Star Wars Black Series Luke Skywalker

Presenting Luke Skywalker from the Star Wars Black Series.

Now before you go balistic NO THE BLACK SERIES DOES NOT INCLUDE A LIGHT-UP LIGHTSABER - that's Photoshop (because I think it's cool).

Anyway, this is Hasbro's most recent and quite interesting venture involving the release of 6-inch tall figures to accompany their regular new 3.5" figure line. Luke Skywalker Rebel Pilot is one of four figures involved in series 1 of the Black Series line that includes R2-D2, Darth Maul and an Imperial Sand Trooper (Troop builders start drooling, they Sand Troopers look awesome).

Anyway, as I understand it, Series 1 has yet to reach International Distribution levels (But they're already available in HongKong and the Philippines), and there is much debate as to whether we should embrace Hasbro's move to the larger format or curse them to the high heavens, so here's a peak at the Black Series Luke Skywalker.



Called the Black series because.... well it comes in a black box (yeah I don't really know why it's called the black series I suppose it's because it sounded cool.).

The Star Wars Black Series Luke Skywalker comes with everything you see here: A 6" tall Luke Skywalker garbed in a rebel-pilot uniform and with a removable helmet, a DL-44  blaster and his (Anakin Skywalker's) lightsaber (Blue tint so this is a pre-cloud city Luke).

The blister card simply reads "Luke Skywalker uses the power of the Force and his piloting skills to destroy the Death Star - It'll be just like beggars canyon back home"

What's to like about the Star Wars Black Series Luke Skywalker?

I think the biggest thing to like about the Black Series Luke Skywalker is already pretty obvious: "Damn! He really looks like Mark Hamill!!!!"

Unfortunately - and despite advances in the technology of toy-making, this is just something that, for now, just cannot happen in a 3.5" toy - they come close, but nooooootttt quite. The Black Series Luke Skywalker is an excellent copy of Hamill's face.

And the detailing is pretty good - though quite frankly the 3.5" figures reached that level ages ago so I'm kinda loving it and disappointed at the same time - though I'm not exactly sure how else they could have improved it.

Here's more of Mark Hamill's face up close:

See kids what you can look like if you don't do drugs?

If you think that was pretty cool, wait till Series 2 of the Black Series which will feature Princess Leia in her Steel Bikini.

As mentioned, the Star Wars Black Series Luke Skywalker comes with everything you see here: helmet, blaster and a lightsaber whose blade can be removed and that attaches to a clip on his belt:

The helmet fits perfectly despite Luke Skywalker's goofy hair:

And as you can see, articulation is a dream. The Black Series Luke Skywalker can run, kneel and dual wield his DL-44:

Note though the awkward location of the lightsaber when he runs, THAT'S GOTTA HURT!!!!  Also this figure allows you to see the drawbacks of the uniform: the "legstraps" actually hinder his leg movement. If this were a real-life scenario, Luke would have to constantly pull them up to keep from tripping as they prefer to keep his legs together.

The Star Wars Black Series Luke Skywalker has most of the articulation of today's modern GI Joe figurines, including the right hand ability to move his wrist up-and-down parallel to his thumb, and the left hand ability to move his wrist up-and-down perpendicular to his thumb. This allows him to hyper-extend his lightsaber or pistol with his right hand, or "Force Pull/Push" with his left.

The Star Wars Black Series Luke Skywalker can also dual-wield his lightsaber:

What's NOT to like about the Star Wars Black Series Luke Skywalker?

The size. I'm not quite sure what to do with him. Luke Skywalker is shorter than most Marvel Legends figures - I know that the two universes aren't supposed to collide, but when on display, it would be nice to have some consistency. Now Luke is short, but shorter than Wolverine?

And yeah, he's definitely taller than the regular Star Wars figures. Can you imagine how big an X-Wing for this guy would be?

And last is the price. I'm not happy that I paid almost PhP 500 more for it at retail here in the Philippines. In Hongkong, it costs around HK$ 200 (Roughly US$ 25.78 or PhP 1,112.86). In Toy Kingdom in Megamall in the Philippines, I paid PhP 1,699.75 (Roughly US$ 38.83). He's available on Amazon for US$ 19.99 (Roughly PhP 879.56 plus shipping) but won't be available till August 1. 

Still, overpriced, I love him. 

We close with the Star Wars Black Series Luke Skywalker next to the Black Series R2-D2 that we will feature next