Sideshow Hoth Han Solo (Echo Base)

[galactiboy]

Just opened my $150 Han I got a month ago and I'm really impressed. I like the sculpt a lot more than the pics of it I've seen. Makes for a great ESB display.

View attachment 240078

Congrats man... that's a great looking display. And I like the distressed look on the shelves; very high-end

 

[jedijim3002]

 

[Pixelpiper]

Sideshow's Hoth set, is in my eyes (and without question to me), the ultimate Star Wars 1/6 release of 2015 and cements Sideshow as the Kings of Star Wars for 2015. Very nice (except that Luke portrait you put on there) There have been a lot of complaints, but no subsequent release has provided better head sculpts nor soft-goods. 2016 looks like it may be a different ball of wax entirely.

 

[DarthNeil]

Sideshow's Hoth set, is in my eyes (and without question to me), the ultimate Star Wars 1/6 release of 2015 and cements Sideshow as the Kings of Star Wars for 2015. Very nice (except that Luke portrait you put on there) There have been a lot of complaints, but no subsequent release has provided better head sculpts nor soft-goods. 2016 looks like it may be a different ball of wax entirely.

I still regret not being able to get my hands on one of those Tauntauns.

 

[hokietwo]

The Tauntaun is a beautiful piece very large takes up a lot of space.

 

[ZE_501]

Sideshow's Hoth set, is in my eyes (and without question to me), the ultimate Star Wars 1/6 release of 2015 and cements Sideshow as the Kings of Star Wars for 2015. Very nice (except that Luke portrait you put on there) There have been a lot of complaints, but no subsequent release has provided better head sculpts nor soft-goods. 2016 looks like it may be a different ball of wax entirely.

When you take a step back, SSC has done some great work. I have no problem giving them the gears for their inexplicable creative decisions and scattershot QC, but they've taken risks and offered some great products with innovative features.

Hot Toys also has inexplicable creative direction, and QC across all lines can be inconsistent, but their production overall is of a higher caliber.

Neither one of these companies is perfect. So far, HT's Sandtrooper, and SSC's Probe Droid and (gasp) Pilot Luke are my favourite Star Wars figures. If push comes to shove I think Hot Toys does a better job overall with their production, generally, but SSC has them beat on my personal favourites.

 

[Tom Day]

When you take a step back, SSC has done some great work. I have no problem giving them the gears for their inexplicable creative decisions and scattershot QC, but they've taken risks and offered some great products with innovative features.

Hot Toys also has inexplicable creative direction, and QC across all lines can be inconsistent, but their production overall is of a higher caliber.

Neither one of these companies is perfect. So far, HT's Sandtrooper, and SSC's Probe Droid and (gasp) Pilot Luke are my favourite Star Wars figures. If push comes to shove I think Hot Toys does a better job overall with their production, generally, but SSC has them beat on my personal favourites.

What puts me off about Sideshow is having to replace basic stuff like the body and the head for the figure to be of comparable quality to Hot Toys releases. I think pilot Luke looks brilliant with the helmet on but I would have to replace it with a farm boy Luke sculpt because I'd know taking the helmet off would leave me with a figure whose likeness and paint job were - in my eyes - terrible. But that's obviously subjective as I've seen exactly the opposite view of those two head sculpts many times!

 

[Pixelpiper]

What puts me off about Sideshow is having to replace basic stuff like the body and the head for the figure to be of comparable quality to Hot Toys releases.

You confuse paint with sculpt. HT has yet to make a human sculpt as well as those from Sideshow in the past two years. So you know what puts me off more than flat paint? A poor sculpt that looks nothing like the actor in question - this is HT's trademark for SW unfortunately. Oh, but speaking of paint, do you have the metallic hair piece for ANH Luke in hand? What a POS.

I did replace the bodies on the Hoth figures as they simply weren't scaled appropriately - then again, folks are replacing bodies on HT's troopers and other figures too (I replaced Solo's).

For all the people that love the ANH sculpt I'm sure having a hard time selling mine now... Maybe I shouldn't have been so vocal about how bad it is.

And.... Don't get me wrong. I love Hot Toys, but let's be honest, they peaked over two years ago. Even their base bodies aren't built as well anymore, IMO.

 

[darth dennis]

As a man of a certain age, I remember the dark times between POTF and POTF2 when there were no Star Wars collectibles. For all their warts and lapses in judgement and delivery schedules, I am super happy that SS and HT exist and are pumping out Star Wars product. That is all.

 

[Pixelpiper]

I may have been too quick to say HT had peaked, as by all accounts their recent Ant Man figure is top notch. If only they would apply a similar level of commitment and refinement to OT SW as they have to their Marvel lineup.

