Luke Skywalker - R - Saga Legends (SL10)

Luke goes to the second Death Star for a final confrontation with Darth Vader. When Luke refuses to turn to the dark side, a devastating lightsaber battle ensues between father and son!

As if we thought things had changed and were on the up and up, distribution once again tanked miserably and the final wave of Saga Legends figures from the Star Wars [Darth Vader/Revenge Of The Sith] lineup were canceled for the USA. (Why do these figures get out everywhere else but the home country of the company that makes them? Is anyone else perplexed by this?) Anyway, Hasbro make most of this canceled wave a priority for the Rebels line look and three out of the four became part of the first wave. Other issues would still plague them. Hasbro was unaware that NO Rebels figures had even made it to retail. Huge multimedia display completely void of any Hasbro Rebels stuff sat for nearly months until the first signs of it because showing up around November. When the figure finally did hit, Luke Skywalker was at the top of the list to grab. And notably, Hasbro updated the paint operations a little so that Luke looked less doe-eyed and more like actor Mark Hamill. We’re still not completely sold on this line. Paint operations are still wonky, and even this “new” sample of Luke Skywalker doesn’t look completely acceptable to us. Aside from face issues, his outfit is very dull (when compared to the first release), so we’re not entirely sure what’s going on anymore. But let’s recap our thoughts about this sculpt, because it truly is a very nice figure from this perspective. Don’t misunderstand us please. We don’t think this is the right direction for Star Wars figures at all. But we’re attempting to be a bit more objective here and measure the figures on its merits, not our desires. Yes, we have no idea who we are anymore either.

With the re-release of Luke Skywalker (SL10 this time), Hasbro takes an iconic version of Luke Skywalker but with a detail that can only been seen towards the very end of the film (at about the time when the Emperor tries to kill him). During this time in Return Of The Jedi, Luke’s shirt opens up revealing a white flap. It’s not like this version hasn’t been attempted a couple of times in the basic figure line, but dare we say that this is the very first time that Hasbro has produced the most screen accurate version of this character…. in a kids’ line no less? Are kids even aware of this little nugget of detail? It pains us still to say it, but Luke Skywalker is without a doubt the nicest version of this specific angle of Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker the basic figure line has seen. The proportions are great. Luke Skywalker has a fairly excellent sculpt throughout. Yes, he only comes with five points of articulation, but the silhouette of his body frame is remarkably the most accurate we have ever seen of Luke Skywalker from Return Of The Jedi. He is thin yet athletic, has a tapered outline, and actually looks like actor Mark Hamill. Thank goodness they update the eyes. Luke Skywalker is posed very statically, but it’s a style we prefer when articulation is sacrificed. There is no “one foot in front of the other” action pose so displaying him in your collection will be a piece of cake. Luke Skywalker comes with a lightsaber accessory. The blade is fully lit, and it appears that although it’s still too light, the color looks a little bit greener this time around. It’s not the end of the world of course, but in a line where so many details are forfeited, it would have been sublime to get an accurately colored lightsaber blade.

Aside from that Luke Skywalker is what he is. And to be very honest, he would make a fine addition in all collections: kids’ and/or collectors’. As mentioned above, where the figure lacks is in the face, but that is all due to sloppy paint operations. The sclera of each eye is much too big and starts going outside the outlines of the eyes and the pupil/iris combinations takes up much of the oversized sclera (in both eyes) too. If Hasbro could find a way to tighten up these paint operations we would be thrilled. It would soften the discontent we have for these simply articulated action figures a little more. Although rare in the line, this isn’t the first time Hasbro has attempted this version of Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight) in the line. There are two other instances. The first version was released as 2003’s SW [S - P3] Luke Skywalker (Throne Room Duel) (’03 #17) basic figure. The latest version (not show in the photo gallery), aside from the Saga Legends version, is 2009’s LC Luke Skywalker (BD16) figure. The Legacy Collection figure really was a failure if we’re honest because it came with a much too bulky chest (thanks to the silly removable chest section so you could recreate his look with flap up or flap down. While super-articulated, Luke Skywalker (BD16) was hardly as poseable as his articulation led you to believe. So where does this leave us? We have to concede. Luke Skywalker (SL10) is perhaps the nicest version of “flap down” Luke Skywalker [Jedi Knight] that Hasbro’s basic figure line offers. It’s certainly not perfect, but we believe it even supersedes the super-articulated 2009 Legacy Collection figure as well.