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| Part II |
Part One, showcasing the first four figures, is here. Now we’re really hitting the big guns…
Chewbacca
Chewbacca is one of the
characters that helps to shape Star Wars the most. His relationship with Han
softens the smuggler’s image, making him a more relatable character, and Chewie’s
loyalty (most explicitly shown in ESB) erodes even the hardest of hearts. He
may not have much of a character arc, but the OT wouldn’t be the same without
him... whilst the PT would be a tiny bit better.
This Chewbacca is from the 2011 Vintage Collection Android set and is my
preferred modern sculpt of the character, in large part due to the mouth being
closed. There’s 15 points of articulation but he’s such a lean character
there’s only so much posing you can do. That said, ball-jointed hips would have
killed the look of him, so it’s an understandable trade off. This version was
second hand and so his trusty bowcaster is missing its bow. It’s a shame, but
I’m not too panicked about finding a replacement – I’m sure one will turn up
eventually.
Princess Leia
For a film series that was being
made up on the fly, the way that Princess Leia and Han Solo’s story arcs
intertwine is extremely well done. She starts off as the uptight senator and
bastion of the Old Republic, but as the saga progresses she eventually mellows,
remaining a strong leader (at least until the final act of ROTJ), whilst becoming
more forgiving of Han’s devil-may-care attitude, and even a little bit cocky
herself.
This figure is from 2004’s VOTC line, and it looks like it too.
It’s a decent figure, better than any from the POTF2 days, but Leia looks young, more like the teenage queen Lucas
originally envisioned. Well scaled, but by that definition extremely small, she
goes well with Han and Luke but unlike the respective likenesses of the other
two, doesn’t quite do Carrie Fisher justice. An update for the captured
Princess is sorely needed.
Luke Skywalker
The main hero of the
OT, here’s Luke as he first appeared way back when: a young moisture farmer
unable to take control of his own destiny who turns space adventurer,
Princess-saver, Jedi-in-training and rebel hero. That’s a lot to pack into two
hours, and is probably why so many kids grew up idolising young Skywalker. It
may be cooler nowadays to say Han was your favourite, but there were fights
over who would be Luke in my playground, brah.
Luke here is from the
Blu-ray Commemorative pack for A New Hope,
which is a slight repaint of 2009’s Resurgence
of the Jedi figure. It’s the best modern ANH Luke by some margin, with 14
points of articulation, a fantastic sculpt and one of the better Mark Hamill
likenesses Hasbro has produced. The arms do hang a little long and the figure
suffers from not having ball-jointed hips, which could have been hidden by his
skirt, but as Luke Skywalker goes this is a superb action figure. He fits in
the Vintage Collection Landspeeder as well, which is always a bonus!
R2-D2
Star Wars wouldn’t have
happened without R2-D2, the astromech with attitude and an unnatural devotion
to his mission. Whilst Han had Chewie, Luke had R2, a divide between the
natural and mechanical worlds that is examined thoroughly in Will Brooker’s highly
readable BFI guide to Star Wars. I’m not excited at the prospect of seeing R2
again in the sequel trilogy after the way he was used in the prequels, but if
they are going to be wheeling out the same characters again then you’d suppose
that he has to be in there somewhere…
Also from the Blu-ray
Commemorative pack, this R2 was originally from 2005’s Saga Collection Early Bird set. It looks gorgeous with a shiny
chrome top, crisp blue paint job and lots of nice little details, including a
removable third leg and light-piping for the eye. This is by far the best R2 at
3.75”, and well worth purchasing.
Part I is up here, and
Part III will be online on Friday.
Thanks for reading!
