In a seedy bar in Mos Eisley, Obi-Wan Kenobi is looking for a way off Tatooine to get himself and his new protégé, Luke Skywalker, to Alderaan to help Princess Leia Organa fight the Empire's tyranny. He enlists the help of Chewbacca, first mate of the Millennium Falcon, the ship that made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs (don't talk to me about what a parsec is). But before Han, the captain of the Falcon, can leave to ready his ship to fly these fugitives to Alderaan, he is confronted by a bounty hunter named Greedo who is only too happy to bring Han's charred and newly perforated body back to Jabba the Hutt for a hefty reward. But Han will have none of this and shoots a nice clean hole through Greedo. Yes, folks, revisionist history be darned. Han Solo shot first.

And the weapon he shot Greedo with, his famous blaster pistol, is now available as a fine replica from Master Replicas.

Master Replicas has been busy. It's been doing some amazing things with several prominent entertainment licenses, not the least of which is Star Wars. With its excellent Force FX Lightsaber replicas it's given would-be Jedi Knights and would-be Sith Darths excellent toy weapons to play with and collect.

Its Scale Replica line has been fine indeed, issuing forth many smaller-scaled lightsabers made from first-class materials. Now comes Han Solo's blaster. It can be purchased in two versions. Both are accurate 1:3 scale replicas made of metal and injection-molded plastic parts. One is colored accurately, including the brown handle and aluminum-colored barrel flare.

This one, however, is the San Diego Comic Con Convention Exclusive model. Packed in a sealed plastic bubble package, the blaster is a black-chrome replica whose finish looks incredibly like hematite. Inside this bubble-pack and surrounding the blaster is a nice plastic collector's case and stand on which sits the fine replica. The Convention Exclusive was limited to 3,000 copies and comes with a small certificate of authenticity.

A San Diego Comic Con exclusive

No one can say that when George Lucas was in the preproduction stages of his destined-to-be-a-megahit film, his designers didn't make do with what was at hand. Several weapons seen in the film were previously seen during World War II, and with very few drastic alterations.

Han Solo's pistol is a slightly altered Mauser C96 "broomhandle," ao named because of its rather unusual broom-handle-like pistol grip, which took no pains to conform itself to the shape of the human hand, as most pistols manage to do.

Add to this standard Mauser a pistol scope, some odd bits and pieces on the magazine chamber and a lathed and milled nozzle to jam over the sight bead of the barrel, and you have yourself Han Solo's blaster.

And Master Replica has taken great pains to reproduce each of these features in fine 1:3 scale detail on this replica. From the screwheads, to the bolts holding the scope, to the trigger and firing hammer, this piece is highly detailed. It is also made from many pieces, so the seam of the magazine is there and looks as if it will come out, even if it doesn't. The handle's etched lines are all there, and the hammer looks just as if it would pull back, but doesn't. In short, the thing has what appears to be several moving parts, but in fact has none. I guess that only serves to make it a more accurate replica, if less play-featured.

But it is not intended as a toy. This weapon comes with a very nice plastic display stand, which has the film's logo and details about it printed in gold lettering on the base. Two clear plastic arms reach up and carefully hold the gun over the stand. This stand, in turn, fits onto a larger base with a rectangular plastic cover that goes over the whole thing.

Quite a nice display item.

And even though some of the parts are molded from plastic, you can't tell visually. The black chrome finish is quite consistent on both metal and plastic materials.

From my examination, the two handgrip pieces on the handle are plastic, as is the scope and part of the hammer. The scope has a red targeting reticule on the near lens for a nice detail.