General Lando Calrissian

Lando Calrissian served as a general in the starfighter attack on the second Death Star, showing off his superb piloting skills guiding the Millennium Falcon into the Death Star superstructure. – Character description blurb on Star Wars The Black Series: General Lando Calrissian package

On September 17, 2021, Rhode Island-based Hasbro, Inc. released General Lando Calrissian, a 6-inch scale action figure based on Billy Dee Williams’ character from the original Star Wars trilogy as he appears in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

Clad in a Rebel Alliance-issue officer’s uniform that is accessorized with a stylish cape – a trademark fashion choice of the smooth-talking former smuggler, gambler, former owner of the Millennium Falcon, ex-Baron Administrator of Cloud City, and newly minted Rebel general – General Lando Calrissian is ready to lead Gold Squadron in a daring do-or-die fighter attack against the Empire’s second Death Star at the Battle of Endor.

Han Solo: Well, look at you! A General, huh?

Lando Calrissian: Someone must have told them all about my little maneuver at the Battle of Taanab.

Han Solo: Well, don’t look at me, pal. I just said you were a fair pilot. I didn’t know they were looking for somebody to lead this crazy attack.

Lando Calrissian: I’m surprised they didn’t ask you to do it.

Han Solo: Well, who says they didn’t? Only I ain’t crazy. – George Lucas & Lawrence Kasdan’s screenplay, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

The Figure

The 6-inch-scale Black Series figure is detailed to look like the General Lando Calrissian character from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, featuring premium detail and multiple points of articulation. – Product description blurb, Hasbro official website

General Lando Calrissian is a 6-inch scale action figure from the Star Wars The Black Series line of products that Hasbro introduced in 2013. It is a nicely sculpted and painted depiction of the iconic character played by actor Billy Dee Williams in live action films (The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker).

Here, Lando is attired in the uniform of an Alliance general officer that consists of:

• Khaki-colored long sleeve officer’s uniform tunic
• General’s rank plaque above left breast
• Brown leather shoulder holster
• Wrist comlink on right arm
• Black utility belt
• Blue-gray uniform trousers with yellow piping on the side of the legs
• Black spacer’s boots
• Blue-gray dress cape (made with real fabric, not molded plastic)
• Rebel-issue blaster

General Lando Calrissian comes in the “new style” Star Wars The Black Series packaging Hasbro introduced in the summer of 2020. Like all of the boxes for characters from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Lando’s box features a black-forest green color scheme but retains the silver gray-on-black artists’ depiction of the featured characters on the left side and reverse cover side of the box.

Lando Calrissian: We’ve gotta be able to get some kind of a reading on that shield, up or down.

Nien Nunb: [speaks in Sullustese]

Lando Calrissian: But how could they be jamming us if they don’t know… if we’re coming?

[over comlink]

Lando Calrissian: Break off the attack! The shield is still up!

Wedge Antilles: I get no reading. Are you sure?

Lando Calrissian: Pull up! All craft, pull up!

Even though the current packaging is shaped differently from the more traditional “vertical rectangular” boxes of the pre-2020 Star Wars The Black Series collection, it still retains the see-through “window” on the front panel that allows collectors to display their figures without opening them. As a result, you can see most of the General Lando Calrissian action figure (except for the figure’s feet, which you can glimpse only if you tilt the box at an angle that lets you see them) through the transparent plastic.

This Star Wars The Black Series action figure comes with a detachable entertainment-inspired blaster accessory that makes a great addition to any Star Wars collection. – Product description blurb, Hasbro official website

Here, General Lando Calrissian stands with his arms loosely at his side, and his cape is draped over his shoulders but bunched up behind him so the figure can fit in the package. A small Rebel-issue blaster “floats” in a separate compartment off to Lando’s left (the observer’s right) and at the same level as the figure’s head.

My Take

Kids and collectors alike can imagine the biggest battles and missions in the Star Wars saga with figures from Star Wars The Black Series! With exquisite features and decoration, this series embodies the quality and realism that Star Wars devotees love. – Product description blurb, Hasbro official website

I received General Lando Calrissian as a Christmas present last December; it was on my list of “most desired” gift ideas, and my current caregiver ordered it from Amazon, where it is currently sold for $8.49 (a steal, in my view, since Hasbro’s MSRP for the figure is $22.99).

Kids and collectors alike can imagine the biggest battles and missions in the Star Wars saga with figures from Star Wars The Black Series! With exquisite features and decoration, this series embodies the quality and realism that Star Wars devotees love.

As I always remark in my reviews of Star Wars The Black Series action figures, I began collecting Star Wars figures in March of 1978. My first acquisitions were also gifts: for my 15^th birthday I received the original Kenner Toys Landspeeder vehicle and the 3¾-inch Artoo-Detoo (R2-D2) and See-Threepio action figures.[1]

Star Wars action figures have come a long way since they were first introduced 44 years ago; even the modern 3¾ inch scale figures made by Hasbro have much better sculpts, paint jobs, and more points of articulation than their 1978-1985 counterparts from Kenner. Toy designers and manufacturers now have tools – including laser scanners, computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing machines, and improved techniques for painting the figures – that did not yet exist when I was a teenager starting my Star Wars collecting hobby.

General Lando Calrissian is a cool-looking replica of the gambler-turned-Rebel hero as he appears in the third act of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. Hasbro’s design team and the many workers in the company’s production facility in China did an excellent job at giving the 6-inch scale action figure “movie authentic” detailing and a striking resemblance to the actor who plays Lando in three Skywalker Saga movies, Billy Dee Williams.

Star Wars fans and collectors can display this highly poseable, fully articulated figure, featuring premium deco, in their action figure and vehicle collection. – Product description blurb, Hasbro official website

Chances are that my General Lando Calrissian will remain in his original packaging; I don’t have the kind of space required to house some more Billy shelves to display figures and vehicles, especially since the 6-inch scale figures are, natch, larger than the 3¾-inch ones that make up most of my Star Wars collection.

However, if you decide to buy the 6-inch Star Wars The Black Series figures – including General Lando Calrissian – and pose them in life-like stances, well, you can!

Unlike their Kenner 3¾-inch forebears, modern figures – including ones in that same scale – now have more than the basic five points of articulation (POAs) of the 1978-1985 collection and some of their 1990s successors from The Power of the Force line. Now you can pose your figures so that they look more like the film characters they represent – and in more life-like stances.

Of course, the more POAs you add to a figure, the more obviously “toylike” it looks until you train your eyes and brain to ignore the obvious harsh lines and small gaps that result when you manufacture a figure that needs a lot of “joints” and “swivel points” to pose it “naturally.”

Still, in the box or out of it, General Lando Calrissian is a worthy addition to my Star Wars collection.

Well, that about wraps it up for this review of a new Star Wars The Black Series collectible figure. I had fun writing it, and I hope you will find it both enjoyable and informative.

Until next time, Dear Reader, stay safe, stay healthy, and find joy in even the small things in life. And remember, the Force will be with you…always.

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[1] I still have the figures, but I lost the Landspeeder – which was also for the 3¾-inch scale figures – in the Collapsed Bookcase Disaster of 2003. I do have the Hasbro Star Wars: The Power of the Force reissue, and the Caregiver gave me its Star Wars The Black Series counterpart in 2017 for Christmas.