Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Hot Toys Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope 1/6th scale Chewbacca Collectible Figure Review

continued from previous toy blog post...

Happy Chinese New Year :) According to the Chinese Zodiac, this is the year of the Monkey. So what better topic / action figure reviews to cover than the next subject itself.

One cannot talk about Han Solo without mentioning Chewbacca (or "Chewie", as he was known by his friends). Chewbacca is a legendary Wookiee warrior and Han Solo’s co-pilot aboard the Millennium Falcon. A Wookiees are tall, hirsute biped and intelligent species from the planet Kashyyyk. Chewbacca, a 200-year-old Wookiee, becomes Han Solo's companion after Han, an Imperial officer at the time, refused an order to kill him, for which Han was dismissed from the Imperial Navy and became a smuggler. To repay this debt, Chewbacca protected Han for the rest of his life, and served as his co-pilot on the Millennium Falcon. Chewbacca was part of a core group of Rebels who restored freedom to the galaxy.

Standing at 8 feet tall, Chewbacca is a fearsome sight. His weapon of choice is the Wookiee bowcaster (a crossbow-shaped directed-energy weapon). Chewbacca's creation as a "gentle, hairy, non-English-speaking co-pilot" was inspired by George Lucas seeing his own dog sitting up on the passenger seat of his car. It is said that Chewbacca's name is derived from собака (sobaka), the Russian word for dog. In all five screen appearances, Chewbacca was played by Peter Mayhew, who was chosen for his height of 7'3" (2.2 m).


Like I mentioned in my earlier action figure review post HERE, many 1:6 scale Han Solo figures have been produced and released but not so for Chewbacca. Only Hasbro has released 1:6 scale Chewbacca figures (check out my post HERE) and even then, they were meant as toy action figures and not collectibles. This is Hot Toys attempt at a 1:6 scale Chewbacca collectible figure and I seriously doubt any other company will be proceeding down the same route. Figures like these require new tooling to get a taller body, new head (most regular 12-inch figures only need a change of head sculpts and costumes / outfits, a much cheaper option than tooling and molds) and all that fur to stick and not fall off yet adhere nicely to the figure and look natural without Chewie coming off looking like a teddy bear which was what one of Hasbro's earlier version of 1:6 scale Chewbacca looked like LOL

This is Hot Toys MMS262 "Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope" 1/6th scale Chewbacca Collectible Figure which specially features: Authentic and detailed likeness of Chewbacca as seen in Star Wars with Brown fabric hair throughout whole body, movie-accurate facial expression, approximately 36 cm tall newly developed body with over 30 points of articulations, two pairs of interchangeable palms including: one pair of relaxed palms and one pair of palms for holding bowcaster.

Scroll down to see all the pictures.
Click on them for bigger and better views.


Standard shoe-box packaging for Hot Toys "Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope" 1/6th scale Chewbacca Collectible Figure except that the box is bigger in size because Chewie is taller than the rest. The standardised black box design for all Star Wars products can be rather unexciting and unimaginative which is why Hot Toys added a dash of color to the inside flap to show what might have been.


Here's Hot Toys 1:6 scale Chewbacca 14-inch (36 cm) tall figure in the tray with all his accessories. Not much really, just the headset, bowcaster, extra pair of palms for holding bowcaster, brown bandolier bag, specially designed figure stand with Chewbacca nameplate and movie logo.


The Hot Toys Star Wars Chewbacca Instruction Sheet shows you how to put on the headset and includes a brush for tidying Chewbacca's fur. Even Hot Toys Sucker Punch Babydoll figure didn't come with a brush / comb. And she had blond hair! See my action figure review of Babydoll HERE and HERE.


The rest of the instructions are about wearing the bandolier bag (with removable ammo) and assembling / dismantling the figure display stand.


Hot Toys Chewbacca 1:6 scale accessories laid out: headset, brown bandolier bag and bowcaster


Close-up picture of the 1:6 scale bowcaster, also known as a laser crossbow, which was a type of traditional, handcrafted projectile weapon commonly used by Wookiees. Through the use of magnetic acceleration, bowcasters were more powerful and accurate than the average blaster.


Hot Toys MMS262 "Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope" 1/6th scale Chewbacca 14-inch (36 cm) tall Collectible Figure features: Authentic and detailed likeness of Chewbacca as seen in Star Wars with Brown fabric hair throughout whole body. The fur is all glued onto a skin tight suit which is worn over the base body which has articulation. The furry hands are easily changeable, just like regular hands which you unplug and plug in again. It's funny how I find that Chewie looks naked in the box without his brown bandolier bag. The fact is, he is naked because he doesn't wear any clothes / outfit but is covered from head to toe with fur.


Check out the close-up pictures of Hot Toys MMS262 "Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope" Chewbacca 1/6th scale head sculpt


NEXT: More pictures of Hot Toys MMS262 "Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope" 1/6th scale Chewbacca Collectible Figure followed by Han and Chewie standing together

Related posts:
My Star Wars Collection from July 2008 - lots of pictures HERE
Hasbro Star Wars Silver Anniversary (1977 - 2002) Han Solo and Chewbacca's "Death Star Escape" action figures posted HERE
Check out Han and Chewie's ship, the Millennium Falcon Legacy Collection by Hasbro posted on my toy blog HERE
Sideshow Collectibles "Star Wars" 1:6 scale Luke Skywalker Red Five X-Wing Pilot figure review posted HERE and HERE
Comparison pictures between Sideshow 1:6 scale Luke Skywalker and Hot Toys 12-inch Luke Skywalker posted HERE

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