Tag Archives: Luke Skywalker

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0067: Luke Skywalker – Ceremonial Outfit

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , ,

LUKE SKYWALKER — CEREMONIAL OUTFIT

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

It’s Friday!  Welcome to Friday!  We made it Friday!  I mean, I hope.  I’m writing this on Sunday, and really just hoping for the best here, because boy has it sure been touch and go, huh?  But let’s not think about that.  Let’s think about the past, specifically mine, as we flashback for another figure addendum, with a return to Luke!

“In the main throne room of a Massassi temple, Luke Skywalker receives an honorary medal for his part in the destruction of the Imperial Death Star.”

There’s a lot of potential Luke Skywalker variants out there. He got one distinct design for each movie, plus his pilot gear, and at least one other major look for each film. For A New Hope, he actually has four distinct looks. My personal favorite is one that doesn’t actually appear for all that long; it’s the snazzy dress outfit he wears during the film’s final scene, set during an award ceremony. It’s had less figures than other looks, but as a variant of Luke Skywalker, it’s still had its fair share.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke Skywalker in his Ceremonial Outfit was released as part of the 1997 assortment of Star Wars: Power of the Force II. He was the seventh of the eleven Lukes in the line, and the second-to-last unique outfit, prior to the line switching over to variations of Farmboy Luke. It was actually one of two Ceremonial Lukes released in 1997, the other being part of the Princess Leia Collection. It was a good year for a look that hadn’t yet seen an action figure release. The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation. This Luke marked the debut of Kenner’s second POTF2 Luke head sculpt. As noted in the past, it’s not really much closer than the first attempt at a Hamill likeness, but I do tend to prefer this one. The rest of the sculpt is unique to this particular figure. As far as this line goes, it was pretty solid. Sharp detailing, reasonable proportions, and a fairly neutral stance, all of which add up to an above average figure from this particular line. The paintwork on Luke is pretty standard stuff, which is to say the colors are a good match for the film and the application is all sharp. There’s no slop to speak of, and everything stays within its appropriate lines. Luke was packed with a blaster pistol and his medal from the ceremony, which are both missing from my figure, sadly.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This was a fairly early Luke in my collection, and is probably one of the Power of the Force figures I purchased closest to his initial release. I got him from KB Toys, during a trip to the mall with my Grandmother. He was purchased alongside a whole bunch of others, but the others were all meant to stay at her house, with this guy being the one who would be going home with me. He’s remained a favorite of mine, and served as my go-to Luke for a good chunk of time. 

In 2017, I got pretty serious about making Power of the Force reviews a regular feature every other Saturday, and by March of 2018, when this review was originally published, I’d kept it going for quite a while.  I pretty much managed to keep it that way until March of 2020, when, you know, everything fell apart.  This was before my big dive back into the line, mind you, so I thought I was actually getting close to wrapping things up.  Quaint.  My actual review feels pretty basic, but not bad.  Missing at the time were his two accessories, which are now his once more.  Check out that medal and blaster action!

#4019: Luke Skywalker in Endor Gear

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

LUKE SKYWALKER in ENDOR GEAR

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“The Star Wars Mint is officially re-instituted with this limited edition series! New gold-colored coins feature character images from the classic silver-colored coin release-all with brand new reverse-side stampings specially designed for this exclusive commemorative offering.”

