By the time the Freeze Frame era rolled around, we were starting to get much better aesthetics in the figures.  The bulkiness of the figures that debuted in 1995 was giving way to more human proportions.  Relative scaling, however, was still all over the map.  It was still close to a G.I. Joe line were every figure is 4” instead of the relative scaling we have in the modern Vintage Collection where 3.75” inches is mean to represent the 5’9” heigh of Mark Hamill. The relative scaling means that Han Solo figures should be just short of 4” based on Harrison Ford’s 6’1” height.  That is what we see today.  During the POTF2 era, all figures were not the same exact height, but the relative difference was compressed.  Figures like Chewbacca or Darth Vader, that should have towered over their counterparts, were only a tick taller.  That is the case with this Luke Bespin figure.  It’s too tall.  It is slightly shorter than the contemporary Removable Helmet Darth Vader figure, but it’s like a tall man compared to a slightly taller man.  Proper scaling of these figures would mimic the Rocky Balboa / Ivan Drago eyeball-to-Adam’s-apple stare down.  One last bit of the silliness regarding the relative scaling of the time: look at the sculpted holster on the figure’s leg compared to the massive DL-44 blaster accessory.  Holstering that massive blaster would require size-shifting on the scale of the G1 Transformers.

At the time, however, the height was largely unnoticed.  This figure was a massive hit and widely anticipated.  This was our first crack at the “Bespin” outfit in the modern line, and included a very important feature.  The figure’s right hand could be removed to recreate one of those family-friendly amputations for which Star Wars had become known.  But this carried another benefit, whether intentional or not.  It served as a point of articulation.  The aforementioned Removable Helmet Darth Vader also had a removable hand plus an upper arm swivel.  This meant this was the first time that two on-screen duelists could be placed in a dueling pose that was something other than looking like they were using the sabers to poke a wasp hive.  Sure it was a rudimentary one-handed parry, but it was groundbreaking at the time.  I posed the two figures as shown in the final picture above, and marveled at it.  I was absolutely thrilled to have this figure at the time, and it was initially a stressful hunt.

The reason why it took some effort to track this figure down was that it was one per case upon initial release.  In the era of sixteen figure cases, that was tantamount to a chase figure, but we learned a lesson from the POTF2 Lando Calrissian.  Just because a figure starts off short-packed, does not mean it will stay that way for long.  By this point in the modern era hobby, we learned that figures had a habit of initially trickling out, and then followed with a retail onslaught.  So in and of itself, the one-per-case status was not reason for panic, but there was another force at play here.  If you remember our history lesson from the orange carded POTF2 Death Star Gunner, collectors of the time were utterly focused on collecting the first release card for every figure.  This was designated by the “.00” on the back of the card.  This Bespin Luke Skywalker initially shipped in a case where the cards all featured a spelling error. In the “Collect Them All” section of the card, the POTF2 Saelt-Marae was advertised. Only, it was spelled “Sealt-Marie”:

When Hasbro makes a spelling error on a card or package, they seem to come in multiples.

This spelling error represented the almighty “.00” card revision for this Bespin Luke figure:

It’s the .00 card!  GET IT!

Since this was quite the egregious and embarrassing error, it was quickly corrected.  So while the community was confident this Bespin Luke Skywalker would see heavy population in future case revisions, the .00 “first release” card with the spelling error was only available in the initial case assortment where the figure was short-packed.  What a nightmare.  It was bedlam in the action figure aisles.  Tales of savagery and barbarism abounded.  During this time, I personally never set foot inside Walmart unless I was armed with a bike chain and a shillelagh (heh, same goes for today now that I think about it).  Of course the non-hyperbolic reality was that the first person in the store, whether they be scalper or collector, likely cleared all the “Sealt-Marie” Bespin Lukes off the pegs.  It was difficult to track down in stores and fetched a two-time premium on the secondary market.  Today, do you want to know how much I paid for the carded sample above?  Zero.  I paid nothing for it.  Someone gave me a handful of carded POTF2 figures they no longer wanted to store, and this carded sample was included.  In fact, there were two of these Lukes, and I also opened the second for this review. 

The figure scores a 4 out of 10.  That’s the base score for the current 5POA figures of today.  While this figure is not as aesthetically refined as those figures, the little extra articulation helps it retain that base score.  One last thing, if you’ve been reading our weekday reviews for The Saga Collection, you will see that Mr. Nomadscout is getting irritated at having to review the obsolete figures.  The man has all the sentimentality of a kitchen mop.  I enjoy being able to reflect on these figures and thinking about that specific time in the hobby.  So if you ever find yourself on the gameshow, Quien es mas terrible, the answer is definitely nomad.