Luke Skywalker (Hoth Attack)

There are lots of rumors surrounding Star Wars - from the one about a shoe being substituted for a Rebel ship or the claim of a version of The Phantom Menace where Darth Maul isn't cut in half when he's chucked down a shaft, to the fanwank about Obi-Wan actually being Clone #OB1. There's a lot of silliness, but at least one urban legend is somewhat plausible: the one about Luke Skywalker getting attacked on Hoth. While patrolling on Hoth, Luke was savagely attacked by a Wampa and dragged by the ice creature to its cave, where he was suspended from the ceiling in anticipation of becoming the Wampa's next meal. Luke used the Force to retrieve his lightsaber from the floor of the cave and freed himself from the ice entrapping his leg. The Wampa attacked again, and Luke fought the vicious creature, escaping only after severing one of the Wampa's arms. The story goes that Mark Hamill was disfigured in a car crash and required reconstructive surgery, and the Wampa scene was added to explain his scars. Consider this one half-true: Hamill did wreck his car, fracturing his nose and cheekbone in the process, but the Wampas were already in the script by that point. The fanboys just conflated the two unrelated events. It's interesting to see how much toymaking has changed in just four years. The figure's sculpt is easily on par with the figures being released today, but his articulation is a joke. Luke has a balljointed neck, balljointed shoulders, swivel waist and peg hips - that's it. No knees, no elbows, no wrists, for crying out loud? Who made this figure, Hasbro or McFarlane? The likeness is a bit softer than you'd expect on a current figure, but even the wounds on his face are exactly like what we saw in Empire Strikes Back: a big crescent gash circling his eye, another on his cheek, and a slash running down from his nose and across his lips. Further discounting the notion that this scene was only cobbled together to deal with Hamill's injury? All the cuts in the movie are on his right side, while the real-world injuries were on the left. Myth busted! Luke has a few accessories, of course. He's got his lightsaber, a pair of goggles, and a chunk of the Wampa's ice cave. The lightsaber is nice, with a flare at the base of the removable blue blade, and a peg on the handle which doesn't actually plug into anything - obviously whatever figure originally used this lightsaber mold had a hole in its belt to accommodate the peg. The goggles are white, with clear green lenses, though they're too big for his head. Why? Because they originally came with a Chewbacca in 2000, so they're sized for a wookie. The ice base is detailed well, with a layered texture on all the various spikes and two spots for his feet to fit. Hard as it may be to believe, this Luke Skywalker may be the best Hoth version ever released, despite his low articulation. Why? Well, the accessories count for a lot, though they may not seem like it. Plus it helps that Hasbro hasn't released a Hoth Luke since this one, so this costume hasn't had the advantage of a modern, super-articulated version.

Tweet