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Mini-Review: Sideshow Collectibles: Deluxe Edition Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker

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Stryker2011

Stryker2011
Founding Father
I've been one of those sorely disappointed with the initial in-hand photos of this guy since they first started appearing a few weeks ago. Like many figures out there, however, in-hand he doesn't appear nearly as bad as some photos have made him seem. Is he great. No. Is he even good --- Mhmm, maybe. But, this is Sideshow -- and if there is one thing Sideshow struggles with, it's getting an actual person's likeness right. That being said, I think this one, for all it's flaws, (and if it had a much better paint job), would actually be a better sculpt than the all-too cute and glorified one that we were given by Hot Toys for Mark Hamill as he appeared in the film. Mark had had a few (what look to me like botched) plastic surgeries after some car accidents (one or more, don't remember) that turned him from the cute, pretty-boy he was in the first Star Wars film, to a much more rough-looking individual by the third.
The problem with the Sideshow version is they took those flaws, and instead of smoothing them over and making Mark's face TOO clean and symmetrical like HT, they magnified them to the point of a bit of distraction. Those of us who were alive and old enough to remember Corvette Summer, and the resulting incidents could see the damage that had been done, but it wasn't so blatantly obvious to us while watching the film. Here, they seem to draw your eye to the very spots that had been effected. I think if we had gotten a sculpt halfway between the Hot Toys version and this version, we would have had a near perfect Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker as played by Mark Hamill. As it is I'm not fully convinced on either.

The figure itself comes with plenty of good features, though. Not least of which is the three different looks you can give the character. Two head sculpts -- one inside the Endor helmet, and one without. I've seen people have managed to get the head out of the Endor helmet, but not without serious effort (something I have no intention of doing, as I don't honestly think I'll ever use the Endor look myself -- so I'd rather get rid of those parts if possible).
The heads have an okay paint job, but it could be better. There is only the slightest hint of color variation in the hair, even though the overall sculpting of it is there, a better paint app would have made the hair more believable. There's a hint of cast flashing in part of the hair on helmetless head, but at normal viewing distance it really isn't all that noticeable.

One of the cool things about his black Jedi shirt with the flap is that it has  magnets inside the flap and the shirt, so if you want the flap down it stays perfectly in place, if you want it closed -- same thing. Overall the outfits looks really good, I especially like the Jabba scene over-tunic (he comes wearing that), and the straight-up Jedi look with all black for the final light-saber duel with dear-old Dad. He also comes with an assortment of hands, including one ungloved right hand with robotic battle damage. The boots are a nice two-piece design giving a fairly decent amount of ankle articulation.

The one gripe I have about the costume pieces is the Jedi belt -- for some unknown reason the tongue of the belt goes UNDER the backside of the belt into the loop place holder -- I guess to hide the excess belt -- but it's an absolute pain in the butt to slide in there and pull the belt enough to attach the prong into the hole to make it tight (I had to use two self-holding tweezers in order to get it to work). They could have just made the belt the appropriate length and had it clasp closed on the back of the buckle, but I guess that would take someone pulling their head out of their you-know-what...

Other than that, my pictures (as usual) don't really do the figure any justice. But I took a few anyway. Overall, my impressions: it's a good, but not great figure, that comes with some nice accessories -- but for the price, it should have been a home-run. Let me know what you think.

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#review #Sideshow #LukeSkywalker #ReturnoftheJedi


_________________
Mark

He who dies with the most toys wins!

returnofthejedi - Mini-Review: Sideshow Collectibles: Deluxe Edition Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker C8485110

scalawag

scalawag
Emm!!  I think he looks ok.  I agree that they seem to have exaggerated the effects of Mark Hamills accident more than needed, and the hair looks very flat and lifeless.  I few colour washes and a bit of highlighting would have worked wonders with it.  It looks a tad dark to me too but they may be my memory playing tricks on me.
I would certainly not have expected any unremoved flashing or mould marks anywhere on a figure costing what these do today.  A premium price point and they can't be bothered with basic finishing, either that or poor quality control, come on SideShow people paying this much deserve better Rolling Eyes

Nice to see a good selection of extras here, and yes those magnets in the shirt are a very nice touch for this costume.

So overall a not bad from me I think.  

Paul


_________________
I can't see the trees for the Forest
returnofthejedi - Mini-Review: Sideshow Collectibles: Deluxe Edition Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker Yv5cCVM

GubernatorFan

GubernatorFan
Founding Father
Thanks for the review. While I don't agree with you that the HT sculpt is all that flattering, I see what you mean about this one, especially in the macro photos. All the same, it looks like a pretty good set, and I think it is an improvement on Sideshow's earlier one (I had reconstituted its basics on another body), and this is intended to include the outfit and accessories as well. From some angles it looks pretty spot on, from others a bit less so.


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skywalkersaga

skywalkersaga
Hmm, yeah , I’m torn. I think he’s got some really nice features, it’s just tough to say on the sculpt itself, in terms of which I prefer.

