Hasbro Star Wars - The Power of the Force: Luke Skywalker (Flashback Figure) Review

Bored with the mundane life of a moisture farmer on Tatooine, Luke Skywalker dreamed of being a great pilot. He targeted womp rats while racing his T-16 skyhopper through the steep and narrow walls of Beggar's Canyon. Many years earlier, Luke's father also raced over the surface of Tatooine in his podracer. Anakin evntually turned to the dark side and became Darth Vader but was finally redeemed by his son Luke. - From the package blurb

Although my favorite character in the six-Episode Star Wars saga is the dual-natured Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, his son Luke isn't too far behind. Other fans might call him "whiny li'l Jedi" and criticize actor Mark Hamill for hamming it up in some scenes (especially in the "I am your father" scene from The Empire Strikes Back), but I agree with director Irvin Kershner and acknowledge that Luke is the emotional center of the Classic Trilogy. For me, therefore, any figure of the character was, when I was actively collecting the 3.75-inch scaled ones, a "must-buy" item.

The Figure:

1998, apparently, was Hasbro's Luke Skywalker Year because at least four action figures of the young moisture farmer from Tatooine were made for the Power of the Force collection which used the same torso and basic sculpt. (In addition to this late 1998 Flashback Figure, there were similarly posed and clad Luke figures in Purchase of the Droids, Luke Skywalker Gunner Station, Luke Skywalker (with Blast Shield Helmet and Lightsaber), and Luke Skywalker (CommTech).

Granted, the outfit replicated in this 1998 pre-Episode I Flashback Figure includes a desert-friendly floppy hat and a set of goggles that reverses the Hasbro if you saw it on film for 30 seconds or more rule, but essentially it's the same off-white tunic and beige-gray pants with desert-style boots combination Luke wears throughout most of Star Wars (AKA Episode IV: A New Hope).

 Weapons and Accessories

• Rifle
• Electrobinoculars
• Floppy Hat

Although the removable hat/goggle combination doesn't appear in the film proper because the scene in which Luke wore it was deleted, the boxy set of macrobinoculars and the very long blaster rifle do get some screen time. We see the binoculars in the sequences when he's looking for R2-D2 after the binary sunset scene when he finds out the astromech droid has run off in search of Obi-Wan Kenobi, then later when Luke and C-3PO are in the Jundland Wastes and spot the two Banthas and a lone Tusken Raider. The long-barreled laser rifle makes a brief and short-lived appearance during this latter bit; it gets broken in two when a second Tusken Raider surprises Luke and cleaves the weapon in two with a blow from his gaffi stick (double-headed axe and battle club). (The binoculars can either be held in Luke's hands or, when not "in use" can be "hooked" to his utility belt via a "female" connection that fits onto a small "male" peg there; the rifle, which is somewhat unwieldy, can either be held in a one- or two handed grip.)

Another extra feature involves the figure's packaging, which was intended to promote the then still-unreleased Star Wars: Episode I film. In addition to a promotional blurb touting the movie's premiere in "summer of 1999" and a bit of character information about Anakin Skywalker and his son on the back of the cardboard bubblepack, on the front there is a small photo of Luke inside a cardboard square, to which a small yellow lever is attached. If you pull down gently on the lever, the image shifts to the 1999 Anakin as played by Jake Lloyd.

My Viewpoint: Kenner/Hasbro did a superb job with both the sculpt and the paint job on this figure. Luke looks a bit more like Mark Hamill, as much as a figure of that size can do so, anyway, and the detailing of the clothes and accessories is excellent. The colors of the hat, tunic, pants, belt, and boots are close to those in photos or in the movie itself, and wrinkles and creases are molded nicely to give the outfit a realistic, worn look.

The figure is highly poseable, having not only the expected articulation points at the neck, shoulders, legs and waist, but also at the elbows and wrists. These joints make the figure more versatile and allows Luke to hold things more naturally, especially that clumsy long-barreled laser rifle.

As with all the Star Wars action figures, Hasbro recommends this toy for children 4 and up since the small parts pose a clear and present choking hazard, especially for children under 3 years.