Han Solo (Endor) - RC - Basic

The Star Wars Retro Collection is inspired by the 1980s STAR WARS figures and features original figure design and detailing! Continue your collection from the galaxy far, far away!

It’s not that we don’t like the character because we do. We adore Han Solo, but isn’t another release of Han Solo (Endor) the equivalent of torture in the modern Hasbro Star Wars toy line? Hasbro produced the character in this outfit countless times before the Disney takeover. Now they’re repeating the habit with the same old tooling (and new tooling) across the current scales of action figures, including The Vintage Collection, The Black Series, and the Retro Collection. To properly celebrate a four-decade anniversary of an Original Trilogy Star Wars film, Hasbro should choose characters across the rich spectrum to give everyone the proper representation. How is there not some new or revised Gamorrean Guard or Emperor’s Royal Guard in the 3.75-inch format? Aren’t they the purest examples of what is symbolic to Return Of The Jedi?

The new and modern interpretation of the classic 1984 ROTJ Han Solo (In Trench Coat) figure isn’t terrible. Still, it’s a clinically dull addition to the line, and fans and collectors are terminally tired of this version of Han Solo that it feels almost painful to plop down money for another version. Wouldn’t it behoove Hasbro to focus on Ewoks, new Jabba’s palace aliens, and never-before-released skiff guards to make the 40th Anniversary of Return Of The Jedi as exciting as possible? The modern figure brings forth all of the stuff we got in 1984. The soft-good trench coat comes with a distinct camouflaged pattern, and the material is high quality. We also get the black DL-44 blaster pistol, which fits nicely into the figure’s pointing hand. Han Solo (Endor) also comes with a complete outfit underneath the trench coat. You can recreate both looks of the on-screen character with relative ease.

It feels as if the Retro Collection is running out of steam. Between the off and frankly poor character choices in each wave and the resentment that these things cost as much as TVC figures did during the line’s heyday, we don’t know what the line’s future holds for Hasbro. We know it’s a cost-effective line that Hasbro can overcharge collectors for, so we are confident they will milk this until it’s retail poison. And by judging by the peg-warming of the Obi-Wan Kenobi Retro Collection wave, that is happening already. We’re not against the Retro Collection. However, we don’t like the line’s character choices. Hasbro either needs to make wiser choices concerning that or broaden the line and include more background characters for a more balanced approach. We don’t know how well Han Solo (Endor) will fare online and at retail, but we don’t have high hopes for this latest wave.