Hooray!  Another super-articulated figure!  For this one, we visit the Black Series Phase 2 (blue) line.  Like the Clone Commander Doom figure we just reviewed, these figures are among the last produced by Hasbro before the line, which was already in decline, was handed over to Wal*Mart in a deliberate attempt to crush the remaining life out of the collecting community.  Fortunately, we are a resilient folk, and at least some of us have survived as of today.

This figure is a retool/repaint of the previously released Vintage Collection VC95 Luke Skywalker (Hoth Outfit).  As you would see by Chris’s review back in April 2012, that figure suffered from several issues that knocked the score down to a pedestrian 6/10.  It would seem Hasbro may also have realized that this figure needed some improvements, so they set to work on it, and here we are. 

Did they succeed?  Meh.

The changes are good for the most part, but you wonder how much better this figure could have been with a few further tweaks.  First of all, other than the head, the figure is essentially the same sculpt and articulation.  Here is an example where ball jointed hips are executed very well.  They give the figure a wide range of lower body motion, while the joints themselves are not hindered by the sculpt.  Overall paint application seems better to me.  The colors are a bit more pleasing across the outfit.  One annoying thing is that Hasbro forgot to paint the patch on the right shoulder.  Also, depending on what movie shot you look at, Luke’s gloves range from white-ish to gray.  On the figure, the white is a little too bold, and I would have preferred a grayer choice.  I also would have liked it if the figure’s hands were less…puffy?  They almost look like Mickey Mouse hands, which is funny because of that whole Disney thing, eh?  HAHAHAHAHAHA!  I also would have thought that Hasbro could revisit the 80’s shoulder pad look.  It’s pretty ruinous to the overall aesthetic of the figure, but they left the shoulders alone.  It would have been a relatively easy way to improve the figure, but apparently retooling was minimized.

Which brings us to the head, where the figure was dramatically changed, and basically for the better, if not overwhelmingly so.  The head sculpt on the VC95 figure had a removable goggle/scarf combo, which, as Chris pointed out, worked fine if you were looking for a figure that represented a few frames of screen time.  (Remember how awesome it was that there were so many figures being produced that we wanted the 12th version of a character because he had a different haircut, or because he was smiling, or because his shoelace was untied for a moment?  Good times!)  The real problem was that when you removed the piece, the head looked ridiculous.  It was a look that was never in the film.  Luke always had the goggles either over his face or on his forehead.  And the scarf would unwrap and hang loosely to the side.  In the case of the VC95 figure, the removed piece leaves behind a Luke without goggles, and with a part of the scarf wrapped in such a way as to look a bit like a turban.  It also leaves his neck looking a little strange, especially in the midst of that odd removable collar, which was not changed for this version.  With this version, the head is updated to have the goggles permanently attached to the forehead, and the scarf permanently hanging down the right side of Luke’s head.  So here’s where Hasbro has a bit of a problem.  They also decided to give Luke some bloody cuts from the Wampa swipe to his face.  Hasbro should have taken a quick trip down memory lane to an older version of the figure, where the scarf had a swivel point allowing it to hang towards the ground when Luke is upside-down in the cave.  It would have been a nice touch, but it was overlooked.  Finally, the face sculpt is somewhat Luke-ish, although I feel a bit less so than the VC version.

For the record, the blaster fits in the holster well, and Luke can grip it fairly well, although the extended puffy trigger finger looks silly, and also looks out of place when he’s holding the lightsaber (lit or unlit).  The hilt fits in the peghole nicely, and Luke can, obviously, execute the THWG with ease, despite the awkward index finger.

Lastly, the name on the card has no parenthetical identifier.  I wish this would have been called “Luke Skywalker (Face Off)”, which could have immediately elevated it to a 10, flaws and all.

Overall, the paint job is better, except for the missing shoulder insignia.  The face sculpt is a bit off, and the paint application to the face isn’t quite as clean as the earlier figure.  And while not perfect, the overall aesthetic of the face/hat/goggle/scarf sculpt is, in my opinion, a step up from the VC version.  If Hasbro were to revisit this figure, they should include both head sculpts.  Even then, they would both need a bit of work to allow you to display the figure properly in the various micro-differences you see on screen (scarf wrapped / loose, goggles up / down, clean/scarred face).  A definitive version would also include binoculars and maybe switch-out hands.  It’s still a good, but not great, figure.  I feel the changes warrant an uptick from a 6 to a 7, but Hasbro can do better.