Luke Skywalker (Episode VI) - S.H. Figuarts

S.H. Figuarts is a new standard figure series that incorporates the Bandai action figure "Art" under the theme "Pursuing Character Expression through Humanoid Action."

The Luke Skywalker (Episode VI) S.H. Figuarts 6” action figure might be as good as it is bad. We know this couldn’t be more of a paradox in describing how well this figure ranks, but we don’t think there is a better way of doing so. For the most part, the S.H. Figuarts line has been impressing us beyond measure. From many points of view, the Luke Skywalker (Episode VI) figure does the same, but it also has some awkwardness/wonkiness that we can’t let go of because they affect the aesthetics of the figure greatly. But before we get into the “bad,” let us focus on the “good” first. Luke Skywalker (Episode VI) has a pretty decent likeness to actor Mark Hamill in his Jedi Knight outfit. The figure comes with an interchangeable “windblown hair” portrait, and both look like the character VERY MUCH. The frame of the figure is thin and athletic, but whether it’s because of the articulation or just the nature of the design, his body appears a bit too lanky. It’s not an overt weirdness, but it is particularly noticeable with some poses. Both included head sculpts seem to make up for this setback. The eyes and the patterns of the hair are simply amazing. But we’re not so sure if the metallic highlights given to the hair color work or fail. There is a natural sheen to the hair because of them, but at times they look more metal than natural fiber.

Luke Skywalker (Episode VI) is loaded with articulation obviously, but because of this, sometimes an avoidably harsh “cut” of the joints doesn’t do much to support the continuity of the body frame. You can see in our photo gallery where this is particularly true. At the same rate, Luke’s body couldn’t look more spot on and perfect. This figure creates a mixed bag of emotions for us because as phenomenal as we think it looks, there are times that we are asking ourselves, “What were they thinking?" Talk about being all over the map with how we assess this figure, right?! Luke Skywalker (Episode VI)’s skin tone is perfection. Even his hair color is nearly perfect (aside from those metallic highlights). Together they save this action figure from being disliked by us. We have to say the portraits are the strongest parts of this figure. The uniform looks great as well. But again, because of the massive amount of articulation, it doesn’t come off as smoothly as we had hoped. Maybe that’s just the nature of super-articulation, but S.H. Figuarts has been so successful with the “hiding” of articulation that Luke ends up being “set apart” from the rest in this regard. You’ll find that when you position the figure in very aggressive poses that he starts looking not as perfectly as he does right out of the box.

Luke Skywalker (Episode VI) comes with a wealth of accessories, and we are impressed with them all. Included are two interchangeable left and right hands. (All of the right hands are black gloved, and all of the left hands are bare skin.) He also comes with a complex lightsaber. The hilt breaks down into two pieces (to allow you to place it in his “lightsaber gripping” hand. But they’ve also included an interchangeable “lit” lightsaber attachment for obvious reasons. The hilt, in particular, is gorgeous, and we’re thrilled with how it turned out. Sadly, it’s not possible to attach the hilt in any way to the figure. This is a disappointment because they have included this feature with other figures in the line. We’re not sure why they didn’t give Luke Skywalker (Episode VI) the same treatment. There are other surprises too, like the interchangeable hair pieces. Strange, but cool. The biggest surprise, however, is the inclusion of the Darth Vader (Anakin Skywalker) portrait. This head sculpt has been designed to work with S.H. Figuarts’ Darth Vader figure. It is slightly too big but looks pretty impressive nonetheless. It allows fans of this line to complete a scene/diorama of the climax of Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi, so the inclusion of this extra head sculpt is extremely appreciated.