LANDO CALRISSIAN Battle at the Sarlacc PitThe Legacy Collection Target Exclusive
Item No.: Asst. 87931 No. 87798
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Pike, pistol, helmet, Sarlacc Pit, Skiff, 4 more figures
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $62.99-$72.99
Availability: November 2008
Appearances: Return of the Jedi
Bio: Lando impersonates a skiff guard as part of Luke's escape plan and almost loses his life to the Sarlacc. (Taken from the figure's packaging.)
Image: Adam Pawlus' desk.
Commentary: One of the more charming aspects of this 2008 gift set was that you got a good vehicle, a great diorama piece, and five figures of questionable quality. The Weequay was a neat redeco, Boba Fett was nothing special, Han Solo was just different enough to make you mad, and then you got two crappy ones. Lando Calrissian and Luke Skywalker both suffer slightly from some really odd deco choices which may be the result of someone not knowing how to mix paint. The 2004 Skiff Lando body is back, but the silver is gone and his torso armor is this sort of a pukey grey color. His pants are lighter, his arms and legs seem closer to the 1983 Kenner toy's colors, and his body suit is black. The brown on his person is richer, but the skin color is significantly lighter with some of the worst painted eyes you're likely to ever see. While most bootleg figures look pretty bad, this is one of the few Star Wars toys I would go and say is so bad, were it a knock-off, you'd probably think it was pretty bad for a knock-off.
The articulation and gear are unchanged, you still get about 10 points of articulation and a working holster ensuring that as a plaything, Lando holds up about as well as you might hope. Since you're going to want the Sarlacc Pit accessory that comes in his set, you'll likely end up with this figure eventually even though it's one of Hasbro's worst. It's amazing that the quality of the face on the 1983 figure was better, but hey, that's how these things go some times. If you like collecting oddities, this is a must-buy figure. For everybody else, get one of the 2004 carded releases or wait for a possible future resculpt.
Collector's Notes: This set sold somewhat poorly in 2008 and 2009, but it's long gone now. Because of the vehicle and accessory, it should remain interesting despite being one of the ugliest action figures released in the modern action figure line so far... and that's saying a lot given there are nearly 2,000 releases.
--Adam Pawlus
Day 1,463: January 21, 2011
... Actually I have seen the set being sold for 60 bucks at an outlet store called in Winners here in Canada over Christmas. It appears to have been packaged to be sold in Japan strangely enough... I still don't want it though.
ReplyDeleteActually, the Boba Fett is even more questionable than the rest of the figures. Not sure if they were all like this, but my Boba Fett from this set had the same thigh on both legs, and it looks like it was sculpted to sort of fit both legs, but the knee joint tells a different story.
ReplyDeleteMonkeyface Leia in 1995 was pretty ugly. Maybe we can call this the worst painted.
ReplyDelete