Toy Review: ‘Star Wars’ Black Series ‘A New Hope’ Luke Skywalker Is Pretty
by Tony Thornley
Luke Skywalker is one of the great heroes of the Star Wars saga. Unfortunately, he’s also one of the most inconsistently depicted and he deserves better than that, so it’s worth looking at Hasbro’s latest version of him in the Star Wars Black Series.
In 1977, audiences were greeted on the poster of Star Wars with a bare-chested heroic figure, the hero of the saga, Luke Skywalker. In the film itself, it was clear that Luke — as portrayed by Mark Hamill — was a young boy, still growing up and into a hero. The film started with him as a naive and, frankly, kind of whiny kid.
Through the course of the film, he gained a mentor, a friend who had seen it all, a noble princess, and the gradual confidence to become the hero the poster showed us. Then, ultimately, he became the hero who struck the winning blow against the Empire, destroying its super-weapon and previewing his journey towards the Jedi Order.
This figure is the embodiment of that whiny kid though. It gives fans a new version of Luke in one of his most iconic costumes — the tunic and slacks that became the trademark of the character when fans think of the first ever Star Wars film — but ultimately is a garment he literally casts aside as a symbol of his growth.
And in that, the design is pretty great. This is the Luke Skywalker we first meet. It captures Hamill’s youthful innocence, his thoughtful maturity, and the destiny he’s about to face. It’s a fantastic figure for that moment. But much like the recent depiction of his father, it falls short in that as well. But I’ll get to that in a second.
The figure mostly does well in the posing arena. There’s something about his knees and ankles that don’t quite work right. Hasbro is trying something with that element that almost succeeds. In fact, Obi-Wan and Anakin had the same design and it worked, but not so with Luke. Specifically: the left leg just didn’t move quite right, and it made the figure’s otherwise great posing work sub-optimally.
The accessories are, again, really thin, though I do really like the included binoculars. The problem is that they only snap onto his belt (and only when his lightsaber isn’t hanging there). The figure isn’t able to hold them, an issue that some alternate hands would have fixed.
But like Anakin, this figure only captures Luke at a specific moment. Basically, this is the young man we first meet, up until he returns to his farm to find his aunt and uncle — his de facto parents — dead. A head sculpt with more than a neutral face would have gone a long way to show that moment where he grew up or the determined young hero of the Rebellion. Additionally, adding some of his most iconic accessories from the second act of the film — his imperial blaster, stolen storm trooper belt and the iconic grapple hook — would have greeted a figure that offers more possibilities for action than just the farmboy starting his journey.
At its most basic level, this is a good figure. But on a deeper level it fails to depict the beginning of the hero’s journey that it’s meant to, and that’s a shame.
