 It's 2 stars in 1 warship |
| Review Date: August 4, 2006 |
| Reviewer: C. Sides, Atlanta, GA USA |
It's the best toy concept ever. It's a geek's dream. It's Han Solo and Chewbacca which transform and combine to form the Millennium Falcon. It's got lights. It's got sound. It's got firing missiles. It's got working landing gear. It's got all kinds of things.
If you'll forgive a little boasting I thought of the Star Wars Transformers idea when I was like 8. So I was excited to see that come into being. If only I could have been the one to sell them the idea... Anyway, when they announced the line I got to thinking about which figures they should make. The very first thing I thought of was Han and Chewie forming the Falcon. Hey, I'm good at this, maybe I can get a job with Hasbro. So I had already decided this would be the best toy ever conceived when they announced it was coming.
I have not been disappointed! First of all the packaging is a little better than the others in the line. There's not so much empty, useless space in the box, the silly little discs are absent as is the poorly written action paragraphs on the back. The package just looks refined a little. Yeah, yeah, who really cares right?
I'm usually not impressed with the electronics on toys like this. I'm not getting them for playability, though, so I can't speak for everyone. This one is a different story. You get some comments from Han, growls from Chewie, and a few other sounds, plus a light-up thrusters and some lights around the upper gun. The sounds are good recordings, better than what I've heard on most toys like this. The activation buttons and battery compartments are well disguised so they don't spoil the look.
I don't care anything about having pilot figures, but this one includes two. The cockpit opens and has 2 seats for them (though front and back rather than side by side). There is an extra seat on Han's chest for the Han pilot in mech mode.
The figures look good. In fact, Chewie is the best of the line. He is very broad-shouldered (more so than the regular character, but the look fits) with a chest that slides forward like protruding pecs, a minor detail that adds a great deal of heft to his upper body. The brown accents help give him a Wookiee look though mostly he is light gray. His head sculpt looks great with a lot of detail given to his fur, but it's mechanized fur which is interesting. Something else of note is that his feet are different than the picture on the box and internet. He actually has brown paws that flip out. The feet were one of the biggest nitpicks I noticed in the promotional images so seeing that they actually look better on the figure was exciting. His hands are by far the best sculpt of any so far. They are so far beyond the early figures like OB1, I wouldn't think they would be from the same line. Some others have had better hands, but Chewie's are the only ones that are anywhere near impressive. The only real ship part he has hanging around is the thrusters (unless you count the cockpit on the shoulder, but that's optional). Other than that he really doesn't look like he would turn into anything like a ship. His articulation is great with several joints along his arms, rotating wrists, rotating head, posable hips and knees, etc. I've had no problems balancing him and have been able to get him into a variety of active-looking poses.
Han isn't quite as impressive as Chewie, but he still looks better than almost any other figure. The more organic head sculpt isn't as sharp. Helmets just translate better I guess (with the exception of Chewie). Still, it has a lot of detail and looks as good if not better than the other human faces in the line. His hands are sculpted better than most but not even close to Chewie's level of detail. Han's blue accents aren't as distinctive as Chewie's brown but do give him some color. He has more visible ship parts hanging around, most notably two huge shoulder pads. The problem with these are that positioning them flat over the shoulders where they look the best interfere with shoulder movement. He has the same basic joints as Chewie, but his arms don't move as freely, and he doesn't balance as well which limits his poses more.
The ship looks good. There are some tell-tale cracks in the hull where the pieces don't sit flush and some exposed joints, but it looks solid. The only things I really don't like are Chewie's exposed fists and the holes right in front of them. Being a combiner the joining of the two has to be taken into account. It holds together impressively well, better, in fact, than some of the regular ships.
There is a trade off for holding together so well which is difficulty in separating the parts for transformation. Splitting the ship apart for the 2 figures can be frustratingly difficult since no one wants to apply so much force the figure breaks. While not as bad as that, Han's feet can be a problem, too. Unsnapping them can easily cause his leg joints to separate. It's easy enough to fix but a little annoying. Other than the difficulties of force, the transformation is moderately challenging, nowhere near as hard as most Alternators, but difficult enough to be fun.
There are a few parts that have to come off for the transformation. The cockpit and side missile block Han's feet and have to be removed regardless of what you do with them in mech mode. The cockpit is intended for Chewie's shoulder. The dish has to come off and is most commonly placed on Han's shoulder pad. The guns, of course, come off so they can be held, but it's possible, if you want, to leave them on until the end and have the characters reach around and remove them by hand. While I prefer to not have parts that have to be removed for transformation, I'm glad there aren't any more than the few there are on this one.
I think my biggest complaint visually is the side missile launcher. This is the biggest deviation from the look of the regular Falcon design. It spoils the look of the ship and doesn't do anything for the Han mech. The firing trigger also sticks out in an unattractive way. With all the guns already there what's the point of this extra launcher? It doesn't look as bad on the real thing as it does in the picture, but I would have preferred not to have it.
I can't think of too many improvements they could have made other than losing the extra side cannon and not removing the cockpit. It would have been great if they could have found a way to include Chewie's trademark bandoleer, but not having it is not a major loss. The only other neat addition might have been a working landing ramp that we see them use in the movie.
This is a well-made Transformer. It's considerably more pricey than the others in the line, but it's exceptionally fun and great looking. If the cost isn't daunting to you I highly recommend it. |
THE BEST MILLENNIUM FALCON TOY EVER!!!
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| Review Date: July 9, 2006 |
| Reviewer: , |
| This is a really cool toy! The millennium comes apart into two awesome star wars action figures han solo and chewbacca! the top gun is hans blaster and the botom gun is chewbaccas bow caster! And it has light and sounds when you press on a botton the falcon lights up and you can hear hans moive lines! same thing with chewy too! it also has three lanching miseles two polet figuers and it is very detaled! |
perfect timing
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| Review Date: January 10, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Lawrence P. Sipek, Orlando, Fl. USA |
| My grandson loved it and you got it to us in plenty of time for Christmas. |
Cool
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| Review Date: November 21, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Julie, Christchurch, New Zealand |
| I purchased this for my 5 yo nephew. He LOVES transformers and really love this toy. I have been told mum had to keep transforming them in the beginning as it is a little tricky -- something I expected for his age. Nothing bad to report though. |
GREAT GIFT
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| Review Date: January 11, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Olga Martin, Douglas City, California United States |
MY 6 YEAR OLD GRANDSON PLAYED ENDLESSLY WITH THIS TOY.
THE SOUNDS WERE GREAT AND THEY WERE VERY INTERTAINING.
FOR A STAR WARS BUFF LIKE MY LIAM..IT WAS PERFECT. |
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