Tag Archives: Luke Skywalker

#1460: Luke Skywalker in X-Wing Fighter Pilot Gear

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

LUKE SKYWALKER in X-WING FIGHTER PILOT GEAR

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

” Growing up on the twin-sun planet of Tatooine, Luke Skywalker had always looked tot he stars. He had been told that his father was a great star pilot, and it was clear that the young Luke had inherited some of his skills. In the arid deserts of the Jundland Wastes, Luke and his best friend Biggs Darklighter, would race their T-16 skyhoppers. Tagging womprats in Beggar’s Canyon or threading the Stone needle, Luke and Biggs were the best of friends, and daring pilots. Unfortunately, they were separated when Biggs went to the Academy, and Luke was forced to stay behind.”

Luke Skywalker figures are a hot commodity these days, due to his almost total absence from the main Star Wars toy lines for the better part of two years.  For a good portion of the franchise’s run, it was hard to go anywhere without tripping over a whole pile of Luke Skywalkers. There were a dozen Lukes in the Power of the Force II line alone, and I’ll be looking  at another one of that particular subset today, with Luke in his X-Wing Fighter Pilot Gear.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke was released in Power of the Force II‘s first year, as a later addition to the assortment.  He was the second Luke in the line, and the second figure of Luke in this particular gear in general.  Despite the claims on the package that this is Luke in his “X-Wing Fighter Pilot Gear,” which is a little bit misleading.  The figure’s actually wearing his cold-weather flight gear that he puts on to pilot his Snowspeeder during the Hoth Battle from Empire.  He does eventually wear it while flying his X-Wing later, but it’s still more commonly viewed as his Snowspeeder gear.  Not that the two designs are that dissimilar, of course.  The figure is about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  The sculpt was unique to this guy at the time of his release, however the body ended up getting re-used later down the line for both Wedge and Dak.  Until around 2010 or so, this was actually the only Hoth flight-suited sculpt Hasbro had on hand.  Just like the rest of these early figure’s, it’s a rather dated sculpt.  He’s got the usual exaggerated proportions, albeit masked a little bit by the more padded nature of the design.  He’s still got the insane bulging muscles, and the crazy thin waist, of course.  On the plus side, the detailing on the costume is pretty decent; the ridges on the arms are pretty cool, and the helmet, while a bit on the tiny side, is quite accurate to the source material.  Said helmet is permanently attached to the head, and missing the visor, but removable helmets were still a ways off at this point, so this isn’t bad.  His face is a slightly different likeness than the other Luke’s from this line.  It’s still a bit off, looking more like Ron Howard than Mark Hammil, but that’s a step in the right direction at least.  The paint work on this figure is on par with the rest of this line’s offerings.  It’s pretty clean overall, apart from a few fuzzy lines on the edge of the vest.  Luke is packed with his lightsaber and a small blaster pistol.  The lightsaber is a lot shorter than the initial Luke saber, but I choose not to judge him for that; Hoth is very cold.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this figure when he was relatively new.  I had gotten the PotF2 X-Wing Fighter as a gift, and didn’t yet have the proper Luke to fly it, so I obviously had to buy this guy.  Along the way, my original was lost, more than likely sold during one of my “purges” over the years.  The one reviewed here is a replacement, picked up at Farpoint a few years back.  He’s hardly the best pilot Luke figure out there, and he certainly shows the line’s flaws quite overtly, but he was my first pilot Luke, and he still holds an important spot in my collection.

#1413: Luke Skywalker – Jedi Master

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

LUKE SKYWALKER – JEDI MASTER

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI

Okay, you guys read this morning’s post.  You know what that means.  That’s right, it’s time for my Force Friday II reviews!  Oh yeah!  Let’s do this, homebiscuits!