If you haven’t gathered by this point, there’s a running theme with the Power of the Force reviews that at a certain point, Kenner was so desperate to have more product to sell in the ‘90s that they were literally come up with just about every excuse to throw a figure in the box with something.  The height of it’s definitely the computer game, but they also revisited some old favorites from the original line, namely coins.  Yes, it’s like printing money…you know, expect it’s not actually legal tender in any sense of the word.  But coins!  Like before!  Also, it provided a fantastic excuse to once more release several of the heavy hitters, which was always a great idea.  So, here’s Luke Skywalker, yet again!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke Skywalker in Endor Gear was part of the “Millennium Minted Coins” sub-line of Star Wars: Power of the Force II, a Toys “R” Us exclusive set of deluxe release figures, which were all dropped in 1998.  Luke was seen here, as noted by the name, in his Endor Gear from Return of the Jedi, a look that had been released alongside the Speeder Bike the year prior, but hadn’t gotten a “single” release.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Structurally, there’s undoubtedly similarities between the two releases of this look, but there’s not quite as much parts re-use as you might expect.  It’s ultimately just the head and poncho, which is honestly not a terrible set-up.  The poncho’s made of a stiffer material this time around, so it’s detailing is a little sharper, and it holds its shape a little better.  The underlying body is new, and it’s not bad.  A little pre-posed, but not to a crazy degree, and it properly gets his sans-vest look.  It’s honestly a little surprising that Kenner never threw a non-helmeted head on this body for a more standard final duel Luke, but I suppose the line has kind of hitting critical mass here.  The paint work is notably quite refined for this release.  Kenner put the extra price on these figures into the paint, and that’s especially notable on Luke’s poncho, which has a lot more variation than the vehicle pack-in, and is generally closer to the pattern seen in the movie.  Luke gets a version of his green lightsaber, as well as the coin that was the selling point of this whole thing, along with a pretty cool stand for both Luke and the Coin.  The coin itself if a replica of the original Luke in Endor Gear coin, but now gold, and with a generic backing, rather than the one with writing on it.  It’s honestly a pretty cool piece, and I appreciate the included stand, so that I don’t just have to sort of prop it up somewhere awkwardly.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t much of a Toy “R” Us kid in the ‘90s, and I certainly wasn’t looking for slight variations of figures I already had to get an extra piece I wouldn’t have cared about as a kid, so I didn’t have any of these as a kid.  Luke here was actually the first of them I tracked down, by a good margin.  I got him several years ago, when pulling items from a larger Power of the Force collection.  As has become the theme with my more recent PotF reviews, he’s been sealed most of that time, and I finally opened him up in preparation for this review.  I wasn’t expecting much of him, and was mostly just buying him to complete my run, but he’s actually a really nice figure, that genuinely improves on the prior release, and feels like a slight step-up from the main line.  The coin’s also not as silly and pointless as I’d expected, so I kind of dig the whole thing.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0065: Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper Disguise

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , , ,

LUKE SKYWALKER in STORMTROOPER DISGUISE

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Welcome to the end of another week!  Once more it’s Friday, which means it’s time for another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!  Jumping back over to the Star Wars side of things, I’m revisiting Luke Skywalker, of the disguised as a Stormtrooper variety!

 “Disguised as stormtroopers and fighting off a regiment of Imperial troops inside the Death Star, the escaping band of heroes finds refuge in a garbage receptacle. The Rebels realize their problem has changed when the walls begin closing in.”

So, apparently there was this movie released yesterday. Star Wars? Kind of a big deal I guess. While I’m still totally up to date on the actual Last Jedi stuff in my collection, I still have plenty of older figures in the backlog. And, since I looked at the Stormtrooper Disguise Han Solo two weeks ago, why not take a looksie at his companion Luke figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke Skywalker as Stormtrooper was released in the 1996 assortment of Power of the Force II, as that year’s third variant of Luke, and the fifth overall Luke in the line. This was our second Stormtrooper Disguise Luke, following the one released in the original Power of the Force line. He’s about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation. Despite how it may look, the only re-used piece on this guy is the torso, which is the same one used on the Stormtrooper Han. Nevertheless, he’s still the same height as Han and the basic troopers, meaning he’s not actually short for a Stormtrooper. Instead of Han’s more pre-posed look, Luke has a more generic standing pose, which looks decent enough. He still follows the general style of the line, so he’s far more muscle bound than any of the troopers we see on screen. But, like I said with Han, if you’re gonna have the style, I guess it’s best to stick with it. His head is a re-working of the early PotF2 Luke head. It’s not one of the better Hamill likenesses, but it’s not as terrible as some of the early sculpts. Plus, it means he fits with the rest of them, which I suppose is for the best. The paint on Luke is fairly straight forward stuff. It’s pretty clean overall, and matches up with the rest of the line pretty well. Luke was packed with a removable helmet (the same one included with Han) and a standard Stormtrooper blaster. It’s a pretty standard set of extras, but more than one accessory is always nice with a Star Wars figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After getting Han as a mail-away, I was on the look out for this guy. It took him a little while to hit, but I ended up finding him at Another Universe, the comic book store in the local mall. I was pretty excited for him, and he makes for a pretty cool pairing with Han to be sure.

