There were 8 figures released in the TAC basic line that were based on the artwork of Ralph McQuarrie.  Five more were released as convention exclusives, including this Luke Skywalker as well as a pair of 2-packs of the Droids and Obi-Wan/Yoda (reviews coming soon).  That gave us a total of 11 TAC McQuarrie concept figures (as well as the concept Grievous by Warren J. Wu.).  Throughout the history of the modern line, Hasbro has devoted substantial plastic to concept figures and toys, but the TAC subset of McQuarrie Signature Series figures are among the most well executed, and this Luke Skywalker might be the best of them all.

The figure is based on artwork in which Luke is crouched in a defensive stance as he faces off against Vader.  The idea is that the duel takes place in the corridors of a ship that has lost it’s atmosphere, and Luke, like Vader, is wearing a breathing apparatus.  We only see an over the shoulder view from behind Luke.  I haven’t been able to find any concept art of Luke from the front wearing this outfit, so I’m not certain if Hasbro needed to take liberties with the figure.

This has an outstanding sculpt, with perhaps the only real negative being the inclusion of swivel elbows.  Everything else about the figure looks and works great.  The head sculpt is Hamill-esque, even though the drawing was probably made before he was cast (just a guess).  The head sports a windblown hair look, but still is able to support the removable mask.  The colors are obviously very different from the general pallet of A New Hope, but seem accurate to the drawing.  The rest of the figure is executed well, and the articulation (minus the elbows) allows you to get a lot of nice action poses out of it.

The breath mask includes goggles with clear lenses so you can see Luke’s eyes.  The mask is removable (you have to actually pop off the head to do this) and is attached to the backpack by a pair of flexible hoses.  The figure includes a blaster with fits well in Luke’s hand as well as his holster.  The lightsaber, unlike most of the ones that come with other McQuarrie figures, has a removable blade.  Also unlike most other similar blades of the time, the peg is located on the hilt. Based on the plastic, it seems this idea is likely to result in the peg breaking, as was too often the case in years past.  The hilt will fit into the belt clip, in a horizontal fashion, which is, of course, also something that didn’t make it into the final film version. 

The elbows are disappointing, but everything else about the figure, including the sculpt, colors, and accessories make this a top-notch figure.  While lacking in some of the most modern articulation (ball jointed wrists, waist, hips, etc.), it is tremendous for a 2007 figure.  If it had ball jointed elbows, I might give it a 9.  It’s a high score which takes into account everything physical, while also recognizing the pretty awesome homage to McQuarrie.  As it is, I’ll give it a very strong 8.  The figure holds up well over time.  Despite whatever minor shortcomings it may have, the chances of a resculpt are basically zero, nor would we want Hasbro to spend precious figure slots on any effort to do so.

One other note:  This figure was released as a convention exclusive at both Celebration IV an Celebration Europe.  It came encased in a plastic clamshell, with a convention appropriate sticker.  More importantly, the coin that was included in the packaging was different. Both coins are pictured in the gallery above.

(click for the full sized image)

The erroneously titled “Luke vs. Darth Vader”