Yet another resculpt in the latter end of the Saga line, but can anyone really say this figure didn't need it? Sure, you can fuss all you want about Bossk, but Lando in his General's duds from Return of the Jedi REALLY sucked the first time around.
For those of you too young to remember, or if you simply blocked it out of your mind because it was too terrible to bare, the original POTF2 Lando in General's gear REALLY sucked. POTF2 Lando had fallen victim to the buff-ness of the era, but also to an absurdly wide leg-stance, for absolutely no reason other than to perhaps hit the clubs with his disco-esque counterpart, Lobot. Not that POTF2 figures could fit into their respective vehicles anyway, but that Lando sure as hell wasn't going to fly a Millennium Falcon anytime soon with those goofy legs.
So, Saga sees a resculpt for Lando here, and definitely a worthy one, but did he meet all the expectations we have? Does he live up to the other figures of his wave, and of the latter waves in the Saga line which have really set a high standard?
Well, he does and he doesn't. Read on for the details about my ambiguous answer.
PROS
Sculpt: As far as sculpt goes, overall, Lando is about as good as it gets. He's really sporting a lot of little details that tend to make him stand out. For instance, the figure's ID badge on his left chest is really nicely detailed… It's raised up, and really looks like a separate badge on his chest rather than a sculpted on piece. Similarly, the electronic device on Lando's right wrist is also raised and looks like a neat separate accessory, even though it's just a sculpted on piece.
Lando's even sporting a separately sculpted, though not removable, belt, that features lots and lots of little pouches and things. They go all the way around as well, whereas normally the back of the figure would just be covered by the cape accessory. That's a nice touch.
The body, arms, and legs are all nicely detailed as well, with textured fabric sculpted onto him, and plenty of folds and wrinkles. Very nice detailing, and up to the overall standard of the line, I believe.
The head though… Well, we'll get to that in the “CON” portion below.
Accessories: Lando's got a lotta stuff actually. Most recent figures haven't had nearly as much to brag about, but Lando actually comes with three things, not even counting his little basic figure stand, so that's pretty decent.
Lando comes with a cape, a blaster pistol, a removable WORKING holster for the pistol (nice touch Hasbro), and his aforementioned rectangular “Star Wars” stand. The stand has the fixed notches by the way, so it interlocks better with other stands than the previous versions did.
The blaster pistol's entirely new, and really tiny. It's dead-on accurate to the prop (as pictured below), and that makes it extra special to me. I really do love the tiny accurate accessories that Hasbro's cranked out over the years.
The holster accessory is also extremely cool. It sits nicely flush against this figure, so it's not as bulky as feared when this figure was first pictured long ago. The blaster fits firmly in the holster, without it warping it at all. Very cool that, for some reason, Hasbro just went the extra mile to make the whole holster removeable. It definitely adds a flare of custom fodder to Lando that he otherwise wouldn't have had.
The cape accessory is relatively basic… It's in a neutral “hanging” sculpt, which short of a real silk cape (ala the vintage figures) that's a pretty good way for it to be. It's got lots of texture sculpted into it, and it looks quite nice. The neck chain is painted a separate silver-ish color, and really looks great too - not too clunky or large. I'm a fan of soft-goods for capes if they're done RIGHT (that's the key), but this really looks superb in plastic. They even sculpted folds where the cape bunches up at the ground - extra attention to detail there, which is definitely nice!
Paint Aps/Decoration: Lando's paint is pretty good overall, like his sculpt, but he does have shortcomings in the region of his noggin.
The great little details on Lando include his wrist communicator thingy-ma-bob, which has a really nice silver highlight on what appears to be a mini view-screen, as well as silver highlights on his belt-buckle, and blue-grey highlights on his chest badge and collar tabs. The collar tabs were really quite tiny, and therefore difficult, to detail actually.
My Lando has two yellow stripes up his pant legs, and that's great, but unfortunately my figure's right leg stripe is definitely “off”. So keep your eyes out for that flaw when nabbing your Lando. I'm not going to fault the rest of the paint for this one flaw though. Overall, the body of the figure's done very well, aside from the head. Read on for that!
