We all know that Luke Skywalker is an important character in the Star Wars Universe. Hell, he was certainly arguably the most important character until Lucas retconned Vader into that position. But it still feels like Hasbro is really over-pimping the hell out of Luke in the 6-inch Black line. The series of figures is still relatively young and yet here I am looking at the third version of the character and we’ve already seen pictures of the fourth (Hoth) Luke arriving soon in the next Deluxe Wave. I get it, Hasbro, but how about spacing out the Lukes and getting us a Lando? Or maybe a Princess Leia with her clothes on? The glut of Lukes is kind of getting out of hand, especially in the absense of so many other important characters, or even not so important characters that I’d still like to get figures of. Now, with all that having been said, I do have to admit that this version of “Jedi Luke” makes for a nice companion figure to the “Return of the Jedi” Vader that also shipped in this wave. Let’s take a look at Luke #3…

The package is a little worse for wear because I left it on the floor and the cat tried to open it. Actually it turned out that he just wanted the box to play with and not the figure inside. Well, there’s no accounting for taste. Anyway, the window box is exactly what we’ve seen for the last couple of figures in the wave. It’s a black box with a black tray and a mostly black figure inside and it’s called Black… that’s a lot of black!

So speaking of black, that’s really one of the few things worth mentioning about the figure. His Jedi Knight outfit is almost void of any notable detail apart from some sculpted wrinkles and seams. Seriously, this is one of the most nondescript figures I’ve seen in a while. To help things along, Hasbro included a removable piece for his tunic, which can be replaced with another piece that makes it look as if his flap is folded down.

I call it the Captain Kirk “Wrath of Khan” look. All it’s missing is a bloody handprint. I guess the extra tunic part is a nice touch, but you know what would have also been a nice touch? A FREAKING SOFT GOODS JEDI ROBE!!! Even the god damn original Kenner 3 3/4” version of this figure came with that! Seriously, there’s no excuse for leaving it out this time. I’m beginning to think we may not even see one with the “A New Hope” Obi-Wan when he comes out.

The head sculpt is OK, but it’s not great. It’s very gaunt and sickly looking, so maybe this is supposed to be Luke after he got the shit zapped out of him by Palpatine. The likeness is sort of there, they certainly got the chin dimple right, but it strikes me more as a caricature than anything else. It’s definitely my least favorite of all three Luke portraits in this line. In fact, I think the X-Wing Luke is the best, so I’d argue they’ve been getting progressively worse. Seems like it should be the other way around.

Anyway, the only other thing worth mentioning about Luke’s outfit is it has a separate belt with a hook that you can hang the lightsaber hilt on. Hey, at least that’s better than Darth Vader got. In fact, all the Luke figures in this line so far have had ways to carry the hilts on their belts, so that’s cool. Naturally the blade can come out of the hilt and Luke’s articulation allows him to wield the saber in both hands.

Speaking of articulation, Luke’s poseability is right in line with what we’ve been seeing all along. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, and have swivels in the thighs. The ankles have hinges and lateral rockers. There is also a ball joint just above the waist and the neck has both a ball joint and a hinge. Luke is a pretty fun figure to pose and I’m happy to report no soft or mushy joints.

So, how does Jedi Luke fare against my 6-inch Black Litmus Test? He fails, because there’s virtually nothing about this figure that couldn’t have or hasn’t been done better in the smaller 3 3/4” scale. The lack of a soft goods Jedi robe is frankly inexcusable, especially for a figure that required so little sculpting and paintwork. Plus, I don’t see why Luke’s head sculpts are getting worse and not better. Both Luke and Vader are both similar in that they are not bad figures, just decidedly average. They strike me as missed opportunities and fine examples of how this 6-inch Black series continues to be wildly inconsistent.

Back when Hasbro first unveiled their Star Wars Black 6-inch line, there was a lot of speculation as to whether or not there would ever be any vehicles. Now that speculation can end because we got one! Even if it may be the only one (that still remains to be seen), the Speeder Bike seems like the perfect way to get a vehicle into the line and bundle it with a figure too! I’ve been particularly excited to get this set in hand to see how it turned out, mainly because I bought a case and got two of these along with the Deluxe Jabba the Hutt.

