Intro:

One of the biggest disappointments of SDCC 2013 for me was missing out on Hasbro’s con exclusive Boba Fett (with Han in carbonite). I stood in line along with a horde of others only to reach the end hours later and be told they were “out”. I was bummed.. but just a few days later, Hasbro let slip that the same version, sans carbonite coffin, would be released at retail in the 2nd wave of their Black Series. As the 1st wave had juuuust started to pop up on shelves, I knew I had a wait ahead, but I can be a patient dude when I put my mind to it. Once I had my preorder in, I simply crashed on my couch and set to twiddle’n my thumbs the months away. Fortunately for you, you can just keep reading to find out how the set turned out.

At First Glance:

Boba looks amazing! He’s my obvious favorite before I can even get him out of his box. I mean, he’s sort of the whole reason I plopped down the cash for the whole group.

Han looks a bit gangly and more like a caricature of Harrison Ford than an accurate likeness. His boots and vest look cool though and he has a couple different blasters and belts to mess around with. Always a bonus.

Slave Leia… oh man, what the heck did they do to you?WHAT HAVE THEY DONE!? Did someone sneeze while finalizing your head sculpt? With Slave Leia I expect her to look tough and rebellious, but.. you know, still sexy. What we get looks more like stoic school marm Leia with not a drop of sexy in site. Ugh.

Finally, Greedo.. ya know, for a character I regularly celebrated in my youth of getting blown away in the first hour of A New Hope, he’s actually looking pretty tight. I actually want to play with him. Didn’t expect that.

On Second Thought:

Boba is definitely awesome looking with cool battle damage and nice paint details. But he’s not without a few issues. He’s pretty top heavy compared to the rest so getting him balanced can be chore. His main flaw(s) seems to be that he has as many points of articulation as any of the other figures but it doesn’t work out as choice as you’d probably hope.

Overall, he’s pretty limited in how you can move him thanks to elements of his sculpt and pieces of his little straps/armor that get in the way, particularly around his shoulders.

The pistol that fits in the (awesome) holster looks amazing and fits like a glove. The rifle on the other hand, is a pain in the buns to fit correctly. It looks cool but I think it’ll be sitting this one out.

Since Han has always been my favorite SW character, I probably spent the most time posing and photographing him. Thanks to the extra time spent, somehow, that smarmy, cocky cool of Solo started to pierce through the almost comical caricature of the hero.

Despite my initial, less than impressed feelings about his appearance, the tables turned faster on me than they did on Greedo and Han is a decidedly awesome figure! He poses really well and has a slew of accessories (blasters, spare hands, vest and two belts) to mix things up.

I also found his spare yellow gloved hands useful for when your pose calls for “drama hand”.

Oh Slave Leia.. I just don’t know how I feel about you. I want to like you, I really do.. but you look like this..

when (in my head) you should look like this..

The face “looks” like Carrie Fisher, but it’s not a very flattering version of her. I also found that the way her neck joint works gives her a distinct giraffe neck affect that simply exaggerates her derpy gaze. I will say that despite her shortcomings, I did enjoy posing her and found that with some effort, you can get an appealing look or two out of her.

She’s actually articulated decently well. Not that she really needs to be. I’d probably would have been happier with less articulation/less visible joints on her being as that her main role in this Jedi-era gear was to sit next to a fat alien toad and look… pleasant. But it gives you some stuff to play with if the spirit moves you.

I was also disappointed to find that after only a few minutes posing her that her loin cloth started to fray pretty drastically. It’s not hemmed on either side so a stray breeze could probably kick off the unraveling process. Proceed with caution if you care about that sort of thing.

Ah man, second favorite (after Han) of this set has to be Greedo. In fact, his paint, sculpt and articulation is the best of them all! Super easy and fun to pose.

The little blaster he has, fits perfectly into his hand or holster. And check out those fingers! He’s just fun! Having him around has made me really look forward to what other future SW alien’s we’ll see come out of this series.

The Final Word:

Unlike the first set, which I didn’t bother picking up (other than the awesome Storm Trooper) or review, I think this wave is 100% worth locking down. Sure, Boba’s a little more limited pose-wise than I’d like, but he’s still freaking Boba Fett and looks awesome.

Han’s head sculpt is a little on the exaggerated/goofy side, but that’ll all melt away once you start posing him up Cantina style with my boy, Greedo.

And while Slave Leia isn’t the Leia we probably.. ahem, hoped… for. She’s not THAT bad. You can pose her up with the others and make some cool scenes. Like this one!

Too saucy? Don’t worry, Han has other interests you can play up on as well.

After the first wave hit, I was at the same time excited and let down by them. The Storm Trooper looked and posed, overall, really great and was an instant purchase for me. But the rest of the selection was pretty subpar.

A fantastic Mark Hamil headsculpt aside, what good is a pilot Luke without his X-Wing? Along with that, we got a sloppily painted R2 and Darth Maul, who despite some high praise heard around other toy-review site/streets, is the most overrated (dead) villain in history.. I simply have no use for him.

Whether Hasbro intended to make it like this or not, the set is just so much more cohesive. Each character fits really well with the next. Had I bought them separately, I’d probably had skipped Greedo and Slave Leia in my ignorance.. but I’m so glad I didn’t. Having them all together makes for some truly fun scene building.

I’m really looking forward to the next wave. Is it just me, or is it taking Hasbro WAY too long to get these guys out? Four figures every 6 months or so is quite a wait. Lets hope whatever is next in line is as awesome as this one was. *Cough *Cough Obi Wan.. Cough* Cough* Chewie.. Cough* Cough* Vader.. Cough* Cough*.. C3po! OH! And vehicles!

PROS:

• Some of the most popular characters from the Star Wars universe in one wave
• Generous articulation throughout
• Each figure comes with some nice accessories (and working holsters) that actually fit in the characters hands
• The quality of these figures is pretty solid. I found the paint and sculpts to be well done overall, particularly on Greedo and Boba Fett.
• These figures are just plain fun to play with

CONS:

• Hasbro’s artists obviously could have put a few more hours into nailing down the character (Han and exspecially Leia) likenesses in a consistent, accurate and attractive way
• Boba Fett’s articulation is surprisingly limited despite having a plethora of joints. It’s also a little difficult to get him to hold his rifle
• Leia’s bobble head inducing neck joint (Han suffers from it too) is a truly unfortunate design-choice

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