| |
| |
Review |
| |
| Sculpt: |
| Luke Skywalker, dressed as a Jedi Knight, enters the palace of crimelord Jabba the Hutt to release his friend Han Solo from his Carbonite block prison in RETURN OF THE JEDI. This figure was first released in 2004 as part of the Saga toy line, and had decent articulation then. Fans have since wanted a version of Luke from his duel with Darth Vader on the second Death Star that was equally as articulated, and were hoping to see it in the 30AC. Instead, they got this mostly new sculpt of Luke that's really pretty specific to Jabba's sail barge and the Pit of Carkoon sequence. The sculpt now incorporates softgoods outer tunic and a removable belt, but there's a gap at the waist that prevents this from being used as a Death Star II Luke. Also, the blaster-damaged artificial right hand again limits him to being on the sail barge. The facial likeness to actor Mark Hamill is decent, though, but some of the added articulation has resulted in arms that are too bulky. He gets an 8 out of 10. |
| |
| |
| |
| Paint: |
| Luke's head and hands are molded in a medium flesh tone. It's a tad too dark for Mark Hamill, although it always did seem that a guy from a desert world ought to have a bit more of a tan. His hair and eyebrows get sandy blond paint apps. His eyes get white and blue apps, but the black pupil is once again missing from his left eye (this was a flaw on previous Jedi Luke releases). His right hand has a deep rose-colored deco to his blaster burn. The rest of Luke is molded in black, with no paint apps. His softgoods tunic is made from black cloth. His lightsaber is molded in translucent green, with silver, gold, and black paint decos. His lightsaber hilt is painted silver, black, and gold. The bone is molded in white, with a medium brown wash: 8/10. |
| |
| |
| |
| Articulation: |
| His neck, shoulders, elbows, knees, and ankles are all ball-jointed. His waist, hips, and wrists have standard planer-cut joints: 8.5/10. |
| |
| |
| |
| Accessories: |
| Jedi Luke comes with a removable belt, removable tunic, lightsaber, lightsaber hilt, large bone, and character-specific collectible coin. The lightsabers are still the POTJ-era Ben Kenobi molds, which could have easily been updated by using the ROTS Obi-Wan molds instead: 7/10. |
| |
| |
| |
| Packaging: |
| The new 30th Anniversary Collection card uses stylized "painted" imagery of the characters on the individual cards, with the new STAR WARS logo in stark white and cut in on an angle. It's a design that has divided collectors: you either love the new look or hate it! The film each figure comes from is at the bottom right edge of the card, while the character's number in the collection is on the blister insert. Luke Skywalker is figure number 25. The cardback features an actual screen shot from RETURN OF THE JEDI of Luke wielding the bone against the Rancor, and has text that explains the character's role in it and a "Character Profile": 8.5/10 |
| |
| |
| |
| Availability: |
| As of this writing, the figure has been appearing at retail for about three months, and is available from various online sources. At first Luke, being popular with kids and also with customizers looking to make a Death Star II duel version using it, sold out quickly at retail. Now, it's become rather common on the pegs: 8.5/10. |
| |
| |
| |
| Conclusion: |
| Luke Skywalker, as hero of the Original Trilogy, really deserves better action figures than what we've seen so far. Even in the 30th Anniversary Collection, his figures have really been lacking (despite the great Moisture Vaporator accessory in wave 3's Tatooine Luke). I can only hope fans and collectors get that ultimate Death Star II duel Luke in 2008. Until then, this sail barge-specific version rates only an 8.1/10. |
|
|
|
