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Never Forget - The ICMG Petition

Lando Calrissian
(Jabba's Sailbarge)

Neutral poses, solid articulation, excellent sculpting… These are things I personally cry out for in my action figures, and the new Lando Calrissian in Skiff Guard's disguise has all of the above, and then some.

This figure's the kind of chunk o' plastic that really stands out in a collection and it's the kind of figure a guy like me is pretty happy to review and give some praise to. Who says I don't ever say, “Hey Hasbro, nice job!” huh? Hasbro really did a superb job on Lando here, and this is the kind of figure that works in several different ways… The kind of figure where you look at it, and happily toss the prior version of it into a bin.

Read on for the good news, and if you haven't bought Lando Calrissian (Jabba's Sail Barge), then I'd suggest you get off your collective rears and pick one up ASAP.

PROS

 

Sculpt:  From head to toe, this is without a doubt the best sculpt of Lando Calrissian in ANY outfit to-date.

Of important note is the headsculpt, which is absolutely incredible in its uncanny likeness to Billy Dee Williams. That's no small feat, especially in such a small scale, so kudos to whoever cranked this remarkable likeness out over at Hasbro. It's really top-notch.

Aside from the impressive headsculpt though, is a sculpt full of fabric wrinkles, textured lines, raised surfaces, sharp and intricate details, and simply amazing realism. The figure doesn't look so much like a toy as it looks like a miniature statue representing the film character. That's pretty amazing considering Hasbro made the figure playable too.

My favorite additions to this sculpt over it's POTF2 counterpart are the amazingly accurately sculpted helmet, with its lines and ridges sculpted smoothly and realistically, and also the new skirt piece/holster. These changes really bring the figure's dimensions to life and make Lando that much sharper of a figure.

Suffice it to say, Lando is one of the more realistic pieces I've seen in the entire modern line. It's just truly an impressive looking figure, and pretty fun to play with too. That's all adding up to greatness.

Articulation: This is definitely one of my favorite aspects of the Lando, because the articulation lends itself to a couple neat poses. I've had my Lando in some pretty nice, neutral guard poses, as well as some pretty authentic action poses from his battle to save Han on the skiffs over the Sarlac Pit.

Lando's sporting the following articulation:

-2 standard shoulder joints
-2 swivel biceps joints
-2 wrist joints
-2 standard hip joints
-1 ball/socket neck joint
-1 waist joint

For a total of 10 points of articulation, he makes for a pretty poseable little guy. The argument could be made for some additional leg articulation, namely at the knees more than anything, but for what it is, Lando's doing pretty well… Pretty well for a Star Wars figure at least.

The arm's articulation is versatile enough to not only be posed holding his pike accessory with both hands, but also with one hand as he did in Jabba's Palace, or he can hold his blaster pistol like he's wrestling with Jabba's goons or getting a shot off at someone… Hell, you can even just pose his arms at his sides. That's good articulation, even if it's not my favored ball/socket joints. 

Accessories: They're pretty great, and pretty well varied. Lando's sporting some small accessories, and if you can just look past how flimsy they are (once again), they really are the kind that help you feel like you're getting a little more of your moneys worth for the figure.

Lando sports the basic rectangular “Star Wars” stand that most Saga figures have been coming with lately, but the tabs on mine don't interlock with the other stands properly. In the following waves, beginning with the Star Destroyer figures, they've been fixing this problem, but with Lando's older wave they hadn't quite gotten to it yet.

Next up is Lando's blaster, which is the same as the one that came with the new Jedi Luke from Jabba's Palace. The deco's a bit more simplified now with it being simply black, but it looks good nonetheless.

Alongside the pistol and stand is a force pike that, as usual, Hasbro made of flimsy plastic that bends at the slightest fart cross-wise. Their choices in plastics are TERRIBLE anymore, and while I love the newly sculpted pike for its looks, the fact it can't hold up under any pressure does suck. The sculpt of it is top-notch though. It's really a nice looking accessory, it just wasn't made with a high quality material.

