With a big thank you to LitzkyPR, we are able to bring you a gallery and review of the Kessel Run Millennium Falcon.  Oft maligned before it hit retail, fans were ready to jump down Hasbro’s throats for a multitude of reasons.  So is it as horrifically bad as many think?  Does it have any redeeming qualities?  Is it worth the price?

First, we got to see this in action as demonstrated at New York Toy Fair.  You can see by many of the comments in our YouTube video that people basically equate Hasbro to ISIS because of this toy.  Here’s the thing:  this isn’t meant to be a properly scaled, collector grade, film realistic, environmental masterpiece.  It’s 100% toy, clearly intended for kids.  It’s packed with electronics and a also few features.  After reading this review, I hope that you fellow collectors will not bash this toy because it’s not what you want and that it’s a waste of plastic because it impinges on your ability to collect adult-oriented display pieces.  This is not meant for your collection.  It’s meant for your kids.  So the main question is:  Is it a fun, well-executed kid’s toy?  The secondary question that might follow would be:  Does it have any place in my adult-oriented Star Wars collection?

Let’s take a look.  First of all, from the images we’ve seen of the Solo-era Falcon, the paint scheme, paneling, and accoutrements seem to be fairly screen-accurate.  Obviously we’ll get the details when we see Solo, but this is probably a brand new Falcon (or at least, newly remodeled), and it belongs to Lando Calrissian.  So maybe it should have come with a Lando figure?  Well, it’s specifically meant to capture the ship as it makes its famous Kessel Run, which everyone in the galaxy has heard of except that old fossil and the kid from Tatooine.

The biggest complaint from people may be about the size.  Again, this isn’t intended to be a collector set piece, nor is it meant to be of a scale anywhere near that of the BMF.  The ship is still decently sized for what it is.  If you’re a kid (and I don’t have one nearby on whom to test this theory), it would seem to be pretty large, but not too large as to prevent the aforementioned kid from grabbing it and flying it around the house or the yard.  I don’t believe that Hasbro had any intention to force collectors to down-size their own expectations and cram this into their personal collections. 

This is an electronics-loaded toy.  The figure and the escape pod interact with the Force Link activator.  Nothing we haven’t seen before, but as we’ve said multiple times, it’s one of the best features Hasbro has included with Star Wars figures and toys (except for the build-a-droids).  But the Falcon itself has some nifty lights and sounds that are fun to execute.  There is a master switch on the underside of the Falcon that is either off, mode 1, or mode 2.  Mode 1 allows for just basic noises, which is cool for kids so that they don’t wear out the batteries just by touching the ship.  In Mode 1, pressing the button just behind the cockpit activates a series of lights, sounds, and vibrations.  If the master switch is on mode 2, it opens up a series of additional activations.  First, simply by lifting the Falcon off the ground, one of the landing gears acts as a sensor, initiating a takeoff sound sequence.  Then, engine in flight sounds are continuous as you fly the ship around, making other swooping noises as you bank left and right (this is pretty neat).  Placing the ship back on the ground initiates the landing sound sequence.  The button on the left side of the hull can be pressed in short bursts to give laser firing sounds, while holding the button momentarily gives you proton torpedo launching sounds.  Now the button on the right (behind the cockpit) is fully enabled in mode 2.  Pressing once lights up the mandibles with a series of blue lights that flash in slow sequence, while the engine roars.  Pressing a second time increases the blue flashing frequency, heightens the sound, and also introduces vibrations to the entire ship.  Pressing a third time will essentially “overload” the ship.  The lights whiz by, the sounds increase, and the vibrations hit a fever-pitch.  During this time, the panels on the top “disc” of the ship pop off, and a couple of seconds later, the same happens with the panels on the mandibles.  The flashing lights then turn red.  The Falcon, at this point, seems to have diminished capabilities, as the blasters work more slowly (pushing the left button).  Landing the ship gives you the familiar revving sounds of a failed attempt to jump to hyperspace.  As far as the film, it remains to be seen if these panels are blasted off by attacking Imperial ships, or if they are ripped off during the Falcon’s effort to make the historic Kessel Run.  One other thing about the lights, the rear engines do not light up per se, but in the dark, blue light does pass through the plastic.  It would have been great if there was a full light-up feature for the engine.