Perhaps the most anticipated of the new products are those based on Luke Skywalker.  Apart from a few re-released OT figures, Luke was almost completely absent from the Force Awakens and Rogue One products.  In Hasbro’s defense, their original plan for TFA’s small-scale line was to have Luke offered as a mail-away figure, which would have been a super nifty way of handling things, but it was ultimately nixed by someone higher up.  Anyway, I’ve been patiently awaiting a new trilogy Luke.  Now I have him.  Yay!  Onto the review!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Jedi Master Luke is one of the 11 basic figures Star Wars: The Last Jedi released on Force Friday II.  The figures were divided into two different assortments: orange and teal.  Luke was part of the Orange assortment, which was the assortment devoted to the more central characters.  Luke’s sporting at least two looks in The Last Jedi.  This figure is based on the look he was sporting in The Force Awakens’ final moments, which he will no doubt be keeping for at least a decent chunk of the new movie.  I like this look a lot; it sort of merges the aesthetics of Obi-Wan’s look in A New Hope with Luke’s Jedi Knight garb from Return of the Jedi.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  His sculpt is all-new to him, and it’s stylistically consistent with the stuff from both TFA and Rogue One, so the leg joints, for instance are cut right through his robes, rather than the robes being a separate add-on piece.  The figure’s stance is simple and straight, but it’s not too stiff; it looks fairly natural.  The level of detail on the sculpt is a step up from the two previous lines, which is quite impressive on such a small figure.  The head sports a pretty spot-on Hamill likeness, and the texture work on the clothing is just top-notch.  The wrinkles and everything really sell that “hermit” look quite nicely.  His belt is a separate piece, affixed in place, which offers some nice depth to the figure.  Interestingly, he’s got a loop to hang his lightsaber hilt from, but there’s no saber included.  It’s good forward thinking, I suppose.  Luke also has a soft plastic removable cloak.  It’s certainly similar to the one from the old PotF2 Jedi Luke, but the execution is quite a bit more precise, the details are sharper, and the overall appearance is far less goofy.  Paint’s always been an issue with Hasbro figures, Star Wars figures especially.  While Luke has a little bit of slop in one spot on his back, the overall application is a marked improvement over the TFA and RO figures.  Apart from the cloak, Luke has no extras.  What?  No weird gimmicky accessory to be thrown straight into my box of weird gimmicky accessories?  Indeed, this time around, Hasbro’s put the gimmick inside the figure itself, with the CommTech 2.0 ForceLink feature.  There’s a chip inside the figure, which, when brought within close proximity of the ForceLink Reader will play character relevant sounds.  I don;t have a reader yet, so I’m not sure how well it works, but it does mean that all the figures get this nifty little symbol on their left foot.  And now I have less excess plastic to worry about dealing with when I open these guys.  Yay!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ever since the end of The Force Awakens, I’ve been wanting this figure, so he was at the very top of my list of wants for this Force Friday.  I actually found him and most of the other Last Jedi product a week early, when I stopped by the Walmart nearest my brother’s college after moving him in.  Unfortunately, they were all restricted at the register, with a code claiming they’d been recalled for lead paint, so I wasn’t able to buy them then.  When Force Friday rolled around, Luke was #1 on my priority list.  When I actually got to the action figure aisle, the Lukes seemed to be missing, but they were just hiding at the back of the pegs.  Of course, I discovered this when the guy next to me in the aisle flung literally ever figure on the peg in front of the two Lukes at me, but at least I got one of those two Lukes, right?  I’m really happy I found this guy.  He’s one of my favorites released in this style, and one of my favorite small-scale Star Wars figures in general.

#1404: Luke Skywalker – Jedi Knight

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

LUKE SKYWALKER – JEDI KNIGHT

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“Under the tutelage of Obi-Wan and Yoda, Luke Skywalker learned the ways of the Force and became a Jedi Knight.Using his newly-developed powers, Luke successfully led a campaign to rescue Han Solo from the clutches of Jabba the Hutt. After Yoda confirmed what Luke feared most – that Darth Vader was his father – he decided to confront Vader, not to do battle, but to reach whatever good remained in the man once known as Anakin Skywalker. The diabolical Emperor Palpatine wanted Luke’s power under his tutelage, but the young Jedi was strong and resisted the potent allure of the dark side – though it nearly cost him his life. When the Emperor rose to annihilate Luke Skywalker, Vader hurled Palpatine to his death, sacrificing himself for his son.”

