It doesnāt matter if itās 1980 on the silver screen or on the cluttered desk of a guy who critiques toys, if youāre Luke and youāre wearing Hoth gear you need to watch out for Wampas.
Commander Luke Skywalker in Hoth Gear is the latest figure in
Sideshow Collectiblesā sixth scale Star Wars line, and with hisTauntaun sold separately one has to assume that this version of Hoth Luke is either safe in the Rebel base or dying in the cold of a Wampa attack. As the unit I am reviewing is the āExclusiveā version of the figure, which comes with a special Wampa-battered faceā¦
ā¦the latter seems to be the case.
Lacking a realistic Wampa figure to use in the photo shoot for this review, I made due with what was on hand. The results are pretty damn cute.
What It Is
Iāve been told the exclusive version of Commander Skywalker in Hoth gear is wait-listed, so technically Iām reviewing the
$199.99 standard edition, which comes with one less head. Is that just a flimsy excuse to cover for the fact that I didnāt take any photos of the bruised head? Donāt be ridiculous. Maybe a little.
So what we have here is a 12-inch tall recreation of Luke Skywalker at his best, and by best I mean the time he got beat up by a snowman. I remember watching this scene as a young boy and actively fearing for Lukeās life. I was a stupid child.
Decked out in his multi-layer snow clothes with two-part boots and Sideshowās sixth-scale seriesā trademark ridiculously tiny stitching, Commander Skywalker also comes with a plethora of accessories to assist in play and display.
Whatās In The Box
Packed inside Lukeās double fold-out box is the following.
Lukeās body, which is pretty much a requirement, wearing his helmeted head with wearable goggles and scarf.
A pair of tiny little antennae which my giant fingers had a lot of trouble fitting into the headsā earpieces.
Luke sans helmet head, letting his blonde locks flow free in the biting wind.
Lukeās beat-up face, sans goggles. (Exclusive version only)
Eight pairs of hands, including the two heās wearing. These are for pointing, wielding his lightsaber, packing his pistol, or hugging Wampas.
Lukeās lightsaber, fully-extended.
Lukeās lightsaber, hilt only, for belt-hanging or desperate reaching towards.
Lukeās DK-44 Blaster, for all the good itāll do him.
Figure stand with faux snow detailing.
Binoculars with strap.
Man, one of these days Iāll remember that Disney owns Star Wars now. Itās still so weird.
What Did I Lose?
Why you gotta assume I lost something? I am very careful with every figure that crosses my desk. Man, look how pretty theyāve made Hamill for this piece.
No Really, What Did I Lose?
Okay fine, I lost the hilt-only lightsaber. Iām sure itās around here somewhere. Probably just rolled off my desk or something. Sorry.
What I Liked
Itās my favorite Luke. After prancing around in his beige tunic for most of A New Hope, changing briefly into more heroic attire for the Wookie medal-denial ceremony, Hoth Luke was the first version of the character that felt like a true hero, and not just some guy in over his head.
Heās calm, cool and collected without being pretentious about it, as he was in his
Return of the Jedi blacks.
I guess he really was this fresh-faced. Realistically-sculpted Luke Skywalker faces often throw me for a loop. After decades of following Mark Hamill the voice actor, I guess Iāve gotten used to older features.
Considering the bruising and scarring from the Wampa attack were used to help cover up Hamillās real-world injuries from a 1977 car accident, itās almost eerie seeing him without them.
Those tiny details. An accurate face is nice, but the real star of Sideshowās sixth-scale line is the clothing. Itās the sewn-in badges.
Itās belts with buckles and holsters with magnetic straps.
Itās protective goggles that, weāre Lukeās eyes made of eye-meats and not plastic, would protect those eye-meats from harm.
Should one wish, they can unbutton Lukeās jacket and strip him down to his quilted thermal undershirt. His pants even have two buttons. They did not give him underwear, which at first I was going to subtract fictional points for, but the movie was filmed in the late ā70s, early ā80s, so I can buy him going commando.
Weapons of Force destruction. With a pair (well, technically) of lightsabers and his trusty DK-44 at hand, youād think Luke would be ready for anything.
Take that, angry snow beast!
And that!
At the very least heād be able to see the monster coming.
But no. Like I say in the header, he never learns.
What I Didnāt Like
Not quite kung-fu grip. For a figure with so many hands, I had serious trouble trying to get Hoth Luke to firmly hold his weapons.
Perhaps they were just numb from the cold. Maybe thatās how the Wampa got the drop on him. Maybe if I applied some pressure to the various fists theyād grip a bit more confidently.
No Wampa currently available. Selling a Hoth Luke without simultaneously making available a similarly-scaled Wampa is like setting chicken nuggets without honey mustard sauce. Will I still buy them? Yes. Will I enjoy them? Probably a great deal. Will I be able to pretend theyāve been beaten up by an ice creature and the honey mustard is their oozing lifeblood? No. And thatās a shame.
My Final Word
I keep waiting for Sideshow Collectibles to make a really horrible sixth-scale figure, and the continue to fail me. These folks have mastered the art of putting tiny clothes on 12-inch fake people that look like full-sized people you may be familiar with. Thereās pretty much no point in reviewing any more of these, other than to generate cool pictures of Luke hugging a third-party Wampa.
Sixth-scale Commander Luke Skywalker in Hoth Gear is available for preorder at Sideshow Collectiblesā website for $199.99, with an expected ship date of this month. The Pop! Wampa set me back $14.99 at ToysāRāUs.
To contact the author of this post, write to [emailĀ protected] or find him on Twitter @bunnyspatial.
Figure provided for review by Sideshow Collectibles. They also wanted their logo in the review, so here it is. Hello, Sideshow logo.
