LUKE SKYWALKER – SNOWSPEEDER

STAR WARS: TRANSFORMERS

Sometimes, two things can be combined to make one single, super awesome. Take for instance chocolate and peanut butter. Great on their own, but put those two together and you’ve got yourself a winner. Over the years, a similar theory has been applied to all sorts of action figures and toys. Nine times out of ten, it’s Transformers + something else. In the mid-00s, Hasbro realized that the held the rights to both Transformers and Star Wars, and that no one had ever put those two properties together, so they did just that. Some of the more recognizable characters from the franchise were made into the alt-modes of their corresponding vehicles, and Hasbro even came up with an in-universe backstory for why the vehicles turned into robotic versions of their pilots. As a central character in the movies, Luke Skywalker got a couple of different figures, and I’ll be looking at one of those today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke was released as part of the sixth series of Hasbro’s Star Wars: Transformers line (the same figure saw a re-release in a later series as well, but there were a few cosmetic changes and less accesories). He’s the second Luke in the line. In his humanoid form the figure stands just shy of 7 inches tall and has 19 points of actual articulation (with a bunch more joints to facilitate the whole transformation thing). Luke is based on his basic pilot’s gear look, which makes for a slightly easier conversion to the Transformer aesthetic. He’s been made quite a bit more robotic and angular, and his look has been slightly tweaked to allow for the more mechanical parts of the ship he transforms into. The quality of the sculpt is okay, if a bit rudimentary. The head is definitely the best work. Though the transforming feature was a main selling point here, the robot mode definitely feels mostly extraneous, as he’s got a fair bit of excess stuff from his alt look. The first Luke’s alt-mode was his definitive X-Wing fighter. This one mixes things up, offering up a snowspeeder. The snowspeeder definitely got the focus here, resulting in a fairly faithful recreation of the ship from the movie. The transforming feature is a little difficult, but not terribly so. Paint is minimal on this set, but what’s there works and looks pretty decent. Once again, the speeder gets most of the focus, and ends up looking pretty cool. Luke was packed with a little 1 inch tall Luke figure, which is pretty neat. He also has a pair of blasters (which serve as the cannons in vehicle mode), as well as a lightsabre, though mine did not have that piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Star Wars: Transformers were something I never really got into when they were new. However, Gidget’s Gadgets, a small toy store near where my family vacations over the holidays, had a rather large selection of these guys when I was there in December. I was in a particularly Star Wars-y mood at the time, so I decided I might want to have one. Since they didn’t have an X-Wing, I went with the next best thing. It’s definitely a goofy figure, but I’m glad I got it. It’s a lot of fun!