This review went up the day after the release of The Last Jedi.  It would have most certainly been written before I saw the movie, more than likely a week or two in advance.  I had no idea at the time what kind of response we were in for.  Man, what a wonderfully blissful time that was, huh?  As far as the actual review, this one was pretty well on point.  I think he’s generally an okay figure, albeit a rather dated one.  The only thing missing from my original was his blaster rifle, which I’ve since replaced.  Yay, he can shoot people now.  Also, for some reason I didn’t have turnarounds for this guy, so I’m adding those too!

#4003: Luke Skywalker with T-16 Skyhopper Model

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

LUKE SKYWALKER with T-16 SKYHOPPER MODEL

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (HASBRO)

“While tinkering with his model T-16 skyhopper and tending to his uncle’s new droids, Luke unwittingly short circuits R2-D2’s recording system, triggering the holographic appearance of a young Princess Leia. The image implores the help of Obi-Wan Kenobi, but vanishes soon thereafter.”

Luke Skywalker has four notable looks over the course of the original Star Wars film, but by far the most definitive is his “farm boy” look, which, understandably, was the first to get a toy back in 1978.  It was also the first to get an update for the relaunched line in 1995, albeit with a notable pectoral upgrade.  It was never truly absent from Power of the Force, but I suppose there was a slight downtick in its frequency.  Then, in the space of about a year and a half, there were *so* many of them.  Farm boy Lukes as far as the eye could see!  And they all had their own minute difference.  Well, here’s the one that wrapped it all up.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke Skywalker with T-16 Skyhopper was part of the 1999 run of Star Wars: Power of the Force, following the shift to Hasbro’s name being on the packaging.  Like last week’s Leia, he was part of an assortment featuring the CommTech gimmick from the Episode I line, and was meant to run alongside that one.  He was the seventh and final figure in the line based on Luke’s main A New Hope look, and fifth variation on the “new” mold version of it.  Each of those Lukes was based on a specific snippet of the movie, and this one is specifically Luke right after the purchase of the droids, when he discovers the message from Leia while cleaning them up.  Yay, another non-action scene!  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 10 points of articulation.  While it’s the same count as the Flashback Photo Luke, it’s a different configuration.  This one lacks the wrist movement, and only gets swivels on the elbows instead of hinges, but gets proper knee movement, which was very rare in this line.  It’s good for getting him kneeling down, like he does in the scene this figure’s meant to be referencing.  His sculpt is using the “updated” Luke head, with a body that’s all new parts, albeit ones that all look very similar to the other four Lukes from this period of time.  The paint is on par with the other offerings, a little cleaner and a little more involved than some of the other variations on the look, rivaling the Flashback figure.  Once again, I do like the accenting on the boots, and it otherwise does what it needs to.  Luke is packed with the T-16 Skyhopper model mentioned in his name, as well as a small hand tool, and his CommTech stands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like I said in my Leia review, the CommTech figures aren’t as common as other figures in the line.  And, with all the similar looking Lukes, this one has a tendency to fly under the radar.  I saw this one once or twice in the early days of jumping into the line, and just never got around to getting him.  Ultimately, he’s one of those figures I just happened to find mixed in with a larger lot of PotF figures that got traded into work.  He’s…fine?  Like, he does some new, but also feels very same-y.  After the Flashback figure, which was kind of the best of these variations, he feels like he’s sort of treading water, which, I guess, in a way, he kind of was.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3956: Wampa & Luke Skywalker

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

WAMPA & LUKE SKYWALKER

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Sometimes, your sci-fi adventure series needs cool, original monsters, and sometimes, it really just needs a pretty standard issue sort of monster that everyone understands.  The latter is well represented in Star Wars’s Wampas, a race of Yeti/Abominable Snowman types that are a pretty natural fit if you’re confined to an ice planet.  Hey, what’s the antagonistic force here? Oh, yeah, it’s exactly what you’d expect it to be!  Solid.  No notes.  The Wampa’s a good choice for toy coverage, since it’s a good basic design, from a memorable and punchy sort of scene from the movie, and also pairs well with a Luke Skywalker variant, as is the case today! 

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The Wampa and Luke Skywalker were one of the 1998 Creature Sets in Kenner’s Star Wars: Power of the Force II line.  It followed up on the Empire-inspired Luke and Tauntaun set from the prior year, and also paired off with the similarly Empire-inspired Han and Tauntaun set from the same year.

