Black Series 6" Han Solo (Mimban)

Another new figure arrived in the post today.  This time it is the new Han Solo (Mimban) or Mud Trooper.

Not sure what attracted me to this one really.  I think it was probably that I liked the retro looking armour, but it is likely to be the only figure from Solo that I get (at this point anyway).

Once again it is a nicely made figure which comes packed in the usual way from Hasbro.

The figure comes with a breathing mask and blaster as extras in the tray, but the goggles, helmet, cloak and a small radio looking device that sits on the end of the blaster are all separate pieces too.  This means you can give the figure several different looks.

The likeness of the head sculpt I would say is pretty good for this scale, and it employs Hasbros new paint application which seems to be coming up trumps so far with these newer releases.  I think it shows more than a passing resemblence to Alden Ehernreich, although he looks perhaps a little older than he should do.

I like the paint application on this one.  It has some nice mud splatter and other weathering which is apparent but not overdone.  The grey mud colour on the boots fades into the uniforms green colour nicely and the cape has some nice mud dry brushed on too.  Some of the detail is picked out nicely with paint and when fully assembled I think it looks very convincing.  The blaster is nicely painted but perhaps could have had a little more weathering given the character and the worn look to the rest of the uniform.

The sculpting on this is very nice too, the armour looks right and there is some nice texturing on the material sections of the uniform too.  The cape is a moulded peace rather than being soft goods, and I am pleased with that choice as getting it to hang accurately to what is seen in the movie would have been impossible with a fabric item.  The helmet goggles and mask all look as they should as does the sculpting on the blaster rifle.

Articulation is ok but not fantastic on this one.  The head has all the usual movement, although when the helmet and cape are worn too this gets somewhat restricted.  The shoulders are not as mobile as some other figures.  They only really rotate, and they lack the swivel joint below the shoulder that some figures have. I think this is to accommodate the sculpting of the shoulder and upper arm armour, but the result is that the upper arms tend to stay out from the body more than I would like. Elbows are combination joints with a pivot and also rotation and the hands have a good range of wrist movement.  The torso pivots and swivels, and the legs are pretty much what we have come to expect from the black series human beings with swivels in the upper leg, 2 pivot points at each knee and ankles that pivot and swivel too.

Over all I am very happy with this chap, its a nice figure and I recommend it if you like the look of it.  
I think he makes a good Han Solo, or a good Mud Trooper more generally.  I will be displaying him as a Mud Trooper with the mask and goggles covering the face as that is the look I like the best really.  

This could be one for the army builders again as we see lots of mud troopers on Mimban, and I think perhaps Hasbro have this in mind again as 2 of this figure are included in each crate of this wave I believe, making more of them available than other figures in this wave except for the Battle Droid which I recently reviewed here too.

Anyway on to the bit you are really waiting for..... the pics
















Paul

Thank you for the review, Paul! I had just ordered a couple of these for myself, and am glad to see what to expect. It looks pretty good, even with the disappointing shoulder articulation. What I particularly like about these is that they stayed close to the Original Trilogy and what was then official expanded universe -- these are regular imperial trooper uniforms (which we only saw as AT-AT commander and AT-ST drivers in the films) with a couple of terrain-specific additions. Part of me appreciates the look for what it is, part of me wants to turn it into a General Veers or AT-ST driver.

Great looking figure.

Good review. I do wonder, though, as good as the sculpted poncho looks, if they couldn’t have found a thin enough vinyl to recreate that (or is that supposed to be cloth)? Thanks for sharing.

GubernatorFan wrote:Thank you for the review, Paul! I had just ordered a couple of these for myself, and am glad to see what to expect. It looks pretty good, even with the disappointing shoulder articulation. What I particularly like about these is that they stayed close to the Original Trilogy and what was then official expanded universe -- these are regular imperial trooper uniforms (which we only saw as AT-AT commander and AT-ST drivers in the films) with a couple of terrain-specific additions. Part of me appreciates the look for what it is, part of me wants to turn it into a General Veers or AT-ST driver.

There is definitely a lot of OT influence at play here thats for sure. I think thats one of the things that makes the 2 stand alone films we have seen so far that much better than the new trilogy. They take existing ideas and expand on them rather than creating whole new looks to things.

Paul.

BAD WOLF-787 wrote:Great looking figure.

Thanks BAD WOLF-787, I'm glad you like it. Its a pretty neat figure I think.

Paul

Stryker2011 wrote:Good review. I do wonder, though, as good as the sculpted poncho looks, if they couldn’t have found a thin enough vinyl to recreate that (or is that supposed to be cloth)? Thanks for sharing.

I don't think they could have gotten the right look from a Vinyl cape. The cape in the move looks like a heavy material, which is soaking and caked in mud. I really do think this moulded item is probably the best way to capture the look of what is seen in the film.

Paul

Paul, I think you are right about getting the look right with the cape. But then there is also the principle that a cape ought to be soft goods, and at any rate should not interfere with the articulation of a figure like this. Of course, that would contradict getting the look right, except with more effort and expense than they might want to dedicate to a mass produced figure.

GubernatorFan wrote:Paul, I think you are right about getting the look right with the cape. But then there is also the principle that a cape ought to be soft goods, and at any rate should not interfere with the articulation of a figure like this. Of course, that would contradict getting the look right, except with more effort and expense than they might want to dedicate to a mass produced figure.

Yeah I can see what you are saying, but I just don't think the look is achievable at all with any sort of fabric in this scale.  To get fabric to looks sodden, and muddy, and as heavy as this looks in a fabric would I think inevitably end up with the fabric being almost as stiff and solid as this moulded piece.  I just don't think fabrics look heavy enough or flow correctly in this scale.

I'm not sure that having a cloth cape ought to be a principle with these toy figures. All the early Star Wars figures have vinyl capes, so it could be argued that in the toy figure world that is more of a tradition than soft goods are.

Paul

Man I can't wait to get my hands on one of these guys.

Some umbrella material may make for a great replacement for the poncho, or even a 1/6 scale 'Nam poncho cut down.

That's a pretty good likeness of the actor, even though I just can't see him as Han Solo.

CHEERS!