And lastly, Lando's helmet is made (logically) of a flexible plastic so it slips on and off the figure's head easily. The paint detailing on the helmet is top-notch, and really has a lot of vibrant color to bring out every little detail sculpted onto it. They nailed every detail on this thing, from the tiny bone pieces on the mouth-piece, to the rivets where the brim is mounted. It's really nice looking.

Decoration: Again, another high point on a figure full of praise so far is the paint application. I've seen several Skiff Landos on my journeys to the local retailers, and each example of Lando I've seen has had a pretty decent paint application. My example has no bleeding at all that I can tell, and is full of silvers, metallic greys/blacks, browns, tans… He's got a lot of color that really makes him come to life.

The head's paintjob appears to be just as crisp, with no paint lines off on my figure's hairline. The eyebrows and mustache on Lando are also perfectly even with each other, very sharp, and very well applied. And Lando's eye paintjobs are just as crisp and realistic again.

This is, simply, perfect paint application as far as I can tell. As always, figures may vary though, so if you get a chance, look a few over at retail, and pick your favorite. As it stands, this Skiff Lando continues to rank as one of my favorite figures I've bought in a LONG time, for these reasons and others.

Features: Little things like working holsters and removable helmets are the kinds of things that make or break figures for me. These are features that really should be standard in the line in this day and age, but unfortunately they aren't always that way.

Fortunately for us though, Lando's not only has a removable helmet that's absolutely awesome on or off the figure, but he also has a working holster now, for the first time on this figure.

Both features work well, and the holster really makes Lando far more accurate than his Vintage or POTF2 counterparts ever were. It's nice seeing our favorite former Falcon owner finally able to accurately sport his sidearm. No Scoundrel is complete without a good blaster at his side!

CONS

 

Articulation: Just on the legs though… Nothing too major, but the argument can definitely be made that Lando would be just that much better if he had, oh, say some knee articulation ala ball/socket joints perhaps?

This is by no means a deal-breaker on Lando here, but I'm always up for more articulation on my toys, and Lando's legs are very statically posed. They are neutrally posed though, so if they have to be statically posed I'm at least happy to get neutral poses on them.

Some knee articulation would've helped when posing Lando like he's wrestling with one of the skiff guards, or trying to crawl up with the aid of Chewie and a blind Han… Just a little something extra to make Lando that much more fun to play with.

It's more or less just a general statement that I'd like more articulation on my figures rather than less. Star Wars could be so much more impressive in the toy aisles if they competed on articulation with other uber-articulated toy lines out there.

Flimsy Plastic: A big bummer here with this figure is the flimsy plastic used on the pike. While it's just an accessory, some SLIGHTLY more rigid plastic would've been nice. I've managed to get my pike in a couple ok poses with a bit of work though. I just see a lot of other collectors out there where the pike was their biggest gripe. With that in mind, I think it's worth mentioning here.

The plastic Hasbro's been using is atrocious at times, and while we've heard their various reasons why (none of which seem to ever add up, or they blatantly contradict each other), I think they are capable of better. The fact they use better plastic in some of their other toy brands alone makes me sure they can do better with Star Wars if they really wanted to. I don't mind it all the time, but when it makes a figure completely unable to stand on its own, or when an accessory collapses under its own weight, then we have a serious problem.

This is a problem I hope we see fixed in the coming years. It's been one we've dealt with for far too long, and it just shows simply poor quality on the part of Hasbro. No excuse for it.

OVERALL

What can I say? Short of the flimsy pike, he's pretty much just a great figure… And the pike's workable - it's not like Amanaman's staff, which you CAN'T fix for the life of you… That thing totally sucked and really brought Amanaman down as a figure overall.

Fortunately, Lando's pike doesn't make a dent in his greatness as a figure however, so I can say little more than go buy him if you can find him! He's a great resculpt and a wonderful replacement to the POTF2 version, which now pales in comparison to this updated Saga version.

I've seen Lando at Toys R Us multiple times, as well as the Wal-Marts in my area, so hopefully you can all nab yourselves one if you haven't been able to yet! Highly recommended!

JJ

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