WAMPA

Making his debut in the revived line was the Wampa.  He’d shown up in the vintage line as his own stand-alone creature release, but this one started the trend of packing him with a Luke figure, which would become the standard approach going forward.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has a rather minuscule 3 points of articulation.  There’s the shoulders and the waist, and that’s it.  And even the shoulders are kind of spotty, since the right one is just a cut joint, to allow for removal like at the end of his scene in Empire, and the left has a spring-loaded swiping feature that’s a bit limiting.  So, not a lot of posing is what I’m really getting at here.  The sculpt here is rather big and imposing, but also rather on the soft side in terms of detailing.  Though rather cartoony, the original Kenner figure had some pretty sharp detailing, especially on the fur.  This one, less so.  He’s at least a bit more accurate to the Wampa prop from the movie, or at least what we can see of it.  His paint work does the usual Wampa thing of being inexplicably heavy on the accenting, making him look like he’s got splotches of something brown in his fur.  Not the best look.  The rest of the work is fine, though, so it’s not all bad.

LUKE SKYWALKER

This was the third time Luke showed up in his Hoth gear in this line.  There was the single and the one with the Tauntaun, both of which are his pre-attack look.  This one’s the only post attack one, which makes it a bit more unique, as he was the first of his kind.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation, which may seem normal, but it’s slightly skewed.  See, he doesn’t get waist movement, but he *does* get an articulated face covering, so that it can swivel to look like he’s hanging upside down.  It might be more practical if you actually had something to hang him from, but it’s a cool touch nevertheless.  Otherwise, his sculpt is rather similar to the other two Hoth Lukes, as you might expect.  He’s a little sharper on the detailing, though, and also has the expected changes, with the removal of the goggles, and the addition of the scarring to his face.  In general, I’m a fan of the new set-up.  The paint is again very similar to the others, which makes sense from a consistency standpoint.  He’s packed with his lightsaber, which is the same standard one used multiple times throughout the line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember the Tauntaun set at retail, but this one kind of slipped under my radar as a kid, displaced by the Saga era release.  It wound up being the second to last of the Creature sets I located (I still haven’t actually gotten the last one), pulled out of a much larger collection of Power of the Force figures.  As with so many of these things I’ve been reviewing lately, it’s been sitting unopened for a lengthy amount of time, but I finally did it in preparation for this review.  Hooray for me!  The Wampa’s fine.  He works as a display, but I can’t say he’s thrilling.  The Luke’s actually really nice, and the best of the three Hoth Lukes, so that’s a quiet victory there.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this set for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0040: Luke Skywalker – Dagobah

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , ,

LUKE SKYWALKER — DAGOBAH

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

We are officially taking the Flashback Friday Figure Addendums back to Star Wars!  Oh yeah!  Let’s jump back to some of the earliest Star Wars coverage here on the site, and indeed the very earliest Star Wars in my entire collection, with Dagobah Luke!

So, today’s review is actually pretty nifty. I’ve looked at the most recent round of Star Wars toys with The Black Series, and I’ve also taken a look at one of the vintage figures from the original line, but I’ve never really looked at any of the figures released in between.

Star Wars is looked at as one of the permanent fixtures of the action figure aisle nowadays, but that wasn’t always the case. Following Return of the Jedi, the line shifted to Power of the Force for a little while, but that line only ran until 1985, at which point Star Wars toys effectively ended. Ten years later, Kenner relaunched the line under the branding Power of the Force II. In 1995, I was 3 and just getting into action figures. So, POTF II came at just the perfect time and provided me with my very first Star Wars figure, which I’ll be looking at in this review.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke was released as part of the 1996 assortment of Power of The Force II. He’s based on Luke’s look while he’s training on Dagobah in Empire Strikes Back. The figure stands about 3 ¾ inches tall, and features 6 points of articulation. That waist articulation was revolutionary, let me tell you. The sculpts for POTF II, in general, have not aged well. For some reason, everybody got really buff. Luke follows that trend, and looks more like Arnold Schwarzenegger than Mark Hamill. From a purely aesthetic stand point, it’s actually not a bad sculpt. There’s some nice texture on his clothing, and the proportions are about right, even if they don’t belong to Mark Hamill. One negative point: the feet are sculpted at a bit of an angle, which can make getting him to stand up a chore. The paint is actually very good for the time. There’s no bleed over or slop and the smaller details are all clean and sharp, and the shading on the shirt to show it’s wet and stained gives the figure a nice level of depth rarely seen on figures of this era. Luke was packed with a lightsaber and a blaster.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The trip on which I acquired this figure is actually one of my earlier memories of going to the store and buying something. I don’t remember what store it was (for some reason my gut says Target, but that doesn’t seem right). What I very vividly remember was being walked over to the toy aisle by my parents, seeing the display of figures and running to them. I saw Luke hanging there and immediately grabbed him. In particular, I remember my mind being completely blown by the idea that he actually included a lightsaber. I guess I just assumed that would have to be a separate purchase. I had yet to pick up on how action figures worked, I guess. Regardless, I was thrilled to have this figure. As the years have gone by, the figure has started to show its age, but I still feel pretty damned nostalgic for him. All in all, he’s not a bad figure, and the sentimental value pushes him up to 11.