While the sounds and lights are cool, and clearly meant for kids, it seems Hasbro spent almost all of their efforts into this vehicle with those same lights and sounds.  Additional play features are minimal, and are probably enough to drive a collector mad, although they may or may not do the same for a kid.  The biggest drawback is that the cockpit is only large enough to hold one figure.  Clearly, it’s not meant to be a large enough scale, but even a slightly out of scale cockpit would have been an acceptable compromise to allow for Chewbacca to sit next to Han.  As it is, the large Chewie figure barely fits alone, but it can be done.  The dashboard hinges upward to allow for easy access to get a pilot in or out, but otherwise the cockpit isn’t designed to “secure” a figure in place, so unless it’s Chewie, a regular sized figure like Han will float around in there.  There are two cargo holds, which can be accessed with a couple of removable panels on the main body of the Falcon.  In one of them, there is a special slot that securely holds the included coaxium tanks.  This same compartment is too shallow to hold a figure.  The second compartment can hold a figure - two actually - as long as they are laying down.  There are also two other slots in this compartment which can hold - I have no idea what they can hold.  They’re actually featured in the instructions as being useful for something, but it’s not clear what.  A neat action feature is the escape pod (that’s what it’s called, as opposed to a cargo shuttle, or something else) which can be removed from between the mandibles.  The pod holds one figure (laying down).  It is also interactive with the Force Link activator, so it can make flying and shooting noises.  The pod has a couple of swivel canons, one on each side.

Regarding the Han figure, it is almost identical to the one that came with the Force Link activator set, with the exceptions that the removable jacket (vest) is gone, and the arms are new to match the black shirt underneath the jacket.  This 5POA figure (or, is it?) has swivel wrists, so it’s actually 7POA.  It’s got a decent likeness to Ehrenreich, from what I can tell.  The sculpt is good, as are the paint applications.  The figure’s right hand is shaped perfectly to hold the included blaster.  My main complaint with this budget figure is that the holster is a terrible fit with the pistol.  It falls out.  In fact, it’s a challenge to maneuver Han in the cockpit without the pistol slipping out.

As I see it, there are 3 things to complain about - and the mere existence of this vehicle as an insult to collectors is most definitely NOT one of them.  First, the cockpit should have been a little larger to hold a co-pilot figure.  Second, if the interior of the ship was only going to be able to hold a figure laying down, then maybe it could have been designed with more lateral space to hold more figures - essentially serving as a carry case for the crew of the Falcon.  If you could fit Han in the cockpit, and Chewie in the escape pod, then there should be room to hold at least the figures of the rest of the crew.  Reluctantly, the third negative item is the price.  I say reluctantly, because price these days is too subjective.  I’m not going to complain about the cold hard fact that this stuff is simply a lot more expensive that we’d like.  The question is if $99.99 is a fair price relative to the rest of the toys in the line.  Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.  It’s a lot to spend on a toy for a kid which may not hold his or her long-term interest. 

It’s a toy that should be considered separate from the real line, but interactive enough where it works for kids.  It’s important for the health of the line that there be an affordable Millennium Falcon on the shelves during the Solo run.  There is the “micro” Falcon, which is offered in the Class B vehicle range, and there is this.  Anything that was intended to be more collector friendly would probably be $150-200, and maybe Hasbro just wasn’t sure what the interest would be, given the apparent (although debatable) sluggish sales from recent Star Wars media.  Would it have made sense for Hasbro to gamble on a Solo-era BMF, especially after many collectors just shelled out $500 for a sail barge?  It was probably a wise choice to avoid that pitfall, and go with something more kid-friendly.  If collectors can accept that this simply isn’t meant for them, then there’s nothing to hate here.

So to the questions we posed at the beginning:  Is it a fun, well-executed kid’s toy?  I believe the answer is yes.  Does it have any place in my adult-oriented Star Wars collection?  Probably not, at least at full price.  However, it may be the best possibility to have a Falcon styled from the Solo film.  Some might find it acceptable as a backdrop for figures from this film.

I’ll give it a 6.  It’s decent for what it is, probably a few tweaks could have made this better, and it’s up to each individual prospective buyer to decide if the price is right.