Welcome to 10 Star Wars Things – a regular series highlighting a variety of Star Wars items from our collection. Today’s theme is – Han Solo!

Today is Harrison Ford’s birthday, so in celebration we are highlighting his iconic Star Wars character Han Solo. From the original Kenner vintage action figure, to collectibles from Gentle Giant, Hasbro and more, we highlight 10 Han Solo items from our collection.

Watch the full video on YouTube –

Check out our gallery below – which one is your favourite? May the Force be with you!

• Hasbro Unleashed Han Solo Figure

• 2. Vintage Kenner Han Solo Action Figure

• 3. Funko Pop! Vinyl Han Solo (Snow Gear) #86

• 4. Han Solo At Star’s End paperback novel by Brian Daley

• 5. Hasbro The Black Series Archive The Force Awakens Han Solo Carded Figure

• 6. Gentle Giant Ltd 2011 Premier Guild Exclusive Han Solo (Bespin) Mini Bust

• 7. Funko Pop! Han Solo Pocket Keychain

• 8. Hasbro The Black Series ROTJ Han Solo (Endor) Carded Figure

• 9. Gentle Giant Ltd 2010 Convention Exclusive Han Solo (Stormtrooper Disguise) Animated Maquette

• 10. Vintage Kenner ROTJ Han Solo (Hoth Outfit) Carded Figure

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I am so excited about today’s unboxing – the Premier Collection Padme’ Amidala statue by Gentle Giant! I have been patiently waiting for this to arrive ever since it was first revealed, and it’s finally here! As a huge Padme’ Amidala fan and collector, of course I had it pre-ordered the second it was available, and the wait was worth it.

Check out my unboxing video –

This statue is part of the Premier Collection line by Gentle Giant (owned by Diamond Select Toys). I have been collecting Gentle Giant for absolutely years now, and while I wish I could collect all of their Star Wars pieces, I tend to focus on my favourite characters like Princess Leia, Padme’ Amidala, and Rey.

This limited edition piece has a edition size of 3,000 – I’m glad it wasn’t a small run, so more fans can add this wonderful statue to their collection. I am always keen for more Padme’ Amidala items to add to my collection, and would have been devastated to miss out on this one!

Of course, the first thing I check for when opening up a new collectible – check for any flaws or damage. Thankfully damage is rare, even with international shipping, but sadly it has happened a few times. This statue arrived safe and sound – a huge relief! A quick check over all the pieces, and it’s time to assemble the statue.

This Premier Collection statue is 1:7 scale, it stands approximately 24cm tall. I have a few other Premier Collection statues, and I think this is really nice scale – big enough for a decently sized statue, but not so big as to take up a lot of display space, and space is always an issue for collectors!

Some Gentle Giant statues are assembled from a number of components, some arrive as one solid sculpt. This Padme’ Amidala statue has three pieces – the large arena base, Padme’ Amidala, and her right arm holding a blaster. So, not very tricky to put together.

Padme’ Amidala herself connects to the base with two metal pins on the underside of her left boot – this connects into place very securely. Her right arm attaches with a magnet – this also clicked into place easily, but I can wiggle the arm up and down. Personally, I am a little worried this might accidentally get knocked out of place, so I will remove that piece when moving the statue to a different display space.

The paint job on Padme’ Amidala is fantastic – the sculpt looks like her, the eyes are good, and the hairstyle is sculpted really well. I really like the details on this statue – including small elements like the texture on her belt that looks like leather, and the subtle arena dust weathering on her boots.

It was a long wait for this statue, and it was worth it. While I know some fans are frustrated that many companies choose Padme’ Amidala’s Episode II arena costume for designs featuring her (when she has so many other amazing costumes to choose from), but I realise that this scene lends itself to some great action poses. Hopefully we will see many more wonderful Gentle Giant statues featuring Padme’ Amidala’s other outfits – I know I would buy them all!

Overall, I am really happy with this Padme’ Amidala statue – I am especially fond of Attack Of The Clones, as that film sparked my Star Wars collecting journey. This statue arrived on 16th May, which coincidentally is the 21st anniversary of the release of Attack Of The Clones – a perfect way to celebrate!

Now I just need to do a bit of rearranging so I can fit it alongside my other favourite Padme’ Amidala pieces – another fine addition to my collection!

May the Force be with you!

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Even a couple of seasons in to The Mandalorian, I’m still in two minds as to whether the first episode version of Din Djarin’s armour is the coolest, or if his shiny Beskar version is the most aesthetic. Although there’s something curious and interesting about the piecemeal ensemble he wears when the series opened, that prompts us to wonder what adventures he may have had prior to his encounter with Grogu, I guess we have to respect the maturation of his appearance to fully reflect his Mandalorian heritage.

Anyway, having said all that… the Beskar Armor version of the Mandalorian mini-bust from Gentle Giant/Diamond Select Toys, complete with a truncated version of his iconic Amban phase-pulse blaster rifle is a very tidy representation of the character. It was released as a 2020 SDCC convention exclusive.

This collectible was limited to a run of 3,000 pieces. It’s a great companion piece to the original pre-Beskar version if you also happen to have that mini-bust (either the original Mk-1 iteration, or the second version otherwise unchanged version that came with a Beskar pauldron for his right shoulder). Minimal assembly is required, with his right, blaster-holding hand snapping into place thanks to a magnetic attachment.

This mini-bust has Din Djarin in a simple pose, but it captures the mix of fabric and metal textures in his costume, as well as all the accessory details like grenades, ammunition, and belt pouches. It’s nice to have matching representations of his armour evolution, and we suspect that this might not be the final Mandalorian mini-bust that we see from Gentle Giant/Diamond Select… hopefully we’ll see a season 3 sculpt sometime in 2022.