Wow, spoilers much?  Not only do we know that Darth Vader’s Luke’s dad, but also that he kills Palpatine *and* sacrifices himself?  This is a lot to process, you guys.  Or it would be if I hadn’t seen the movies, I guess.  But then, what are the odds of me buying an action figure of Luke Skywalker?  I’d say slim.  But I have and I did, so now onto the review!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Jedi Knight Luke was released during the second year of Kenner’s Power of the Force II line.  He was the fourth version of the character in the line, and the second that year.  He’s based on his Return of the Jedi appearance.  He’s sort of an amalgamation  of the looks from that movie; for the most part, he’s from Luke’s introductory scene, hence the vest and the cloak.  However, he’s also got the glove covering his damaged right hand, which he starts wearing after the scenes on Tattooine.  He’s a horrible monster mash!  Who could ever love him!?!  Nah, it’s not really that big a deal.  Anyway, the figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  His sculpt is actually pretty tame for this line.  Sure, he’s still got the same head sculpt that never looked much like Hamill, and sure he still looks like his pecs are about to burst out of his shirt, but all things considered, he’s really not bad.  The proportions aren’t terrible, and he’s just in a fairly basic standing pose.  The paint work on this guy is largely very basic.  Mostly, it’s just black plastic, with a little bit of paint for the hand and some work on the face.  There’s a tiny bit of glossier finish on the boots, which is a cool touch.  The earliest samples of this figure actually had a tan/grey color for the vest, which made it stand out more, but this was eventually replaced with what’s seen on the figure in this review.  The second figure is a little blander, but is also the more accurate look, so that’s fair.  This figure was packed with his trusty green lightsaber, as well as a rubber cloak piece.  Both pieces are fairly decent for the time, but do look slightly goofy by modern standards.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Jedi Luke was the third version of Luke I got, after the Dagobah and Tattooine versions.  I recall making a special trip to the local Toys R Us with my mom and dad, sitting in the middle seat of their Ford Ranger pickup truck.  I also recall the figure’s distinctive smell wafting through the car on the ride home.  Not long after I acquired this figure, it served as the inspiration for my Jedi Luke Halloween costume, which has the notoriety of being one of my favorite Halloween costumes pretty much ever.  A lot of good memories are attached to this figure is kind of what I’m getting at here.

#1362: Luke Skywalker

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

LUKE SKYWALKER

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“Raised by his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru on their Tatooine moisture farm, young Luke dreamed of being a pilot for the Rebel Alliance. He realized his destiny after being saved from the Tusken Raiders by the mysterious Obi-Wan Kenobi, who told him of his past and began to teach the boy the ways of the Force. When the Empire killed Luke’s family, he and Kenobi set off to find Princess Leia, whose message hidden inside the droid R2-D2 beckoned them to join the Rebellion.”

Hey-o, it’s another Star Wars review.  Alright, let’s do this.  As I’ve noted a few times before, my main introduction to Star Wars toys was the 1990s revival line.  I came into it during the second year, meaning I generally missed out on the “main” versions of a lot of the characters.  Main versions inevitably found their way into my collection, of course, which is how I can look at this figure I’m looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke was released in the very first series of Kenner’s Star Wars: Power of the Force II line.  He was the first Luke in the line, and is based on his farm boy look from A New Hope.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  As one of the earliest figures in the line, Luke falls victim to just about all of the oddities that plagued the line in its early days.  The pre-posing isn’t the worst, but he’s definitely got the odd proportions, especially those rippling pecs beneath his shirt, and those super tight clinging sleeves.  It’s Star Wars if Star Wars had been a harlequin romance, or an ‘80s action film starring Dolph Lungdreon.  Look, if your in a loose fitting shirt, your muscles shouldn’t be showing through as they please.  The head sculpt is kind of so-so.  None of the likenesses on these early figures were particularly close, but I’ve always found Luke’s to be one of the weakest.  It’s the same head they used on several of the earliest Luke figures, but it never really looked right.  It’s not a bad sculpt in and of itself, I guess.  The paint work on Luke is mostly pretty passable.  Everything’s pretty cleanly applied and all.  The color choices are a little off, mostly on the legs, which have an odd green tone to them.  Luke was packed with his lightsaber and a grappling hook thingy.  There were two versions of the saber available, depending on which run of the figure you got.  Earlier runs had the long saber (seen here) which is laughably long, to the point of being taller than the figure proper.  Later figures fixed this, replacing it with a more reasonably sized model.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Dagobah Training Luke was my first Luke Skywalker figure.  This one was my second, picked up for me by my maternal grandmother from a convention dealer’s room.  I settled for him because the look I really wanted (Bespin Luke) wasn’t yet available.  I can’t really say he’s ever been a favorite of mine.  This particular look just doesn’t work as well in the “x-treme” stylings of the PotF2 line.  Ultimately, he’s about par for the course for this line, which is at the very least entertaining.

