Luke Skywalker, Emperor Palpatine, R2-D2 And C-3PO (Triumph Of A Jedi) - TSC - Commemorative DVD Collection

High above the forest moon of Endor, Luke Skywalker is presented to the Emperor, who hopes to tempt the young Jedi to join him on the dark side. As the Rebel Alliance and his friends fight for their lives in the space outside the battle station and on the moon below, a battle no less fierce rages inside Luke. Faced with the final destruction of everything for which he has fought and suffered, he must choose to give in to his hate – or let it go.

2006 was the year that the “unaltered” Original Trilogy debuted on DVD. To celebrate this event, Hasbro created three DVD Collection multipacks to pair with the home video releases. It was The Saga Collection at this point, so the packaging reflected the elements of this line look. The figures themselves were ultimately disappointing. Only a single figure in the set possessed a date stamp of 2004 or after: C-3PO. The rest were much older. Hasbro did their best to choose the most relevant sculpts that had available at the time for the three episodic themes that made up these multipacks, but aside from a very cheap cost-per-figure, they’re lackluster at best. The Luke Skywalker, Emperor Palpatine, R2-D2 And C-3PO (Triumph Of A Jedi) four-pack may be the best of all three. It’s far from perfect but includes good to decent versions of these four characters. From the Star Wars “Saga” line to The Saga Collection, a fair share of Hasbro’s best figures from across these eras are collected together here, all focused on various scenes from Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi.

Luke Skywalker has a good likeness to Mark Hamill and comes complete with 14 points of articulation that, while not perfectly articulating the action figure as we would have definitively wanted, give the figure a nice range of motion, Luke Skywalker is a step up from previous efforts, but lacks by today’s standards. It isn’t without its share of faults, but it also isn’t without merit. Luke Skywalker comes with mostly swivel articulation. You know our position on this type of movement. While useful and perhaps even beneficial for many parts of an action figure’s body, swivel articulation limits any part of the body by allowing 360 degrees worth of movement in only one plane. As you know, our bodies would be useless if we were limited to this kind of “articulation” ourselves. But that’s what’s been bestowed to Luke Skywalker. It’s fine for a repack, but Hasbro needs to improve upon this figure’s approach going forward. Despite its faults, the sculpt is pretty good. There is a great degree of detail and texture in the clothing and the action figure truly looks excellent.

Emperor Palpatine is another disappointment. Why is Hasbro continuously re-releasing this figure? Interestingly, Hasbro used the updated 2006 TSC Emperor Palpatine (SAGA 043) figure which includes a hole in the figure’s right palm so the cane can be affixed in place. It’s a nice update, but this figure looks so terrible that most collectors aren’t going to care. R2-D2 is a repaint of 2004’s SW [S - P3] R2-D2 (Jabba’s Sail Barge) (’04 #05) figure. The figure comes with a swivel dome, two swivel legs, a slide-out center leg, and three hinge-jointed feet. The combination swivel legs and feet provide enough flexibility to situate R2-D2 in a pose that looks screen accurate as well as authentic. Should you decide to extend the third leg as far as it can go, you’ll find that R2-D2’s body will be at an awkward angle. With the third leg retracted, you can situate the serving tray on the “shoulder” portion of his legs.C-3PO is a slight repaint of 2004’s The Original Trilogy Collection See-Threepio (C-3PO) Vintage figure, and it’s a fine figure for what it is. This set is the best of the three produced, but we don’t think any of them scream “awesome” by any means.