HAN SOLO Death Star Trash Compactor
Saga Wal-Mart Exclusive Screen Scenes
Item No.: Asst. 84929 No. 84931
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: 1 of 2
Includes: Blaster, garbage display base, Luke figure, half of the Dianoga (and no helmets)
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $16.87
Availability: December 2002
Appearances: Star Wars

Bio: Luke, Han, and Chewie infiltrate the Death Star to free Princess Leia. While making their escape, they dive down a garbage chute and become trapped in a trash compactor with a hungry dianoga. Then the walls begin to close in on them, and our heroes are caught in a tight squeeze! (Taken from the figure's cardback.)

Image: Adam Pawlus' toy room.

Commentary: The figure is almost great. The sculpt of this Han Solo is mostly excellent-- he has the body of a Stormtrooper in a unique pose, so that's pretty cool. The head sculpt has shaggy hair like Han had in this scene, so that's pretty cool. For whatever reason, properly capturing the faces of Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia has proven difficult for sculptors, and while this may be one of the better ones, it's certainly not the best. It's great for the set, though, since the package was designed to be more of a statue than a toy. Han's feet fit in the base, and well, that's where he basically stays. Outside the context of the packaging (or at least the base), the pose just doesn't really look good. This is one of the figures that, if you missed it, I'd suggest you continue to miss it. Unless you're putting together shelves of "scene" figures, in which case this is a nice set to own. The deco is decent-- the "dirt" on the armor isn't done to death, plus the small spots don't look as goofy as the dirt and damage we've seen on other releases. The figure doesn't have a lot of articulation to speak of-- you see, "super articulated" didn't exist in 2003-- so it's more or less OK for its time. It doesn't impress today but at the very least it's a perfectly acceptable figure, just a weak toy.

Collector's Notes: There's a short list of items that infuriated me regarding price. Sometimes I got miffed but this one really pissed me off. At the time of its release, individual carded figures were $4.99 each pretty much everywhere. This set was $17, or the equivalent of 3 2/5 figures. What you got was two incomplete figures (no helmets for the Stormtrooper figures), a display base of little value, and part of the not very large Dianoga. It'd be a great item for about $14. As such, I passed on this the first time I saw it, but the fact that it dried up pretty quick made me change my mind when I saw it later. The item has since shot up on eBay every now and again, so it ain't cheap. This Han Solo figure was also one of the figures up for the Fan's Choice reissue poll in 2004, a contest ultimately won by the Imperial Trooper Death Star Scanner figure. Oh yeah-- and this is the third Han Solo Stormtrooper made by Hasbro/Kenner in the modern line. The first was a mail-in from Froot Loops, the second was in a Toys "R" Us exclusive screen scene, this is #3, and #4 was a Comic Pack figure available in two flavors-- blue, or no blue. ( MORE IMAGES | REVIEW FROM 2003 )

Day 625: January 21, 2008