The packaging is a very simple, no frills window box. Like the boxes for the individual figures, the presentation here is as minimalist as you can get. There isn’t even any writing or art or anything on the side panels or the top. Yup, pretty boring. On the other hand, it’s a confident move to let your toy speak for itself, and that’s exactly what the huge window is doing here. I do find it interesting that the set is called “Speeder Bike with Biker Scout” as if it’s the figure that’s the accessory. I think most would have figured it to be the other way around. Either way, both pieces come on a clear plastic tray with the Scout seated on his ride and held in by rubber bands. I’m a little worried about the dreaded Pre-Posed Warping Syndrome. I can’t wait to bust this thing open and get them out! Oh yeah, the box is totally collector friendly so long as you’re careful clipping all those rubber bands and don’t mangle the tray. Let’s start with the figure…

My rule of thumb when evaluating the 6-inch Black figures can be summed up with, “is it an improvement over the best of the 3 3/4” versions and thereby does it take advantage of the upscale?” In the case of the Biker Scout I would have to say… yeah, sort of. It’s not a huge leap forward, but it I think it does take advantage of the larger size to deliver a marginally better sculpt then what we’ve had in the past and definitely better articulation. Most of the improvements in the sculpt can be found on the back of the belt and the armor for the arms. The underlying body suit also has a more intricate texture. I also like how the shoulder hinges are no longer visible through the shoulder armor. The treads on his boots are particularly impressive. I’ll confess you have to scrutinize this guy quite a bit to find the stand out differences between him and his smaller cousin, but there are some there to be found.

Obviously the bulk of the deco here consists of white armor on a black body suit. The figure does make some use of weathering and panel lining. The weathering mostly consists of some dirt on his boots and a little more of the same color on his chest. I’m kind of torn on whether or not I would have preferred him clean, but what we got certainly looks fine. The rest of the paint hits are used to pick out detail in his armor and it’s all executed with precision. I think my only quibble would be that I wish the black used for his visor was glossy instead of matte.

As for that articulation, I’m happy to report that my Biker Scout doesn’t suffer from any mushy joint syndrome, nor did any of his joints get warped or deformed from being packaged seated on the bike. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, swivels in the biceps, and double hinges in the elbows. The shoulder armor does inhibit the movement there a bit, but it’s not terribly restrictive. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have swivels in the thighs and tops of the boots, double hinges in the knees, and the ankles have both hinges and lateral rockers. There’s a ball joint just below the chest armor and the neck is both ball jointed and hinged.

On the downside, his gun is a little piece of shit. I think it’s undersized, but that could be just me. The first time I put it into his hand the trigger guard snapped because it’s just weak soft rubber. It still looks alright in his hand, but paying good money for something from a “collector’s line” only to have a part break right out of the box is not my idea of fun. I’ll have to be more careful with the second one when I open it.

Moving on to the Speeder Bike, I’d say this piece is a bigger departure from the 3 3/4” version but mainly because it’s a far more static piece. There are some small improvements to the mold, but this piece also takes a few steps back. There are hinges on the air brakes, but they only allow for a little movement. The undercarriage blaster can still swivel, but those two examples are the extent of the articulation on this thing. The pedals are fixed into place (although they will pull out as they are just tabbed into the bottom) as are the handlebars. On the plus side, I expected this thing to be really soft and bendy and I’m happy to report that’s not really the case. Only the handlebars suffer from soft plastic and it’s not really an issue when the figure is holding them, only when the bike is unoccupied. The deco gets by mostly with colored plastic, although there are some silver dry brushed weathering effects here and there, which are only moderately convincing.

I’m not sure if this will make sense, but this Bike feels more like a prop than a proper 6-scale replica of the Bike. Upscaling the Speeder Bike to the 6-inch range offered lots of opportunities for more intricate moving parts and better defined instruments and such and sadly those opportunities are missed here. That’s not to say, however, that it doesn’t look good because it certainly does. What’s more, the Biker Scout looks fantastic when riding it, thanks to his excellent articulation and the addition of foot pegs on the pedals.

The stand is a frosted translucent cheap piece of rubbery plastic, but damn if it isn’t clever. When I first set it up I was pissed because it seemed like the only way to display the bike was in elevated flight. It took me a few minutes to realize that the other two ball joints work as well. You can plug any of the three into the bottom of the bike and the irregular triangular shape of the stand makes it so that you can display the bike at different heights depending on what side you flip it onto. I was happy to see I could achieve the parked levitating look with the Scout standing beside it.

Both the Speeder Bike and the Biker Scout are very nice pieces and I’m very happy to have them in my growing 6-inch Black collection. They are not, however, toys that take full advantage of the collector’s grade potential of the larger scale and higher price point. At about $40 for the set, I’d say this box is definitely worth the money. The 6-inch Black figures generally retail for twenty and it’s easy to see where another twenty bucks went into the bike for plastic, tooling and paint. I’ll admit to having lowered my expectations of this line a bit since the initial wave came out, but that’s not to say that I’m not appreciating and enjoying these figures.