Like the Princess Leia (Boushh Disguise) that we reviewed yesterday, this Han Solo with Carbonite has been squarely beaten up by the Black Series/TVC update.  And, like the Boushh figure, this one also manages to stay relevant in your collection today.

On its own, the figure looks nice, but is sorely lacking in the articulation department.  Not only does it have the dreaded swivel elbows, but it has zero knee or ankle articulation. It’s only barely a step above a 5POA figure. It’s possible that the reason for this was budgetary, as it comes with a rather large accessory - the carbonite block.  The block itself is neat because it captures a moment in the film when Boushh/Leia activates the thawing process.  The block is painted silver for the most part, but is left unpainted for much of the upper body.  This allows light to pass through the translucent piece that is inside the block.  So along with the completely unthawed block that came with the POTF2 cardboard Jabba’s Palace diorama, we now have this mid-thaw block, and we also have various full blocks, including the magnetic one that came with the TVC Jabba’s Palace Adventure Set.  This one is pretty specific to a few seconds of screen time, but is neat, nonetheless, particularly since we do have the full range of options available to us. 

But back to the figure for a moment.  Chris has pointed out that the TVC version, while technically superior in just about every way when compared to this TSC version, has a flaw.  The TVC version has his shirt untucked from his pants.  This would actually make the figure more accurate to Han’s pre-freeze moments, as he’s being lowered into the Bespin chamber.  When Han is unthawed in Jabba’s palace, his shirt is magically tucked in.  I’m not sure what fool was responsible for this egregious continuity error, but one’s thing is certain:  Hasbro incorrectly sourced the TVC sculpt as being from ROTJ.  So, since that one is from ESB, it technically clears the way for this TSC 002 version to be the best available ROTJ post-thaw Han Solo.  The figure’s shirt is tucked, which is correct to ROTJ, continuity error and all.  That gives it some value for your display today, even though the figure is otherwise substandard.  Fortunately the sculpt is nice enough to help make up for the lack of articulation, but not enough to earn it a high grade.

Also note that the TSC figure here has schmutz on its shirt.  When Han falls out of the thawed block and onto the filthy floor of the palace, Boushh picks him up.  From his reclining position in Boushh’s arms, we can see the newly acquired schmutz.  Han stays dirty this way until at some point around the time when he gets tossed into the cell with Chewie. Han falls into some presumably gross water in the cell, but it seems to be enough to wash away the dirt.  From then on, Han’s shirt is relatively clean.  At that point, this figure ceases to be truly screen accurate.  For that, you’d need the slightly repainted clean shirt version of Han which came out in the Battle of the Sarlacc Pit battle pack.  All the other figures in the set, as well as the skiff, are now obsolete.  The only purpose to owning that set is for the Sarlacc Pit itself, and the clean ROTJ (shirt tucked) Han Solo.

So, this figure (along with the clean version just described) maintains some other value for your display, for both the tucked shirt and the mid-thaw block accessory.  If you have OCD like us, you’ll need to keep this guy in your collection, even if you have multiples of the TVC figures.  Save that one for your Bespin carbon freeze diorama, where it’s more accurate to the film source.  Otherwise, this is rather substandard.  It gets a 5, which is a point better than a modern 5POA figure would get.

One final note, this was the first of 10 Ultimate Galactic Hunt (UGH) figures in The Saga Collection. Along with variant packaging with silver foil on the card and silver highlights on the bubble insert, it also included a chrome silver stand and a silver hologram pack-in.  Otherwise the figures themselves are identical.