Hasbro Star Wars - The Power of the Force: Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper Disguise Review

Disguised as stormtroopers and fighting off a regiment of Imperial troops inside the Death Star, the escaping band of heroes finds refuge in a garbage receptacle. The Rebels realize their problem has changed when the walls begin closing in. - From the package blurb.

The One That Got Away

In 1985, when Kenner Toys was still a General Mills-owned but still viable toymaking company, it closed down the movie-specific product line based on Star Wars - Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and created a catch-all one called The Power of the Force Collection.

Two years had passed since the release of the conclusion of the Classic Star Wars trilogy and Kenner's sales strategy had to evolve if it was going to keep on selling figures to a consumer base that seemed to be less and less interested in a movie series that probably would never be finished and more interested in college, jobs and the opposite sex.

1985 was also the year during which I started college; I had $2,000 in my savings account when I was accepted, so I paid for the first few terms at Miami-Dade Community College (now Miami-Dade College) out of my own pocket. 

Now, if books and on-campus food had been part of my tuition I probably would still have been able to keep collecting figures and other Star Wars items, but because I couldn't find part time jobs close to my house I had to choose between going to college and hopefully becoming a journalist or collecting "stuff."  Guess which one I chose.

The kicker to all this back story is that the first The Power of the Force collection contained the figures I always wished Kenner had made for its Star Wars (Episode IV: A New Hope) collection was those of Han Solo and Luke Skywalker in their stormtrooper disguises. After all, the whole rescue-of-Princess Leia sequence depended greatly on how the two heroes got access to the Death Star's detention block, yet Kenner waited until 1984 or 1985 to offer the stormtrooper-disguised variants.

By the time I got wind of those figures, I was already knee-deep in college-related activities and trying not to get overwhelmed, so I dithered on going to Toys R Us to see if I could find a figure of either Han or Luke in stormtrooper gear.  Most of the ones that got to store shelves sold very quickly, and when I finally got around to going on a figure hunt, Kenner had closed the Power of the Force line and the only Star Wars figures available were from the short-lived Ewoks and Droids cartoon series.  

 "Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?"

In 1996, Hasbro produced a new figure of Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper Disguise as part of two separate "waves" or Collections under the revived Power of the Force label. Packed in either red or green "bubble-pack" cards, this variant on the former farmboy from Tatooine depicts Luke in the white and black armor of an Imperial stormtrooper.

Although 21st Century figures by Hasbro are much better detailed, the sculpt for this Luke Skywalker is not too bad; the hair is done in a more natural-looking dirty blond shade that matches actor Mark Hamill's late 1970s "Tatooine shag," and the mold for the face, while not as good as the one used later for the Swing to Freedom Luke, is much nicer than the one Kenner used for its first Star Wars Luke Skywalker figure back in 1978. One can actually tell that Luke has blue eyes, and even though the expression is somewhat goofy-looking, there's at least some spark of emotion sculpted on the young hero's face.

Detailing and Accessories: The detailing on the stormtrooper's white and black armor is nicely done, and Luke's head and face can be concealed by putting on the standard issue Imperial-style helmet that gives stormtroopers their almost droid-like appearance.

The other accessory that comes with Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper Disguise is a small replica of an E-11 blaster rifle, which the figure can grip in its right hand.

Articulation Points: This figure, like many in the early Power of the Force 2 collection, boasts only the most basic of movement points, which are listed below:

* Head and neck (to turn Luke's head from side to side)
* Shoulders (to move arms)
* Hips (to move legs)

Overall, it looks nice, but a slightly better (and posed different) version is included in the hard-to-find Toys R Us exclusive Death Star Escape Cinema Scene. from 1997.

Although the figure is nicely done, it's better to keep it in its bubble-pack "card" as a collectible keepsake rather than to take it out of the package to pose for display or, if you are buying this for a kid, pretend Star Wars adventures. The helmet and blaster are small and can easily get lost; without those accessories, the figure simply looks a bit useless.

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.