Luke Skywalker - TFA - Armor Up (Desert)

Convinced he can turn his father away from the dark side of the Force, Luke Skywalker surrenders to Darth Vader and is brought before the Emperor.

As if we haven’t seen the original 2014 SW [DV/ROTS] Luke Skywalker (SL14) repacked enough times since its original release so far, Hasbro may have finally reached our saturation point. Now part of the Armor Up series, Luke Skywalker, based on some loose interpretation of the deleted sandstorm scenes from Return Of The Jedi. Well, that’s our interpretation of the figure. With very different paint operations in the face than its original 2014 release, Luke Skywalker has not only been carried forward into the Rebels Saga Legends line, it was also released as part of the Digital Release multipacks (that Hasbro to date has never officially announced). The figure itself is actually not terrible, but we’re not sure if The Force Awakens Armor Up Luke Skywalker looks as good as he did when he was revised for the Rebels line. There may be no need to purchase this figure at all if you’re not interested in the Armor Up accessory, because everything else has been available multiple times beforehand.

Hasbro once again 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 as different sculpts 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? But does it pair well with an accessory that seems to be inspired from the earliest events of the film, when he was on Tatooine? Maybe that doesn’t matter too much to you. Nonetheless, Luke Skywalker has a very nice sculpt. Yes, he only comes with five points of articulation, but the silhouette of his body frame is perhaps 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 resembles Mark Hamill. Hasbro has found a way to not destroy the sculpt with poor paint operations this time around.

Luke Skywalker comes with a lightsaber accessory in addition to the Armor Up piece. The blade is fully lit, and it appears to us that Hasbro has made the blade a little greener when compared to past releases. 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’, but you probably own him multiple ways by now. Hasbro has got to start repacking the same figures back to back like they’re doing now. These figures get old much too quickly. We still have to concede that this Luke Skywalker is probably 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. But the extra cost for the Armor Up accessory really puts us off because even with that accessory this figure should retail for no more than $7.99. And until Hasbro can reconcile that with us we’re really going to have a hard time swallowing this bitter pill.