Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight) - Premium Format Figures

Following his defeat at Cloud City and Darth Vader's stunning revelation, Luke makes his recovery in the care of Leia and the Rebellion's finest medics. His new artificial hand is a sobering reminder of the power of the dark side, and his near brush with death. Resolving to complete his training in the face of these challenges, the young Jedi returns to Dagobah to seek answers from his old master Yoda, but arrives in time to find the ancient Jedi nearing the end of his long life. With his master's passing, Luke becomes the last of the Jedi... but a new hope is kindled when Luke learns of his twin sister, Leia, and the promise they both hold for the return of the Jedi.

Upon Luke's return, the Rebellion launches its final, desperate attack on the Empire, a perilous strike against the new Death Star. Luke and his friends form a covert strike team to disarm the Empire's crucial defenses on the forest moon of Endor. Luke feels the powerful presence of his father, Darth Vader, but rather than sewing doubt and fear, the Sith Lord's proximity only strengthens the young Jedi's determination to confront him one more time. Staking everything on his belief in the innate goodness that must reside somewhere within the Dark Lord, Luke leaves his friends and seeks out Darth Vader, giving himself up to the Empire as a prisoner.

Confronting his father, Luke appeals to the man Vader used to be, the courageous Jedi Knight, Anakin Skywalker, but it is only when he makes the ultimate sacrifice, refusing to fight Vader in the full knowledge that this will mean his own death, that Luke's appeal reaches the Dark Lord's heart. Turning on his Emperor, Vader saves Luke and destroys the Sith in one action, thereby fulfilling his destiny and securing the future of the Jedi. But it is Luke's resolute belief in Vader and his commitment to the Jedi ideals that have truly saved the galaxy and the soul of Anakin Skywalker.

We are completely impressed with the very awesome Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight) Premium Format figure from Sideshow Collectibles. And it’s not because we think it has an incredible likeness to Mark Hamill, because while it’s very good, it’s not perfect. Instead, we are ecstatic and absolutely adoring over the versatility that Sideshow has incorporated into a “figure” instead. Because Premium Format figures are essentially much closer to a statue than an articulated “toy”, it isn’t too often that they come with “options” and if they do, it is just one extra option, nothing more. Not only can you recreate his exact look throughout the various scenes of Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi, you can also have him brandish the different weapons he had in these scenes to make it completely accurate as well. Sideshow normally doesn’t include so many switch-out parts with their high-end figures, but it looks like all of that is changing with the release of Luke Skywalker. The figure has an excellent likeness to Luke Skywalker, but the portrait looks much better at certain angles than others. We would say that a little bit more tweaking on the portrait would have made this figure basically flawless, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t extraordinary as is. Sideshow’s products are so phenomenal that it makes us hold them up to “ridiculous” standards now. But you will be thrilled with the final product because on top of a great likeness and awesome Jedi Knight uniform that we also are blessed with a mild action stance than also fits into every scene in the film one way or another. In other words, you won’t be forced to keep him dressed one way or another due to the pose. It is generic enough to apply to a variety (if not all) of scenes in the film.

Luke Skywalker’s vest is beautiful. Made from a material that copies the look and feel of fine linen, Sideshow has expertly tailored the vest with hidden Velcro strips on the underside to allow for a quick change and remove it for other posing options. It has also been dyed wonderfully and the final piece comes across as heather brown. There are lots of flecks and mottles in it and give it a very realistic “lived in” look. We are thoroughly impressed with the vest alone. The black-gloved lightsaber hand attachment piece may not work the best for this character since he didn’t put the glove on until on his way to Dagobah. But if you can let this small detail go, you get one more option for display purposes. The real bonus is the exclusive hand attachment which includes a skiff guard blaster. When you pose Luke in his vest with this blaster it just looks incredible. We recommend getting the exclusive version for this reason alone. But if you do pose the “vested” version of Luke with his signature lightsaber (which has an awesome hilt by the way), you may or not be happy to know that as a bonus, Sideshow incorporated electronics which light it up in bright green. We aren’t huge fans of electronics in the high end collectibles, but it is a nice touch for those that do. This feature of course looks much better in the dark, but if you enjoy it in the dark, then you can’t enjoy your figure. We are still waiting for Sideshow to “copy” a lightsaber effect that was first seen on the Gentle Giant Ltd. chrome Darth Vader statue. That is the best lightsaber to date on a high-end collectible and it “burns” white hot in the middle with red surrounding the outside of the white area. If Sideshow can somehow implement this feature in their Premium Format figure then we will all be very happy collectors.

Once the vest is removed, you can start “assembling” Luke Skywalker as he appeared on the second Death Star to face Darth Vader, fondly known as Luke Skywalker (DSII). And this is where this figure gets really cool! Not only has Sideshow replicated his outfit perfectly in this mode, they have incorporated a magnet system to keep his flap up and down (depending upon your choice) to reveal the white undershirt beneath. There are no wires to bend and no wrinkles to iron out. The magnet does wonders to make this transition easy and seamless for the collector. We give Sideshow cheers of praise for this amazing incorporation of smart engineering which is aesthetically perfect for this figure. And this figure also gets better. Sideshow has also utilized Velcro to keep the best around his waist. While the actual holes and plugs on previous belts were very nice, overuse made the holes bigger or the belt brittle. Those worries can now be cast aside as this new enhancement hugs the belt close to his body without wearing it down. And for a figure that has this many outfit changes, you be rest assured that changing his clothing around won’t affect these pieces. We are sure everyone would have loved to see a Jedi robe on Luke Skywalker. But we think that because the way this figure was designed (in a tame action pose) omission of the cloak is just fine. We are not sure how good the drape of a cloak would have looked in this “walking” stance anyhow. Luke’s body form is very nicely done too. He is lean and athletic and his outfit is finished off nicely with his excellently sculpted boots. Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight) is a relatively simple Premium Format Figure, but he ranks pretty high as one of Sideshow’s best. And if you own the Slave Leia Premium Format Figure, this one is a no-brainer.