Han Solo (In Endor Gear) - POTF2 [FF/TKC] - Basic

Han Solo commanded a strike force of freedom fighters whose mission it was to sabotage the Imperial shield generator protecting the new Death Star. However, a surprise visit from some of Endor's native Ewoks appears to present an uncalculated setback.

As The Power Of The Force “2” line began rolling out one figure after another in full force, collectors began seeing patterns when it came to the same character in different outfits. Aside from the particular outfit, the figures all look the same in terms of their likenesses. Perhaps this wasn’t such a terrible thing overall. It provided uniformity across the brand and gave collectors, for the first time, a very homogeneous nature to the line. What doesn’t work, however, is that the characters evolved throughout the Original Trilogy. Han Solo in A New Hope wasn’t the same Han Solo in Return Of The Jedi. The same can be said with the other main and minor characters. In the vintage Kenner era, the action figures captured some rather generic expressions, and now the modern line is following suit. Perhaps more scene-specific gestures and expressions should be added into the modern mix to change things up a bit more. Instead of making clones of each other, we would encourage Kenner/Hasbro to take a more artistic approach and make these figures unique from one another. One of the best examples proving that the modern action figures began looking too much like one another is 1997’s POTF2 [R/G] Han Solo (In Endor Gear) figure. It’s looks no different than 1995’s POTF2 [R] Han Solo figure with extra gear, namely the trench coat. Now it's back in the 1998 lineup as a repack.

In all fairness, that’s what this character from Return Of The Jedi is. But it feels like Kenner/Hasbro is reinventing the wheel here, and the excitement for a new Han Solo action figure doesn’t feel the same. Between the exaggerated facial features to the bulky body type, Han Solo (In Endor Gear) feels lost in a line that is making tremendous strides elsewhere. For us, the biggest downfall, aside from the reuse of head sculpts, and other parts, is the elimination of soft-goods. For Han Solo (In Endor Gear), the figure comes with a plastic molded trench coat shell. This removable accessory never achieves the same aesthetics as a woven soft-goods trench coat. Plus, the removal of soft-goods gives you two action figures in one. In the case of Han Solo, the character was seen in both iterations during Return Of The Jedi. Although the deco is fair on the trench coat shell, it doesn’t look movie-accurate. It also encumbers his full range of articulation, which is something collectors are going to find irritating. When you remove the shell, Han Solo (In Endor Gear) is left with camouflaged arms, and as you can imagine, looks silly. Also included with the figure is a large blaster pistol. As you know from most figures in The Power Of The Force “2” line, their size is about as laughable as the removable trench coat shell. Kenner/Hasbro still have quite a few things to perfect yet.

During 1997, Han Solo (In Endor Gear) was notable for having two distinct variations. The first “error” version was painted with blue pants, the color he wore in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. After a while, the figure was corrected to the standard brown pants, as seen in Episode VI. Both versions are elementary to find on the aftermarket because the change didn’t happen until well into the production of the first version. But perhaps the most popular variation is the version from the Freeze Frame Action Slide line. It includes a pack-in premium which features a still from Episode VI in the form of a functioning film slide. Han Solo (In Endor Gear) was one of 29 figures carried forward into The Kenner Collection phase of the modern Star Wars toy line. The figure supports diorama building for the Battle of Endor. Admittedly, all of the older action figures look incredibly better in the 1998 Freeze Frame Action Slide lineup. The line concentrated on updating the most popular characters of the Original Trilogy with “All New Likeness” updates. We hope that Kenner/Hasbro continues to do the same with other popular characters as well. Han Solo (In Endor Gear) is an example that the likeness is becoming stale and tired. It’s time to move forward with better approaches to the action figures Hasbro makes. For us, this figure fails to be a definitive modern update to the classic Kenner 1984 ROTJ Han Solo (In Trench Coat) figure.