In the Autumn of 2021, we received our 5th general wave of Star Wars Black Series figures in the new Galaxy Collection packaging. The Assortment brought us a mix of figures from The Clone Wars, Bad Batch, The Mandalorian, and a new General Lando Calrissian in The Return of the Jedi collection.
General Lando was the 7th figure in the Return of the Jedi series, following on from the ROTJ Boba Fett Deluxe figure in terms of the side artwork and wider ROTJ montage.
"Lando Calrissian served as a general in the starfighter attack on the second Death Star, showing off his superb piloting skills by guiding the Millennium Falcon into the Death Star superstructure"
Lando features a full new body with the Rebellion uniform cast as a sand coloured shirt - with lighter tone sleeves - complete with painted insignia on the left upper chest, and with a light blue pair of trousers with painted yellow trim. Lando is also wearing a belt, shoulder blaster holster, and knee-high boots
With this being Lando, we also get the cloak that we see him wear in the Rebel Briefing ahead of the Death Star attack. This is a soft goods piece in a light blue material that flows well enough but remains a little bit flat around the shoulders due to a lack of weight in the material. It is held in place with a plastic clasp that sits just under Lando's chin.
The head is a new piece, representative of Billy Dee Williams in Return of the Jedi. I had assumed they would use the existing head from Skiff Guard Lando, but that is not the case with the new head having some minor differences to the Jabba's Palace head, particularly the hair which is more volumous. The new head uses the photo-real face deco but does look a little glossier than I would like.
Lando is provided with a single blaster pistol that is worn in a holster that sits over the right shoulder and tucks under the left arm. If you compare the position of the holster to screenshots, it does sit too high and should sit a little further down on the left side of Lando.
The blaster itself is a small hold-out blaster cast in black with some visible detail down the barrel. It has no paint apps applied. It sits snugly in the holster, or into Lando's right hand.
For those who do not like the cape provided, it is easy to slip off over Lando's head and then you can pose Lando without the cape in his Rebel uniform. This is how we see him as he pilots the Falcon in the Death Star attack and later in the Ewok Village celebration, so is a good second option for display (especially if we ever get a Nien Nunb).
Rebel General Lando has a standard 16 points of articulation and doesn't get any of the newer upgrades like the dual joint neck or the butterfly shoulders - although he doesn't really need the latter. He poses well enough both in combat poses and in the iconic Lando stances such as the 'hands on hips' or his "trust me" arms outstretched gesture. The figure is missing some alternative hands to bring these poses to light - particularly open-palmed hands, or the two-finger wave he gives Han.
General Lando Calrissian is a solid Black Series Original Trilogy release and increases the character count nicely for The Return of the Jedi as we head towards its 40th Anniversary in 2023. There is not much to criticize the figure for other than perhaps a lack of content compared to some other figures in the wave and with Hasbro still not perfecting the soft goods at this scale.
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About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...