Remember when we used to do kitschy reviews of older figures with basic galleries on the weekends for fun?  Well, this is one of those reviews.  As of the time of publication, the reason for slotting in a review of this particular release is probably obvious.  We’re still in the recent afterglow of the exciting VC344 - Luke Skywalker release.  While that figure itself is fairly excellent, it’s somewhat light on accessories.  In order for it to reach its full potential in your displays, it will need to pilfer some of the accessories from previous figure such as the blast shield helmet that comes with this Power of the Force “2” (POTF2) Freeze Frame Luke Skywalker.  I was unable to locate (and still haven’t located) the Blast Shield Helmet that I own from the Training on the Falcon Battle Pack.  As the helmet from that Battle Pack was essentially a repack of the one that came with this figure, it became the least expensive path to restoring that item in my collection.  And now I can answer the question of whether or not it fits on VC344.  It does:

(click for the full size image)

It’s a little snug, so repeatedly putting it on and off will likely cause some paint rub.  I wouldn’t recommend it.  Anyway, back to the figure at hand.  It’s kind of amazing how little our figures could do in the past.  Figures in 2025 can virtually reenact scenes from Gymkata.  In 1998, figures could sit like a little kid in an adult sized chair with their legs straight out.  Scintillating.  In addition to my sample having an irregular mole off his left eye that he should probably have checked out, it also sports a puzzled expression.  The head is also tilted slightly upward.  I assume it was to recreate the scene where Luke ponderously stared out of at the sunset.  If so, they didn’t quite hit that mark.  To me, the expression is part discomfort and part confusion.  I think I have it figured out.  Luke is reacting to the fact that when the right arm is rotated downward with saber in hand, the blade strikes his right thigh:

Damn you, laser guy! You had to grab it all with your lowbrow laser shtick! You’re just a prop comic! Where’s the craft?!

Here’s the thing.  For as bad as this figure seems today, it was a godsend in 1998.  It thankfully allowed us to retire the ridiculous “He-Man” Luke Skywalker from 1995. I was utterly relieved when this was released.  You could argue, quite effectively I might add, that the POTF2 figures from ‘95 - ‘97 are stylized due to their exaggerated muscular proportions.  Stylized lines, like both of the animated Clone Wars lines, do not integrate with the realistic line.  So, this Blast Shield Luke could be considered the first Episode IV Luke in the realistic modern line.  As a side note, I would further argue that the true modern line didn’t start until Power of the Jedi when Hasbro started paying attention to relative scaling.  Therefore, 1995 - 1999 is a different line, and any figure that has not been updated from that era simply does not exist in the modern line.  I HAVE SPOKEN!

The blast shield helmet is the most compelling reason to buy this figure today for practical reasons.  For nostalgia reasons, this figure means a lot to me.  As mentioned above, this is effectively our first proper Episode IV Luke Skywalker.  I would very much like to own a high grade carded sample, and I will track one down.  This sample was not high grade.  If you look to the left of the figure’s head in the carded pic, you can see a litho tear inside the bubble.  How is that even possible?  This was also sent to me by one of the least professional high-volume Ebay sellers I’ve run into in a while.  The packing material was refuse from a paper shredder, and the card was curled over to fit in the box.  That box was not a proper shipping box, but rather the product box for one of those mini bullet blenders.  Great.  Now I imagine my mailman suspects he’ll see me power walking around the neighborhood in a headband and carrying a pair of 2 lb. hand weights.

One last thing about the included helmet.  Hasbro had an annoying method for giving the appearance of grime during the POTF2 era.  Instead of using a paint application, they would intentionally sprinkle in some inclusions in the plastic.  You can see the most drastic example of this with the POTF2 - R5-D4. They’ve also employed that method on this blast helmet, to a lesser degree.  It doesn’t look like grime.  It looks like it was hit with an airbrush that was spitting out the last few molecules of paint as it was running dry.  The helmet that comes with the Training on the Falcon BP is cast in a solid gray plastic.  Now I feel like I still need to track that down.  DAMN IT!