Finally, after a dozen trips to Target and a very long three months, Hasbro has returned to play Quartermaster to the Star Wars universe by adding some more weapons! Oh, and figures too. Those are nice.
Now, as with the first, there’s not a ton of figures per wave, obviously, but the Black Series is keeping everybody very well armed and adding some impressive variety for being in only its sophomore outing.
Let’s start with a little bit of a recap for Han Solo, since both his weapons were previously covered.
-His Stormtrooper belt comes fully equipped with the Blastech E-11 Carbine complete with holster. That belt has to have some serious interior webbing going, otherwise Stormtroopers would be drawing their weapons from under their asses. I have a hard enough time keeping a pistol on my hip, so fuggedabout a WWII stamped-steel SMG!
-The trusty DL-44 pistol returns here as well, maybe a little more to it’s rightful owner since Han gets a bit more use out of his than Luke does. It is interesting to note that Han’s DL-44 has a larger optic than the one found in Series 1, meaning we now have two versions of this iconic pistol. I think you could make a case that optics and scopes in the Star Wars-verse are similar to our own, so maybe Luke’s uses a smaller low or non-magnified Red-Dot or Reflex-type sight, for CQB-type stuff, and Han’s has a more traditional 2x-4x scope for longer range accuracy.
Next is an often overlooked pistol, so much so that I don’t think it has an official name despite it’s infamy: Greedo’s blaster pistol. 
Not much is known about this little guy in-canon, but we can take some cues from it’s appearance in Episode IV; I think there’s Jawas running around with them as well, so maybe this is a low-cost, light caliber “Saturday Night Special” type of weapon on Tatooine. None of them are in particularly great shape, or very effective, so Greedo might have just picked this one up as a burner, for all the good it did him.
**And just as my quick two cents on the subject, Han totally shot first and was damned justified in doing so (sorry Pabs). When a guy in front of you threatens you with a gun in hand, and you kill him before he gets a shot off, that doesn’t make you an anti-hero, that just makes you smart. Oh, and more importantly, Alive.
Anyway, it took a little digging, but I believe this pistol to be built off of the Ruger .22 Mark I Pistol with some add-ons to get it a little more techie. The Mk I is a pretty common and popular target gun, still made today as the Mk III, and they make great beginner and trainer pistols. It is occasionally seen in movies, but usually with a suppressor attached and used as an “assassin’s weapon.” And despite how bad Hollywood is at this sort of thing, a .22 suppressed pistol is about as close to that “ppfftt” sound effect they use as you can actually get.
And while some of you lucky jerks have been enjoying this figure for months now, it’s finally time for Boba Fett! We’ll begin with his most iconic weapon, the EE-3 Blaster Carbine.
This lightweight carbine is apparently an offshoot of the E-11, or maybe it’s the other way around. It has stronger accuracy traits,which is probably why Fett fitted his with a scope and stock. It’s also occasionally deployed with a sling, and when it’s not getting cut in half by lightsabers, it’s a pretty handy battle rifle
.The prop for this gun comes from a pretty obscure source: The Webley No 1 Mark I Flare Pistol. Used primarily in WWI and a little into WW2, this breach-loading flare gun is actually a favorite prop in older movies, usually without the stock. In Empire, the carbine has just cosmetic add-ons, whereas in Jedi it was more than likely a prop replica, so more extensive changes were made. Interestingly enough, there was a substantial amount of these sold to Police departments in the US during the 1920s and ’30s, following the passing of the UK’s Firearms Act of 1920. Unfortunately, most of these languished in storage until they were scrapped, so this is another very sought-after relic by gun collectors and Star Wars fans alike.
Fett’s sidearm was a bit of a mystery as well, at least until the SDCC exclusive, from where we now know it as the Sacros K-11 Disintegrator Pistol.
The K-11 might be another one of those weapons in the Star Wars-verse that gets customized to fit the needs of the owner. Jango Fett used a pair of Westar-34 custom pistols in his heyday, and at least in it’s initial appearances, it was assumed that Boba was just using a further modified version of one. When it shows up holstered in Empire, though, it takes on a more sinister tone, and it picks up the new nickname. So the K-11 might not be related to Jango’s pistols at all, maybe just similar in size and shape, especially if the K-11 is capable of disintegrating it’s targets because I’m pretty sure Jango would’ve given his left nut for a pair of those on Geonosis.
Even more mysterious than its canon origin is the real-world counterpart to this weapon. I have to give props to Beast on this one: from all I could find, it seems pretty likely that this gun (at least in Empire) was based on the Technisub Pulce/Pirate 40/60 Speargun.
This is the go-to of costume and prop-builder enthusiasts. They were originally built in the 1960s and ’70s, so it certainly fits the time frame necessary to have been used there. I suspect the Westar blasters Jango had were probably based loosely on the gun Boba used in his animated appearance, and so they gained association that way. Hopefully, we’ll get a chance soon to get into those on their own.
And while not removable on the figure, a little bonus I found while working on this was — behold — the tools in Boba Fett’s shin pockets!
Apparently, the survival knife was made from a stir stick, and his sonic weapon from a squeegee, both likely photo development parts.
That will do us for this round, thanks for stopping by!
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