 

[Tom Day]

You confuse paint with sculpt. HT has yet to make a human sculpt as well as those from Sideshow in the past two years. So you know what puts me off more than flat paint? A poor sculpt that looks nothing like the actor in question - this is HT's trademark for SW unfortunately. Oh, but speaking of paint, do you have the metallic hair piece for ANH Luke in hand? What a POS.

I did replace the bodies on the Hoth figures as they simply weren't scaled appropriately - then again, folks are replacing bodies on HT's troopers and other figures too (I replaced Solo's).

For all the people that love the ANH sculpt I'm sure having a hard time selling mine now... Maybe I shouldn't have been so vocal about how bad it is.

And.... Don't get me wrong. I love Hot Toys, but let's be honest, they peaked over two years ago. Even their base bodies aren't built as well anymore, IMO.

I just got the Hoth Luke in (a year late) and I was pleasantly surprised in some ways - the body is sturdy, the hat sculpt is OK, everything is of reasonably good quality except for the scale (which towers over my ANH Luke, and means I'll have to replace the body even though it isn't floppy - gah!). But although the sculpts aren't bad, they're not great either. They're just OK. I ripped the hair off the hatless head and the face looks slightly more like Hamill but not as much as the ANH sculpt does - to my eyes.

I would agree that the coconut head hair on the ANH Luke is terrible sculpt wise (but I quite like the metallic paint!).

It sounds to me like my standards are as high as yours, just that my perception of these figures is exactly the opposite, which is actually pretty wonderful, it would be boring if everyone agreed.

And did you really mean it about the base bodies?!? The Luke has such tight joints it's almost hard to move!

 

[TonTon]

Tom, the Hoth han (or the prometheus 1.0 that came with a lot of Han and some Luke figures) is a good cheap option for Luke if you were content with the body as it'll work with the foot pegs and is shorter. I immediately swapped the bodies that came with Hoth Han and Luke as Han came on a short body and Luke on the tall one it sounds like you got.

Hard to say for sure if this is the exact same body, but it should look like this with no extended ab section (TA has another one like this "desert officer" but this one below was the cheapest):
G.I. Joe: Cobra Commander - Nude Body (Prometheus) - Toy Anxiety

 

[Tom Day]

Tom, the Hoth han (or the prometheus 1.0 that came with a lot of Han and some Luke figures) is a good cheap option for Luke if you were content with the body as it'll work with the foot pegs and is shorter. I immediately swapped the bodies that came with Hoth Han and Luke as Han came on a short body and Luke on the tall one it sounds like you got.

Hard to say for sure if this is the exact same body, but it should look like this with no extended ab section (TA has another one like this "desert officer" but this one below was the cheapest):
G.I. Joe: Cobra Commander - Nude Body (Prometheus) - Toy Anxiety

Thanks for that TonTon! I don't actually have Han, just Luke, but will check out this body. I know nothing about Sideshow bodies so I appreciate the starting point.

 

[Pixelpiper]

And did you really mean it about the base bodies?!? The Luke has such tight joints it's almost hard to move!

Not that the joints are necessarily loose, just the overall quality of plastics and finish isn't necessarily as high quality as it once was. I've stripped down a number of HT items from 2014 and 2015 including Han, Luke, TDK, and Bruce Wayne, plus got a couple of loose bodies on eBay, and they don't live up to the quality of the last basic retail releases, nor DX12, DX07 etc. I first noticed this when I got the Batman Armory pack and wondered how they were offering the apparent value of that setup.

There have also been some complaints here and on FB about joints and failures of both old and new bodies, thankfully I haven't had any issues with any of mine.

 

[Tom Day]

Interesting. I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere else. I'm glad you're on the case!

 

[Comatoast]

So I just picked this up (brown coat - the TRUE color! *duck*) along with a Tauntaun on ebay (pretty decent price though). Not in hand yet, but what is the rundown on what needs to be done:

• Swap bodies when and if I get the Luke ( I know I will, I'm weak)
• Repaint head? I have 2 Inigo Han heads coming - different hairstyle than the ESB Han, but it might pass especially under the hood (PixelPiper?)

Anything else to swap out/refine, etc.? Should I bump out a room to fit this Tauntaun?!

 

[koon]

What's PotF?

 

[Comatoast]

What's PotF?

Power of the Force. Or Pick out the Furballs.

 

[jedibear]

Pulled this figure out for a new shot today....



..I really like it...I've enjoyed all of the Sideshow "Hoth" themed figures...

 

[Tom Day]

Pulled this figure out for a new shot today....



..I really like it...I've enjoyed all of the Sideshow "Hoth" themed figures...

That's a really lovely photo, although I just cannot understand how anyone can prefer this to the blue coat! I suppose 'brown coaters' feel the same about 'blue coaters'.