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 has 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, 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will continue to do something to a new to an existing popular character that renders the current 'definitive' version outdated or obsolete.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. 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 much better than we had initially thought. Hasbro has impressed us with this figure and we are so happy to have it in our collection already. And while we haven't full digested it yet (that could take years), our initial thought is that this figure is pretty swell.

While Luke Skywalker is a retool of 2007's TAC Luke Skywalker (No. 25) figure, he has enough new parts to warrant this figure being considered new enough for us (actually he is a lot more than "new enough"). This time around, he has an all-new torso and head that were extremely well designed and have added more 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. While it is certainly more rounded than expected, it doesn't look too big for his medium frame by any means. From both front and side views, Luke looks lean, agile and has all of his parts completely in scale with each other. 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 aethetcially 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 achive 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 absolutely stunning. Just like the 2009 TLC Obi-Wan Kenobi (BD 44), we don't think Hasbro needs to worry about creating a better likeness of him any more. (But if you subscribe to our theory above, you may believe a better likeness is certainly more than possible in the future.) The hair is darker and parted to the right (as it should be) and the eyes and the bone structure in the face is pure perfection. We are not over-exaggerating here, this likeness of Luke is definitive (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. And this saying a lot when there is so much other great 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 brilliant action figure and we do believe that he should be added to your collection without any consideration. This one is a true no-brainer. And you need a definitive "Death Star II" Luke Skywalker figure in your collections. This figure is it!

UPDATE: (November 2009) Hasbro has updated the hair on this figure to dirty blond with reddish brown streaks.You can read our report on this HERE!