Well, I can generally stand by this review pretty well, I feel.  Nicely formed, and generally on point.  Covers all the bases.  Kind of funny.  Good hook at the end. Go me.  A few notes to follow up on, though.  I addressed the angle of the feet, which mean he has to stand at an intense angle to remain upright, which is actually to do with him being designed to work with the Yoda released at the same time.  It actually works well in that regard, but I didn’t own Yoda until *after* this review was written, so I didn’t really know.  When I reviewed him, he didn’t have his lightsaber and blaster, but I’ve found both of those, so now he’s all complete!  And lastly, my wife an I watched all of Righteous Gemstones a few months back, and after watching it, I can’t help but see this take on Luke as looking unmistakably like Keef.  So there’s that.

#3877: Luke Skywalker

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

LUKE SKYWALKER

STAR WAR: POWER OF THE FORCE II (HASBRO)

“Bored with the mundane life of a moisture farmer on Tatooine, Luke Skywalker dreamed of being a great pilot. He targeted womp rats while racing his T-16 skyhopper through the steep and narrow walls of Beggar’s Canyon. Many years earlier, Luke’s father also raced over the surface of Tatooine in his podracer. Anakin eventually turned to the dark side and became Darth Vader but was finally redeemed by his son Luke.”

In the whole of the vintage Kenner run of Star Wars 3 3/4-inch figures, we got Luke’s “farmboy” look exactly once.  When Power of the Force II launched in the ’90s, the look got its second go right away.  And then it showed back up in 1998, and just… Kept. Showing. Up.  Between 1998 and 1999, there were no less than five versions of Farmboy Luke available, which is is a lot.  Today’s figure?  Well, he got a new hat.  No, seriously: he got a new hat.  Let’s look a Luke and his new hat.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke Skywalker was released in the initial 1998 “Flashback Photo” assortment of Power of the Force.  The set had a rather “greatest hits” vibe to it, and Luke was right at home with that set-up.  This was the fourth of the five Farmboy Lukes in the ’98-’99 run.  He’s notable for being based on a deleted scene from the original film, which would have introduced Luke earlier than his purchase of the droids.  It’s interesting, because I think this was the first figure of its kind, which is pretty neat.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has a whopping 10 points of articulation.  He starts with the standard 6 and then also gets hinges at the elbows and swivels at the wrists, to say nothing of his neck joint being a ball joint, rather than the standard swivel.  He’s by far the most posable Luke in the line, which is somewhat amusing, given he’s not supposed to be from an action scene.  Though his sculpt looks very similar to the other four Farmboy Lukes, its wholly unique, thanks to how the articulation is implemented.  Honestly, it’s pretty nice.  The proportions aren’t the wacky muscle-bound set-up from earlier in the line, and the head’s an okay likeness.  The articulation’s useful, but also doesn’t ruin the sculpt.  I dig it.  The paint is pretty much what we expect on this sort of figure.  It’s clean, and there’s a little bit of accenting on the boots and bands, which helps the sculpt.  Luke was packed with three scene specific accessories.  He’s got the aforementioned hat, a rifle, and a pair of binoculars.  The hat’s funny, but also unique, and it stays okay on his head.  The rifle gets a surprising amount of painted detailing, and the binoculars can plug onto his belt for storage.  He also gets the Flashback Photo, showing him, and when you pull the tab, a young Anakin.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I owned none of these growing up, but saw them many times.  When I made my first real push to start a complete run, this Luke, along with the Leia from last week, were two of the first figures I snagged….and then I didn’t open them for, like, six years.  Yikes.  Seriously, I opened this figure less than 24 hours before I wrote this review, and that’s honestly ridiculous.  What was I doing?  Other stuff, I guess.  I like this Luke a lot.  He’s very fun.  I wish I’d opened him earlier, but I have now, and that’s pretty cool.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0025: Luke Skywalker in Imperial Guard Disguise

