I’ve been a Star Wars fan for a long time and one thing I’ve learned over the years is that Harrison Ford’s likeness is really tough to nail in action figure form. I’ve owned dozens of Han Solo figures over the years and even though the Black Series Han from wave two is one of my favorite figures of all time, I had to give this one a try. Gotta keep chasing the dream of a perfect Han Solo toy. Let’s take another look at the S.H. Figuarts Han Solo.
Han comes with a decent amount of stuff, including fists, gloved hands, open hands, a blaster holding hand, a blaster, and swappable holster.
The holsters are probably my biggest gripe with this figure. The gun doesn’t fit in either one, you just swap out the empty one and the full one depending on your needs.
The holsters peg in through a hole in the belt part of the holster and into the leg. The belt is pretty flexible and there is some slack stored in the waist so that you can move the legs. Unfortunately the pegs are very loose on my Han, and I ended up losing the empty holster piece. It fell off when I didn’t notice and I can’t locate it (womp womp).
The blaster seems a little small and lacking paint. The Hasbro gun (top gun in the above pictures) actually has more paint, which is odd, but the Figuarts gun has sharper detail.
The fists are a nice inclusion, though I haven’t used them much. I like the gloved hands a lot, but I wish there was a trigger finger version.
The sculpt totally feels like the figure stepped out of a promotional still of Harrison Ford from the ’70s. The likeness is really nice as they hit the crooked nose and lopsided grin perfectly.
The face paint is the Figuarts printing technology which seems to be one of those YMMV situations. Some people love it, some hate it. I don’t think it photographs as well up close, but love the look in hand. Fwooshers have noted in our Figuarts thread that there seems to be some inconsistency from figure to figure for some reason. Head over there to check out some different examples. I think the print on mine is pretty good, but the eyebrows seem a little too light and the lips a little too darkly outlined.
One thing I prefer about the Hasbro figure is that they sculpted the sleeves a little higher. They seem overlong to me on the Figuarts Han, and while it’s accurate for arms at rest, any time Harrison moved his arms in the film, those sleeves would ride up.
The articulation moves well with the following points:
- Ball/socket head, neck, mid-torso, waist, shoulders, and ankles
- Swivel-hinge shoulders, elbows, wrists, and hips
- Single-hinged knees and toes
Check out Robo’s review here:
I especially like the way the wrists are on a floating ball hinge and swivel at both ends to the hands can hinge up/down and in/out. I wish that were standard with super-articulated figures. The shoulders connect with a ball and socket inside the chest so they can shrug up and down well.
The only articulation quibble I have is that the hips seem to hinge a little low so he looks a bit off in wide stances.
Overall this is pretty fantastic figure. My main issue is that the holster solution is not great and I ended up losing that damn piece. If anybody wants to cast that thing, I’ll buy it.
It’s a little disappointing to see such variety in the face printing tech, but as a guy who has been buying this stuff since the ’70s, I’m hard pressed to think of a better Han figure outside of Hot Toys. We’ve come a long way since big head Han. The Black Series Han is such a great toy that this one was going to have a hard time winning me over, but the likeness ultimately does it. Be sure to check out Benty’s review if you haven’t already.
