Luke Skywalker - LC - Basic (BD16)

Luke boards the second Death Star during the Battle of Endor to face his father and the evil Emperor Palaptine, in a confrontation that determines the fate of all three. Young Skywalker calls upon his Jedi skills to save himself – and his father.

There have been more than a few Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight/Death Star II) figures in our collecting lifetime. In fact, it seems that we can be treated to one at least once a year. And since we [collectors] tend to be a high maintenance group of people, it matters greatly whether we are getting a "Jabba's Palace" Luke Jedi action figure or a "Throne Room Duel" Luke Jedi action figure. (This time the focus is the "Throne Room Duel".) We like all of the specifics to be in place (like open tunic, closed tunic, Jedi cloak, lit lightsaber, unlit lightsaber, et. al. – you know the drill and we can relate) to make sure our current figure at hand is as accurate as it can be. While we hope to proverbially close the book eventually on our favorite characters, but we know deep down inside that this may never happen. While nice in theory, it is rather likely that Hasbro will continue to do something new to an existing popular character that renders the current "definitive" version outdated or obsolete. Hasbro always manages to edge out the previous "competition" with each new release and we really have no complaints about that. As time moves on, attention to detail gets better and better and new technology also aids this process as well. So it would make sense that same is true (for the most part) with the 2009 Legacy Collection version of Luke Skywalker. At first, we were on the defensive with this figure, but once we took it out of the package and started playing with it, well, it appears to be constructed not as well as we first thought. Hasbro should have impressed us with this figure but we sadly can't come to that conclusion. It needs a strategic revision before we can go anywhere near the word "definitive" to describe it. Between the bulky upper body needed to make the gimmick work, to the awful legs, Hasbro must come through for us because this figure didn't deliver as expected. And while we probably haven't full digested it yet (that could take years), our initial thought is that this figure has a long way to go.

While Luke Skywalker is a retool of 2007's TAC Luke Skywalker (30 25) figure, he has enough new parts to warrant this figure being considered almost all-new, but technically he is a kit-bashed figure instead. Actually, he is a lot more than "new enough". This time around, Luke Skywalker has an all-new torso and head that honestly were well designed, but out of proportion in spots. One thing for sure is that these new parts have increased mobility and movement than any previous Jedi Luke figure has had in the past. Our initial concerns for the figure focused on his newly sculpted torso. Production photos led us to believe that he had a very barrel shaped and too much too large chest and this is definitely the case. We appreciate the effort to kill two birds with one stone, but it falls short here and honestly doesn't work as well as Hasbro may believe it does. It is certainly more rounded than we even expected. And it looks too big for his medium to small frame which is not a good thing. From both front and side views, Luke still manages to look lean, agile and has all of his parts completely in scale with each other. So at certain angles the figure's issues are forgivable. But we know Hasbro can do better. While we would have preferred the omission of the interchangeable chest plates, (one solid black, one open showing white undershirt) the figure's quality isn't encumbered by this design. The only issue we have with this feature is that you can see a big square block on his chest where these pieces can be removed and replaced. It is aesthetically distracting and puts an unnecessary flaw in a figure that had the potential to be nearly flawless. If we were to complain about anything else, we would draw attention to the legs. They are still at an awkward "A" shape (or more like an upside down "V") and it severely limits all the poses he would have been able to achieve were they designed to be more straight (or if he had ball-jointed hips). But we will obviously have to wait longer for this addition or improvement to be made. You will be happy to know that his joints for the most part are very tight. But we would have wished for more resistance in his ball-jointed torso (it's not loose, but it could be a tad tighter).

This new portrait of Luke Skywalker is pretty darn good, but not stunning. Unlike the 2009 TLC Obi-Wan Kenobi (BD 44) figure, Luke Skywalker will require further tweaking before Hasbro nails the likeness. (And if you subscribe to our theory above, you may believe a better likeness is certainly more than possible in the future as well.) Two hair colors exist for this figure. The first came with dark reddish brown hair. The hair is parted to the right (as it should be) and the eyes and the bone structure in the face is passable and even good at some angles. The running change corrected his hair color. They changed the color to dirty blonde and added reddish brown highlights. Both versions can be seen side by side in our photo gallery. We are not over-exaggerating here; this likeness of Luke has great potential. Better paint operations and maybe a better arrangement for his hair may perfect the head sculpt (for now). And this declaration of course allows us to feel that this is in and of itself a good enough reason to pick up this figure. Luke Skywalker is an unexpected and pleasurable surprise to this Return Of The Jedi wave regardless of his faults. And this saying a lot when there is so much competition in this wave (like the Princess Leia (BD17) figure). He will remain a standout figure and it is quite possible we will see him rereleased in a "greatest hits" like line down the road as well. Luke Skywalker comes with two tunic chest plates, a green lightsaber, and binders. He has all the necessary accessories for his final duel with Darth Vader that happened during the climax of Episode VI. The binders fit very well on his wrists and thanks to his super-articulation, his arms can be posed as needed to make the binders look very authentic. Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight) has always been a majorly popular character in every basic figure line in which he has appeared (including his reintroduction in 1996's POTF2 line). We expect very positive sell-through with this figure. And this should be the case. Luke Skywalker is an unexpectedly decent action figure and we do believe that he should be added to your collection without any pause. He isn't perfect by any means, but he is definitely interesting. You need a definitive "Death Star II" Luke Skywalker figure in your collections and for now this figure is it!