JediTricks
05-18-2007, 03:12 PM
Han Hoth is somewhat disappointing to me due to being "almost, but not quite". If this is what the vintage-style line has to offer, it's time to call it a day because this could have easily been a basic figure, there's nothing special about it beyond the packaging - and even that's ruined by the heat-sealed collector case. Almost everything on this set is slightly off, which is a bummer.
Han's outfit sculpt is very nice, they put a lot of intricate texture into here and used all the details too. The sculpt integrates only ok with the articulation, the knees (when they're bent) and elbows are too obvious a break, and the shoulders don't really carry the outfit's shoulders because they have to be rounded. The outfit sports a removable piece at the top to simulate the hood-down look, it's just on there loose though with only the head keeping it on, sadly LFL killed the hood-up version Hasbro had intended to include. The pose is neutral save for the pointing right hand.
The headsculpt is alright, it's a new design that's not a ball-jointed head so you get a complete look, the features are pretty solid from any above angle, though straight on something about the lower face seems a tiny bit off to me. One thing that always bothers me on the vintage-style Han figures is the feathered hair with a wing on each side, and this is no different. The head is removable, connected to the body via a ball-joint into the base of the neck, by doing this you can remove the hood-down piece but the head seems a bit small on the body after this.
Paint is decent, there's a lot more than you'd think on a fig like this, and they put more work into the hair than expected so he has light brown highlights (at first I thought the front of the hair was sloppily unpainted, but it makes sense when you study it). Something about the eyes seems effeminate, perhaps the top-lid painted black like eyeliner.
Articulation is low-standard for Super-Articulated figures: swivel neck, universal-jointed shoulders, elbows, knees, and ankles, swivel gauntlets, standard waist and hips. The standard head articulation is particularly lame for a vintage-style figure. The elbows are cupped in by the upper arm slightly, so he can raise his forearm 90 degrees up but rotating it inward has to lower that to 70 degrees or so. The hips are limited to maybe 20 degrees forward due to the plastic "skirt".
Han's accessories are a removable hat, his pistol, and electrobinoculars. First off, the pistol is the ANH version from the Han VOTC, so it's got the wrong scope and is lacking detailing, though they did paint the barrel silver and the handle brown, and it fits in the holster molded into the "skirt" well.
Then there's the binocs with permanent over-the-shoulder strap which gets in the way of the figure using them as anything other than a man-purse. The binocs have a decent sculpt and paint weathering, but the main white is gloppy and sloppy. My biggest problem with the binocs is they're huge, nearly double the size they should be.
Finally, the hat, I hate this thing. It's a little too large, and with the goggles sculpted down, it just looks ridiculous on his head. The bottom halves being flared out makes it look even worse, when was Han wearing it like this? Finally, the stupid hat doesn't fit when the figure is wearing the hood-down piece even though that's integral to the jacket's look.
What really annoys me is that this is Han Hoth as we know him for no more than a few moments, Han just back from patrol and then arguing with 3PO basically, that's all you can do with this. The hat is awful, serving no purpose here except to remind us how cool this figure would have been with the separate hood-up piece instead -- and we already had the loose hood-down piece to do that job. The accessories are bothersome since they're close but no cigar, the figure looks good but is lacking in some areas. If this were a basic figure, I'd probably say it's decent, but as a vintage-style it's hurt as much by what it isn't as what it is.
Han's outfit sculpt is very nice, they put a lot of intricate texture into here and used all the details too. The sculpt integrates only ok with the articulation, the knees (when they're bent) and elbows are too obvious a break, and the shoulders don't really carry the outfit's shoulders because they have to be rounded. The outfit sports a removable piece at the top to simulate the hood-down look, it's just on there loose though with only the head keeping it on, sadly LFL killed the hood-up version Hasbro had intended to include. The pose is neutral save for the pointing right hand.
The headsculpt is alright, it's a new design that's not a ball-jointed head so you get a complete look, the features are pretty solid from any above angle, though straight on something about the lower face seems a tiny bit off to me. One thing that always bothers me on the vintage-style Han figures is the feathered hair with a wing on each side, and this is no different. The head is removable, connected to the body via a ball-joint into the base of the neck, by doing this you can remove the hood-down piece but the head seems a bit small on the body after this.
Paint is decent, there's a lot more than you'd think on a fig like this, and they put more work into the hair than expected so he has light brown highlights (at first I thought the front of the hair was sloppily unpainted, but it makes sense when you study it). Something about the eyes seems effeminate, perhaps the top-lid painted black like eyeliner.
Articulation is low-standard for Super-Articulated figures: swivel neck, universal-jointed shoulders, elbows, knees, and ankles, swivel gauntlets, standard waist and hips. The standard head articulation is particularly lame for a vintage-style figure. The elbows are cupped in by the upper arm slightly, so he can raise his forearm 90 degrees up but rotating it inward has to lower that to 70 degrees or so. The hips are limited to maybe 20 degrees forward due to the plastic "skirt".
Han's accessories are a removable hat, his pistol, and electrobinoculars. First off, the pistol is the ANH version from the Han VOTC, so it's got the wrong scope and is lacking detailing, though they did paint the barrel silver and the handle brown, and it fits in the holster molded into the "skirt" well.
Then there's the binocs with permanent over-the-shoulder strap which gets in the way of the figure using them as anything other than a man-purse. The binocs have a decent sculpt and paint weathering, but the main white is gloppy and sloppy. My biggest problem with the binocs is they're huge, nearly double the size they should be.
Finally, the hat, I hate this thing. It's a little too large, and with the goggles sculpted down, it just looks ridiculous on his head. The bottom halves being flared out makes it look even worse, when was Han wearing it like this? Finally, the stupid hat doesn't fit when the figure is wearing the hood-down piece even though that's integral to the jacket's look.
What really annoys me is that this is Han Hoth as we know him for no more than a few moments, Han just back from patrol and then arguing with 3PO basically, that's all you can do with this. The hat is awful, serving no purpose here except to remind us how cool this figure would have been with the separate hood-up piece instead -- and we already had the loose hood-down piece to do that job. The accessories are bothersome since they're close but no cigar, the figure looks good but is lacking in some areas. If this were a basic figure, I'd probably say it's decent, but as a vintage-style it's hurt as much by what it isn't as what it is.