Pros : head sculpt and facial printing with real character and expression built in. Awesome articulation.Exceptional
Cons : very few. Couple of colours missing on his blaster
The third and final Solo release within Wave 16 is Lando Calrissian, numbered #65. Lando is packed in the standard packaging with one of the smoothest looking Gregory Titus illustrations showing Lando with a smug look and cape thrown casually over his shoulder.
Like all Black Series figures there is no film specifics with the character name, so the package simply reads Lando Calrissian. Round the back and the bio sector talks about Captain Lando and his plan to retire from smuggling to become a full-time gambler.
Our Lando figure was purchased at Disney Store and they had sadly applied a security sticker smack bang on the back of the box. This is OK for me as I unbox my figures, but something to watch if you are a boxed collector purchasing at Disney Store - or ordering from them online.
Like normal the figure slides out of either the top or bottom flap in its red cardboard tray. The figure is set into the inner plastic tray with the blaster to the side of Lando's head.
The likeness to Donald Glover on the figure is spectacular, a triumph for the new face print technology. It creates real definition in the face with shadows and lines, but where it excels is facial hair. Landos manicured moustache and beard are really natural and not a block painted colour and harsh lines, but rather they fade naturally at the edges. The eyes are also exceptional and I love the cheeky raised eyebrow look they've given him.
The outfit Lando is wearing is the one we find him in at the Sabac table at The Lodge. The cape is a solid rubberised piece that drapes around the shoulders with a stiff raised collar to frame the head. This collar is painted a black gloss in contrast to the matt black of the cape. Under this we see Lando''s bright yellow shirt with black lining and around his neck is his scarf. Trousers are plain black and the shoes a glossy black.
Like his Empire Strikes Back version, Lando's cape is removable. It slides up and off the body and now reveals its turquoise inner lining, perhaps a nod to the colouring of Lando's cape on Bespin.
This gives us a much better look at the shirt which is quite bright and lacks any shading whatsoever - Lando will certainly stand out on a display. The turned collar and pocket are painted black and there is then an orange/red belt around the top of his trousers. Under this sits the gunslingers belt with three loops that stick out from the body. If we are going to be really picky this belt is not quite screen accurate as the props actually had a second strap that went round Lando's thigh to lock the holster in place.
While it initially looks like it is fixed in behind the neck, the scarf is also a removable piece - allowing Lando's look to be further customised. Like the cape this is cast in a rubber plastic and shaped to go into the neck. Its painted gloss black with white detailing.
Lando is exceptionally well articulated, boasting more than the usual Black Series with 17 points of articulation - more on the extra one in a minute.
We start with the legs which are ball jointed hips, thigh swivel, double jointed knees and an ankle rocker. All of this allows some great action poses, and if you really wanted him to he could also kneel and sit. He stands fine once those ankle rockers are positioned to match the pose. Arms are ball jointed shoulders and the only quibble here is the visible joint in the shoulder is a darker yellow than his shirt. The elbows are single jointed and rotate, but like the more modern figures they do bend beyond 90 degrees and are less intrusive than double joints and a bicep cut.
The torso is jointed half way down the shirt, which does impact the cut of the figure and costume. This joint is highly mobile giving Lando the range to rotate fully and lean forward and backward. The final two joints are in the neck and head, and this is where joint number 17 comes in. This is the first appearance of a neck that is jointed at the bottom of the neck within the torso, and then again as a ball joint where the head connects. This gives expansive movements, and these really help to accentuate Lando's cool and charism allowing the head to be cocked or looking down, perhaps admiring his Sabac hand?
Lando's choice of weapon is a BlasTech SE-14r and this is replicated in the pack with a weapon painted in high gloss silver. This is accurate to the prop which Lando has apparently had lated in brushed chromium. It could have done with a few black panels like and the handle is meant to be mother-of-pearl so it would have been nice to paint this differently.
The weapon can be holstered on Lando's hip by means of the black gunslingers belt we saw earlier. THis initially looks an odd design compared to say the one on Han's figure. It is however accurate to the way Lando holsters his weapon on screen, via three loops down his belt - no doubt to keep the custom piece on display. This is a little fiddly to achieve, but once in place it holds well enough.
The SE-14r fits in the right hand as the best fit, allowing the trigger finger to lock in. There is also the option of putting it in the left hand, but there is no trigger finger here.
The barrel that comes fitted on the weapon pulls off, this is a silencer of some kind. With the arm articulation, Lando can actually hold the blaster in two hands, as though he is assembling the silencer or taking it apart.
Lando as a figure is both impressive and expressive, I've never had so much fun posing him with the various gestures I've seen him use on screen in both old and new movies - and many more poses I can imagine him doing.
It is one of those figures you can't stop posing, and even though he is an individual character (not an army builder) I am toying with buying another one so I can pose him with and without his cape.
He looks brilliant with the other Solo figures to, and I can't wait to team him up with L3-L7. In the meantime he and Han are getting into mischief while they wait.
I know I've got a good figure when I get to the end of a review this excited and having taken so many pictures and posed the figure for much longer than I would normally spend on a review. Lando is exceptional and the only faults I can pick are the paint apps on the gun and a slightly off colour joint in the shoulder.
The face print technology is shown off at its best here, and that extra neck joint adds so much character. I score Lando an impressive 5 out of 5.