#1310: Luke Skywalker

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

LUKE SKYWALKER

STAR WARS (KENNER)

Luke Skywalker has over 100 action figures, which is quite a few.  More than just about any other main character from the franchise, in fact.  There was a time, however, when he had just one.  His very first figure was released by Kenner in 1978, and that’s the one I’m looking at today.  There’s your intro.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke is one of the very earliest entries in Kenner’s Star Wars line.  He was initially released in the Early Bird set, alongside Leia, Chewbacca, and R2, and later saw regular release as one of the line’s first 12 figures.  He was also consistently carried throughout the run of the original trilogy’s line.  My figure comes from the earliest of the single releases, or at least that’s what I’ve been told.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and has the standard 5 points of articulation (or at least he did; my figure had his head snap off, necessitating it being glued back in place).  The figure sported a unique sculpt at the time (though the head would later see reuse on the Bespin figure from the Empire line), which is decent enough, at least in the context of the rest of the line.  He’s not super detailed, nor is he the spitting image of Mark Hamill as Luke, but the main elements of the character have been conveyed pretty well, and he’s certainly not awful.  His design has also been graced with very few real compromises, which wasn’t completely unheard of in this line, but it was pretty rare.  As one of the three lightsaber wielding characters in the first film, he got one of the retractible blades that Kenner was experimenting with early in the line.  The hilt of the saber is molded in Luke’s hand, and the majority of his right arm has been hollowed out.  There was then a separate blade, which could be pushed up or down, as if he were igniting the saber.  It’s not a particularly accurate rendition of the saber, and it requires Luke to hold his weapon in a way he never does in the film.  Luke’s saber was molded in yellow, because, umm, reasons, I guess?  Of course, you can’t see that from my figure, because they were also really easy to lose, which isn’t ideal.  Still, it wasn’t the worst concept ever.  In terms of paint, Luke is fairly simple; he’s got al the basic colors, and that’s about it.  There were a number of variants on the hair color; mine has the more common bright yellow.  Not super lifelike, but it’s about right for the time.  Luke included no accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I was growing up, I had access to a lot of my dad’s old toys.  His collection of Star Wars figures was one of the sets that was given to me to keep.  Luke was by far my favorite of the set, and saw a lot of play time.  His head broke off at some point, and there was a good five years in there where I never seemed to be able to hang on to both pieces at the same time.  I eventually did find both pieces and get him put back together, so that was a small victory.  The figure’s not perfect, but he’s a pretty good starting point, and he’d remain one of the better Luke figures out there for quite a while.

#1065: Luke Skywalker

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

LUKE SKYWALKER

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

lukefarmboy2

Luke Skywalker is kind of the bread and butter of Star Wars: The Black Series.  He’s by far the most recurrent individual character in the line, and is thus far the only character with at least one look from each of the Original Trilogy films covered.  He’s already had two figures from A New Hope, in both his X-Wing pilot gear and his Stormtrooper disguise.  However, his main look from the film was still left unreleased.  Fortunately, Hasbro’s made sure that one of Luke’s most definitive looks didn’t get left out, and Tattooine Luke started hitting shelves over the summer.  I’ll be taking a look at him today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

lukefarmboy1Luke was released in the sixth series of the third iteration of Star Wars: The Black Series (i.e. the one launched with the Force Awakens product).  He’s #21 in the line (not that the numbers actually mean anything, of course, since Hasbro keeps restarting the counter), and he’s the first Original Trilogy figure to be released since the switch to Force Awakens product.  The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and has 29 points of articulation.  As you can probably tell from the pictures, Luke is constructed from a mix of sculpted elements and soft goods.  Pretty much, the underlying body forgoes the shirt, the shirt is cloth, and it’s held in place by a rubber belt.  The basic sculpt is decent enough, though not without its flaws.  The legs and boots are both very nicely detailed and textured, and there is a fully sculpted body under the cloth shirt.  However, the upper body feels somewhat under scaled compared to the legs.  The shoulders feel too narrow and the arms just a bit too short to be accurate.  Rather than re-use the X-Wing Luke head (as was done with the Stormtrooper Luke), this figure gets an all new sculpt.  It’s okay, but is noticeably smaller than the last sculpt, and does not possess as strong a likeness.  The cloth shirt is okay for what it is, but the problem really lies with “what it is.”  The choice to make the shirt a separate piece is somewhat odd.  While it’s not the first time Hasbro has done such a thing with this design, it’s never really worked before, and doesn’t really work here.  Where a sculpted piece could have captured the texture and specific shaping of Luke’s shirt in the movie, the cloth piece is too clean, too simple, and really just hangs there in a rather unconvincing fashion.  The worst thing is that, like Darth Vader before him, the cloth pieces just aren’t tailored correctly to the body, which results in his tunic continuing way too far down his legs, making it look more like a robe than it should.  It’s definitely disappointing.  Luke continues the trend of lessened paint apps on The Black Series figures, sporting only the most basic detailing.  It’s clean, well applied, and well matched to the source material, but it lacks some of the life of earlier figures.  Luke is packed with his lightsaber and a pair of binoculars, both of which can be hung on his belt.  It might have been nice to get a Stormtrooper belt and blaster, since the belt is already removable and it would allow him to match with the Series 2 Han Solo, but I guess Luke being an all-new sculpt made such extras cost prohibitive.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I found Luke here at the Walmart near where my family vacations.  Wasn’t really looking for him or anything, just killing time on my way there, but there he was.  I was actually pretty excited to find him, since I haven’t gotten a new Black Series figure in what seems like forever.  That being said, I can’t help but feel a little let down by this guy.  He’s not awful or anything, but he’s not the slam dunk he should have been.  Rather than being THE Luke to own, he’s just another figure in the pack.  X-Wing Luke will continue on as my go-to figure for display purposes.