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , ,

LUKE SKYWALKER in IMPERIAL GUARD DISGUISE

STAR WARS: SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE (KENNER)

What’s this?  The Flashback Figure Addendums are back on Fridays?  Yes, dear reader, they are.  I moved them to Mondays to tie-in with Marvel, but it was honestly bugging me, because then they’re not “Flashback Fridays” anymore, and it feels like it kind of misses the point.  Additionally, I’m feeling stretched just a bit too thin these days.  And, rather than take a whole hiatus, I’ve decided to give myself a slight breather on Fridays.  So, for the foreseeable future, you’ll be getting four new reviews a week from me, as well as one Flashback Friday Figure Addendum.  For our first Addendum back on a Friday, we’re tying in with yesterday’s Star Wars review, with Luke Skywalker in Imperial Guard Disguise!

“The Empire’s victory in the Battle of Hoth has brought hard times for the Rebel Alliance. Han Solo has been frozen in carbonite by Darth Vader, and two huge bounties have been placed on the head of Luke Skywalker. The Emperor wants him alive, but Prince Xizor , underlord of the most powerful criminal organization in the galaxy, wants him dead. Worse still is that the diabolical Xizor is holding Princess Leia Organa prisoner in his castle on the Imperial Center of Coruscant. this is a tactical maneuver, part of a larger master plan to lure Luke Skywalker into his castle where he can be easily eliminated — the key step in Xizor’s plan to replace Darth Vader at the Emperor’s side. unaware of this danger, the young Jedi and Lando Calrissian sneak into Imperial City hoping to rescue Leia. Simplylaying foot on Coruscant is a dangerous act for these two: high on the Empire’s list of most-wanted outlaws, they could easily be recognized and captured — or assassinated. Disguising themselves as beggars, they “borrow” the armored uniforms from a pair of elite Coruscant stormtroopers. These troopers are some of the Empire’s finest, selected as home guards for the wealthiest and most cultured city in the galaxy. Joining forces with Chewbacca and Dash Rendar, Skywalker and Calrissian attempt to infiltrate Xizor’s nearly impenetrable stronghold and rescue the princess.”

1996’s Shadows of the Empire was important, in that it was the first time the public at large had been introduced to the Star Wars Expanded Universe. It’s also an interesting experiment in marketing, essentially being a movie merchandising campaign that lacked a movie. There were a handful of figures, mixed in with Kenner’s then running Power of the Force II. Newcomers Dash Rendar and Prince Xizor got figures, of course, but there were also new variants of out heroes Luke, Leia, and Chewbacca, all of whom had to take on disguises during this new story. I’ve looked at both Leia and Chewbacca, which just leaves Luke, who I’ll be reviewing today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke Skywalker in Imperial Guard Disguise was released in the basic figure assortment of Kenner’s Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire line. The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation. This Luke uses the same head as all of the other early PotF2 Lukes. It’s not the best likeness, but hey, here’s to consistency, right? The rest of the figure is brand new. The packaging dubs his look as “Imperial Guard Disguise,” a name that tends to conjure up the red guards from Return of the Jedi, who look quite a bit different than the look Luke is sporting here. However, the bio fills us in that this armor is actually from one of the elite Stormtroopers on Coruscant, making it a separate look entirely. As with so much of the design work seen in Shadows, the armor is undeniably a product of mid-90s comic book design, meaning it’s a little divorced from the original trilogy designs. His armor’s bulky and ultra padded, and seems to lack that used look we’re so accustomed to. It’s a little hard to reconcile this as a design that would appear in between Empire and Jedi. That being said, it’s hardly a terrible look. In fact, it manages to be rather unique and helps this Luke to stand out a bit from the crowd of other Lukes from over the years. The paint work on this figure is fairly decent, and, like the rest of his design, fairly unique. The red’s a nice shade, and all of the application is pretty clean. He’s packed with a removable helmet and half-cape to help complete his full disguise. Since Luke lost his father’s lightsaber in Empire and didn’t build a new one until the beginning of Jedi, he of course needed a new weapon, so this figure included a taser staff weapon.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure was, I believe, my first Shadows of the Empire figure. My cousin Noah had saved up to buy the PotF2 Millennium Falcon, and was along for the trip to go buy it. Noah’s mother, who took us on the trip, agreed to get me one figure. Luke was my favorite character, and this figure appealed to my 5-year-old self, so he was the one I picked. I’d say having this guy in my collection already was probably what pushed me to pick up the Bounty Hunter Chewbacca instead of the normal one, and owning these two is certainly not a decision I regret in the slightest.