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After reorganising my Star Wars studio room, I had the opportunity to display some of my favourite collectibles that needed a safe and protected space. To celebrate my favourite Star Wars characters, I put together a Women Of The Star Wars Saga display area, to showcase some of my most treasured collectibles in a spot where I can see them everyday.

Checkout this video of my new Star Wars display –

This is of course not all of my Rey, Amidala, and Leia collectibles, but this display includes some of the largest/heaviest pieces, and ones that really need a secure display space away from sunlight and excess dust. The sturdy drawers provided a great platform for heavy pieces like premium format statues, and they are all now in a room that has blocked out windows to protect from sun damage – a concern of mine, especially with pieces with fabric details.

Rey collectibles –

• Sideshow Collectibles Rey premium format statue
• Gentle Giant Rey Milestones Statue
• Gentle Giant Rey Dreamer Statue
• Kotobukiya Rey Descendent Of Light Artist Series Figure
• Hot Toys Deluxe Rey and BB-8 12″ Figure Set

Queen Amidala collectibles –

• Robert Tonner Queen Amidala Celebration Gown Doll
• Robert Tonner Queen Amidala Trunk Set Doll
• Gentle Giant Queen Amidala (Throne Room Gown) Mini Bust
• Limoges Queen Amidala Porcelain Trinket Box

Princess Leia collectibles –

• Sideshow Collectibles Princess Leia Premium Format Statue
• Lladró Princess Leia Porcelain Statue
• Royal Selangor Princess Leia Pewter Figure
• Gentle Giant Princess Leia (Bespin Gown) Mini Bust
• The Bradford Exchange Princess Leia Treasured Reflections Statue

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A random background character to many, but a favourite cantina alien of mine – this Momaw Nadon (aka Hammerhead) collectible by Gentle Giant Ltd is one of a few older, Original Trilogy mini-busts that we have in our collection. A limited edition of 1500; ours is number 427.

I really like the sculpting of this unique character – it sparks a lot of nostalgia, harking back to the first times I saw Star Wars in the movie theatre in 1977. I loved the mini-action figure back in ’78, and am pleased to have this statuette as there haven’t really been a lot of renditions of him along the way (we have the more modern era 3.7″ figures, but I’m still on the hunt for the 12″ version from Sideshow Collectibles).

My only gripe is that, according to the older Expanded Universe stories and resource material, Momaw’s species (Ithorian) were pacifist gardeners, as was Momaw himself. This makes his brandishing of an E-11 blaster a little odd… although I guess it is consistent with the vintage action figure, where blasters were common accessories whether they made sense or note. Still, I really like having another Hammerhead collectible on the shelf.

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In 2017 Gentle Giant released this Darth Revan statue, depicting the Sith Lord as seen in the video game Knights Of The Old Republic. The 1:8 scale sculpt features Revan with two lightsabers, standing on a scorched step base.

This was one of the Premier Guild gift options for 2017 members – and to be honest, while we’ve been guild members quite often in the past, this Revan statue was the sole reason we joined in 2017! We are big fans of KOTOR and the Old Republic era, so this statue was a must-have for our collection.

As with most Gentle Giant products, this is a limited item with an edition size of 700 – our statue is #272/700. The sculpt is really good, with great detail – the lightsaber hilts reference Revan’s appearance in Star Wars The Old Republic.

We have this statue on display next to our other Darth Revan and Old Republic collectibles – it matches nicely to the Darth Malgus and Darth Malak mini statues also made by Gentle Giant. Revan’s pose has great movement to it, which works well with the two lightsabers (my main SWTOR character is a sentinel that carrys two lightsabers, so I always have a soft spot for characters with two sabers).

Darth Revan is now part of the ‘Legacy’ era of expanded universe content, so it’s great to still see the popular character being including in modern merchandise – I really hope we see Revan brought into the new canon era!

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It is always exciting to see Queen Amidala featured in any Star Wars collectible range, so this Queen Amidala mini-bust by Gentle Giant was a must-have. Originally released in 2008, this was part of the short lived ‘Classics’ line of mini busts, which were smaller than the standard/regular Gentle Giant mini busts. Measuring just under 13cm high, the sculpt depicts Queen Amidala in her Red Throne Room Gown, as seen in The Phantom Menace. The bottom of the mini-bust is not numbered, but has a hologram foil sticker that reads ‘Star Wars Classics Queen Amidala Gentle Giant Ltd’.

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In 2010, Gentle Giant Ltd started producing 12″ scale versions of vintage Kenner action figures, based on scaled up 3D scans of the original collectibles. Trandoshan bounty hunter Bossk was released in that line in late 2013. Having grown up with vintage Kenner action figures, I’m a fan of most character representations from that line – some because of the design of the figure, and some because of its quirkiness. With little screen-time to back them up, the bounty hunters of The Empire Strikes Back were an interesting and mysterious gang of mercenaries. The Bossk figure arguably wasn’t quite as menacing as he appeared on screen… some might even interpret the head sculpt of this toy as grinning cheerfully.

When reinterpreted in the larger scale by Gentle Giant, Bossk had his face scales sharpened slightly. This change wasn’t unanimously welcomed by fans, who generally want these dolls recreated without any modernisation or enhancement – he’s still a happy little lizard who’s limited release sold out, and who I am happy to have on display.

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In 2013, Gentle Giant released this Darth Malak statue as a ‘PBM Express’ exclusive, with limited stock available for Premier Guild members. As a huge fan of the video game Knights Of The Old Republic, I am always excited to add KOTOR related items to our collection. This Darth Malak statue is a ‘mini scale’ statue, standing 7″ tall. Darth Malak is sculpted in an action pose, with a removable cybernetic jaw. The statue is a limited edition item – ours is #69/900.

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