ANH Luke Skywalker VC Review

 Before I get to Luke, I'm going to cover the Ghost figures next week. Construction on the ship is currently underway, and once done I'll do a full review. So Ghost posts are coming, but for such a special figure, I hope you all can understand why I want to go ahead with this, my first new figure of 2025! 

Now, I'm moving away from being a carded collector. So the days of me doubling up are coming to an end. Once the ANH Mains are done (and the Heir To The Empire 3 pack), so will my carded collection. I'll be sticking to openers. The reason why I'm opening with this is I pre-ordered Luke from Entertainment Earth, and this is the figure I'm showing off. However, after reviewing an order list a while later, I only ordered one. OH NO!! This figure was sold out on Hasbro Pulse (still is), so I figured Amazon would be my opener. But, on a recent Amazon order, I got an Imperial Gunner to make a Starkiller custom, and to get free shipping on the order. Well, the Gunner came in such great shape, that I almost don't want to open him. My Amazon Luke arrived in absolute perfect condition. Then a few days ago, my EE Luke arrived, with Jedi Master Indara (Carrie Anne Moss's character from the Acolyte) and Luke's card had a slight upbend. So my Amazon Luke is the one I'm keeping on card. And comparing the 2 figures, the EE looks to be of better opening quality, so I made the right choice on openers. 

Okay, first things first: I still have the Ghost box on my display table. But to "hide" it I have Black poster board that was originally going to be the floor for my custom USS Enterprise for my 2009 Playmates 3.75 inch line. I'll also show off the Legacy Collection Millennium Falcon shell I bought a while back for $80, shipping included. This Luke needs to be in the Falcon anyway. The packaging is great, a near perfect recreation of the 1978 Kenner card. The back of the card is what we get with the VC nowadays: an image of the card and opened figure. But before I get to the pictures, I got my Ben Kenobi and well: 

Son of a bitch!!! I try to sit him down in the Millennium Falcon and he broke. I'll get super glue so I can fix him for the Cantina, so when you see photos of the Falcon, I went with the Obi-Wan miniseries figure. Okay, back to the review. 

I'm not wild about the 2nd picture, but I had to move around and find a good camera angle. I used a walkway from the BB-8 Playset so I could get Luke to stand, and see his accessories. 

Luke comes with 3 accessories: a lit lightsaber, an unlit lightsaber hilt, and his droid caller which he used to find Threepio after his sunset scene. The hilt and caller easily attach to his belt, but you might want to put them in a bag if you don't want to display or store your figure with them attached. While Luke doesn't suffer from small lightsaber syndrome, I found the weapon disappointing. I plan on displaying this Luke with an older lightsaber as it just looks off. In some of the articulation photos below, I had some trouble with it, but I decided to keep it for the photo shoot. 

As you can see, Luke can do a two-handed weapon grip. I did my best with the top picture to re-enact the poster pose, but I didn't want to risk breaking the figure. I'm still pissed off I broke my Ben Kenobi. Sigh. He's easy to pose, as you can see in the 4th picture above. I needed the stand because the foot peg could keep him standing, so if you display this figure loose you will need a stand. He kept falling over on the table without the walkway. His elbows don't have "Jedi range" articulation, which for this Luke is okay. He's just starting out on his training. If this was the case with a new Bespin Luke or a ROTJ Luke or Mandalorian Luke I would be upset. His "skirt" doesn't inhibit his being seated in the Millennium Falcon either. Luke has the standard 17 POA that all new figures have, including ball joint knees, elbows, and waist. He has a barbell neck and hips, rocker ankles, and hinge and swivel wrists. He has thigh swivels which help in some action poses. And you'll finally get to see my Falcon shell in this review....

Chewie blocks Luke, but I did get him to fit in the backseat. I attempted to get Han & Luke from the scene where he gets jealous of Han saying "Do you think a Princess and a guy like me?" but I was too lazy to have Luke and Han swap seats, as Luke is in the pilot seat I believe. He fits, that's what's important. I did have trouble fitting him in the gunner seat, as you'll see below. 

The tricky thing about these 2 pictures is I had no light so you couldn't see the original pictures. I took a small flashlight and shined it at the gunner seat with one hand and took the picture with the other hand. I am pleased with the pictures, but not how Luke fits. I see a possible soft goods skirt for Luke so he can better fit in there. I should also point out this is the first time I have attempted to fit a figure in that seat. So there's that. 

This picture would have been better if I had the training ball, and the proper Kenobi figure. While I have dug out my POTF2 figures out of storage, which includes the helmet with the blast shield, I opted not to put it on Luke as while it does fit, it could damage the paint apps on the head. So do so at your own risk. Next up, how Luke compares to other figures, and my take on the sculpt and paint apps. 

The Skywalker family! Luke and Leia are reasonably scaled to each other. Luke should at least come up to Vader's shoulder. And yes, this is the ANH Vader in the photo. Isn't it nice to see a family photo or two?! 

I knew Luke would be taller than Osha, but Ezra Bridger being taller than Luke was a surprise, since my Black Series Jedi Luke is taller than my Black Series version of this Ezra figure. This Ezra is in the same year as Luke, which is a reason why I chose Ezra over my older version of Han. I found the paint apps from the head down to be good, not great. He is accurate to the outfit he wears in the movie, minus sand and grime stains on his boots. But he is accurate to the source material. Except for his hair. It's too brown. Growing up on a desert planet with lots of sunlight, his hair should be more blonde. One summer when I was younger I would be outside 14 hours a day, and my brown hair went a little blonde. The sculpt overall is very decent. Except the head sculpt. 

As you can see, with my slight custom of the BOBF Luke, these 2 figures are the best VC Luke Skywalker figures. But, the head sculpt for Luke doesn't resemble his look in ANH. Bossk's Bounty in his YouTube review felt it would be a better head for an Empire Strikes Back Luke, and I agree. I wonder if the Yavin Luke, or X-Wing Luke head would fit on the barbell, as those Luke's have blonde hair. One of my Kenner Holy Grails are the brown hair Farmboy and Bespin Luke's, but with today's better paint, and better paint techniques accuracy should be easy to do. And Hasbro really hasn't gotten Mark Hamill's likeness down in any scale, but I can forgive it here. It's good enough. 

Now is this Luke essential? Absolutely! Is he definitive? No. Now I expect a deluxe version with more accessories, but probably no extra paint applications. This is a good figure, and it's hard to believe that in the entire run of the Vintage Collection from 2010-2012 and 2018-present day 2025 this is the 1st version of the proper ANH Luke we have gotten. There was a Death Star Luke in VC 1.0 based off the VOTC Farmboy Luke, the last time we got a Luke figure on his 1978 Kenner card. I'm happy this figure is finally out, and I eagerly await the ANH versions of Han, Chewie and Ben Kenobi to round out the Mains (and possibly a new C-3PO is in the works). This isn't a perfect figure, and it could be better in some areas, but if you're starting up collecting Vintage Collection figures, this is one you DEFINITELY need to pick up. 

Thanks for reading! Special thanks to Chris and Nomad at BanthaSkull for allowing me to post this link in the comments section. Please share this link on your social media accounts so I can get more readers! All pictures are mine.