LUKE SKYWALKER with display base
The Black Series Centerpiece
Item No.: No. C1555
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Helmet, lightsaber, big snow base, small snow base
Action Feature: Lights up
Retail: $49.99
Availability: September 2017
Appearances: Star Wars
Bio: Imagine Luke Skywalker thinking on his feet to take down the AT-AT in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back with this Star Wars The Black Series Centerpiece Luke Skywalker, featuring Luke Skywalker wielding his lightsaber as he charges back to the Rebel base on Hoth. With a premium base featuring lights and sounds that invites building out the iconic scene with more figures, vehicles, and accessories, Star Wars The Black Series Centerpiece Luke Skywalker truly serves as the centerpiece of any fan’s treasured display. (Stolen from Hasbro's marketing copy. Packaging has no bio.)
Image: Adam's photo lab.
Availability: Click here to buy it at Entertainment Earth now!
Click here to buy it at Amazon now!
Commentary: I'm not a huge fan of the Centerpiece line, in part because they're a lot like the
Unleashed series of figures - but are triple the price.
Luke Skywalker basically recreates a figure from over 10 years ago by bringing a Hoth assault to life, showing us an off-screen battle between Luke and unseen assailants. Or, if you swap out the snow base, you can put some assailants right in there. There are footprints in the snow, and holes to add some footpegs (also included under the base.) It's a really neat idea. I have no doubt someone went to the
Star Wars Hasbro team and said "Black Series does well, let's sell people a $50 figure" and this is what they came up with. It's a statue - the flames blink and take way more batteries than they should. It's a nice piece, but it's expensive and dull - and was on clearance within 1 month of its release at pretty much every Walmart in my town.
It's kind of ridiculous how nice this is given how boring the idea is. Luke stands on a fallen AT-AT's foot. The AT-AT toes are jointed, and are nicely painted with grit and black wipes and damage. You can see snow stuck in the various crevices, and Luke himself plugs right in to the top. His head can turn, and his helmet is expertly painted - and removable, with a full flight cap underneath. His suit shows signs of wear from battle, arguably as good as or better than the super-articulated $20 6-inch figures. Unfortunately, this figure is stuck in a pose we never saw in the movies in a scene that really never existed. It's a collectible statue, a display piece. It's not a centerpiece of a collection so much as it is a nice way to display Snowtroopers and AT-AT Drivers (sold separately) if you were so inclined. Luke is actually quite small in the context of the giant foot, but that juxtaposition just makes it feel like you got a tiny figure. The fact that you're getting a ton of nicely detailed plastic is hard to accept when it just looks like your hero shrank.
Items like this are tough to recommend, because it's a gorgeous execution with multiple shades of off-white on his gloves or a killer deco on his vest. Hasbro did everything right here at the factory level, but $50 is a lot when a super-articulated figure would be $20. Had Hasbro made this figure super-articulated and charged us more, we'd cringe, but it would be hard to fault. The electronics aren't awe-inspiring, but the display options are pleasant enough and it's a sign of what Hasbro can do when they really put down some money on paint. Unfortunately, it was $25 in early October, and fans just don't seem to like the concept so far. I'm glad they started it with original trilogy characters, and if it continues I hope they do more armored guys in really cool poses - although I assume it's just as likely this segment will be dead by next Easter.
Collector's Notes: I got mine from
Entertainment Earth.
--Adam Pawlus
Day 2,429: November 27, 2017
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