro did include enough “orange paint’ to simulate that the machine is indeed alive and ready to inflict some pain in out favorite Rebel hero. The straps that hold Han Solo into place only detach from the rack on one side. (Be sure to check which side is intended to detach from the device because you don’t want to damage this awesome toy.) The torture rack also has nice range of motion to recreate the torturing process Han Solo underwent in the film. It is such a thrilling thing that Hasbro was so inventive with so many figures in the 30 (77-07) line. We won’t expect such incredible “deluxe” basic figures like this that often in the line going forward. The tooling costs clearly must be way too expensive to make this a mainstay. This should be reason enough to appreciate them when they do get released into the basic figure line. Han Solo With Torture Rack is one of the coolest figures of the 2007 line and while we clearly want to explain that this isn’t based on the merits of the Han Solo action figure, but by the torture rack and the interactive combination of Han and the torture rack alone.