Figure of the Day: Day 90: Luke Skywalker with Skyhopper

LUKE SKYWALKER with T-16 Skyhopper Model
Power of the Force Collection
Item No.: Asst. 84185 No. 84211
Number: n/a
Includes: T-16 Skyhopper, scraper, CommTech Chip Base
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $6.99
Availability: Fall 1999
Appearances: Star Wars

Bio: While tinkering with his model T-16 skyhopper and tending to his uncle's new droids, Luke unwittingly short circuits R2-D2's recording system, triggering the holographic appearance of a young Princess Leia. The image implores the help of Obi-Wan Kenobi, but vanishes soon thereafter. (Taken from the figure's cardback.)

Image: Adam Pawlus' toy shelves.

Commentary: In 1999, another Luke Skywalker seemed like a real pain. After having received about 4 resculpts of the figure in the previous year, this new release seemed unnecessary-- but with added knee joints, new swivel arm joints, and some new accessories, it wasn't a total loss. The figure sold fairly well, but can still be easily had if you poke around online. The sculpt was pretty much the same, but the garage-specific accessories were the reason to buy this. The Skyhopper wasn't just a recycled MicroMachines vehicle, and the scraper was exclusive to this set. To set up your very own Tatooine garage, this is a good figure to buy, but, of course, it's not the see-all and be-all of Tatooine Lukes as such an "ultimate" figure with all the articulation, accessories, and so on and so forth has yet to be released. This figure never broke any new ground, even upon its release, but it's still a pretty good figure to pick up and a part of a very good collection. All the Trilogy-based CommTech figures are very well done and by and large fairly cheap.

Collector's Notes: Hasbro's love of Luke Skywalker pretty much hit a brick wall in 1999 with the release of this figure. After nearly 30 figures in 4 years, just of Luke, the company took a big step back after this release and we didn't see another new Luke until 2001 with the X-wing Pilot in Power of the Jedi. From there on out, things were slow, but this figure was more or less reissued later-- we won't be focusing on it in FOTD, but the same figure was released with a lightsaber and a display base instead of these accessories in 2003. (As it's an accessory swap and no new parts were developed, we aren't going to mention it here. Beyond this.)

Day 90: August 4, 2006