Chewbacca is an integral part of the story of Han Solo, so it makes sense that he will appear in the upcoming film, Solo: A Star Wars Story. What makes a little less sense to me personally is that the Black Series version of the younger Chewbacca (190 years old, doesn’t he look great?) is exclusive to Target stores. He seems like too big of a character to be store exclusive, doesn’t he? Fortunately I got the word that they were hitting stores today and was able to grab a minty fresh figure off the pegs of my local Target. Let’s take a look at the Solo version of Chewbacca!
This version of Chewie comes with a new blaster and removeable goggles. The blaster is really quite cool. It has a somewhat shotgun like design and you can actually rack the shotgun as the handle looking part on the barrel can slide backwards and forwards.
There is also a little knob that turns which I imagine is where Chewie loads this beast of a blaster. My blaster was slightly warped upon opening, which is odd because it’s a pretty solid chunk of plastic. I was able to straighten it with a little heat bath. It’s also a little tough to get the hands around the barrel and grip because the hands are a fairly stiff plastic.
The goggles are also really nice. They are cast in a very transparent plastic and are formed to fit on a specific place on Chewie’s face. The strap is actually elastic, so he can wear them on his forehead if you wish. I like the option.
The sculpt appears to me to be a bit of new and a bit of re-use from the previous two Black Series Chewbacca. I think the arms and legs are re-used and the torso and the head are brand new. The fur sculpt is pretty nice and I think the head sculpt has a nice shaggy look, somewhere in-between an Empire and Return of the Jedi Chewbacca.
The bandolier is new as well and matches the Solo design with an extra strap and some shotgun shells on the straps. I love the combined look of the goggles and new bandolier. It’s got that appeal of a neat twist on a great design you already love. Kind of like the modern version of a classic superhero costume.
The new Chewie is a little shorter than the previous two, but I think I prefer this height. The heads don’t really swap well between the older ones and the newest. They can sit on the body okay, but they don’t want to move once you pop them on. The new bandolier kind of gets in the way. They seem slightly overlarge for this body to my eye.
The articulation is actually improved over the other two Chewbacca figures. He has standard POA including:
- Swivel/hinge shoulders, elbows, hips, elbows, knees, wrists and ankles
- Ball and socket mid-torso and neck
- Swivel thighs
The neck ball and socket is a double barrel, so it allows for more movement than the previous figures. The hair still gets in the way, but I appreciate the improved range of motion. The torso also has a really nice movement. My complements to the engineers on improving this movement. It really helps with posing.
I like the paint quite a bit. It’s mostly brown plastic, but there are some oversprays that create the darker areas of fur. The goggles and gun have nice metallic paint and the bandolier has a bit of a wash and lots of detail on the “shotgun” shells. I think the brown at the extremities is a lighter brown than I’d like, but I think with a bit of a dark brown wash it will look fantastic.
I did notice the eye paint was a little dodgy on many of the figures I saw at Target this morning, so watch out for that.
This Chewie overall is a quality Black Series figure and looks fantastic with the new Han figure from Solo. It’s a fun variation and truly an improvement on the previous Chewbacca figures.
