The Lando System Revisited.
(Vintage Lobot, Vintage Bespin Security Guards, Vintage Lando Calrissian)
“Lando’s not a sytem (baby), he’s a man.”
This is a quick re-boot of an older shot that never quite tripped my trigger. This one’s an improvement but still not quite the elusive champ I’m after. For Cloud City action figures, ‘At the Gates of Bespin‘ (the one with the duo of Twin-Pod Cloud Cars) is still my runaway favorite.
At the Gates of Bespin. (Vintage Bespin Security Guards, Vintage Cloud Car Pilots,
Vintage Twin-Pod Cloud Cars)
Bespin State of Mind. (Vintage Bespin Guards, Vintage Twin-Pod Cloud Car)
The Bespin Guards were the original Star Wars trilogy’s first uniformed crew that left something to be desired. Think about it. Stormtroopers, Jawas, Sandpeople, Death Star personnel (Commanders, TIE fighter pilots, Gunners — the whole bit), Rebel pilots, Rebel Soldiers, Snowtroopers … these characters all had such eye-peeling, imagination-infused costumes. And thanks to those costumes we were utterly convinced that Star Wars was of a reality not at all connected to our own.
Then, in walked the Bespin Guards with relatively sedate blue suits and funny bucket hats. It was almost as if someone said, “Shoot, I’m tired of all these badass never-seen-it-before get ups. Let’s just make this crew look like ticket takers at a Knicks game.” Am I wrong?
All that said, the Bespin Guards actually made for great action figures. Nice sculpt, interesting paint variations, and remarkably sold in both Caucasian and African-American skin tones.
Pilots. (Vintage Han Solo, Vintage Bespin Security Guards, Vintage General Lando Calrissian)
Well what do we have we here? Looks like Lando Calrissian in shades of pink and lavender!
Say what you will about the color palate. When Kenner released the excellent General Lando Calrissian action figure in 1985, all crimes related to 1980’s not-altogether-awesome Lando action figure were instantly forgiven.