This is from 2018, when I was pretty deep into my Power of the Force revisit that was brought on by a bunch of figures purchased the year prior.  Luke was, of course, from my original run, so he snuck in there closer to the end.  I was still operating off of the bulk photos I’d shot some time back in early 2016, so he didn’t get updated to get turnarounds.  And, while I had managed to locate both his cape and weapon for the purposes of that review, I had not yet found his helmet, which I found sometime in the last few years and set to the side and promptly forgot about.  But, here it is now!  Beyond those two things, I stand by my review, and I still do love this figure quite a bit.

#3841: Luke Skywalker – Imperial Guard & Princess Leia Organa – Boushh

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

LUKE SKYWALKER — IMPERIAL GUARD & PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA — BOUSHH

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“To gather intel on the Black Sun, Leia disguised herself as an Ubesian bounty hunter. But when Xizor captured her, it was up to Luke — alongside his friends and posing as an Imperial Guard — to rescue her”

Next year, it will have been 30 years since Shadows of the Empire, the multimedia Star Wars “event” set between Empire and Jedi launched.  So, you know, we’re all getting properly nostalgic.  Also, I think the last of the original product might *finally* be starting to dry up.  No, I’m just kidding; that stuff’s never gonna dry up!  Nevertheless, Hasbro’s actually doing some updated versions of a lot of the principal players in their Black Series line, including today’s focus, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Luke Skywalker — Imperial Guard and Princess Leia Organa — Boushh are a Hasbro Pulse-exclusive Star Wars: The Black Series two-pack.  They hit more or less in tandem with the main line’s Prince Xizor figure, launching this little Shadows of the Empire sub-line.

LUKE SKYWALKER — IMPERIAL GUARD

While for much of the Shadows story, Luke is just wearing slight variations on his looks from the two surrounding films, the look that gets the most play in tie-ins is his Imperial Guard look, when he and Lando steel the armor from the elite Stormtroopers on Coruscant.  It’s notably the look for his vintage Kenner figure, giving it some distinctive play.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and has 29 points of articulation.  He appears, near as I can tell, to be an all-new sculpt.  That’s not terribly surprising, since it’s a rather unique design.  That being said, this figure does a bit to bring said design just a touch more in line with the general Star Wars vibe, playing up the similarities to the clone armor just a bit.  It’s a solid translation of the design, with a lot of well-rendered textures and layering, making it a very visually interesting design.  As with the original figure, the helmet is removable (though, unlike the earlier figure, the cape is not), and we get a fair run of the mill modern Luke underneath.  The whole thing goes together pretty well, and it’s an impressive piece of work from top to bottom.  The color work is a little brighter than I’m used to, going by the Kenner figure and all, but at the same time, it’s not bad.  The red matches closer to the Black Series Royal Guards, which makes its own degree of internal sense.  He’s packed with the aforementioned removable helmet, as well as his taser staff weapon thing.

PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA — BOUSHH

Within the context of the story, Shadows serves to introduce the Boushh disguise that Leia uses to infiltrate Jabba’s palace in Return of the Jedi, which also serves as a great way for the Shadows tie-ins to double-dip on Boushh disguise Leia molds.  Despite there being other looks for Leia in-story, this figure is hear to offset the cost of new tooling on Luke, hence the re-used look.  The figure stands about 5 1/2 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  From the neck down, she’s identical to the very first Black Series Boushh Leia, and, by extension, it’s Archive re-issue.  It’s a good sculpt, and apart from some slightly older style articulation, there’s not much you can do to improve it.  The one change-up is the head, which goes from being a solid cast piece to being the head/hair two-piece assembly that’s become standard for the line.  I always felt that the Boushh head sculpt was one of the better likenesses for Leia, but the styling was a little outdated, so I get the need for update.  Ultimately, this one’s more technically advanced, but I think it looks less like Carrie Fisher, so it’s a bit of toss-up in terms of which one’s actually better.  The paint work is again very similar to the last release, with only the head really changing things up, again to bring things more up to modern standards.  Like her prior release, Leia is packed with her helmet, staff, and thermal detonator.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m slowing down on Black Series these days, and I don’t *need* to get all of the Shadows figures, what with having the originals and all, but at the same time, I’m a sucker for that Luke design.  When these were shown off, I was certainly interested, and Max was thankfully nice enough to hook me up with a set, since he was ordering one for himself.  Now that they’re here, they’re certainly…well, they’re certainly the smaller figures, but bigger, I guess.  Both of them are nice, for sure, and Luke’s a particularly impressive piece himself.  But, as with so much Black Series these days, I don’t know that my own personal excitement is there much.

