When it comes to reviewing action figures of Luke Skywalker there’s only one place to start – the vintage Kenner Luke Skywalker, first released in 1978’s Early Bird box set alongside Princess Leia, R2-D2 and Chewbacca.
There’s just one small issue – I don’t own the original vintage figure. So instead we’re kicking off toy reviews on Plastic Skywalkers with a look at the next best thing – the Star Wars Retro Collection Luke Skywalker.
A near-perfect reproduction of the original vintage figure, the Retro Collection Luke Skywalker first hit stores in 2019. It was later re-released in 2022 as part of A New Hope-themed box set.
Even by the time I was playing with Star Wars action figures in the late 1980s, the 1978 figures already seemed dated. Better versions of Luke Skywalker had been released with both The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi; with the Jedi Knight figure from 1983 in particular becoming a lifelong favourite.
By comparison this version of farm boy Luke – with his bright yellow hair, nondescript features and simple paint apps – felt like a children’s toy.
Which, well, was exactly the case.
As a toy, Luke was one of three characters from the original Star Wars lineup to have a built-in lightsaber feature. Simply push the lever on the underside of Luke’s arm to extend his bright yellow lightsaber blade.
It’s fair to say that accuracy wasn’t high on Kenner’s list of priorities… but then there’s a decent chance that it was this re-imagining of certain details that helped make the line so charming.
This version of Luke became an iconic toy design because it was so successful at being a fun, affordable toy.
In 1978, was the point.
Whilst George Lucas displayed incredible foresight to hang on to the merchandising rights for Star Wars, the action figures were conceived as nothing more than promotional tools for the film and an extra revenue stream for Lucasfilm. At the time, no-one could have predicted the impact of Star Wars.
But when the simplicity and fun of Kenner’s approach combined with the incredible source material – and the fact that no-one else was doing it at the time – it’s much easier in retrospect to see how the toy line became such a juggernaut.
The Retro Collection Luke Skywalker is as close as many of us are going to get to a mint version of the figure that started it all.
Whether you’re interested in Luke Skywalker, Star Wars, or action figures in general, that’s got to make it worth a look.