#0990: Mark Hamill

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

MARK HAMILL

THE SIMPSONS: 25 OF THE GREATEST CELEBRITY GUEST STARS

MarkHamill1

It’s a rather rare occurrence for one toy company to deliberately design a toyline with the express purpose of directly emulating and continuing another company’s toyline.  But, that’s what NECA did when they picked up the Simpsons license for the property’s 25th anniversary: they put together a line of figures deliberately designed to emulate the style and scale of Playmates’ World of Springfield line, despite it having been years since World of Springfield had ended.  It’s worth noting that NECA did have a much more focused aim than Playmates, placing a direct focus on The Simpsons’ plethora of celebrities who had guest stared as themselves.  The line introduced 25 new figures for collectors to add to their Simpsons displays, including today’s figure, Mark Hamill!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

MarkHamill2Mark Hamill was released in the second series of NECA’s The Simpsons: 25 of the Greatest Celebrity Guest Stars line.  He’s based on Mark’s guest appearance from the Season 10 episode “Mayored to the Mob.”  The figure is about 4 ¾ inches tall and he has the same 4 points of articulation that would be sported by a standard WoS figure.  Sculpturally, Mark is tasked with two things: capturing his look from the show, and capturing the style of the Playmates figures.  These can be slightly conflicting ideals, since the Playmates figures weren’t always 100% accurate (though they were always very close).  Ultimately, I think this figure does a good job balancing the two aesthetics.  He’s about as good a 3D rendering of the 2D design as you’re gonna get, and he also manages to fit in pretty seamlessly with prior offerings.  Hamill is just wearing a fairly generic button-down shirt and a pair of khakis, <which is one of the outfits he wears in the show.  The other is the more distinctive Luke Skywalker outfit, but something tells me that there would have been some legal issues with trying to do that look, which makes this the more preferable design>.  The likeness to Hamill is admittedly filtered through the usual Simpsons style, but it should be pretty clear to most fans who this is supposed to be.  The paintwork on Mark is pretty basic and straightforward.  Lots of flat color work, which is befitting of an animated design.  Everything is pretty clean, and he matches up pretty nicely with what’s seen on the show.  Mark Hamill includes no accessories, which is a little sad, since accessories were one of the defining parts of the WoS line.  Obviously, he couldn’t come with anything Star Wars specific, but a microphone or I don’t know, a fork in reference to the “Use the forks” gag would have been pretty amusing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since I mostly skipped the World of Springfield line, I also mostly skipped this line while it was at retail.  I did occasionally eye up one or two figures, but I’m honestly not a huge Simpsons fan, so I never felt a big pull to get them.  However, I do remember “Mayored to the Mob” being one of the few episodes of The Simpsons that I saw when it was still current (mostly due to Mark Hamill being in it).  Back when ToyFare magazine ran their article proposing potential celebrity guest stars who might be made in the World of Springfield line (this was the same article that revealed that it was Stephen Hawking who would actually be getting a figure), I was rather disappointed to find out that the Mark Hamill figure shown was just a custom, and no official figure would be made.  So, when NECA finally released the official figure, I really kept meaning to pick him up, but never got around to it.  While taking advantage of my local MovieStop’s going-out-of-business sale, I came across this figure for under $3, a price at which I definitely wasn’t passing him up.  Is he the most exciting figure of all time? No, he’s a normal guy in normal clothes, and he’s not even all that posable.  That being said, he’s perfect for the style NECA was going for, and he’s pretty much exactly what I was looking for when I bought the figure.