#3799: Tatooine Skiff (with Luke Skywalker)

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , ,

TATOOINE SKIFF (with LUKE SKYWALKER)

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (HASBRO)

“Over the arid Western Dune Sea on Tatooine, Jabba the Hutt sentences his victims to be cast into the maw of the mighty Sarlacc, much to the raucous amusement of his palace minions. In the final attempt to escape from the clutches of the vile crime lord, the Rebel heroes launch a surprise attack. And so…the daring confrontation aboard the Tatooine skiff ignites!”

While I’m very much all-in on the figures for Power of the Force II, I don’t much review the vehicles.  This is partially because I don’t go out of my way to buy the vehicles (they take up a *lot* more space than the figures), and partially because I don’t usually enjoy reviewing the vehicles.  But, I do occasionally jump in with a vehicle, especially the ones on the smaller side, and especially if they had a unique figure.  So, here’s a vehicle that’s on the smaller side that had a unique figure!

THE ITEM ITSELF

The Tatooine Skiff was added to the Star War: Power of the Force line in 1999, at that point officially under the Hasbro brand, following Kenner officially being dissolved.  The set was released exclusively at Target, and paired off the skiff seen in the Sarlacc sequence of Return of the Jedi with a Luke Skywalker variant not available elsewhere.  The Skiff measures about 12 inches long.  It doesn’t really have “articulation,” but it has a number of moving parts and features.  There’s landing gear, which is useful for keeping it not falling over, which you can release using the lever at the top.  The rails on the sides breakaway to simulate damage, and there’s also a button to launch one of the floor panels upward, sending a figure flying.  And that’s all without getting into the plank that Luke is made to walk, which has it’s own flip-down feature, should you choose to murder your Luke Skywalker in such a way.  It’s a lot of features, honestly, and a reminder that this mold wasn’t actually developed by Hasbro (whose vehicles tended to be a bit more collector oriented as we went along), but was in fact a re-use of the vintage Kenner molds, like a lot of this line’s vehicles.  It’s not a bad sculpt at all.  It’s a good match for what we see on the screen, it’s well scaled to the figures, and the gimmicks and features don’t mess with the appearance too much.  There are certainly some parts that are a little flimsier, but it’s generally solid.  There were two colors available; green and tan.  Mine’s the tan one, but the differences were ultimately minor.  The paint work’s not bad; there’s plenty of simulated wear and dirt, which feel right for a thing that’s been out in the desert.

The included Luke is another take on Jedi Luke, which is unsurprising.  He was about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  It’s actually not a bad set-up for movement, since he gets proper knees, and a swivel at the waist and on the right wrist.  His parts consisted of a mix of old and new, with the head shared with all of the later-run Jedi Lukes, and the arms shared with the Complete Galaxy Luke.  The torso, pelvis, and legs were new, and the right had was tweaked to feature the damage to the back of it, which Luke gets during the skiff braw.  Not while he’s on *this* skiff, but still.  It’s a very scene specific Luke, but ultimately a pretty serviceable one.  His paint’s minor, but not bad.  Application’s mostly pretty clean, with only some minor slop on the change-over from his left hand to his sleeve.  He’s packed with his lightsaber, which seems like a solid choice.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Not being much of vehicles guy, I really only had the basics for this line as a kid.  That didn’t include this one.  I got this, I want to say, sometime in late 2018/early 2019?  It came into All Time, and I was just starting my real push to go completist on the line.  I’d already gotten the skiff guard cinema scene set, so I felt like having the actual skiff might not be the silliest thing.  And it’s not.  It’s fun little piece, though it’s really more display than toy.  And, there’s a neat Luke Skywalker variant too!

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.