For the most part, the release of Hasbro's The Force Awakens line of merchandise saw the end of the super-articulated 3 3/4" figure. The one exception to this has been the limited run of Black Series 3 3/4" Walmart exclusives. Only thirteen have been released so far - eight of which are from The Force Awakens. The remaining five are repacks and repaints of earlier figures, which might explain why they're proving hard to move in many US stores. For me, however, they presented the perfect chance to pick up a couple of characters I'd previously missed out on - Han Solo in his Endor trenchcoat, and Luke Skywalker in his Jedi garb.
Both figures feature the whopping fifteen points of articulation we used to take for granted in the 3 3/4" line. There's no corner cutting on the accessories, either - both figures coming with weapons, a soft goods cloak or jacket, and a removable belt. Han is armed with his trusty DL-44 blaster (mounted in a working holster), while Luke comes with both an ignited an unignited lightsaber hilt, as well as the lightsaber construction tool seen in the blu-ray deleted scenes for Return of the Jedi.
While there might be some minor gripes (Han's 'floating' belt is prone to fall to his ankles if not handled carefully, and Luke hasn't been packed with his correct armless Jedi cloak), the two figures look exceptionally good once posed. At only $10.80US ($14.80NZ) each, these figures come in at less than what the standard five-point-of-articulation figures sell for here in New Zealand - giving us a bittersweet reminder of just how good we had it only a short while ago...
