BESPIN HAN SOLO

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

As I make my way through the home stretch of the Power of the Force coin reviews, I’ve officially passed the figures that really offer anything actually new, so, you know, that’ll be a ton of fun, right?  Right.  Since one of the aims of the subset of the line was new variants of the franchise’s heavy hitters, it’s no shock that all three of the central trio were present.  I’ve already looked at two of the three, so today, let’s round out the trio with Han Solo!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Bespin Han Solo is one of the seven Toys “R” Us-exclusive “Millennium Minted Coins” set from Kenner’s Star Wars: Power of the Force II line, released in 1998.  While Luke and Leia were both sporting their Endor gear from Return of the Jedi, Han breaks up the theme by being based on his main look from Empire, which is a twofer, being from a different movie, and also being his main look, not a specific variant.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Structurally, he’s pretty much identical to the main line release of Bespin Han.  Honestly, that’s not awful.  Apart from the fact that the head sculpt doesn’t really look like Han, it’s past the crazy bulky proportions of the earliest sculpts in the line, and generally looks the part.  The only issue with this particular release is that he can’t stand particularly well, so he needs a stand to keep him upright.  Color wise, he’s again pretty much the same as the single release.  Apart from the jacket being the wrong color (a forced error mandated by Lucasfilm’s licensing in the ‘90s), the paint work is pretty well handled, and fairly cleanly applied.  Paint is also the one distinguishing point for Han’s blaster accessory; though totally black in all other releases, this one gets a bit of silver paint at the front, which is a fun change-up.  He also includes the requisite Millennium Minted Coin, as well as a display stand, which is especially helpful, given his troubles with standing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like the Chewbacca figure from a few weeks ago, this figure wasn’t really on my list until very late in my Power of the Force collecting, given just how similar he is to both the standard and Cinema Scene releases.  Ultimately, there’s not a ton going on with him that’s not going on elsewhere, but the added paint app on the blaster is honestly a pretty cool thing, even if it’s kind of small.  I do appreciate there being *something* different to justify another purchase if you’re the sort of crazy person buying them all.