CONS
Headsculpt: Lando's head isn't so terrible really, but after the recent Lando Skiff resculpt (another one that was a vast improvement), it's just not quite as nice. The Lando Skiff figure's spot-on to Billy Dee Williams, while I can't quite pinpoint who the General Lando figure quite looks like. It just seems off. Too thin perhaps?
The sculpt is also a tad awkward in that it's tilted upwards - presumably to represent Lando saying his goodbye to Han as Han boarded the Imperial Shuttle for Endor. A touching moment I guess, but if Hasbro had given Lando a ball-socket neck like they've done with so many figures lately, he wouldn't have been locked into looking upward.
Lando's also sporting a mini-mullet there, it seems… I don't quite recall his hair being that mullet-like in the film, but that may very well be accurate – I'm not sure. I still just don't quite feel that it's Billy Dee though.
Head Paint Aps: Definitely NOT good, and the low-light of this figure, unfortunately. Lando's paint on his melon is downright atrocious, at least on my sample, and that's why I kept the head's paintjob separate for the “CON” portion, just like the head's sculpt.
In short, they missed a good 1/5 of my Lando's hair when painting it. The skin-color they molded his head in is what some of his hair color winds up as. Very noticeable, and very unattractive. It's also strange because this isn't something Hasbro screws up too often, but I hear others complaining about the same thing so I don't think this is an isolated paint error.
Also, while Lando keeps a nice, neat mustache, I'm unaware of how he does it when his eyes are so crooked. My figure's seemingly missing some eye detail, and what's there is so lopsided that the figure looks somewhat cross-eyed. It's very odd to look at.
Articulation: This figure's final kick in the proverbial rear is his articulation, or lack thereof. While other figures in the same wave are sporting a lot of articulation, ol' Lando here got hosed, I guess.
He has articulation at the following spots:
-2 standard shoulder joints
-2 standard hips/leg joints
-1 standard neck joint
-1 ball-socket right elbow joint
-1 standard waist joint
So Lando comes with a meager 7 points of articulation. That's pretty crappy in this day and age. The right elbow is the slightest hint of effort on Hasbro's part, but it's just not going too cut it. Madine, in the same wave, features the same articulation in his right AND left elbows, as well as wrist articulation.
Why'd Lando not get the same then? I'm perplexed as to what it is with Hasbro and their insistence in giving figures a joint on one limb, but not on the other. Even if Lando had a ball-socket on the left elbow and no wrist articulation, he'd still be a much better figure. Alas, it wasn't meant to be, I guess.
Lando's a pretty cool character in a pretty great uniform, so I guess the articulation's my biggest personal disappointment. I really would've liked a near definitive version of him in this outfit, I guess. Still gonna have to wait on this one then, it would seem.
Availability: Much like Han and General Madine, at the time of this review, these figures are pretty much non-existent. I was fortunate enough to get some extras from my buddy Paul Mundheim's case, otherwise I'd still not even have them, as I've not personally seen the Endor wave in a single store yet.
Word is they'll be reshipping in the OTC collection, but whether they'll be easy to get on the new cards or not is yet to be seen. I certainly hope so, because I think all three of these figures are good for customizing, and a little army building. So yeah, I want more!
OVERALL
Well, Lando's a 50/50 figure to me. He's a vast improvement over his first incarnation from the POTF2 line, so let me get that out of the way immediately. Without a doubt, if you like Lando, and in this General uniform particularly, then this is a MUST own because you've been wallowing in self-pity over that craptacular thing sitting on your shelf for quite a few years now.
I know I like this Lando simply because he was one of the first vintage figures I ever got, when I finally seriously got into collecting vintage Star Wars, well over a decade ago. Therefore, it kind of holds a nostalgic flame for me then.
However, the problems this figure has are pretty crappy though. Part of me is really hoping for a VOTC style General Lando someday though - something really poseable, with a cloth cape and superb sculpt to it. I'm not entirely satisfied with this Lando because of the articulation mostly, but I'm also pretty happy to replace that cruddy POTF2 Lando too.
So keep your eyes peeled for him. I have to recommend him just because he's so vastly superior to his previous figure. He's tough to find, but still making his way out on the Saga card, and he's due to get recarded in OTC too, so you should be able to find one eventually.
If you're a Lando fan, you should be in hog heaven with the Saga line's offerings, I think.
