Luke Skywalker (Rebel Commander: Bespin) - Heroes Of The Rebellion - 1:6 Scale Figures

The only son of Padme Amidala and Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker is the Jedi Order's last remaining hope in restoring balance to the galaxy. Unaware of his own true potential or parentage, Luke has sworn himself to the rebel cause and fights valiantly alongside his compatriots in the Battle of Hoth. It is there that Luke has a vision of his fallen friend and mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi, who instructs Luke to travel to the Dagobah system and seek the great and powerful Jedi Master Yoda.

On Dagobah, Luke learns much about the Force under Yoda's tutelage. Although intent on completing his training and becoming a Jedi Knight, Luke is plagued by visions of his friends in desperate danger. Luke is right; his friends have fallen into the trap set for them by Darth Vader. Fleeing from the Empire after the destruction of the rebel base on Hoth, Leia and Han find seeming refuge at Cloud City on Bespin. Darth Vader awaits the heroes on Bespin, and has set a trap, planning to freeze Luke in carbonite for safe transport to his lord and master, the Emperor. Although Yoda urges Luke to remain on Dagobah, he is compelled to rescue his friends. Luke journeys to Bespin, determined to save Han and Leia, and falls into Vader's hands.

Finding Han Solo frozen in carbonite and Leia in the hands of Imperial Forces, Luke stands alone against Darth Vader. The Sith Lord's assault is fast and furious, and Luke is forced into the inner structure of Cloud City. Vader corners Luke on a slender platform above a great abyss, allowing the young rebel little hope of escape. After taking Luke's right hand, Darth Vader reveals himself to be Luke's father, and tempts Luke to join him, to surrender himself to the Dark Side. Horrified, Luke refuses Darth Vader and free-falls into the bowels of Cloud City. Although narrowly escaping with his life, Luke's commitment to the Jedi ideals and the rebel cause are greatly strengthened by the encounter.

By the time Sideshow Collectibles got into their second full year of manufacturing 1:6 Scale Star Wars figures, they really starting digging deeply into the films and picked some of the most iconic characters in their most popular outfits. The year we’re specifically talking about is 2007 and it was a special year for multiple reasons. Luke Skywalker (Rebel Commander: Bespin) came in time for Thanksgiving of that year, but collectors were treated to announcements of Han Solo (Smuggler: Tatooine), Leia Organa (Imperial Senator: Alderaan), and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Jedi Master) (Episode IV) to celebrate 30 years of Star Wars. But Sideshow Collectibles also wanted to represent the other films and aspects of Star Wars and they also premiered Asajj Ventress (Dark Side Disciple) and this Luke Skywalker figure. Luke Skywalker (Rebel Commander: Bespin) is obviously one of the most popular versions of Luke collectors would ever want. Sideshow did a decent job on the figure from the neck down. But we feel that things go awry with the figure’s portrait. It’s not terrible, but we just don’t understand how Hasbro can make a tiny 3.75” scale head of Luke Skywalker look so much better than a much larger one-sixth scaled interpretation of him. That absolutely escapes us. It may be best to focus on the positive aspects of Luke because in all fairness the figure is very cool. Besides his nicely fitted fatigues, Luke comes with a plethora of accessories that complements him beautifully.

Luke Skywalker (Rebel Commander: Bespin) uses fully articulated short male Art S. Buck body type with over 30 points of articulation. His outfit is comprised of a jacket, pants, tank-top undershirt, boots and detailed belt with functioning holster. His accessories include a blaster pistol, lightsaber hilt, lit lightsaber as well as two sets of hands. And Sideshow even included a very tiny “stump” attachment so you can recreate the loss of his hand thanks to Darth Vader’s swift lightsaber. (It’s the most difficult attachment to affix onto this figure so be prepared for some mighty aggravation.) The exclusive to this for this figure is an auto-tourniquet and it has been very well designed. The figure has wonderful flexibility, but if you have other figures that utilize the Art S. Buck body type, you are well aware that it does have some limitations and weird tendencies. For example, when you pose one arm, you’ll see the other arm move as if they are somehow attached. And sometimes the joints don’t lock in place and makes for posing the figure very difficult. Luke Skywalker looks great when completely clothes in his Bespin fatigues of course. But if you should choose to display him with his tank-top on and jacket off, you may not like the aesthetics of the figure. (All of the points of articulation obviously look inhuman and really need the jacket covering them in order not to look odd. Let us be clear. The figure looks great fully clothed and with accessories in hand and should impress fans of The Empire Strikes Back.

It seems Sideshow was at a crossroads when it came to the way the figure was decorated. It looks like he is wearing some sort of make-up. His skin texture had a reddish hue to it almost to the point of looking like makeup and it would be our wager that Sideshow was trying to find a happy medium in between his arrival on Dagobah and his battle-damaged appearance after a few blows from Darth Vader. Obviously there are many stages of how Luke looks in his Dagobah/Bespin fatigues, so it must have been difficult to reach a decision. This figure definitely does not have the best likeness of Luke Skywalker but where Sideshow has lacked in the face sculpt, they have more than made up for it with the outfit and accessories. It would be nice to see them revisit this figure at a later date where they can provide a better head sculpt and clean up some of the deco. We don’t think there is a need to revisit the costume. Sideshow has absolutely succeeded here. A figure that has a large edition size, there was ample opportunity to attain this figure for your collection. The exclusive version was limited to 1,980 pieces and the regular edition saw a production run of 5,000 pieces. Sideshow Collectibles is really branching out far across the Star Wars galaxy to give us some really great characters. We think they have a while to go before we feel they have mastered the likenesses of the human characters, but at least they are getting the outfits perfectly. This may not be a jaw-dropping version of Bespin Luke Skywalker, but it is definitely good.