The Good: Great sculpt and coloring, Good poseability, Decent collectible value, Great accessories
The Bad: None that I could find!.
The Basics: The supporting alien from Return Of The Jedi, the Jabba's Sail Barge Lando Calrissian is an exceptional figure!
There are only so many figures of Lando Calrissian that the toy manufacturers can be expected to make. In fact, common wisdom is that – outside any concept figures – there would only be an Empire Strikes BackLando, like the Power Of The Jedi Lando Calrissian figure (reviewed here!), and Return Of The Jedi renderings of Lando Calrissian as a Skiff Guard and as a General at the film’s climax. In 2004, Hasbro earned the right to never again have to make a Skiff Guard Lando Calrissian with its Jabba’s Sail Barge Lando Calrissian. Damn hinge joints! Hasbro got Lando perfectly right with great accessories with simple swivel joints. In fact, the only possible improvement to this sculpt would have been knee and ankle articulation, but I cannot lower my rating on this action figure; it is just that cool!
For those unfamiliar with Lando Calrissian, he was the traitorous smuggler who allowed Han Solo to get captured on Bespin before switching sides. As an act of redemption, he infiltrated Jabba The Hutt's court in Return Of The Jedi (reviewed here!) in order to recover Han Solo. Disguised as a Skiff Guard, Lando became invaluable in rescuing Han Solo and helping Luke to destroy Jabba's Sail Barge.
The 4" Lando Calrissian figure is damn near perfect and features Lando in his Tatooine armor.
Basics
The Jabba's Sail Barge Lando Calrissian is a great sculpting of the unlikely hero from Return Of The Jedi. Here, he is cast in his Palace armor that looks appropriately assembled and weathered. The figure stands " tall and he looks very much like Billy Dee Williams! The figure is made entirely of hard plastic, save the “skirt” on the shirt, which is made of flexible plastic.
This toy is an incredible sculpt, looking precisely like Lando Calrissian from the Tatooine scenes of Return Of The Jedi. His armor includes shoulder pads, a big ‘80’s belt and pants that look like they could be ruffled by a desert wind. Lando Calrissian’s face is molded to look presicely like that of Billy Dee Williams and Hasbro got it just right. Even better, his hair, underneath the removable helmet, is textured with a realism that makes it look like Lando has hair, not some weird black plate on his skull!
As for the coloring details, the Jabba's Sail Barge Lando Calrissian looks absolutely amazing! This Lando Calrissian has realistic depth and shading to his skin tones and his clothes look exactly like they do in the movie. The coloring details are precise and the figure’s “loincloth”-like skirt even has enough shading details on it to make it look weathered! This is an immaculate, precisely-colored action figure!
Accessories
The Lando Calrissian is a well-armed scoundrel alien, especially for a Skiff Guard. This version of Lando Calrissian includes three accessories, in addition to the base. Lando comes with a blaster pistol, a vibro-ax and his Skiff Guard helmet. The Skiff Guard helmet is a 3/4” long by 5/8” tall replica of the helmet Lando was first seen wearing at the beginning of Return Of The Jedi. His is an immaculately detailed accessory that matches the shading and coloring of the rest of the figure. In fact, the wear marks on the top of the helmet make it look a little more weathered than Lando’s pants! The helmet is notable for a chin strap with teeth that effectively acts as a mask. This is very well detailed for the figure with each tiny off-white bone looking realistic! Like the one in the movie, the chin strap is flexible, so Lando may make his trademarked reveal even with the action figure!
Lando comes with a distinctive Tatooine blaster pistol. The pistol is a thin 3/4” long firearm with a scope and an emitter at the end of the barrel. Like the one seen in the movie, ever so briefly, Lando’s blaster is all black and the surface detailing is impressive for a weapon as small as this accessory is. The blaster fits perfectly in Lando’s right hand or in the holster on Lando’s right hip!
The Jabba’s Palace Lando also comes with a vibro-ax accessory. The 3 1/4” Vibro-ax is cast entirely in black plastic. It bears little resemblance to the cumbersome accessory that was packaged with the Power Of The Force sculpting of the Skiff Guard Lando! This is perfectly in proportion with Lando and while it lacks some of the coloring details of the weapon Lando held in the movie, it has all of the surface details molded into it.
The Original Trilogy Collection figures come with stands, including the Lando Calrissian. This stand is the standard 2 1/2" by 1 3/4" gunmetal colored plastic stand which was universal to most of the figures in the 2004 figure line. Lando Calrissian comes with two tabs and two slots so the stand may be attached to other stands in the assortment. The stand has a single peg to fit in either of the holes in the bottom of Lando Calrissian's feet. On the base, Lando Calrissian is appropriately solid.
Playability
The four inch toy line was designed for play and Lando Calrissian is most impressive in that regard. The figure is wonderfully articulated and has excellent balance when off his stand. Lando Calrissian has great articulation and the figure is designed look efficient and mobile and he is! As part of the Original Trilogy Collection, Lando Calrissian represents a significant step up in terms of figure articulation compared to what had come before. This Lando Calrissian figure easily becomes the ultimate Lando Calrissian in terms of sculpt with its ten points of articulation!
Lando Calrissian has joints at the groin socket, shoulders, elbows, wrists, neck, and waist. All of the joints are simple swivel joints and all work well. The “skirt” does not inhibit Lando’s articulation at the leg joint!
Collectibility
The Jabba's Sail Barge Lando Calrissian is part of the 2004 Original Trilogy Collection four-inch series, a series of Star Wars action figures that was not very common at all, but largely recast figures that had been previously released by Kenner. Hasbro sought to improve the old figures by having a greater attention to detail, coloring and accessory detail and proportion. Lando Calrissian was one of the recasts and one of the best, most vital figures of the assortment. Released as Original Trilogy Collection figure #07, this figure is a good idea for those creating an ultimate collection of supplemental characters. It is hard to imagine how this figure might be improved upon, save with more leg articulation.
Overview
The Jabba's Sail Barge Lando Calrissian is an vast step up over other Lando figures produced before. While Hasbro could release another Lando in the Jabba’s Palace outfit, I’d advise against it. The company has perfection here, adding more articulation could render a less perfect figure and cause problems that do not exist with this more simple, awesome toy!
For other 2004 Star Wars Original Trilogy action figures, please check out my reviews of:
#006 Tatooine Transaction R1-G4
#09 Jabba's Sail Barge J'Quille
#10 Jabba's Sail Barge Tanus Spijek
Deluxe Hoth Attack Wampa with Hoth Cave
10/10
For other toy reviews, please check out my index page!
© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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