Review : Lando Calrissian Star Wars Black Series (Hasbro) Wave/Series : Wave 11 Released : July 2017 Price : £22.99
It has taken nearly 4 years to get everyone's favourite smugger, gambler & card player into the 6" Black Series. Lando Calrissian is one of three new figures in Wave 11 of Phase 3 (red box). He is accompanied in the wave by the Emperors Royal Guard and Qui-Gon Jinn. The Tusken Raider, first released on the 40th Anniversary card gets his standard packaging debut in wave 11. The case is rounded off with re-releases of Director Krennic and K-2S0.
Lando arrives in the standard sized black series box. The front holds a large wrap round window through which you can see the figure. This window wraps round to the left spine. There was a running change in Wave 10 that increased the size of the base of the window. In here we find the character name in bold red. Under here sit the age appropriate information and general warnings of small parts & choking.
To the side of the text is the grey lined art of Lando, with a small Hasbro logo sitting to the bottom right. The frame of the window goes up the right hand side and then across the top of the box front. The Star Wars Black Series logo sits central to this top frame. Down the left hand side black box colouring is broken with some oversize grey text - this is a blown up "Lando" and on top of this is a repeat of the character name in red. The right spine is gloss red with the number 39 in bold black at the top.
Round the back of the box we find a larger version of the grey lined Lando portrait, this is aligned more to the right of the box rear as we look, and to the left of this is a white text bio of Lando which details (albeit briefly) his previous career and his move to Rebellion General. This same bio is repeated in three other languages. The top of the box see's a repeat of the Star Wars Black Series logo, and to the side of this the release number - now in bold red against the black background. The bottom third of the box contains the legal information and the Disney & Hasbro logo's.
Lando slides out from the outer box from either the top or bottom flap. He is set into a plain glossy red card insert with the figure itself in a plastic insert. Lando comes with his communicator and the DH-17 blaster. There are no messy ties or straps holding the figure in place, but if you want to unpack and repack Lando then be careful not to crush or crack the inner tray.
Lando looks like he comes with cloak already worn but the cloak is filled with a further plastic insert to keep it positioned in the pack. Putting the cloak to one side for the moment, let's look at the figure.
The likeness to Billy Dee Williams, as he was in 1981, is evident although the mustache and eye brows are a little too pronounced, with too much of a gap between the two sides of the 'tache. The skin tone appears to be the cast plastic itself rather than being painted. The eyes are neatly done and the lip tone is realistic enough. The hair is well sculpted with lots of detail, but is painted in a one tone black which is a shade too shiny. Our review figure also had skin tone showing through on the head where the paint hadn't covered all the hair areas.
The neck, which is not cast in the skin tone plastic, is a slightly different shade to the head. The neck colouring then also bleeds a little to the gloss black collar of Lando's shirt. The shirt itself has plenty of floaty folds and creases but it looks dirty as though someone with dirty hands has been handling the figure. I think this is deliberate as you can see slightly yellowing patches up close on the shirt - but there was no real point in the film where Lando was filthy?
The belt is also high black gloss, but it does have the screen accurate geometric design at the front. It would have benefited from being dialed back to a semi-gloss dark grey and then washed, The trousers are plain blue and sadly the thigh split is quite rough and not particularly attractive. The figure ends in more black gloss, this time the boots.
There is one other detail on the figure on Lando's right wrist. The Wrist Comm is a silver segment on more black gloss - the strap. Despite its size it holds some neat details including individually painted orange buttons.
The cloak, once out of the pack, has a clear plastic insert to keep it's shape. This will need removing before Lando can wear it. The cloak is quite hefty and is a rubbery plastic that allows quite a bit of movement. The folds of the cloak are quite natural, with the outer cloak painted in a deep blue - differing in shade from both the shirt & trousers. The collar see's more gloss black paint and we then get into the interior of the cloak which is a sculpted inner pattern and then painted in rich gold.
The cloak is engineered to simply "hang" on the figures shoulders. This works really well and the cloak is shaped well enough so it doesn't look oversized or unnatural.
The cloak will impeded full articulation of the arms. It is possible to bring the arms out from the body while the cloak is being worn but most poses look unnatural. The cloak is shaped at one side so that the protrude to fire his gun.
Taking off the cloak to look at the articulation now and we start with a ball jointed head that can rotate but will barely look up or down. The shoulders are ball joints as usual and can move out to a full 90 degrees, and also rotate fully over the head if you wish. Elbows are a single joint that bends to 90 degrees while also rotating. The wrists will also rotate in the sleeves.
There is a torso joint that cuts across the shirt. Like the neck this allows full rotating, but barely any forward or backward leaning motion. There is no waist movement, so we start the lower articulation at the two hips which are ball jointed and can move to both a sitting movement or do the splits. We've talked about the thigh swivels which are about the roughest I have seen on a Black Series figure. Even when they are where they are meant to be they don't line up the top of the trousers to the bottom. The only value I can find they add is a slightly wider pose to spread the feet for more stability.
The knees are double jointed and can bend right the way back against the leg - beware the top half of the joint moves easily, but the bottom half is a bit stiff. The feet should be ankle rockers, but these too are very stiff and are locked in by the wider hem of the trousers. While standing Lando on his own is not an issue, his feet can look a little turned in - this is where the thigh swivel may have to come into play.
The DH17 blaster was first included on the 40th Anniversary Death Trooper. Everything about Lando's version is identical. The plastic is quite stiff and holds a lot of detail for a small weapon. The blaster is cast in black plastic, with silver paint on the barrel.
The blaster fits into Lando's right hand securely, but the trigger of the blaster is too far out from the grip for the flexible trigger finger to sit in securely - instead it kind of just rests on the outside.
Lando's other accessory is the communicator that he keeps on his belt and uses to direct Lobot. Like the blaster this is a nice piece considering the size. The bottom is a round silver cylinder, and onto this is a black ring and then some bronze sections before it ends in a silver nozzle. The communicator fits into both hands, but fits better into the left. Sadly there is no mechanism for hanging this on Lando's belt as seen in the movie.
Height wise, Lando is dead on 6" high when stood up straight. This puts him half a head taller than Luke, and just a touch under Han Solo. Again, this is screen accurate to the height variance between Harrison Ford & Billy Dee Williams.
While we may have waited 4-years for Lando, I kind of feel a tad disappointed with this release. While I can't put my finger on it, there is something off about the figure. The legs and in-turned feet are also frustrating. The likeness is on par with the usual facial likeness the Black Series delivers. The accessories are OK, but it is the cloak design that swings the figure for me - the plastic working and looking so much better than a soft goods cloak might of.
All in all, Lando is a standard release. It carries a few flaws, but does the job and I score it 3 out of 5.
