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

Overview

Chewbacca at the ESB 40th Anniversary lineup is the Black Series tribute release of Han Solo’s Wookiee co-pilot at the Empire Strikes Back era — Peter Mayhew’s Chewie at the Hoth-and-Bespin configurations that anchor the second film of the original trilogy. Released September/October 2020 single-carded in Hasbro’s 40th The Empire Strikes Back Collection on Kenner-style commemorative packaging. Mainline non-exclusive at $19.99. 16-joint articulation — leaner count than the comparable 17-joint 2017 Chewbacca at #P3-40A-05. Two accessories: a bowcaster (assemblable into the scope, body, and front limb components) and a bandolier with attached satchel. The figure is a re-release of the 2019 Black Series Chewbacca (figure id=23641) — but with fewer accessories than the 2019 source release.

The 2019 Re-Release with Reduced Loadout

The Chewbacca sculpt is the same body engineering Hasbro released in 2019 as a Black Series single-boxed Chewie release. The 2020 ESB 40th version uses the same body sculpt, same paint application — but with a reduced accessory loadout compared to the 2019 source. The 2019 release shipped with additional components beyond the bowcaster and bandolier; the 2020 commemorative version drops those extras while keeping the core character configuration intact.

For collectors comparing the two releases, the question is whether the commemorative packaging compensates for the reduced accessory loadout. For collectors building the complete ESB 40th Anniversary commemorative set, this Chewbacca is essential despite shipping with fewer accessories than the 2019 source. For collectors evaluating per-figure value, the 2019 source release is the better proposition on accessory-per-dollar terms — the 2020 ESB 40th version trades accessory count for commemorative packaging.

This is structurally meaningful within the ESB 40th line. Most 40th Anniversary releases either match or expand the source release’s accessory loadout; the Chewbacca specifically reduces the loadout, which is unusual within the line’s overall pattern.

The Wookiee Height Engineering

The figure has the correct height and stands about 1½ to 2 heads taller than a regular Black Series 6-inch figure — appropriate to the screen-accurate Wookiee proportions. Same scale-up engineering approach that affects the Black Series Wookiee characters generally — Chewbacca scales up to capture the canonical Wookiee height differential vs human-scale characters rather than fitting to the standard 6-inch baseline.

For collectors building Han-and-Chewie scenes from the Empire Strikes Back, the height differential captures the source material’s character-pairing visual reading correctly. The figure pairs specifically with Han Solo (Bespin) at #P4-40A-HB3 for the Cloud City escape sequence display configuration.

The Bowcaster Three-Piece Assembly

Chewie came with a bowcaster which fits well into the right hand. The weapon disassembles into three components — the scope, the body, and the front limb — supporting both the assembled combat-display configuration and the disassembled storage state. Same three-piece bowcaster engineering as the 2017 Chewbacca at #P3-40A-05, though the specific component design varies between the two body sculpts.

For collectors who want screen-accurate weapon configuration, the assembled bowcaster captures Chewie’s iconic combat sidearm correctly. The hand-grip integration supports reliable weapon mounting in the right hand without the front-component drift issues that affected the 2017 Chewbacca’s bowcaster engineering.

The Removable Bandolier

The bandolier with attached satchel is easily removable. Standard removable equipment design — the bandolier sits across Chewie’s torso and can be detached cleanly 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 easily-removable bandolier supports both the with-equipment (canonical) and without-equipment (alternative) configurations cleanly. This is a meaningful improvement over the 2017 Chewbacca’s bandolier engineering, which detailed reviewers noted was technically removable but practically more difficult.

The Limited Head Articulation

Like with most Chewbacca figures, it’s tough to move the head because of the long plastic fur on the front and back. The neck articulation provides limited functional range — the long fur sculpt physically blocks the head’s range of motion, restricting display poses to mostly forward-facing configurations.

For collectors who want to pose Chewie with specific head angles (looking up at Han, looking down at smaller characters, looking sideways during conversation scenes), the limited head articulation is structurally restrictive. The fixed-position head is the figure’s primary articulation compromise; this is a recurring issue across the broader Black Series Chewbacca catalogue rather than a per-figure-release engineering problem.

The Sculpt and Paint

The paint application on the head and fur looks good. The Wookiee fur sculpt carries appropriate paint commitment across the body — multi-shade brown application across the fur panels with sharper definition on the head sculpt’s facial features. For collectors comparing the figure against the 2017 Chewbacca’s paint configuration, the 2019-source body sculpt brings updated paint engineering that captures the screen-accurate fur visual reading more cleanly.

