Luke Skywalker - TBS [P1] - Basic (#05)

Luke Skywalker is awarded a medal for his part in destroying the Death Star.

You can tell how spoiled collectors have become in recent years just by how they immediately accept or reject an action figure without finding out exactly why a re-release (or in the case of The Black Series Luke Skywalker action figure, a refresh) is necessary. It’s hard to believe we received a “close but no cigar” version of Luke Skywalker as he appeared at the Yavin medal ceremony more than a half of a decade ago. 2007’s TAC Luke Skywalker (30 12) figure was an exciting release at the time and if you’re able to overlook some of its blatant faults, it still holds up fairly well today. But it is those blatant imperfections that necessitated Hasbro to revisit the action figure. Trust us when we say it was worth all of our whiles that Hasbro revisited this action figure. The steps they took to make it fresh and new again are nothing short of staggering. That isn’t an exaggeration. You’ll probably be tempted to toss your 2007 figure in the trash receptacle now. If you were one of the many collectors who sighed when Hasbro announced the “re-release” of this action figure, then get ready to suck that sigh back in because not even we expected to be this impressed with a figure that we thought was going to be a seemingly relative repack of a figure from the 30 (77-07) line. Luke Skywalker is more than “new enough to make you mad”. He is new enough to be considered a new figure.

There are three key features to The Black Series version of Luke Skywalker (in his Yavin gear). The first and most obvious is the all-new head sculpt. It’s remarkable how much this looks like “Luke Skywalker”. While that statement may seem outlandish, it’s no secret that Hasbro often has great difficulty with the task of making their Luke Skywalker figures resemble actor Mark Hamill. (There are exceptions of course and this is one of them.) The sculpting of the hair as well as the sedate expression on his face all tie in the characteristics that make Luke who he is. We’re impressed. You may be flabbergasted to know that Hasbro also sculpted and all-new torso and belt for this version as well. While completely unnecessary, we’re ecstatic about the extra details Hasbro chiseled into the tooling to give the black shirt texture and details that weren’t present on the 2007 figure. The belt is more fitted this time around too which gives Luke Skywalker a cleaner and more tailored appearance. The final tooling enhancement (which is one that we’re confident most others will overlook) is the repositioned legs. While no new edits were added to the tooling of the legs, the legs are now at a wider stance which not only helps with posing the figure much more easily. It gives Luke a much more natural stature. Look at our comparison shots. You’ll see how much better the wider stance looks.

Last but certainly not least, Luke Skywalker has been given a complete overhaul in deco. The jacket (which is really comprised of his arms and a removable shell) is a much paler yellow color this time around and matches the onscreen jacket flawlessly. It looks significantly better than the one on the Luke Skywalker (30 12) action figure. Hasbro was evidently explicit in the paint operation directives assuring that every last detail was captured and done up to snuff. For example, the “ranking” detail in his upper left chest pocket area is now a thicker black line instead of tiny sloppily painted vertical lines. It's technically incorrect because these were vertical thin black lines on the jacket, but it just looks better now. The tan outer piping on the jacket is also very cleanly applied. There are many other finely painted details that have also impressed us like his hair and the yellow bloodstripe running down the sides of his pants. To really impress collectors, Hasbro sculpted an all-new (and correct) blaster for this figure, a similar weapon to the one Princess Leia used in the beginning of A New Hope. He also comes with a correct lightsaber and lightsaber hilt. And his reward for blowing up the first Death Star, the Yavin medal, has also received an all-new sculpt and paint job and actually looks like a real medal this time around. If we had one complaint, and it’s not even really a complaint, we would love to see Hasbro issue this version of Luke without the yellow jacket so we can have an action figure based on the Episode IV promotional images. But that’s just our little wish.