Luke Skywalker - Unleashed

For Luke Skywalker, the Jedi Knights are legends from the past, heroes from another time whose light has been extinguished by the dark conflict raging in the galaxy. Then Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi reveals a long-held secret to young Skywalker – Luke's own father was a Jedi. When Luke ignites his father's lightsaber for the first time, he begins a journey down a difficult yet magnificent path that leads to the salvation of an entire galaxy. The Force is strong in Luke and he grows in skill and wisdom through the teachings of Ben Kenobi and his training with the wise Jedi Master Yoda. Strengthened by their profound guidance and encouragement, Luke pierces the oppressive darkness with the brilliant slash of a lightsaber – a Jedi has returned from the mists of legend to fight for freedom. Attacking enemies with skill and courage, Luke reawakens hope in the despairing hearts of the Rebels and all those who yearn for peace.

Wouldn’t it be cool if the action and poses of the Unleashed figures were actually seen in the Star Wars films. To an extent that is already true. After all, these characters are indeed based on characters and scenes from the film, some more so than others. In the case of the Luke Skywalker (in his Death Star II configuration) Unleashed figure borrows many elements of the final duel he had with Darth Vader in Return Of The Jedi. The outfit, base and lightsaber all hearken back the film’s climax, but imagine it all completely revisited in an almost anime style, complete with an exaggerated lightsaber swing. That’s exactly what the Luke Skywalker Unleashed figure brings to the table. This extremely well sculpted mini statue is the perfect “out of the box” collectible to enhance the collections of fans of either Luke Skywalker and/or Return Of The Jedi. It’s of course familiar, but it adds a wonderful Expanded Universe flare to the story we all know so well. It’s destined to become a standout collectible from Hasbro. It’s really hard to call the Unleashed figures toys because of their artistic integrity. But if you must refer to them as toys, it’s only because they are produced from plastic…. and no other reason as far as we’re concerned.

The Unleashed Luke Skywalker figure breaks down into three separate parts: the Luke Skywalker figure itself, the Death Star II base and the lightsaber blade/swing effect (which is the largest part of the entire figure). When assembled, it’s quite an aggressive display. We imagine that this piece was inspired at the exact moment when Darth Vader suggested that if Luke didn’t turn to the dark side of the Force that maybe Leia would instead. Those were the words that drew Luke out from hiding and ultimately defeat Darth Vader. T was all about the love and protection of his family. In our opinion Hasbro couldn’t have articulated that better with the portrait they tooled for this figure. It may not have a perfect likeness to the newly designated Jedi Knight, but there is no doubt you can tell who this character is and how awesome it looks. Even Luke’s shirt is folded down revealing the white, insinuating a quasi screen accurate look for him. Don’t you find this all very impressive? We do and it fills us with awe that this line hasn’t made a bigger splash in the collecting community. There are plenty of collectors who adore this line of figures, but we just think that too many more are completely missing out.

We appreciate how, despite all of the extra environmental accents Hasbro gives these figures, they still are able for the most part to tool the figures separately. Yes, most lack articulation of any kind, but these figures are all about the detailing in the sculpts. Luke Skywalker’s body is lean and athletic. The determination in his body language is beyond impressive. You would think that Darth Vader must have been like “dang!” if he saw this aggression heading towards him. In fact, the addition of Darth Vader to recreate a diorama like interaction between the two characters may have made this release even more interesting. For the most part paint operations are quite clean. You may come across some unevenness here and there, but you would definitely be nitpicking if you found fault with any of it. Collecting the Unleashed line is more like a full experience than just buying a toy. You relive moments from the films. You try to imagine where precisely the exact pose of the sculpture could have occurred in the film that maybe was “just off camera” for a moment or two. Even if you don’t receive those recollections, you really have to admit that Luke Skywalker, as well as many other Unleashed figures, is just too awesome for words.

As a bonus feature to this review, we have provided the original artwork created for this Star Wars: Unleashed figure. Click the thumbnail to the left to see the amazing illustration.