Luke Skywalker (Tatooine) [2010 PGM Exclusive] - Mini Busts

Luke Skywalker was an adventure-seeking youth on his homeworld of Tatooine, piloting his T-16 Skyhopper through Beggar's Canyon. In addition to sharing his father's natural piloting skills, Skywalker developed a knack for mechanical repairs while looking after droids and fixing the moisture vaporators.

We have a bone to pick with the folks at Gentle Giant Ltd. Why is it when they go above and beyond to make unique and special products for Premier Guild Members that they don’t thoroughly explains things to either use it as a marketing tool to entice non-PGMs or make current PGMs even happier? OK, sure they give a cursory description in the product overview and they may even go into a little bit more detail in their marketing solicitations, but they really don’t go into the full detail they need to in order to make a successful impact. A case in point here is the 2010 Premier Guild exclusive Luke Skywalker (Tatooine) Mini Bust. This is not your ordinary PGM exclusive variant. The Mini Bust is so much more than a repaint and the changes here are way beyond an additional accessory. Gentle Giant Ltd. actually sculpted a completely new version of Luke Skywalker (when compared to the standard release Luke Skywalker (Tatooine) Mini Bust – the one with the lightsaber) that looks hyper-amazing and comes with the coolest accessory of any Mini Bust released to date.

Check out our expanded photo gallery in this review and check out the side by side comparisons of the regular and exclusive versions of the Luke Skywalker (Tatooine) Mini Busts and you’ll see that they borrow very little from each other id anything. Upon careful inspection comparing them, we noticed some similarities in the torso, but the angle and sculpt of the head, chest (and the robe laying against the chest), the arms and height arm is held above the head are completely different. As a bonus, the “T-16 model” version of Luke Skywalker (Tatooine) also comes with macrobinoculars attached to his waistline. A great deal of care went into making these pieces unique and it’s a shame that this wasn’t clearly spelled out. We appreciate the extent of the distance Gentle Giant Ltd. goes to bring truly exclusive pieces to the Premier Guild membership, but this was a really optimal opportunity to grab the attention of the general public and pull them into the fold. We’re so enamored with this piece that it’s quickly become one of our most favorites efforts to date by Gentle Giant Ltd. They has made an incredible collectible here and we hope they make similar things like this in the future.

Even the Item No. and UPC are different for this pieces. It’s a shame that they didn’t give it a unique name. And it was also a mistake to refer to this as just the PGM version of the regular general release Luke Skywalker (Tatooine) Mini Bust because these are two completely different collectibles. You need to have both in your collection to have all of the “poses” and parts. The removable left arm attachment with the T-16 model is brilliant. The details on the “toy” in his hand is remarkable. It makes you wish you had your own model to play with in your hands. The colors are flawless and even the lion crest is perfectly placed and replicated. We also appreciate how his left arm has been molded into a lower position so he can “fly” the model closer to his head and body. The Luke Skywalker (Tatooine) Mini Bust with the lightsaber is neat in many respects, but his arm is much too outstretched and it almost looks exaggerated. Besides, that general release version isn’t nearly as interesting as the PGM version. If you can find this piece, it will cost you an arm and a leg. You’ll have to decide if it’s worth it, but let is tell you that this is one of their finest pieces yet. We love it. (Editor's Note: Special thanks to Gentle Giant Ltd. for providing us with our piece for this review.)