Chewie keeps his balance nicely — appropriate Wookiee-scale standing-stability engineering despite the height differential and the fur sculpt’s silhouette weight distribution.

Articulation

16 joints. Ball-jointed neck (with the long-fur movement limitation noted above), ball-jointed shoulders, ball-jointed elbows, ball-jointed wrists, ball-jointed upper body, ball-jointed hips, ball-jointed knees, ball-jointed ankles. Lean joint count for the line — slightly lower than the 17-joint 2017 Chewbacca at #P3-40A-05. The simplified knee configuration (single ball-joint rather than dual-axis swivel) means less dynamic-pose flexibility than the higher-articulated 40th Anniversary releases.

For collectors evaluating articulation across the Wookiee figure category, 16 joints is the lean end of the Phase 3-era baseline. The figure handles standard combat-and-conversation poses adequately but doesn’t support the more dynamic configurations that better-articulated figures (like the 23-joint Stormtrooper at #P4-40A-ST2) deliver.

Distribution and Mural Position

Standard mainline ESB 40th Anniversary release at $19.99 through wide retail channels — Target, Walmart, Amazon, hobby shops. The mainline distribution and the standard pricing make this Chewbacca historically the most accessible Black Series Chewie at the ESB-era configuration. Aftermarket pricing on the secondary market has remained reasonable due to broad initial availability.

Chewbacca sits in the broader ESB 40th Anniversary lineup as one of the line’s headline character releases — joining the broader ESB-era ensemble (Han Solo Bespin at #P4-40A-HB3, Luke Skywalker Bespin at #P4-40A-LB3, Princess Leia Hoth at #P4-40A-LH3, Boba Fett ESB at #P4-40A-BF3) for the complete Empire Strikes Back commemorative configuration. The figure pairs specifically with Han Solo (Bespin) for the smuggler-and-Wookiee duo display at the Cloud City era, and with the Hoth-era Han Solo configurations for the Echo Base and Wampa cave sequences.

Other Chewbacca Figures

Chewbacca has been a consistent Hasbro release subject across multiple lines. Other notable releases 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 ESB 40th Anniversary release joins this multi-decade catalogue as the dedicated Phase 4-era Black Series ESB-era flagship version.

Secondary Market

Single-carded mainline release on Kenner-style commemorative cardback, September/October 2020. Available at MSRP through standard retail and the secondary market with broad availability. Verify the bowcaster’s three components (scope, body, front limb) and the bandolier with satchel are all included. The bowcaster’s small components are the most easily lost during transit. No production variants documented beyond minor paint variation vs the 2019 source release.

Verdict

Chewbacca at the 2020 ESB 40th Anniversary line is a competent re-release of the 2019 source figure with the commemorative Kenner-style cardback as the primary value proposition. The screen-accurate Wookiee height engineering captures the canonical character-scale relationship correctly, the three-piece bowcaster supports both assembled combat and disassembled storage display configurations, the easily-removable bandolier provides clean costume-modification flexibility, and the figure stands reliably without balance issues.

The reduced accessory loadout vs the 2019 source release is the figure’s most defensible structural negative — collectors get fewer components than the original release for similar pricing. The 16-joint articulation count is leaner than the higher-articulated 40th Anniversary releases and undershoots the dual-axis knee engineering that would support more dynamic combat-pose flexibility. The long-fur head articulation limitation restricts pose-variation options.

Buy this figure if you collect the ESB 40th Anniversary line as a complete set, if you build Empire Strikes Back-era Han-and-Chewie displays, if you appreciate the Kenner-style commemorative cardback packaging, or if you missed the 2019 Black Series Chewbacca at original release. The mainline pricing and the screen-accurate Wookiee proportions make this an accessible building-block figure for ESB-era diorama configurations.

The ESB-era Wookiee with the three-piece bowcaster and the easily-removable bandolier. The figure with fewer accessories than the 2019 source. The Chewbacca that pairs with Han Solo Bespin for the Cloud City escape ensemble. Mainline distribution, September/October 2020.

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Part of Star Wars The Black Series | Phase 4 40th Anniversary Collection. Related: Han Solo (Bespin) P4-40A-HB3 | Boba Fett (ESB) P4-40A-BF3 | Chewbacca (40th ANH) P3-40A-05.