Star Wars: The Black Series C-3PO

Franchise mainstay C-3PO does not make for the most exciting or impressive entry in the Black Series line, but is a necessary one. It was this view that kept him out of the Coffin collection for such a long time, only being welcomed a few weeks ago. The Walgreens exclusive version is the Original Trilogy 3PO, with the silver leg, not the general release from The Force Awakens, with the red arm.

Star Wars: Archive Pilot Luke Skywalker

 

The Archive series is a thing that has been hotly anticipated around here, offering reissued Black Series figures from earlier portions of the line that people such as I had missed the first time. Excellent. The first Wave is comprised of the three other Empire Strikes Back bounty hunters and pilot suit Luke Skywalker, all of which were missed the first time.

Star Wars: The Black Series Rebel Fleet Trooper

 If there was a let down about this figure, it would be the most obvious thing about it: this is an army builder background character, a guy that literally stands in the background of scenes unless he’s being directly murdered by Darth Vader. But, that one rogue point may not be a bad thing per say, but rather a new hopeful glimpse at the direction of the line in general.

Star Wars: The Black Series Target Exclusive Ach-To Luke Skywalker (The Last Jedi)

 It sure feels like we’ve been paying a lot of attention to Star Wars figures the last few months: I have a pretty sizable backlog of Black Series figures to examine, and the list has been growing. It also feels like it’s getting close to time that we finally talk about The Last Jedi and Solo as movies, now that the climate of nuclear takes is in remission, aside from those die hards who are still infuriated by either or both. Those talks are coming, but for now, let’s get some exposure to another Black Series figure, the Target exclusive Episode VIII Luke Skywalker.

Star Wars: The Black Series Skiff Guard Lando (Return of the Jedi)

 Completing (for now) the Lando Trilogy (for now. . . ), skiff guard Lando presents the great character in his temporary Return of the Jedi Jabba’s palace guard appearance. There’s a tiny bit of cross over potential for this figure, as the removable helmet fits on Tobias Beckett from the Solo sequence of figures, so it could be possible to kitbash an in-disguise Beckett from his movie, but we’ll touch on that later on, whenever we get around to Tobias Beckett.

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 . . . .

Star Wars: The Black Series X-34 Landspeeder and Luke Skywalker

 

 Well, it’s January, so it’s the perfect time to be thinking about warmer, sunnier climes as well as still trying to march through all of the toys I got last year but never got around to examining. That is a long list, kiddies, and I arrived at the realization a few months ago that I could not and did not need to adhere to any particular chronology with my articles, which was a literal blog life saving realization. Anyhow, as predictions of a fair amount of snow come barreling towards Chicago, let’s look at the ’93 Chevy Cavalier of the Star Wars universe, the 6” scaled X-34 Landspeeder.

Oh, right. There’s a Luke Skywalker figure included in this as well.

Star Wars: The Black Series Obi-Wan Kenobi (Force Ghost)

 

Practically the total opposite of the Mimban Stormtrooper, Force Ghost Obi-Wan is an excellently rendered store exclusive. This time native to Walgreens, this figure takes the base Black Series Obi-Wan Kenobi and fancies him up into his Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi look, and the results are excellent.

Star Wars: The Black Series Lando Calrissian (The Empire Strikes Back)

 

Quite a while ago now this figure came into my possession; at the time a rare example of actually finding a new figure from a new(ish) Wave in a retail store. Just when Black Series Lando was released as a member of whichever Wave is lost on me. I’m pretty sure Lando was in the Wave after the Revan Wave, the Imperial Guard one, and I think he was included in a Wave after that as well. Whatever; I’d never seen one in a store, and wasn’t enthused enough to buy one online by itself, so I grabbed him. Shortly thereafter, my feelings of wanting to backtrack through Black Series figures I’d skipped began to solidify, and I was glad that I found this Lando when I did.

Star Wars: The Black Series Han Solo (Solo: A Star Wars Story)

 

 The standalone Han Solo movie is reportedly the biggest box office flop in the Star Wars franchise. That is an entirely relative statement, as I’m not sure many people would label $265 million dollars in ticket sales a bad thing. But, the movie had a $400 million budget apparently, so in industry terms, it flopped. There are multiple theories as to why this happened, but as is the case with all things Star Wars these days, only a few of them are rational, while many more are fueled by a truly impotent rage coming from the more delicate corners of the fan community.

Star Wars: The Black Series Jaina Solo

 

The Star Wars Expanded Universe holds (or ‘held,’ depending on whether or not you allow Disney to control what Star Wars is for you . . . –mr) an enoromous cast of characters, many of whom approach Mary Sue territory pretty quickly. In the times before the New Trilogy brought us the continuing adventures of Luke, Leia, and Han, the EU told us what would happen to them after the events of Return of the Jedi. It turns out that Luke opened a Jedi training school, and Leia and Han had children. You know, before Disney wiped that out and the New Trilogy ignored the lore and did whatever it felt like doing.

Star Wars: The Black Series Chewbacca (Solo: A Star Wars Story)

 

Apparently certified as a flop based on box office returns, this springs’ Solo gives us younger versions of some beloved Star Wars characters, and shows us how they met. Long standing in the EU is the story of how Han and Chewie came to be such a pair, and we get a version of it in the Han origin story. For some reason, Chewbacca was sent to Target as an exclusive while Han and Lando went to general retail, Han at least almost destined to warm the shelves.

Star Wars: The Black Series Lando Calrissian (Solo: A Star Wars Story)

 

 

In a little over a month, the second Star Wars anthology film Solo will hit theaters, bringing us details from the early years of the galaxy’s greatest smuggler, Han Solo, whose death in The Force Awakens I am still not over. Naturally, this means new figures, some for new characters and some for new versions of old favorites.

Star Wars: The Black Series Admiral Ackbar and First Order Officer

 

It’s been mentioned in brief that The Last Jedi didn’t produce as many action figures as a Star Wars movie can be expected to produce. Even the exclusive figure sets released to coincide with the movies’ months prior Force Friday were mostly figures from other Star Wars movies. But, here’s a pair of figures that are very much The Last Jedi tie ins.

Long-serving Alliance officer and meme celebrity Admiral Ackbar and Generic First Order Officer.