The Good: Amazing articulation, Great coloring detail, Good sculpt, Great accessories, Good balance
The Bad: Very clean look, Lightsaber hilt does not attach to figure like it's supposed to.
The Basics: Luke Skywalker actually looks pretty incredible as the 2008 Legacy Collection concept figure from the Sandstorm deleted scene!
I'll admit right off the bad, I had absolutely no interest in buying another Luke Skywalker figure. I don't need any more; I have more than enough. I only picked up the 2008 Legacy Collection Luke Skywalker because it was the only figure I could find that had the last part I needed for the R4-D6 Build-A-Droid figure. Damn you, Hasbro for making me spend money on a craptastic Luke Skywalker just to complete a stupid droid!
Only Hasbro did not create a crappy Luke Skywalker with the Legacy Collection Jedi Luke. No, this concept figure is damn near perfect and before I discovered the accessory problem, it was only my innate crabbiness (and some sensibility) that was knocking the figure out of consideration for a perfect rating! The Legacy Collection BD2 Luke Skywalker is a concept figure. This concept figure is from the sandstorm scene which may now be seen in the bonus features of the complete Star Wars Saga Blu-Ray (reviewed here!).
For those unfamiliar with this Luke Skywalker, he helped liberate his friends from Jabba The Hutt in Return Of The Jedi (click here for the review of the film!). After Jabba was killed at the Pit Of Carkoon, Luke Skywalker and the Rebels return to the Millennium Falcon. En route, they get stuck in a sandstorm and wear essentially a head wrap and goggles to keep from going blind.
The Legacy Collection casting of Luke Skywalker is exceptionally articulated and includes the foul-weather gear from that deleted scene.
Basics
Luke Skywalker is incredibly detailed both in the sculpt and the coloring. Standing tall like a Jedi with confidence, this Luke Skywalker is 3 7/8" tall to the top of his head. Luke Skywalker was released in 2008 as part of Hasbro's Legacy Collection with the Droid Factory bonus and was part of a group of concept figures from that deleted scene. Luke Skywalker from the Legacy Collection appears on the Stormtrooper helmet-shaped card with the rounded plastic bubble.
This toy is a very cool sculpt, and Luke Skywalker has a versatile sculpt and looks good in virtually any pose. Luke Skywalker's hair is posed blowing back, as if he has just taken a blast of air to the face, so his eyes are visible. Luke has a determined look on his face and the sculpt of his face truly looks like Mark Hamill.
As for the coloring, Luke Skywalker is very good. This Luke Skywalker features mostly realistic shading and depth to the skin tones. Luke is missing realistic coloring for his lips, though his eyes are vivid blue with black pupils. The figure's hair is brown with black highlights and features fine sculpting that makes it look like actual hair as opposed to a strange helmet. His outfit has realistic coloring for the buckle on his belt. The only coloring detail that could be better would be any sort of sandblown brown. For a man caught in a sandstorm, this Luke is surprisingly clean!
Accessories
Luke Skywalker, powerful Jedi and Rebel leader, comes with only four accessories: his lightsaber, a lightsaber hilt, his Sandstorm headwrap, and goggles, in addition to the the droid part. The main accessory is Luke's trademark green Jedi lightsaber. At 2 7/8" the lightsaber is in perfect proportion to the rest of the figure. The 2 1/8" translucent green lightsaber is fused to the hilt. This hilt is the most detailed one that Hasbro has made, with a brass colored band near the emitter in addition to the usual silver and black bands!
The additional lightsaber hilt is equally detailed and is molded with even better attention to sculpted detail. The 3/4" lightsaber is designed to offer fans an option for posing and display that has Luke with the inactive lightsaber. Unfortunately, the lightsaber hilt features a tab designed to afix the lightsaber to Luke's waist. Sadly, the tab on the hilt does not actually fit into the hole in Luke's belt. With it too big, the hilt is almost worthless.
The goggles are a soft plastic band that fits around Luke's head. The goggles are black with clear lenses and they fit perfectly around Luke's head to look perfectly proportional and like it does in the deleted scene!
The soft plastic headwrap is brown and looks somewhat clean for a sandblasted headwrap. At 2 1/8" long by 1 1/4" the soft wrap accents the figure, but looks a little goofy when on. At least it fits perfectly!
This figure was part of the "Droid Factory" line of the Legacy Collection figures and the basic premise was that for every four figures you bought, you'd get a fifth which would be assembled from parts in each of the four toys in the collection. Luke Skywalker comes with rightl leg of the R4-D6 droid. This is a black and navy blue R2 unit with a more conical, as opposed to domed, head. The leg that comes with Luke Skywalker is black and is accented with silver-gray highlights for the side panels. The foot is hinged, allowing the R4-D6 figure to have an even greater range of motion. This leg plugs into the main barrel and looks incredibly detailed, in the molded details as well as the coloring ones; the foot has molded wires on it.
Playability
The four inch toy line was designed for play and Luke Skywalker is exceptional in that regard. This Legacy Collection figure has great articulation and surprisingly good balance. Luke stands in virtually any pose on his own and features holes for supporting the figure on playsets and accessories that have the corresponding pegs.
Luke Skywalker comes with fourteen points of articulation, most of which are not just simple swivel joints. Luke Skywalker has joints at the ankles, knees, groin socket, shoulders, elbows, wrists, neck, and waist and he twists at any of those points. The shoulders, elbows, ankles AND knees are all ball-and-socket joints. The head joint is on a ball joint and allows Luke to look in pretty much any direction. The hands are both removable, whether or not they are supposed to! This is one of the most articulated and poseable Luke Skywalker yet!
Collectability
Luke Skywalker is part of the 2008 Legacy Collection four-inch series, a series of Star Wars action figures that was not incredibly common, but Luke Skywalker has been done several times before and the same essential sculpt (with accessory) has been used since. As such, this is not an ideal investment figure.
Luke Skywalker is BD2 in the Legacy Collection.
Overview
Luke Skywalker might be one that I only bought because of the Build-A-Droid figure, but it turned out be an exceptionally cool Luke Skywalker figure. The great balance, articulation and detailing makes the figure a worthwhile investment.
For other Legacy Collection Build-A-Droid figures, please check out my reviews of:
GH1 Commander Gree
GH4 EVO Trooper
BD3 Sandstorm Chewbacca
BD7 Bane Malar
BD20 Saleucami Trooper
BD35 Pons Limbic
BD40 Captain Needa
BD43 Ugnaught Engineer
9/10
For other Star Wars toy reviews, please visit my index page!
© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
| | |
No comments:
Post a Comment