Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi (1983) (Luke Skywalker/Chewbacca) - Skywalker Saga Commemorative Edition

The 3.75" 5POA line is dead, but for one reason or another, Hasbro decided a retailer exclusive focusing on 3.75” 5POA action figures would be part of the 2019 lineup. As you know, the 3.75” 5POA figure and replaced it with a highly-articulated 5" Galaxy of Adventures line. The latter is a wonderful collection of old and new Star Wars characters, but the animated style isn't entirely appealing to all collectors. The nine sets of 3.75" 5POA figures commemorate the celebration of all three trilogies. Disney and Lucasfilm consider them the Skywalker Saga as a whole, and with a series of two-packs, they're celebrating the legacy. Not all that different from the Commemorative DVD or Commemorative Blu-ray sets of years’ past, Hasbro designed this "GOLD" celebratory line that reduced the content to only two figures. Cast in gold-colored plastic and painted in a glossy and sparkling gold paint finish. Displayed as the Skywalker Saga Commemorative Edition, this line of figures (except for the Episode IX set, which has three figures) contains two high-profile characters in solid gold (with the accessories also included in gold) that are housed them in deluxe black and gold packaging. While we’re critical of the figures, we have to admit that the packaging is truly exceptional. It may be the only reason collectors will consider this line. The reverse side of the card back contains an episode-specific montage of the Star Wars film it memorializes. What's more, you can line them up together to create a stunning “holographic-like” mural that paints a beautiful picture of the Skywalker Saga as a whole, without any breaks or interruption. You can see each "uninterrupted" trilogy-specific grouping in our Photo Gallery by Prequel Trilogy, Original Trilogy, and Sequel Trilogy. Or you can see the whole collage HERE.

Wave 1 comprises characters from all three Original Trilogy films. The three two-packs in this grouping include Darth Vader and Stormtrooper (from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope), Han Solo and Princess Leia (from Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back), and Luke Skywalker and Chewbacca (from Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi). The latter is perhaps the oddest figure combination in the entire series. Why wasn’t Luke Skywalker paired with Darth Vader? Or Emperor Palpatine? Or someone from Jabba’s Palace? While the second wave focuses on the Prequel Trilogy, wave 1 (the Original Trilogy) picks figures from some of the more recent action figure lines, like Rogue One and Star Wars [The Last Jedi] and Star Wars [Solo] lines for example. These newer lines contain figures where Hasbro aggressively included a few extra points of articulation as compared to the standard 5POA format. Some characters are surprisingly well-articulated. Typically, Hasbro chose characters (with only a couple of exceptions) that directly interact with each other in the films. But again, this Luke Skywalker and Chewbacca set is a tad bizarre. They were together throughout most of the film, but indirectly, not directly and not in the third act of the movie. Regardless of who is packed together, it’s interesting to see so many characters all one uniform color: gold. Most collectors are familiar with the base sculpts of the figures chosen for these sets. We’re impressed with how much detail is etched into them. The solid gold plastic allows you to see the details previously unseen in the tooling. Interestingly, some figures look better in gold than they did properly colored. It’s a shame that so many of the original paint jobs didn’t meet our expectations.

Luke Skywalker is based on the figure from the well-received Star Wars [The Last Jedi] TARGET exclusive multipack. It’s a decent representation of Luke Skywalker Now its sculpt is cast in a golden plastic with a shiny gold finish and points out how well-detailed the figure is. Luke Skywalker only comes with a lightsaber, but the figure has more articulation than the standard 5POA figure. With relatively simple articulation, Luke Skywalker doesn't do much but stand "pretty" in this commemorative line. Chewbacca is less-articulated. Based on another figure in the Star Wars [The Last Jedi] line, the figure looks a little bit better cast in gold plastic. Chewbacca’s features are forever immortalized in gold now. Chewbacca comes with a bowcaster (also cast in gold), but the figure doesn’t hold it well because of poorly tooled hands. Because of limited articulation, the figures’ poses are a little too stiff, but as previously mentioned, Chewbacca is from a line where more articulation was added to the tooling but not applied here. Both figures in this set interact with each other, but their pairing is odd. And the likenesses are notably better than the figures from the 2013 era. Still, is there a need for solid gold figures with minimal articulation? We’re not so sure about that. Every last part of these figures is cast in the same gold plastic, enhanced by a final gold coat of paint. These will chip and peel over time we imagine, depending on how much abuse they sustain. Still, for what they are, they look fantastic. If you didn’t know better, you might believe for a moment that these figures are cast in metal. Regardless, we’re not going to defend these figures’ existence. We think there are better ways to celebrate the Skywalker Saga. And until we get the long-awaited super-articulated versions of characters (like an original A New Hope version of Princess Leia Organa), collectors will continue to have unrest. Hasbro is getting some important figures out in the line, but their pace will never be fast enough for collectors.