Han Solo (Hoth Outfit). A truly essential figure for any young boy in 1980 who had seen 'The Empire Strikes Back'! It was one of the first wave of ten figures released for that film by Kenner, and it was a great one.... The colour they gave Han's jacket... not so much :lol:. For an entire generation of fans, Kenner's incorrect colour choice for Han Hoth's jacket had us all convinced for decades that Harrison Ford wore blue in that film, when he did nothing of the sort! Han Hoth's jacket is, was and always will be brown, not blue... but try convincing die-hard 'blue-ists' of that! :lol:
Kenner's colour blindness aside, this really is a great figure. He looks like Han, you can shove him in a tauntaun, he comes with the right gun... what more could a child want? :-D Well, if I'm nitpicking, the ability to hold his weapon would be nice if you're talking about my childhood one, as his grip could barely manage it! A fact I guess Kenner became aware of, as later (I assume they were later at any rate) sculpts had the thumb modified by lengthening it so as to remedy that particular shortcoming.
This figure holds a special place in my affection. Growing up, my family was not very well off, and so for a Star Wars mad young boy like me back in 1980, Christmases and birthdays were a very big deal! They were a golden opportunity to rapidly expand one's collection and gain a bit of cash in readiness to hand it over to George Lucas. My uncle was a self-made man and (compared to us at least), much better off, and his presents to us were always great :-D. However, in an uncharacteristically unmercenary act on my part, when he asked me what I wanted for Christmas in 1980, I only asked for one thing; Han Hoth! I hadn't managed to track him down in the shops at a time which coincided with me having the funds to buy one, and so I asked my uncle to get me one. Bear in mind that at the time new figures were of the order of £1.25 - £1.50 each, and my uncle was used to spending more than that on my brothers and me, but that's all I requested that year. And so when Christmas arrived, a brand new shiny Palitoy Han Hoth duly became mine! However, even though that's all I'd asked for, my excellent uncle decided to add a box of Maltesers and a cheque for £7.50 to my stocking as well! Bonus! :-D :-D :-D
Sadly, I stupidly parted with my childhood figures when I was still a child, but I never forgot my original Han Hoth, and even though I didn't keep my cardbacks either (my mother would never have tolerated me keeping 'rubbish' the toy came in), when I started collecting again in the 90's, it was high on my wants list. And a few years later when funds allowed, I also targeted a 30-back, which I'm pretty sure is what my uncle bought me.
Anyway, here are my 9 loose Han Hoths. Hopefully Andy (Spoons) will soon put this little lot to shame :-D, however in the meantime, there are lots of different variants to be had with this figure. There are different sculpts (including the aforementioned thumb, and also belt buckle and neck scarf), obviously different leg colours, including a chocolate legs Poch (not to be confused - as many an eBay auction does - with the more common dark legs variants), a tan-moulded legs variant, and other shades. He comes with a rainbow of different face paint shades, and there is also the famous PBP 'purple' jacket version (which isn't really purple at all, but it is a clearly different shade of blue to the others). And lastly, there's also that 30-back.