Luke Skywalker And Princess Leia Organa (Swing To Freedom) - POTJ - Silver Anniversary (1977-2002)

Twenty-five years ago, we were introduced to the heroic adventure fought a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. This incredible saga known as Star Wars exploded into our lives, captivating us with its epic struggle between the forces of good and evil. As a celebration of 25 years, we offer the essence of Star Wars – courage in the face of overwhelming odds, the strong bonds of friendship, and the inevitable confrontation between good and evil – within these special figures.

Luke and Leia, trapped in the Death Star by pursuing Stormtroopers, attempt a daring escape as they swing to freedom across an endless chasm. Using only Luke's grappling hook, Leia hangs on for dear life as they barely escape the clutches of the Empire.

As we all prepared for May 2002 to arrive in order to celebrate the silver anniversary of Star Wars, Hasbro was in its infancy with the Star Wars line, so to speak. They had just absorbed Kenner brand and the products released were officially under the Hasbro banner. You could no longer find the Kenner logo on Star Wars items. Still, it felt seamless to collectors as we only really cared about seeing new Star Wars figures in stores. But while they were newly at the reins of the Star Wars toy line, they already had smartly prepared for the 25 years of Star Wars celebration in late 2001. January 2002 treated collectors to three diorama two-packs based on three pivotal scenes from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. The figures were pre-posed and the likenesses reeked of the leftover fumes from The Power Of The Force “2” era (without the bulkiness) , but they were all warmly embraced by collectors as it was the first truly “anniversary” type of Star Wars toy that they had ever received. The Silver Anniversary (1977-2002) collection of two-packs were packaged in the Power Of The Jedi line right before its cancellation. (Star Wars “Saga” would take off a few months later in April.) One set that stood out from the rest was the Luke Skywalker And Princess Leia Organa (Swing To Freedom) set. It was probably as good as it was bad.

The Luke Skywalker And Princess Leia Organa (Swing To Freedom) Silver Anniversary (1977-2002) set gave us an “updated” Princess Leia Organa figures and a unique Luke Skywalker figure. Luke Skywalker comes with a decent likeness, but a slightly odd skin and outfit color. He doesn’t look too screen accurate if you’re judging him by his deco, the tooling, while not exactly perfect by any means, is indeed fairly nice. Some of the paint operations are pretty nice too. For example, Luke Skywalker’s hair has beautiful marbling and layered applications. It really looks like how hair naturally is. We also appreciate the screen accuracy of his costume. He is wearing a stormtrooper belt and Hasbro tooled a large grappling hook accessory attached via real string which is permanently attached to his waist. Also, his left hand is completely cupped around the string and cannot be removed from this hand either. His pose has been placed in a ridiculously exaggerated action stance. We would have loved to see Hasbro give Luke Skywalker a more relaxed pose with more articulation so that collectors could pose him the way they wanted instead. Still, we haven’t received this exact version of Luke Skywalker ever in the basic figure line. It’s sort of a treat to see Hasbro pay close attention to this version of Luke Skywalker.

Princess Leia Organa interacts nicely with Luke Skywalker. The set is subtitled “Swing To Freedom”, so both of them are in positions that are leaning back ready to take a swing across the Death Star chasm. Her arm wraps around Luke, but she is a TERRIBLE action figure by herself. She has a horrid posture and can barely stand unassisted. She really looks like a pretzel without Luke Skywalker. There is almost no reason to display her alone. Princes Leia Organa has an average likeness. We won’t claims that its excellent, but it is certainly nicer than all the head sculpts we have seen in The Power Of The Force “2” era. She isn’t overtly feminine, but she also doesn’t look like she has a monkey-face. She comes with an E-11 blaster which doesn’t fit into her right hand all that well. The grasp is too wide and the gun always wants to fall out of it. Both figures are blessed with a cool environmental display stand. It is supposed to be a portion of the Death Star walkway as they were trying to escape the stormtroopers. It has foot pegs which “kind of” help the figures stand up unassisted. But at time it doesn’t seem like the pegs are wide enough as the figure want to fall off and wobble if you wiggle the display stand. The Luke Skywalker And Princess Leia Organa (Swing To Freedom) two-pack has its moments, but overall we’re not sure how these figures will benefit your collection aside from the diorama-like display in which they come.