MarkHamill3

#0951: Luke Skywalker – Stormtrooper Disguise

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

LUKE SKYWALKER – STORMTROOPER DISGUISE

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

LukeTrooper1

“Aren’t you a little short for a Stormtrooper?”

I haven’t reviewed any Star Wars: The Black Series figures in a while. And even then, the last handful of them have all been The Force Awakens-related. So, how about an Original Trilogy figure? Yeah, that’ll be nice. The most recurrent character in the line is by far Luke Skywalker. I mean, it’s fair; he is the central character of the first three movies. He also gets a few notable costume changes. One such change is when he steals the armor of an Imperial Stormtrooper in order to infiltrate the Death Star. It’s a rather popular version of the character, and it’s been represented in action figure form since way back in the vintage line. Now, let’s have a look at the latest version!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

LukeTrooper2Luke was released as part of the pre-Force Awakens incarnation of Star Wars: The Black Series, as figure #12. He was released in the 8th assortment of figures, alongside Emperor Palpatine and the Clone Captain. As noted in the intro, this figure is based on Luke’s Stormtrooper disguise look from the second half A New Hope. The figure stands just under 6 inches tall and has 29 points of articulation. Seeing as he was running around in their armor, it’s not a shock to find out that this figure makes some pretty hefty use of the pieces used for the Stormtrooper/Sandtrooper. Luke ends up getting the arms and legs from that figure, along with the head of the X-Wing Luke from Series 1. Those pieces were all pretty good the first time around, and they’re still pretty great here. The head in particular is probably the best Hamill likeness in this scale. Luke also has a new torso and pelvis, which aid in making him “a little short for a Stromtrooper.” The end result looks pretty good, though the arms require some careful posing, as they are a touch on the long side. The paint on Black Series figures has been known to make or break the figures. Luke’s far from the worst I’ve seen from the line, and the head in particular is quite clean. That said, there’s still quite a bit of slop in the changes between black and white, which can be more than a bit distracting. Luke is packed with a standard blaster rifle, a communicator, and a removable Stormtrooper helmet. The helmet is the biggest deal here. It’s similar to the solid head seen on the normal Trooper, but obviously it’s been hollowed out so Luke can wear it. The details are a little softer here, but they don’t look terrible, and he fits in pretty well with the other Troopers.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Luke here was a graduation gift from my Super Awesome Girlfriend. On her way up to visit me, she stopped at a Walgreens and saw this guy there all alone. She picked him up, but between purchasing him and giving him to me, she had convinced herself that I already had him. Imagine her relief when she found out I didn’t actually own one! I never picked this guy up because he looked like a fairly simple re-use figure, but there’s actually a lot to like about this guy. Definitely glad to have him!

LukeTrooper3

#0905: Luke Skywalker

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

LUKE SKYWALKER – X-WING PILOT

POWER OF THE JEDI

LukePOTJ1

The Phantom Menace was a big deal in a whole lot of ways, mostly due to being the first Star Wars film in almost two decades. One of the things it did was bring the main Star Wars toyline of the time to pretty much a screeching halt, in favor of product centered around the new film. To be fair, it wasn’t unlike what The Force Awakens did last year, with one major caveat: Phantom Menace, while commercially successful, was far from critically successful, and people were far less interested in product based solely on the new film after seeing it. Shortly after the movie, Hasbro did a quick retool of the line, re-branding it Power of the Jedi, and offering figures from throughout the Star Wars saga. Going back to the older films let Hasbro bring out new versions of the Original Trilogy’s main heroes, which included Luke Skywalker.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

