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Review |
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| Sculpt: |
| The baron/administrator of Cloud City, former gambler, and one-time owner of the MILLENNIUM FALCON, Lando Calrissian, as seen in 1980's THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Lando was originally conceived as a possible replacement for Han Solo as Princess Leia's love interest, as there was some concern about Harrison Ford's involvement in the third STAR WARS film. Fortunately, Ford returned to the role for RETURN OF THE JEDI, and Lando (played by Billy Dee Williams) became a valuable asset to the Rebel Alliance. In the world of Vintage Kenner figures, Lando faired a bit better than such characters as Darth Vader, Chewbacca, and the Stormtroopers. Although we only saw the one sculpt for TESB, Lando was made into two figures for ROTJ. With this figure, Hasbro again attempts to preserve the vintage Kenner "feel" while giving us our $10 worth. As such, it's got a decent amount of detail on it, and the likeness to Williams is as good as any other Lando figure from the modern lines. The puffy sleeves on his "pirate" shirt are given a nice amount of detail, and Williams was able to pull off this look well. (A decade later, Jerry Seinfeld wouldn't fare nearly as well in a similarly-styled shirt.) The figure's majestic cape is given the upgrade from Kenner-era vinyl smock to softgoods, complete with interior pattern details. 9 out of 10. |
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| Paint: |
| Lando's torso and arms are molded in a deep sky blue, with black details on the sleeve ends. His head, hands, neck and shirt collar are molded in a light brown. The collar and neck are a separate piece from the torso, in order to accommodate the non-removable softgoods cape; his collar is painted black to match his sleeve ends. His hair, moustache, and eyebrows are black, with brown eyes.His pelvis and paints are molded in dark blue, with his belt painted black. His shoes are molded in black. Overall, we're looking at a total of only four colors used on this figure, mainly because he is mostly molded in the proper colors to begin with: 9/10. |
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| Articulation: |
| Hasbro has done another commendable job here, with Lando sporting an appreciative 14 points of articulation. Both shoulders are ball-jointed, as are the head, both knees, and both ankles. The waist, hips, and wrists have standard planer-cut joints, and with angled cuts at the elbows. The shoulders might have been too bulky for Lando, but Hasbro wisely provided recesses for them to fit in that allows you to pose the figure with the arms down without him suddenly looking more like Tiny Lister than Billy Dee Williams. While I would have preferred ball-jointed elbows, this is still an impressively articulated figure: 9/10. |
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| Accessories: |
| Lando comes with a non-removable softgoods cape that is sky blue on the outside, and has an interior pattern that's gold, tan, and olive green. He's armed with an Imperial blaster, molded in black. 8.5/10. |
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| Packaging: |
| The same Vintage OTC clamshell outer case as the rest of the line, with an inner blistercard that reproduces most of the elements from the original Kenner TESB card. The clamshell insert depicts the OTC logo with silver-foil highlights, with the UPC code on the bottom of the insert. The blistercard reverse explains the significance of the OTC, showing a photo of an original, carded 1980 Lando Calrissian figure. It also shows small pictures of all four figures in TESB wave, with a list of all 12 VOTC figures below that: 8.5/10. |
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| Availability: |
| As of this writing, the figure has been appearing at retail for over three months, and is available from most online sources. Case assortments have been, well, bizarre, so you might still be hunting for him at this point: 7.5/10. |
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| Conclusion: |
| Lando sometimes gets treated like a second-class character in the STAR WARS toy lines, but in 2004 Hasbro has truly given the inter-galactic mack daddy his props! Between the Saga '04 versions of him the were repacked for the OTC, then this version, he's riding a real crest of respect: 8.6/10. |
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