Sideshow Hoth Han Solo (Echo Base)

[Asta]

 

[Wor-Gar]

That little boy is blue.

 

[TaliBane]

Tali, that quote is only true for specific moments. In every version of the film, the coat was primarily brown on screen. Folks can dispute this all they want - it only takes viewing the film to prove it, something the blue-camp will never do.

The only important factor is how it appeared in the theatrical releases in the early 1980's. At that time it was officially approved as blue by LFL and Kenner for a wide variety of products. This arguing over video releases and fan perceptions/memories is immaterial. It was officially deemed to be blue, despite the fact the prop coat itself was brown.

That recent OFFICIAL quote says "the anorak (coat) appeared to be navy on screen." They could have added "sometimes" "occasionally" or "at certain moments" - but they did not.

What colour will it be in Episode VII?

That piece of artwork is so lazy and uninspired for so many reasons. It somehow typifies my fears about Ep VII - lack of new ideas, trading too heavily on nostalgia, familiar faces buried under a few too many decades of age.

Because I thought it was blue for so long, and because I like blue, I ordered both versions at the same time.

Hard to believe that's over a year ago now!

This is my favourite iteration of Han, and ESB is my favourite of the films.

Yeah, it seems so long ago I ordered this.

And I love this blue/brown debate - it always brings this thread to life!

 

[Pixelpiper]

You probably missed this the first time around in 2013...

The only important factor is how it appeared in the theatrical releases in the early 1980's.

Brown.

At that time it was officially approved as blue by LFL and Kenner for a wide variety of products.

We've seen official Kenner/LFL materials specifying it as brown already in this very thread (photos were attached multiple times). Approval is irrelevant because all the other incorrect Kenner stuff was also apparently approved,including the Blue Snaggletooth.

It was officially deemed to be blue, despite the fact the prop coat itself was brown.

Brown. Only the lighting was officially deemed to be blue. And the lighting wasn't put in place to color Han's coat specifically because it affects the entire scene, also turning Chewy blue and other characters all manner of different shades. But no one wants to remember or acknowledge that or go and actually watch the movies. Seriously, watch them. You'll see a single uncut sequence of the coat shifting between brown and blue multiple times as Han walks around in Echo Base after having come in from the cold.

Did the producers intend for it to be a color-changing coat? No, that's just a side effect of the so-obvious blue lighting.

That recent OFFICIAL quote says "the anorak (coat) appeared to be navy on screen." They could have added "sometimes" "occasionally" or "at certain moments" - but they did not.

That's about as OFFICIAL as quoting someone here on the forum. Haha.

If someone likes the Blue coat, even prefers it to match the instances where it appears to have a blue tint on screen, that's cool. But no one should be arguing that the coat did not appear brown in all versions of the movie. Unless of course you also argue for a blue Chewbacca and blue snow. And for the possibility of a grainy texture or out of focus coat because that might be the way they saw it in their local cineplex.

 

[Asta]

And I love this blue/brown debate - it always brings this thread to life!

If this dock slow down doesn't improve soon we're going to have to have these mock arguments about colour just to take our minds off the fact that all our Hans are being held in Carbonite by those vile gangsters...

 

[davejames]

The only important factor is how it appeared in the theatrical releases in the early 1980's. At that time it was officially approved as blue by LFL and Kenner for a wide variety of products. This arguing over video releases and fan perceptions/memories is immaterial. It was officially deemed to be blue, despite the fact the prop coat itself was brown.

Well it might have been Lucas's and Kershner's intention for the coat to appear blue in the final film after filtering and color correction (which is why all the toys were approved that way), but for whatever reason it didn't really turn out that way. And most of the original theatrical footage seems to show it as still being fairly brown.

 

[Pixelpiper]

Well it might have been Lucas's and Kershner's intention for the coat to appear blue in the final film after filtering and color correction (which is why all the toys were approved that way), but for whatever reason it didn't really turn out that way. And most of the original theatrical footage seems to show it as still being fairly brown.

Maybe there was another dock strike back then preventing the importation of blue coats or blue fabric? If they had wanted the coat to appear blue, they would have used a blue coat. Neither of those guys is Stanley Kubric, I'm sure they didn't give it a thought. The scene was supposed to have a blue tint and the coat would be part of the aftermath.

 

[davejames]

Well the recent Costumes book does point out how blue doesn't photograph well (often coming out too dark on film apparently), which is why they often had to arrive at a blue color through some other means. That worked perfectly fine with Han's Bespin jacket, which was actually more of a gray on set. But for the Hoth coat it didn't seem to work as well.

At least assuming it was the plan to turn it blue in post-production (and based on the puppet I'm thinking it probably was).

 

[Pixelpiper]

I think the puppet was blue simply because they couldn't set up the equivalent lighting on a small scale.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing production in-hand photos with any color coat or no coat at all. Maybe a shot of two figures, one in blue and one in brown wrestling.

George The Hutt says...

 

[Captain Britain]

That GIF illustrates the point perfectly - the coat starts out blue and ends up brown. But is it brown and looks blue... or is it blue and looks brown?

Thank God Lucas never started a religion based on Star Wars like Coppola wanted him to do, or we'd all be killing each other in blue coat/ brown coat sect warfare.

 

[Reefer Shark]

That GIF illustrates the point perfectly - the coat starts out blue and ends up brown. But is it brown and looks blue... or is it blue and looks brown?

