Hoth Wampa - TBS [TESB40] - Six Inch Figures (Exclusive)

Wampas are powerful furred bipeds that dwell in the snowy wastes of the ice world Hoth. These hulking predators have razor-sharp fangs and claws, yet move with surprising stealth, relying on their white fur for camouflage while hunting prey such as tauntauns. A wampa attacked Luke Skywalker outside Echo Base, killing Luke's tauntaun and dragging the Rebel commander away. An injured Luke awoke to find himself upside-down in the wampa's lair, his feet frozen to the cavern ceiling. Luke used the Force to call his Lightsaber to his hand, cut himself free, and severed the wampa's arm with a quick stroke.

WAMPA! It’s quite remarkable to us how we once thought the Wampa from 2015’s TBS [P2] Luke Skywalker And Wampa Deluxe set was a stellar figure. Now it pales in comparison to the update released as a Pulse Con exclusive. How did we ever approve of the Wampa having a yellow nose and yellow bags under its eyes? And how did we also support Hasbro’s decision to incorporate gray claws and hand pads the same color of the fur, instead of dark brown like the original Kenner release decades ago? Thankfully, Hasbro has remedied all that was wrong with the initial release and has perfected a figure destined for glory. This release is the definitive Hoth Wampa action figure in the 6” scale line. It’s a crying shame that it’s exclusive and will not see the widespread availability it needs and deserves because this is an excellent figure. Coincidentally, Hasbro decided to retain the removable “battle-damaged” arm feature with bloody injury underneath. But they did remove the blood from the beast’s mouth, chin, and chest to provide collectors with a “pre-feast” take on the classic Star Wars cold-weather creature. The icing on the cake is that the Hoth Wampa comes in traditional Kenner-styled packaging (this time a box like the original 1980s toy) since 2020 celebrates the 40th Anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back. This release is a win-win for everyone involved. It’s a distinct pleasure that we’ve added this figure to our collections. We hope many other collectors do as well. This Hoth Wampa is infinitely better. A planned 2020 SDCC exclusive, Hasbro relegated it to a Pulse Con exclusive because of the convention cancellations.

It’s also hard to believe that we complained about the Deluxe line costing collectors $40 per release back in 2015. Now, the Hoth Wampa goes for $29.99 by itself, and there is no battle-injured Luke Skywalker included this time. If Hasbro had included the figure, this set would easily exceed $50. The original Deluxe format in the second phase of The Black Series 6” line didn’t do well, and it was briskly canceled. Now Hasbro is utilizing a smarter way of releasing Deluxe figures. In 2015, we felt strongly that the Wampa was unequivocally the reason to buy the original two-pack set. Out of the gate, the Hoth Wampa was awesome and superseded our expectations. The Wampa looked better than most of the other figures released in the line at that time. And we speculated that if Hasbro could get the rest of The Black Series 6” line up to this caliber of quality of the Hoth Wampa that collectors would have very little to complain about with this larger scale of action figures. Like the 2004 Star Wars “Saga” Wampa (With Hoth Cave) Ultra figure, the Hoth Wampa’s right arm is entirely removable. Hasbro designed the limb with swivel articulation at the shoulder. It’s a snap to remove it and re-attaches just as quickly. While you don’t get the other arm’s full range of movement, you do get enough for what you need it to do. Sadly, the Hoth Wampa comes without any accessories. There are no bones, and there isn’t an ounce of ice either. The set feels like it should include more for it’s MSRP.

We must also comment on the figure’s weight. The Hoth Wampa weighs a ton. You can feel the heaviness of the figure when holding the packaging. We also noticed that the figure’s weight has resulted in packaging damage, from bending to crushing the box. The Hoth Wampa creature is built like a regular bipedal humanoid action figure, and because it is bigger, it weighs proportionately, we imagine. But the larger size translates into a lot of extra weight. And we’re thankful for that. We were concerned that we would receive an empty and hollow Hoth Wampa in this package. We couldn’t be happier about being proven wrong about our assumptions. The sculpt of the Hoth Wampa is exceptionally lovely. We are grateful to see the blood removed from this release. We never liked those effects on the figure previously, and it’s nice to see a version that closely resembles the approach taken with the vintage Kenner toy. The fur is white and cream and, at times, in certain light borders on being a pale yellow in some instances. The claws, horns, and lips are all dark brown this time instead of gray, and if you spend some time looking at the intricacies of the sculpt, we believe you’ll agree that this is an impressive action figure. The Hoth Wampa comes with an astounding 26 points of articulation, and much of that movement is ball-jointed and ball-socket articulation. These points allow for a wide range of motion. We managed to attain some incredible poses with this figure. Hoth Wampa is a lovely effort from Hasbro. We approve.