I got the Hot Toys 40th anniversary RotJ Luke (well technically got it for my husband ) largely because a) I thought he would make a nice ‘balance’ to my Hot Toys RotS Anakin (and he does), and b) I was still really new to 1/6 collecting and honestly did not think there’d be any other decent versions of RotJ Luke anytime soon. So I was kind of surprised to see this Sideshow offering so soon after.

While I don’t regret getting my husband the HT version (he’s pretty happy with it), something about that sculpt bothers me, and I was somewhat, if not disappointed, then frustrated by it. And yes, I totally get that post-accident and reconstructive surgery Mark Hamill has always been tough to capture in action figure form — I only have ONE little 3.75” figure of RotJ Luke for that very reason, which is a shame as RotJ Luke is my favourite Luke. But so many interpretations of him in any scale are just ... off.

Now, with the HT sculpt, my issue was that I thought the actual face/likeness was ok, but the open-mouthed expression was odd, and the hairstyle was weirdly static looking. The expression I can live with, but the hairstyle I find somewhat irksome. (It seems to work best for when he’s wearing the cloak with the hood up, in my eyes, but less so without.)

So when I saw the production pics for this one, I thought it did seem at least a bit more neutral and versatile. I think the hairstyle on this one is a bit better, though the actual hair sculpt is, unsurprisingly, less detailed than the HT one. Or perhaps it’s the paint job that makes it look that way. This Sideshow Luke is at least miles better than their previous version of him, so that’s a relief. Very Happy I agree that he’s perhaps not a mind-blowingly amazing figure, but I still think he looks nice for what he is. Smile Sometimes there is something to be said for slightly more stylised sculpts, but that’s just me...

On a side note, I’m curious about the HT ‘deluxe’ RotJ Luke set ... I’ve seen some images floating around and I do like some of the headsculpt variations that it comes with. I just can’t justify getting a whole other set when I’ve already got a RotJ Luke. :/ This Sideshow one at least has more extra outfits and also a more neutral expression, so in that way it does have a bit of an edge over the ‘regular’ HT version.


ETA
: Just finally able to look at the pics on a larger screen, and I can see what you mean about the casting marks in the hair. And from the larger view, the paint job on the hair seems even more lacking. However, that at least is something that *can* be fixed/altered, if need be. : ) On a positive note, the cloak looks like a HUGE step up from Sideshow's previous cloaks, many of which were fraying right out of the box.


_________________
"The happy ending of the fairy tale, the myth, and the divine comedy of the soul, is to be read,
not as a contradiction, but as a transcendence of the universal tragedy of man."

Ignoring current 'official' Star Wars content for my own sanity.

skywalkersaga

skywalkersaga
Not to pester you, lol, but I can't help but wonder what this figure looks like next to other SW figures? Scale-wise, is he the correct height next to, say, Hot Toys Star Wars figures? And how does the headsculpt compare when standing side by side? In the past, Sideshow 1/6 figures have seemed a bit on the larger side -- or maybe that was their melon-heads that made them seem so?? -- so I'm just curious....


_________________
"The happy ending of the fairy tale, the myth, and the divine comedy of the soul, is to be read,
not as a contradiction, but as a transcendence of the universal tragedy of man."

Ignoring current 'official' Star Wars content for my own sanity.

Stryker2011

Stryker2011
Founding Father
Okay, here you go, S. I think overall they did really good on the height. Granted, the paint app is where he fails, but overall, this is actually a pretty fun character to play around with. The accessories and outfit options are really nice. About the only parts I don't have a use for is the Endor stuff (the helmeted head, the Endor poncho and belt).

returnofthejedi - Mini-Review: Sideshow Collectibles: Deluxe Edition Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker _dsc3111
returnofthejedi - Mini-Review: Sideshow Collectibles: Deluxe Edition Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker _dsc3110



_________________
Mark

He who dies with the most toys wins!

returnofthejedi - Mini-Review: Sideshow Collectibles: Deluxe Edition Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker C8485110

skywalkersaga

skywalkersaga
Oh, he looks great with them ! And from a distance, and with the hood up, don’t think the paint job looks all that bad at all. Thank you so much for the pics !


_________________
"The happy ending of the fairy tale, the myth, and the divine comedy of the soul, is to be read,
not as a contradiction, but as a transcendence of the universal tragedy of man."

Ignoring current 'official' Star Wars content for my own sanity.

Peaches

Peaches
I guess I have a bad eye because I think he looks awesome?!

skywalkersaga

skywalkersaga
Not a bad eye at all, Peaches — I rather like him too. My only indecision was trying to figure out whether I preferred the Hot Toys sculpt (which is the one I already have), or this Sideshow sculpt. Both have some flaws imo, but I honestly can’t pick cause I also really like aspects of both. So it’s a draw for me, lol.


_________________
"The happy ending of the fairy tale, the myth, and the divine comedy of the soul, is to be read,
not as a contradiction, but as a transcendence of the universal tragedy of man."

Ignoring current 'official' Star Wars content for my own sanity.

