Luke Skywalker - SW [S] - Basic

We weren’t exaggerating when we said the Emperor Palpatine/Luke Skywalker/Emperor’s Royal Guard TARGET exclusive three-pack from the Star Wars [The Last Jedi] line was one of the greatest 3.75” scaled products Hasbro has made. Sure, the figures weren’t super-articulated, but the sculpts, and the likenesses exceeded expectations. Not perfect, perfection didn’t matter all that much. It was great seeing a product that focuses on the Original Trilogy that included a main hero, a main villain and a classic army-builder. Hasbro must be proud of their accomplishment with this set too because they’ve re-released Luke Skywalker as part of the Star Wars [Solo] Force Link 2.0 basic figure line. There are no differences that exist between the figure in the TARGET exclusive set and this release. We are concerned that most collectors purchased the three-pack, so there will be little desire to pick up this figure as a single basic carded release. Also, Luke Skywalker is part of case assortment that likely will clog pegs because of the repetition. It isn’t a retail or collector friendly group of characters that will perform well at retail. We are concerned that this wave of figures won’t perform the way it needs to sustain the line.

Love them or hate them, the 5POA figures lately have provided the collecting community with the best/finest likenesses of the characters they produce in this format. This is especially true of the Original Trilogy characters. And although you can, generally speaking, ascribe five points of articulation to them because of the approach made with this set, Luke Skywalker comes with seven points of articulation as determined by the inclusion of swivel wrists. It’s correct to feel that as a longtime collector that Hasbro has shortchanged us here when it comes to the figures’ articulation, but hopefully with the opinion that the likeness of Luke Skywalker has exceeded our expectations, Hasbro can take some notes and develop these beautiful sculpts into new super-articulated action figures for the future. They must do this. It’s the only way. It’s not fair making an action figure look this fantastic and not update the sculpt, so it’s super-articulated. Hasbro would need to update some of the paint applications too. Luke Skywalker doesn’t have orange hair. We may never understand why so many of Hasbro’s figures of Luke Skywalker come with orange hair. It’s a consistent and egregious mistake.

Luke Skywalker is reminiscent of the 1983 figure. Luke Skywalker has a great head sculpt. It’s one of the best “Episode VI” portraits we have seen in 3.75” scale, and it blows away the head sculpt on most previously released Luke Skywalker action figures. It’s that good. Luke Skywalker does, however, have a VERY funky pose. It seems that Hasbro wanted to take a small risk and not play it so safe when it came to his sculpting, but the final product is a very wonky action figure, sadly. With some patience, you can get Luke Skywalker to stand unassisted and look good doing so, but for the most part, he looks uncomfortable in many of the poses you’re able to attain with this figure. But even with these complaints, the figure still looks great. He is in perfect scale in the 3.75” format, his silhouette is completely accurate, and his new lightsaber accessory is just perfect. Luke Skywalker delivers. There is no way you’re going to be disappointed, aside from articulation issues. Whether we needed to see him released once again in the basic figure line is another topic. We don’t feel that was necessary. But we believe if found at retail that he will perform well.