I really did not want Jaina Solo to win the last Black Series Fan’s Choice poll. I’m a nut for bounty hunters, so I wanted Dengar sooner rather than later. I’m not bitter about the win because from the first showing of the prototype I could see Hasbro was making a great-looking figure. Besides, Dengar is on the way and he looks phenominal. So let’s take a look at Jaina Solo!
Jaina comes with great accessories, including a Solo-esque blaster, removable flight gear, a lighsaber with removeable blade, and a flight helmet.
The helmet is a thing of beauty with lots of cool Star Wars-y symbols and stripes, along with some convincing weathering.
The pistol looks a lot like Han’s DL-44, just without the scope. It’s pretty detailed for such a tiny accessory, and while the plastic is a little soft, it didn’t get bent up in the packaging, nor does it get bent up by the holster.
The saber is unique and has some little button details painted here and there. The blade is in there really tight, so I wasn’t sure it was supposed to come out. I also love that her belt has the hook for the blade too.
The removable flight gear is fantastic. The sculpt is thin enough to not look too bulky on her, and it’s cast in a soft enough plastic so that it doesn’t inhibit movement really at all.
The sculpt is solid. I honestly have never seen a truly great design for Jaina Solo, but this one works for me. It’s got a bit of a classic feel with the stripes on the arms and the outfit pinstriping. The flight gear makes it even better. It’s almost like she’s the Racer X of X-Wing pilots.
The head sculpt is a little on the cartoony side for the Black Series, but I enjoy the self-assured smirk. It’s very Solo.
The articulation is fantastic and features a new point of articulation for the Black Series with the lower ab crunch. The mid torso hinge also has a great range of motion. The elbows also bend more than 90 degrees, which is better than some double hinged elbows. Jaina has the following articulation points:
- Swivel/hinge neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, wrists, and ankles
- Ball-and-socket head and mid-torso
- Swivel hips
- Double-hinged knees
The one weakness of the figure is paint. I have a couple stray yellow marks on my figure and the eyes are a little bit crossed.
I stopped reading the expanded universe books before Jaina really became a main character, so I don’t have the emotional connection to her, but the figure is so nice that it doesn’t matter. It’s a great figure and has a perfect Star Wars feel. It seems like they put some special care into making this figure great.
