One of my favorite moments from Star Wars is when Han goes berzerk in the Death Star hallways and starts maniacally chasing the stormtroopers down the hallway.  We never really got a very good figure of Han in this particular configuration until now.  In the past, we got a couple of pre-posed statues that were part of some special niche packs, but this is the first time Hasbro went down the road of giving us a proper Death Star Escape Han Solo.

The figure itself is quite good.  It’s DNA goes back to the VOTC Han Solo, which was amazing at the time, and basically still holds up fairly well.  This Han has a new head, which has a decent resemblance to Harrison Ford. The rest of the figure is super-articulated to the standards of the day.  Based on the sculpt, he has swivel forearms rather that wrists, but that looks to be an acceptable trade off with aesthetics.  My particular sample has a bit of a lean at the waist, which is slightly annoying, but I only noticed this when trying to line up the figure for the photographs.  The articulation allows for some decent action poses.  The paint application is fairly strong on the figure, including the joints maintaining the proper colors.  One notable issue is that the sleeves are too white, while the body of the shirt seems to be closer to the proper off-white color of what Han wears on screen.

Now, you’ll most likely want to display this figure with just the belt and blaster.  The included helmet and chest armor are (almost) completely superfluous.  They’re basically terrible accessories.  They are poorly proportioned, and don’t fit particularly well on the figure.  Most obviously, it serves no purpose for Han to be wearing just a helmet and chest armor.  It’s unlikely he’d be fooling any Imperials with that type of poorly conceived disguise.  Hasbro could have given us a figure similar to the TAC Clone Trooper in training fatigues figure, which may have provided more play value, if not necessarily anything for hardcore collectors.  So you wonder why they were included at all.  The only reason I can think of is to display the figure in the very brief moments after the heroes escape from the trash compactor, and Luke and Han are shedding their stormtrooper disguises.  This seems like a particularly dull scene to recreate for a permanent shelf display, but Hasbro has given us that opportunity.  The least I could do was set up the scene for the gallery above.  Your’re welcome.

The belt is removable by slipping it off the figure.  Unfortunately, the exposed waist is unnaturally thin, and since Han had to temporarily ditch his personal belt/holster combo for the sake of the disguise, it just looks weird without the belt.  But I guess it could be accurate to what his pants looked like sans belt.  So again, you’ll just leave the belt on the figure.  One other problem, the butt canister barely stays on the belt.  If you touch the figure, it falls off.  I had the rubber bands on the belt at the point I took the action shots (you can see it in the shot with the Falcon ramp), but I removed it for the still shots.  I’ll never get back the opportunity to have that thing held in place by the bands.  Chalk it up to another sacrifice I’ve made for this site.

This Han Solo is an outstanding figure.  As per the ol’ “addition by subtraction” axiom, it would actually be better if it didn’t include the weird accessories.  Nevertheless, either toss them in a bin or use them for that iconic moment when Han is undressing.  In reality, I guess they don’t really hurt the figure, since you can safely ignore these pieces.  The only downside is that perhaps something else could have been included (although I’m not sure what), or maybe Hasbro could have spent a few more pennies on another figure in the wave instead.  Like the Chewbacca with headset figure.  But that’s for another review.

The figure is a 7.  The awkward lean is the biggest negative to the figure itself, but there’s plenty of room for more modern articulation.  If Hasbro decided to give us an updated ANH Han (which is probably not at the top of anyone’s wish list), they have the resources to make a definitive version that has full modern JLA (Jedi-Level, or in this case, Hero-Level articulation), swappable gloved hands, removable headset, and possibly even swappable holster/belt and stormtrooper belt.  That would give us a definitive ANH Han that would probably end up being a fan favorite, and would also compel people to buy many duplicates.  As it stands, it’s a sufficient version of this outfit, and we can probably call it definitive for the time being, even though improvements could be made.

Build-A-Droid 

Han Solo contains the body for the astromech R3-A2.  This droid can be spotted in Echo Base.  Specifically, it was in the background just before Major Bren Derlin had to inform Princess Leia that the blast doors needed to close for the night, with Luke still outside.  Source:  Empire Strikes Back.

OR

Han Solo (Carry Forward) contains the left arm of YVH-1, a battle droid developed to help fight against the Yuuzhan Vong.  Source:  New Jedi Order - (Legends).

Verdict: No Action (unless the stormtrooper belt is incorporated into a modern definitive ANH Han Solo) 

This figure can be had on ebay for less than $20 shipped, which isn’t bad.  It’s basically scene specific, so your interest in the figure may vary.  Personally, I’m a fan.

Verdict Guide:
Re-sculpt = The figure is not definitive, and a new version should be developed.
Re-issue = This version is definitive (or close enough), and shows sufficient secondary market demand to warrant a straight repack.
No Action = This release does not require new attention.