Thursday, January 31, 2019

Star Wars: The Black Series Han Solo and Princess Leia Hoth boxed set





A second day of the 2019 Chicago Polar Vortex makes me think taking a look at this is a pretty good idea.

A European convention exclusive, this really gorgeous boxed set is one of those very rare occurrences where something in the Coffin collection stays in the package, without even intention of opening it, depicting Han and Leia in the halls of the Rebel base on Hoth. Both of these figures have been released already, and should be pretty readily available, but this box was simply too beautiful to pass up. And, your boy Moby almost did . . . .


Pretty good job hiding the accessories.
Coming in a trapezoidal box that is itself a work of art, this set is a piece that you put on top of a shelf or something for display. A pair of heavy plastic flaps encircle the box, and slide to either side to open and offer a clear view of the contents. The box itself is adorned with the traditional Black Series line art found on the black and red, third generation packaging that became the standard of the line when The Force Awakens figures began releasing. A pretty lengthy text blurb on the back explains the scene in the context of The Empire Strikes Back, for the four people in the world that don’t already know what this is. From time to time, I do make a big deal out of packaging, or find packaging that I really appreciate, but this is truly a next-level box. It’s great for display.

The Leia figure is the somewhat current (I guess based on whenever you’re reading this –mr) Black Series Leia from Empire, complete with the blaster, goggles, and tool that the single release comes with. These accessories are fixed to the inside of the box, slightly hidden by the front border. Han is, as far as I can tell, a different version of an existent Han, but being unwilling to remove the figures from the box means that I’m basing all of this off of what I can see at a distance.

This looks to be a different version of the Black Series Hoth Han that came with the taun-taun, only in a different, brown overcoat. Added to the coat is a fuzzy collar, so it looks like Han will stay nice and warm, which is always important. Han’s blaster is also included, similarly attached and hidden inside the front border of the box. This set seems to be the only way to obtain this brown jacketed Han, while again, the Leia is a fairly recent mainline figure.

I’m really happy to own this set. Being an exclusive, and European one at that, there were limited preorders available for it through the usual online avenues. My first feelings about the set was that, owning both of the base figures, I wasn’t going to go through the work to secure this. And then the preorders started selling out, and I was temporarily left with only a few preorders that were more than I was really willing to spend. Fortunately for me, Big Bad Toy Store relisted the preorder, and I was able to get in on that, after I’d realized that I truly did want this. But it seemed to be one of those “preorder for something that may be available” situations, and so as the emails began coming about the set being in stock, I was not certain that mine would be filled. Once I’d gotten a shipping notice I began to relax a bit, but frankly, until I was holding the box in my hands I was concerned that I would miss out. I’d told myself that owning this wouldn’t be necessary, but as soon as I knew I wouldn’t be able to own it, I felt pretty bad. Fortunately I got a second chance, and I wasn’t going to let it pass me by. For me, this is strictly a display piece to be kept in the box, so for as much as I wanted it I didn’t want to have to pay aftermarket prices to get it.

But it is a really good looking display piece. It sort of has me wanting to hunt down that Han and Greedo boxed set from a few years ago . . .  

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