Stryker2011

Stryker2011
Founding Father
I’ve seen a lot of people with that same issue, ladies. In fact, what a lot of them have done is combine parts from both the HT and SS figures to make a couple “best of both worlds” figures. Many seem to prefer the Sideshow Jedi over tunic to the HT, but the HT black Jedi garment (the one with the flap) — though some preferred the Sideshow for the magnet to keep the flap in check. Many also prefer the SS Endor helmet head, but the HT gear. I’ve also seen some that have removed the Endor head from the helmet, and used the hair piece from the Medicom Luke to make the Jedi look, because they like the face of the helmeted version better. Some have just used the HT head, but put it on the SS body, since the SS doesn’t have the padded body suit underneath the clothes. So many possibilities, I guess. The thing I like about the SS Luke, as I’ve mentioned, is that he comes with essentially three different looks (Jabba sequence withe the over-tunic and hooded robe, the Endor set-up, and the Jedi look for the final duel). HT requires you buy two whole figures just to get the Endor gear. Some prefer the Endor gear, which is fine, but to me it’s my least favorite of all his outfits (cool scenes with the speeder bikes, though).


_________________
Mark

He who dies with the most toys wins!

returnofthejedi - Mini-Review: Sideshow Collectibles: Deluxe Edition Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker C8485110

skywalkersaga

skywalkersaga
Yeah , that’s exactly the sort of thing I’d love to do ... combine elements of both. But all I really want are just the looks that the HT already comes with anyway... I don’t mind the Endor ‘space poncho’, lmao, but I just don’t have need of it for the focus of my collection at present. But I do sort of like the body on the SS one better, which is odd as I usually prefer HT body shape, but perhaps SS have improved on that score. Either way, I’m on the lookout for an alternative head option for my RotJ Luke at the very least....perhaps I could manage to kitbash two versions: the Jabba sequence with the hood, AND the final Throne Room duel scene (my fave film scene of all time).Now that would be ideal. Very Happy


_________________
"The happy ending of the fairy tale, the myth, and the divine comedy of the soul, is to be read,
not as a contradiction, but as a transcendence of the universal tragedy of man."

Ignoring current 'official' Star Wars content for my own sanity.

GubernatorFan

GubernatorFan
Founding Father
Since you now have the speeder bike, I am a little surprised that you are so dismissive of the helmet and poncho look -- although I realize that one had to pick a way to display the figure long-term, I too would pick something less specific and more iconic; besides you have the scout trooper to display with the speeder bike. I am glad Sideshow didn't forget to make adjustment for the height. The figure seems to work quite well with the HT ones.


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skywalkersaga

skywalkersaga
I have to agree, GF -- I'm actually quite impressed by how well this Sideshow Luke holds up next to the Hot Toys figures. Since I'm always looking at 1/6 figures with an eye toward how they look when posed or displayed together, that kind of thing can really sway my opinion....and in this case, it made me like it even more. Smile


_________________
"The happy ending of the fairy tale, the myth, and the divine comedy of the soul, is to be read,
not as a contradiction, but as a transcendence of the universal tragedy of man."

Ignoring current 'official' Star Wars content for my own sanity.

Stryker2011

Stryker2011
Founding Father
GubernatorFan wrote:Since you now have the speeder bike, I am a little surprised that you are so dismissive of the helmet and poncho look -- although I realize that one had to pick a way to display the figure long-term, I too would pick something less specific and more iconic; besides you have the scout trooper to display with the speeder bike. I am glad Sideshow didn't forget to make adjustment for the height. The figure seems to work quite well with the HT ones.

It’s not really that I’m dismissing it, it’s just my least favorite look, and as you say — I have the Scout Trooper, which I think is a really cool look, so I really wouldn’t pose Luke on the bike. Unless I was going to do some sort of story photo-shoot, of course. But I don’t have photoshop skills to do anything fancy.


_________________
Mark

He who dies with the most toys wins!

returnofthejedi - Mini-Review: Sideshow Collectibles: Deluxe Edition Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker C8485110

Rogerbee

Rogerbee
Founding Father

Saw it in hand yesterday and wasn't impressed at all, the Endor accessories could be useful though. Still think the Endor rebels were the best thing SSC ever did.

CHEERS!

skywalkersaga

skywalkersaga
Aww, that's a shame, Roger. But I do remember those... I always liked the Nik Sant figure!


_________________
"The happy ending of the fairy tale, the myth, and the divine comedy of the soul, is to be read,
not as a contradiction, but as a transcendence of the universal tragedy of man."

Ignoring current 'official' Star Wars content for my own sanity.

Rogerbee

Rogerbee
Founding Father
Was he the one with the white beard?

I think I got 2 of him because I wanted a full set of gear for a bash.

CHEERS!

skywalkersaga

skywalkersaga
Rogerbee wrote:Was he the one with the white beard?

I think I got 2 of him because I wanted a full set of gear for a bash.

Yeah, that was him. : )


_________________
"The happy ending of the fairy tale, the myth, and the divine comedy of the soul, is to be read,
not as a contradiction, but as a transcendence of the universal tragedy of man."

Ignoring current 'official' Star Wars content for my own sanity.

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