Luke Skywalker (Bespin Fatigues) - TSC - Vintage

Celebrate the legendary Star Wars films that changed the universe forever, with The Saga Collection. This collection brings to life the incredible story of good versus evil that captured our imagination and took us to a galaxy far, far away. The finest re-creations of the iconic Star Wars heroes and villains are back with incredible detail and premium features to commemorate each epic tale in the Star Wars saga. And, as a tribute to the dedication of Star Wars fans everywhere, we are re-releasing elements of the original packaging that harken back to the creation of Star Wars action figures, which began over 25 years ago with the Original Trilogy. May the Force be with you!

Hasbro certainly saved the best for last when it came to their very special vintage-styled figures. In 2004, the “vintage� line was introduced and gave us 12 core Star Wars characters with awesome likenesses and great articulation. Not all of the figures in the debut set were entirely perfect, but it was a great start of even better things to come. Hasbro gave the line a rest in 2005 so that efforts could be placed in marketing the final Star Wars film, Revenge Of The Sith, but obviously something awesome was cooking on the backburner and the line was brought back in time for 2006’s The Saga Collection. Just a little over a year later from the 2006 figures, Hasbro treated us to a second wave (even though we were well on our way enjoying the 30 (77-07) line) to finally close out The Saga Collection. And since most of the figures in the second wave were based on the fan favorite film The Empire Strikes Back, collectors were chomping at the bit to grab these truly special figures from store shelves. The figures were remarkable (with few exceptions) but we were shocked to hear some whispers that fans didn’t need to see another Bossk (Bounty Hunter) or Han Solo (Hoth Gear). What?! Some people are just never happy. These vintage-styled updates to the line were nothing short of incredible and we still consider them some of our favorites even today. Luke Skywalker was part of a 2007 Ultimate Galactic Hunt promotion for an exclusive set of seven coins that were housed in a very nice custom display box. Since these figures were released during the height of the 30 (77-07) line, coins were the pack-in premium and Hasbro thought it would be a nice tie in to this.

Luke Skywalker (Bespin Fatigues) was one of the vintage figures that didn’t deliver as well as the rest, but while he may not be the definitive version of this character in this outfit, the figure is certainly the best for now until he gets revisited. (Editor’s Note: An all-new Luke Skywalker (Bespin Fatigues) (VC04) was released in August 2010 as part of The Vintage Collection and it trounces all other previous releases!) Luke Skywalker comes with 14 points of articulation. But you’d likely be surprised that with all this potential movement that the figure isn’t as flexible as we had hoped. He naturally wants to lean back (and subsequently fall backwards) and trying to get his ankles to move and stay in a position to counteract this is quite the chore. His head sculpt is doesn’t look like Luke pretty much at all. We are surprised that Lucasfilm, Ltd. allowed this portrait to pass final stages. You know this is Luke because of the outfit, but don’t expect to recognize Luke by his head. We find this a shame, because they are so many tools out there that Hasbro could have used. The good news is that he has a ball-jointed head, so you should be able to find one that suit this figure’s needs much better. Hasbro designed a very nice functioning holster that both function well and stores hi weapon nicely and also lays flush against the figure’s body. Clearly a great deal of time went into engineering this figure and this actually bugs us more tha everyone thought that the head was good as is and that no further revisions were needed.

His fatigues have been sculpted brilliantly, but something went mildly awry with the paint job. Rather than have dirt (and grease) smears on them, he appears to have speckled moss from Dagobah instead. At first glance you don’t see them, but upon further inspection you realize that this may have not been the best final touches for this figure. And what’s more perplexing are the varying levels of green you will find on the different samples of this figure. We have found many with heavy amounts of green and then we have found just as many samples with little to no green. Something clearly didn’t run smoothly at the factory level. Still, if you get the right piece with an accurate paint job, the uniform is essentially flawless. Luke Skywalker is modestly accessorized with both his blue lightsaber (lit) and a BlasTech DL-44 heavy blaster pistol. Mimicking the 1980 vintage figure, it makes sense that this is all he needs to battle on Bespin. Obviously this figure is a must-have for your collection. All you need to do is find a better head out there and replace it with the one he came with and then you will have a perfect Luke Skywalker (Bespin Fatigues) action figure. The figure’s packaging of course will bring a tear to your eye and many collectors bought one to keep in the package (even loose collectors were tempted to do the same thing). The biggest complaint with this sub-line of figures was the price point. We actually thought it was alright to command $9.99 for the extra clamshell case and premium packaging, but of course the regular basic figures starting getting produced with the same 14 points of articulation. This created a bone of contention and Hasbro tucked away the vintage figures for a rainy day. Still, there is something special (besides the obvious) that just can’t be explained well enough in words on what makes the vintage-styled figures extraordinary. We think it was one of the best things Hasbro has ever given us.