Chewbacca (40th ANH) — Star Wars The Black Series 40th Anniversary

Overview

Chewbacca at #05 in the 40th Anniversary lineup is the Black Series tribute release of Han Solo’s Wookiee co-pilot — Peter Mayhew’s Chewie captured at the original-trilogy era for the line that celebrated A New Hope turning 40. Released individually carded in May 2017 in Kenner vintage-inspired packaging that replicated the original 1977 cardback art design. Mainline non-exclusive at $19.99. 17-joint articulation. Four accessories: a 3-piece bowcaster (body, scope, front piece) and a removable bandolier with attached satchel. The figure is structurally a re-release of the Fall 2014 Black Series Chewbacca (figure id=2317), shipped at standard retail in the new commemorative packaging roughly two and a half years later. The figure stands about 1½ to 2 heads taller than a basic 6-inch Star Wars figure — appropriately scaled to capture Chewie’s screen-accurate Wookiee height.

The 40th Anniversary Line Position

The 2017 40th Anniversary line was Hasbro’s commemorative release celebrating the May 1977 theatrical release of A New Hope. The 12-figure run on Kenner vintage-inspired cardback was the first time Hasbro committed to vintage-style packaging at the 6-inch Black Series scale, treating the line’s collector-adult audience to deliberately nostalgic presentation. The cardback design replicates the “Collect All 12 Star Wars Action Figures!” branding from the original 1977 Kenner cards.

For collectors who grew up with the Kenner original Wookiee, the figure’s combination of vintage-style packaging and the re-released 2014 sculpt creates a deliberate dual-era reference — the 2014-era Chewbacca tooling presented in 1977-style commemorative wrapping. The figure inside is functionally the same as the Fall 2014 single-boxed release; the cardback and the line’s commemorative positioning are the primary value proposition.

The 2014 Re-Release

The Chewbacca sculpt is the same one Hasbro released in Fall 2014 as the Black Series Chewbacca (figure id=2317), the first dedicated 6-inch Wookiee in the line. The 40th Anniversary release is a straight re-issue with potentially different production-run paint variation. Detailed reviewers have specifically flagged how to differentiate the two releases by examining the date stamp on the back of the thighs — the 2014 production carries the original date stamp; the 2017 re-release carries the updated stamp.

For Wookiee collectors, the question is whether the packaging variation alone justifies a duplicate purchase. For collectors building the complete 12-figure 40th Anniversary set, this Chewbacca is essential despite duplicating the 2014 sculpt. For collectors evaluating per-figure value across both packaging variants, the answer is more uncertain — the figures inside are functionally identical with only minor production-run paint variation between them.

The Wookiee Height Engineering

The figure stands about 1½ to 2 heads taller than a basic 6-inch Star Wars figure — appropriate to the screen-accurate Wookiee proportions. Chewbacca is canonically depicted as substantially taller than the human-scale characters around him; the figure scales up to capture this visual reading rather than fitting to the standard 6-inch baseline that would have undersized the character.

For collectors building Han-and-Chewie scenes, the height differential between the two figures captures the source material’s character-pairing visual reading correctly. This is the same scaled-up engineering approach that affects the Black Series Wookiee characters generally — Zaalbar at the GG-04 Gaming Greats position later applies the same 7-inch scale-up, consistent with how Hasbro tools Wookiees across the broader Black Series line.

The Limited Neck Articulation

A specific articulation negative worth flagging: even though the neck is ball-jointed, it can barely be moved. The neck joint provides limited functional range despite the engineering tooling — the head pose is essentially fixed in its default configuration with minimal adjustment available. For collectors who want to pose Chewie with specific head angles (looking up at Han, looking down at smaller characters, looking sideways during the Cantina scene), the limited neck articulation is structurally restrictive.

The fixed-position head is the figure’s primary articulation compromise. The remaining joint count supports broader body posing flexibility, but the head’s fixed configuration means most display poses present Chewie looking forward at standard angle. For dynamic combat or conversation displays, this is a meaningful limitation.

The Three-Piece Bowcaster

Hasbro included a 3-piece bowcaster: the body, the scope, and the front piece. The weapon disassembles into its three components for storage and reassembles for combat-pose display. Chewie can hold the weapon well in the right hand, supporting screen-accurate Wookiee combat configurations.

A specific assembly negative: the bowcaster’s front piece comes off every time the figure is repositioned. The mounting connection between the bowcaster body and the front piece isn’t tight enough to survive routine handling — every time you reposition the figure, the front component dislodges and needs to be reattached. For collectors photographing the figure or moving it between display positions, this is a recurring frustration. The workaround is the standard one: a small dab of removable adhesive (museum putty) on the connection point holds the front piece in place during display.

For collectors evaluating the bowcaster engineering, the 3-piece configuration is structurally appropriate to the screen-accurate weapon design — the original-trilogy bowcaster does have separable components reflected in the source material. The execution falls short of the design intent through the loose front-piece connection.

The Removable Bandolier

The bandolier with attached satchel is its own piece and can easily be taken off the figure. Standard removable equipment design — the bandolier sits across Chewie’s torso and can be detached for the no-bandolier configuration if collectors want a pre-equipment baseline display. The satchel is permanently attached to the bandolier, so the two components ship as a single removable unit.

For collectors who want costume kitbashing flexibility, the removable bandolier is meaningful — most Phase 3 figures ship with permanently bonded equipment. Chewbacca’s removable design supports the alternative no-equipment configuration without requiring custom modification.

