MILLENNIUM FALCON CD-ROM PLAYSET with HAN SOLO
STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (HASBRO INTERACTIVE)
“Explore 7 Worlds of the Star Wars galaxy! Battle TIE Fighters, search for the Death Star and destroy the Empire!”
Are you guys ready for things to get weird? Okay, so, you *are* reading a review on a toy review site that’s nosing in on 4000 entries, so maybe weird’s a bit relative. Are you ready to jump into some of the weird marketing strangeness of the ‘90s? Yeah, of course you are! In the midst of the success of the Power of the Force relaunch in the ‘90s, Kenner got bored with just doing basic toy stuff, and really started just trying a little bit of everything to see what stuck. The back half of the decade saw household computers become a lot more common, and CD-ROM based media was seen as the thing to get into. Toy Biz did a whole set of Marvel figures that included CD-ROMs with digital comics, but Kenner/Hasbro needed to do better than that, so they built a whole interactive platform. Like, literally. It was a platform that you put over your keyboard and it let the figures “interact” with your computer. Welp, let’s check this thing out.
THE TOY ITSELF
The Millennium Falcon CD-ROM Playset was added to the Star Wars: Power of the Force II line in 1998 as a standalone piece. It was released not by Kenner, but rather by the Hasbro Interactive division, because of its more computer-based side. Included were the actual Falcon playset, an exclusive Han Solo figure, and a Windows 95-compatible CD-ROM with a “game” featuring 7 different locales that you can “guide” the playset through. I, unfortunately, don’t have a Windows 95 PC these days, so I was unable to try out the game. I know. For shame.
The bulk of what’s included here is the playset. It’s a sizable chunk of the innards of the Millennium Falcon, largely focusing on the main cockpit, but also including one of the gunner stations, so that you have some options. It’s a pretty large set-up, which does actually give you some space for fitting in a bunch of the figures. It’s notable for actually giving us a pretty nicely sized take on the cockpit, which were don’t usually see. In fact, it’s a bit too large, which isn’t the direction you’re used to seeing. It’s also somewhat comedic that, for as much space as there is included, they still don’t give you all four seats. That said, there are the two seats for Han and Chewie, as well as two spots with pegs for additional 
figures. In terms of sculpting, it’s all pretty rudimentary stuff. Not a lot of smaller technical details, and it’s soft even by the standards of the other offerings around it. It does at least have a neat visual presence. The whole thing is designed to go over a standard sized (at the time, anyway) QWERTY keyboard, placing the weight on the outside sections. There’s even a strap meant to hold it in place, lest the children get to vigorous in their playing. The three seats, the two spots for the standing figures, and three different spots on the central console are all capable of pushing down, and through use of springs, they can correspond to the keys to “interact” with what’s on the computer screen in front of them, which will appear through the set’s widow.
In order to really tie it into the line, there’s an included Han Solo, who’s exclusive to here. Nowhere else to get him. Unless, of course, you just opted to get the very similar figure from the gunner stations line from the prior year who was likely still available and retailed for 1/4 of this item. But this one’s got knees! This figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation, which, yes, includes the knees. On the flip side, though, he loses the waist swivel that was standard for the rest of the line. This is Han with the headset and gloves, seen most prominently during the gunner station sequence when they’re being chased by the TIE Fighters. It’s a sculpt that’s similar but not identical to the gunner station one. It’s different for different’s sake. It’s still on the old Han likeness, so it doesn’t look much like Ford, and he’s still a little bulked up. Generally, though, it’s not a bad figure, just a bit redundant. The paint’s more or less the same, which is to say it’s fairly basic and not terribly exciting. He doesn’t get any accessories of his own, but by this point in the line, everyone had, like, 50 Han Solo blasters, so you can just give him one of those.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
I did not own this set as a kid. I did look at this set *sooooooooooooooooo* many times on the shelves at CompUSA, where it was the only toy that was ever carried. My dad was in IT and had to make a lot of trips there for work, and there this set would sit. I thought it was cool, but there was no way I was getting it for its retail price. Instead, I got it many years later, when I had my own job and my own money, and no one could stop me. It came in through All Time Toys a number of years back, and it was still very cheap at the time, so boom, I had one. It’s goofy. There’s no denying that. But, it’s also kind of a cool display piece, even removed from the whole CD-ROM thing.
Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this item for review! If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.
The Figure In Question 