Thank God Lucas never started a religion based on Star Wars like Coppola wanted him to do, or we'd all be killing each other in blue coat/ brown coat sect warfare.

"The blue coats are coming, the blue coats are coming!!!"

lol

 

[Captain Britain]

I think the puppet was blue simply because they couldn't set up the equivalent lighting on a small scale.

So! Now it all comes out! Pixelpiper admits there is a blue coat in ESB!

BTW, what happened to Yankee? Is he still around?

 

[Wor-Gar]

Where's Rory? He's the Blue Man.

 

[galactiboy]

It's not so much the head on Plissken as virtually everything else. Of the relatively small number of people reporting they've received him there is a wide variety of issues covering the body, clothing, and accessories.

Drake looked like a good figure...apart from the head. Though the head is a pretty significant part of a figure!

Unfortunately you speak the truth.

I might be insane (as well!) because I still want the Exclusive Snake Plissken eventually.

Yeah, Drake actually is pretty solid in terms of everything but the head... but that head was seriously jacked up making the rest of him moot

It's taken over thirty years to get a licensed sixth scale Snake Plissken, and then that happens.

I'm nevertheless drawn to the figure, and the potential he'll have seen on display from a moderate distance. But I don't feel good about dropping much money on him.

I look at it in terms of what it would cost to make a custom... for $150 he's a good base and if you wait I'm sure he'll be offered with extra rewards, on sale, free shipping or even plumet in price on the secondary market. But even at $150 there is enough good there to make a decent figure with a bit of work.

Straight shot with macro lens using an Olympus EP5. No manipulation. Obviously the nature of the shot hides the seam issue, but that's a different matter. I'm happy with the paint app. As I mentioned in the Snake thread, it's hard to have those two figures, released a week apart, in hand and believe they are from the same company.

Any chance you could post a side-by-side of the two heads, I'd be curious how they look next to each other.

If people really want the blue coat for nostalgic reasons then definitely get the blue thru SS and pick up a brown from Toy Anxiety or ebay. Blues will probably cost a lot more and be much harder to get since so fewer are being made.

Really odd why people here -- who will combat every little exact detail everywhere else -- want the incorrect coat color to this day because of a horrible little toy from their childhood when they didn't know better. So many of the Hasbro toys had incorrect colors, why wouldn't Hoth Han?

Man, the port strike just gives us more time to offer opinions on the blue/brown

I'm a blue preferist... I fully admit it is because of Kenner and I also fully admit the original coat was brown. But, in my heart of hearts it looks best in blue, and often times on screen the blue tint does make it kind of look blue so that is how I sleep at night

So I bought the blue jacket exclusive... but I will also pick up a brown jacket if I can find one for a decent price as I'd like to have both.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Sideshow should have gotten that material that changes in the light from blue to brown. I have a tie that does that and, man, that would have relieved a lot of post counts.

 

[davejames]

Actually in shadow the brown these chose seems to capture the slightly purplish-brown color seen onscreen pretty well. Guess I'll just have to keep my figure out of any bright lights and he'll look perfect.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Are "purplish-brown" people true brown people? Or do they swing a little.... blue.

 

[TonTon]

Does the exclusive head come with blue hair if you order the blue coat?

 

[Pixelpiper]

Does the exclusive head come with blue hair if you order the blue coat?

Yes... Yes...

 

[TaliBane]

You probably missed this the first time around in 2013...

Brown.

We've seen official Kenner/LFL materials specifying it as brown already in this very thread (photos were attached multiple times). Approval is irrelevant because all the other incorrect Kenner stuff was also apparently approved,including the Blue Snaggletooth.

Brown. Only the lighting was officially deemed to be blue. And the lighting wasn't put in place to color Han's coat specifically because it affects the entire scene, also turning Chewy blue and other characters all manner of different shades. But no one wants to remember or acknowledge that or go and actually watch the movies. Seriously, watch them. You'll see a single uncut sequence of the coat shifting between brown and blue multiple times as Han walks around in Echo Base after having come in from the cold.

Did the producers intend for it to be a color-changing coat? No, that's just a side effect of the so-obvious blue lighting.

That's about as OFFICIAL as quoting someone here on the forum. Haha.

If someone likes the Blue coat, even prefers it to match the instances where it appears to have a blue tint on screen, that's cool. But no one should be arguing that the coat did not appear brown in all versions of the movie. Unless of course you also argue for a blue Chewbacca and blue snow. And for the possibility of a grainy texture or out of focus coat because that might be the way they saw it in their local cineplex.

Blue Snaggletooth was indeed a Kenner mistake - that was almost immediately corrected. That example clearly demonstrates that if Kenner made a mistake, it was called by LFL and quickly fixed.

Interestingly, significantly, blue coat Han... was not (at least for another decade and a half.)

And unless you have a time machine, you are GUESSING or REMEMBERING what was seen in movie theaters in the early 1980's. Citing later video releases is immaterial - those weren't around for many years afterward - in the cases cited, the closest being FIFTEEN YEARS after the theatrical release. LFL, Kenner and the other SW licensees viewed the film at the time of ESB's release and officially deemed it blue - for a broad spectrum of SW merchandise, not just the many Han Hoth items made by Kenner. Again, this was NOT simply a single action figure.

And... you're saying quoting an officially sanctioned/published (with full access to the LFL archives) book is the same as quoting someone on fan forums? That... is a last ditch grab at the rim of the plughole as your argument disappears... and you know it.