Luke Skywalker - SW [TPM 3D] - Movie Heroes (MH21)

Luke Skywalker destroys an AT-AT walker at the Battle of Hoth. He attaches a zip line to an Imperial walker to pull himself up to the vehicle's undercarriage. After planting an explosive in the walker, Luke releases the zip line and drops to the ground. Moments later, the bomb detonates and rips apart the walker.

So, are Movie Heroes figure coming with less articulation or not? If you’re Luke Skywalker then the answer to that question is a resounding no. Hasbro has changed the way they are presenting figures in kid-focused lines. Articulation has gone out the window and core character will be coming to the buying population is a more simplified manner. However, in a surprising move, Hasbro dusted off one of their most popular collector-focused Luke Skywalker (the one in his snowspeeder pilot uniform) action figures of all time to also bring into the Movie Heroes line. We are actually happy to see a figure this well-designed makes its way into this line, but we do have to confess that it might not be entirely a great move for collectors. You see, Hasbro made him inferior (our words) for his placement in the Movie Heroes. Movie Heroes is about ultimate play value for kids and Hasbro is doing their hardest to include some action features in the figures and weapons for the figures they include in this line. And even in spite our early judgmental tone, Luke Skywalker is “fun” at worst and “not for collectors” at best. Luke Skywalker action figures tend to always remain popular and no matter how much articulation he includes, he is always a surprising hit with both kids and collectors. Hasbro felt the need to add more play value to this super-articulated figure and this is the point where the figure may become lackluster for collectors. Or you can just accept him as a kids’ figure now.

Luke Skywalker quite honestly isn’t all too different from his original release. He is a retool and repaint of the hugely successful 2009 LC Luke Skywalker (BD51) figure. There are more changes to this version than you may be aware. If we had to choose, we’d say that the 2012 figure has a better paint job. Fine details like in the face, the hair line, the silver buckles, snaps and ammo garter have been tremendously cleaned up for this release. In fact, the tightened up paint job makes the 2009 figure look a little too inferior. But more importantly, Hasbro retooled the midsection of Luke Skywalker in an effort to create a new hole on a pouch that hangs on his belt to accept the included zip line accessory. The pouch is wider this time around yet it isn’t obtrusive. However, the zip line backpack is. The backpack fits along the waistline on the lower back snuggly. At one end is a grappling hook and at the other hand is a handle, or magnetic device so Luke can rappel himself up to the body of the AT-AT walker, both secured by thread. Also of note, there is an added plug that sticks out from the left side of Luke Skywalker’s waist. We’re sure it works in tandem with the zip line backpack, but we’ve been unsuccessful to figure out how it interacts with the figure. (We’ll leave that up to MacGuyver, we mean Jayson Krebsbach, from Yakface.com to figure that out.)

The paint job is different on Luke Skywalker (MH21) as compared to the 2009 figure. Of course any retooling of a figure is deemed as new by us anyhow, but a repaint qualifies as this as well. The orange insulated suit is a unique shade of orange, although we have to admit that it’s pretty darn close to the original figure. You don’t see the disparity in the shades of orange used like we did when comparing the 2009 LC Luke Skywalker (BD51) figure against 2011’s TVC Luke Skywalker (Dagobah Landing) (VC44) figure. Most notable however is the color of Luke’s hair and the details in his face. Luke now sports dark brown hair instead of blond and obviously his eyebrows have been changed to match this new color change too. If you plan on collecting this figure, you may be happy to know that Hasbro included a full lit lightsaber for this release, yet decided to omit the lightsaber hilt. But between the 2009 version and this one, you should be able to complete a figure. We know. That wasn’t humorous at all. Why can’t Hasbro give us all of the appropriate accessories, right? Luke also comes with the grappling hook gun that also came with the original figure as well. The hole on this figure’s lower back is a deal breaker. Had Hasbro eliminated this update, we might have been inclined to say that this was a step up in the paint operations department. But if you collect one of everything, then add this figure to your wish list.