The Multi-Shade Brown Paint

Hasbro painted the figure well with lots of different shades of brown on the fur. The Wookiee fur sculpt carries multiple paint shades across the body — darker browns on the underside, lighter tones on the highlight areas, various intermediate shades across the body panels. The result is meaningfully more visually complex than a single-tone fur application would have been.

For collectors comparing Chewbacca against the broader Phase 3 paint baseline, the multi-shade brown approach is one of the better fur applications across the line. Most Phase 3 figures suffer from undershot paint commitment; the Chewbacca paint application bucks this pattern with deliberate shade variation that captures the Wookiee fur’s screen-accurate visual depth.

Articulation

17 joints. Ball-jointed neck (limited movement, as covered above), ball-jointed shoulders, ball-jointed elbows, ball-jointed wrists, swivel upper torso, ball-jointed waist, swivel hips, swivel thighs, ball-jointed knees, ball-jointed ankles. The standard Phase 3 baseline articulation count adapted for Wookiee proportions. We encountered no balancing issues while taking pictures of the figure — Chewie stands reliably across multiple combat-pose configurations despite the taller-than-baseline scale and the fur sculpt’s silhouette weight distribution.

For collectors evaluating articulation across the Wookiee figure category, 17 joints with the limited neck movement sits at the lean end. The figure handles standard combat-and-conversation poses adequately but doesn’t support the more dynamic configurations that better-articulated Phase 4 Wookiee figures (Zaalbar at #GG 04) eventually deliver.

The Wookiee Species Position

Chewbacca is the first dedicated 6-inch Wookiee in the Black Series line — the 2014 source release established the species at the scale, and subsequent Wookiee figures (Zaalbar at #GG 04, the various Vintage Collection Wookiees that followed) build on the body-engineering baseline that this sculpt established. For Wookiee species roster collectors, the 40th Anniversary Chewbacca sits as either the original baseline Wookiee figure (for collectors who own only this version) or as the commemorative-packaging variant of the 2014 source figure (for collectors who own both releases).

The broader Hasbro Chewbacca catalogue is substantial. Other notable Chewie figures across the company’s lines include the 2008 Sandstorm Expanded Universe release (figure id=36), the Snoova bounty hunter disguise from Shadows of the Empire (figure id=190), the Empire Strikes Back Legacy Collection version (figure id=245), the Co-Pilot variant (figure id=338), the McQuarrie Concept Series (figure id=433), and the Hoth-era Power of the Force 2 release (figure id=495). The 40th Anniversary version joins this multi-decade catalogue as the 6-inch Black Series ANH-era flagship release.

Distribution and Mural Position

Standard mainline 40th Anniversary release at $19.99 through wide retail channels — Target, Walmart, Toys R Us (still operating in May 2017), Amazon, hobby shops. The mainline distribution and the standard pricing make this historically the most accessible Black Series Chewbacca at the 6-inch scale. Aftermarket pricing on the secondary market has remained reasonable due to the broad initial availability.

Chewbacca sits at the fifth position in the 40th Anniversary 12-figure mural display. For loose display, the figure works best alongside the other 40th Anniversary releases (Luke at #01, Vader at #02, Leia at #03, Han at #04, C-3PO at #06, R2-D2 at #07, Obi-Wan at #08) for the A New Hope ensemble configuration. The figure pairs specifically with Han Solo at #04 for the smuggler-and-Wookiee duo display that anchors so much of the original trilogy’s narrative.

Secondary Market

Single-carded mainline release on Kenner vintage cardback, May 2017. Available at MSRP through standard retail and the secondary market with broad availability. Verify the bowcaster’s three components (body, scope, front piece) and the bandolier with satchel are all included. The bowcaster front piece is the small component most likely to be lost during transit due to its loose mounting design. No production variants documented beyond minor paint variation vs the 2014 source release.

Verdict

Chewbacca at #05 in the 2017 40th Anniversary line is a competent re-release of the 2014 source figure with the commemorative Kenner cardback as the primary value proposition. The multi-shade brown paint application captures the Wookiee fur’s screen-accurate visual depth, the bandolier’s removable design supports costume kitbashing flexibility, the 1½-to-2-heads-taller scale reads correctly against human-scale figures, and the figure stands reliably on display.

The bowcaster’s loose front-piece connection is the figure’s most defensible engineering negative — every reposition requires reattachment. The limited neck articulation restricts head-pose flexibility despite the ball-joint tooling. The duplicate body sculpt vs the 2014 source means collectors with prior Chewie figures are buying repeat tooling.

Buy this figure if you collect the 40th Anniversary line as a complete set, if you appreciate the Kenner vintage cardback packaging, if you missed the 2014 Black Series Chewbacca at original release, or if you want the figure to pair with the 40th Anniversary Han Solo at #04 for the smuggler-Wookiee duo. Skip if you already own the 2014 source figure and the packaging variation alone doesn’t justify the duplicate purchase.

The 2014 Wookiee in 1977 cardback wrapping. The figure with the multi-shade fur paint and the loose-bowcaster front piece. The Chewbacca that pairs with Han at #04 for the 40th Anniversary smuggler duo. Mainline distribution, May 2017.

---

Part of Star Wars The Black Series | Phase 3 40th Anniversary Collection. Related: Han Solo (40th ANH) P3-40A-04 | Luke Skywalker (40th ANH) P3-40A-01 | C-3PO (40th ANH) P3-40A-06.