Luke Skywalker (Bespin) - RC - Basic

The Star Wars Retro Collection is inspired by the 1980s STAR WARS figures and features original figure design and detailing! Continue your collection from the galaxy far, far away!

It’s the 40th Anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back. So, that means that 2020 will be a year full of commemorative action figures and events to mark the four-decade lifeline of the greatest episode in the Star Wars saga. Many feel the film keeps the franchise alive. Hasbro resurrected the Retro Collection and chose six “extremely safe” action figures to reproduce, replicate, and ultimately reissue. Yet, all of them are all-new because they’re made from the original figures, and not the original tooling of the action figures from the late seventies and early eighties. We love the Retro Collection, but Hasbro doesn’t take too many risks with it. And then characters you’d expect to see release never see the light of day. We’re hoping that Hasbro has plans to release a second wave of characters based on The Empire Strikes Back, a third wave overall, because there are so many missing and important characters including FX-7 (Medical Droid), 2-1B, Imperial Stormtrooper (Hoth Battle Gear), Han Solo (Bespin Outfit), IG-88 (Bounty Hunter), and Bossk (Bounty Hunter). For us, all of these action figures are necessities for the Retro Collection and require an immediate release. But for now, let’s look at another popular figure: Luke Skywalker (Bespin).

Before we begin, why does the current Hasbro Team shorten the names of the classic Kenner action figure? The original 1980 figure is called Luke Skywalker (Bespin Fatigues). But for the Retro Collection, Hasbro named the figure Luke Skywalker (Bespin). That feels a bit unjust. Thankfully, they did a fantastic job of recreating the original details of the card back. The coloring is different, but all of the elements are in place. The green color for the “name pill” is a little off, but at least Hasbro tried. Their efforts are noted. Our only desire would be to see Hasbro release variants with the alternate card back (the one with Luke Skywalker against a blue background). They don’t seem willing to acknowledge the other card back variations from the Kenner line. And we find this disappointing. For the Retro Collection Luke Skywalker (Bespin) figure, Hasbro opted to use the “yellow” hair version of the action figure. As you know, Kenner implemented a running change to the action figure by repainting the hair to tan (or light brown). This running change made the action figure more accurate, so we’re not sure why Hasbro opted to go with the first (and screen-inaccurate) version instead.

Hasbro was also certain to add both weapons with Luke Skywalker (Bespin). Included with the figure are replicas of the yellow lightsaber and black DL-44 blaster. If you recall, most action figures from THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK line comes with blue-colored accessories. So, Hasbro made a “mistake” here by including a black weapon with this figure for the Retro Collection release. Still, at least they include the right weapons with these figures. There was a risk that they’d screw that up, but they didn’t. Currently exclusive to Walmart this time, it’s a good bet we can expect this wave of figures to see release in the Fan Channel in the future. Some argue that the $9.99 MRSP is too high for these action figures, but we believe they’re well worth the money thanks to the careful attention paid the “old school” techniques made to the figures, as well as the replica Kenner packaging. And while we’re personally having no luck removing the Retro Collection stickers from the front of the card back, others seem to do it with relative ease. Now that we have Luke Skywalker (Bespin), the Retro Collection feels incomplete without Leia Organa (Bespin Gown) and Han Solo (Bespin Outfit). Hopefully, they’ll be future releases.