LukePOTJ2Luke was released in 2001 as part of the second basic assortment of Power of the Jedi figures. The figure is 3 ¾ inches tall and has 6 points of articulation. He depicts Luke in his X-Wing Fighter gear, presumably from A New Hope. This was the third figure to depict Luke in his pilot gear, but it’s notable for being the first ever to give him a removable helmet (though he’s not the first X-Wing pilot to get a removable helmet. That was Wedge Antilles, just two years prior). The sculpt on this figure is decent enough.  It does a much better job of capturing Hamill’s size and proportions than earlier Lukes did, though he takes the smallness a bit too far; Luke looks just a tad under fed. The likeness on the head is just so-so, but certainly a good attempt. The body has a slight rigidity to it that looks a little unnatural, but the level of detail is pretty fantastic, especially at this scale. The hose on his chest piece was a separate piece, which had a tendency to fall out (hence my figure not having his anymore). Luke’s paintwork is decent enough (though my figure’s a little worse for wear in that respect). It’s fairly basic, but all the important details are there, and they manage to be pretty decently applied (though the white of his teeth makes him look almost buck-toothed). Luke’s lone accessory was his removable helmet, sadly lost some time ago by child-Ethan.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I believe I got this figure from Cosmic Comix, which is weird, because he was new at the time and they never really carried new Star Wars figures. I bought him because he had the removable helmet, which rather fascinated me at the time. He was pretty good at the time, but this figure hasn’t aged particularly well. There’s nothing that stands out as being super off, but he just feels somehow lacking.

#0876: Princess Leia & Luke Skywalker

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

PRINCESS LEIA & LUKE SKYWALKER – CEREMONIAL

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

LeiaLuke1

You know what? I kinda liked yesterday’s review of Princess Leia. So much that I feel like reviewing another Princess Leia today. But it’s not just Leia this time! Nope, now she’s also bringing her twin brother, Luke, along for the ride. Isn’t that sweet?

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This pair are from the Star Wars: Power of the Force II line, specifically from 1997’s The Princess Leia Collection sub-set of the line. There were four different two-packs, each containing a variant of Princess Leia, alongside one of her compatriots from the films. Each film in the original trilogy was represented, with an extra set for the original film.

PRINCESS LEIA

LeiaLuke2Leia spends most of A New Hope in the same basic number, but she did have a second, more short-lived look right at the very end of the film, commonly referred to as her “Ceremonial” look, due to it being worn during the award ceremony that makes up the movie’s closing scene. That’s the look this figure replicates. She stands 3 ¾ inches tall and has the same 6 points of articulation seen on most of this line’s figures. Though a single-carded version of this design was released right around the same time as this figure, the sculpt seen here is unique. It’s not the most amazing work ever, but it’s not bad for the time, and certainly tops Leia’s first PotFII figure. The general build of the figure isn’t too terrible, though her head seems just a bit on the large side, and she has quite a neck. The “cape” and skirt are both handled via cloth pieces. At this scale, cloth can always be a questionable venture, but it works pretty nicely here. These pieces are technically removable, but aren’t really meant to be taken off; she looks rather incomplete without them. Leia’s paint is generally pretty well handled; it’s really only on her torso and head, but the detailing is pretty clean. Leia doesn’t have any accessories specifically for her, but there is an included medal, which can easily be given to either included figure.

LUKE SKYWALKER

LeiaLuke3The Luke included here is specifically designed as a companion piece to Leia, so he’s also in his “Ceremonial” garb from the end of the movie. I always felt it was a shame that this look was only in the one scene, as it’s actually pretty sharp. The figure is the slightest bit taller than Leia, but only just barely, and he has the same 6 points of movement. As with Leia, a single carded version of this look was released right around the same time as this set. The two use the same head sculpt (It was Kenner’s second stab at a standard Luke head), but everything else is new to this figure. While it’s not a bad sculpt, he does feel…undersized. Luke also makes use of softgoods, this time for the coat. It’s a little over sized, and definitely doesn’t look quite as good as the single release’s sculpted piece, but it’s not terrible. The coat can be removed, and, in contrast to Leia, he looks like he was actually designed with removing the coat in mind. Luke’s paint is a little more intensive than Leia’s; the application is pretty clean overall, and he looks pretty spot-on to the movie look. Luke seems like the more natural choice to give the medal to, but it doesn’t really sit quite right on his shoulders due to the coat.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The theatre where I saw The Force Awakens on opening night was in a mall, and right across from it was an incredibly well-placed collectibles store. I didn’t have a chance to go in (I had a movie to see, after all), but I ended up going back the next day. I was caught up a bit in the excitement of the movie, and definitely looking for something Star Wars-related to buy. I remember seeing these sets when I was younger and never actually getting them, so I figured “why not?” Luke’s inferior to the other version of this look from the same time, but Leia’s supposed to be the real star anyway, and she makes it worth it.