Verdict: A curious first outfit for Luke, this figure is the current gold standard for this line. Luke Skywalker uses fantastic engineering and a great sculpt to bring you what is most likely the best Luke Skywalker figure you're going to buy all year. What's more, he can sit should the need arise for a vehicle some day.

Where to buy: This review is sponsored by Entertainment Earth! Please click here to order yours now. Also available at Amazon.com.

Bio: Luke Skywalker uses the power of the Force and his piloting skills to destroy the Death Star. (Taken from the figure's packaging.)

Sculpt
We have a winner! Luke's head is similar to that of Gentle Giant's mini bust a few years ago, but the detail on the costume seems to actually be better. Luke's head has a slight blemish on the right side, which is sculpted and is rarely seen on collectibles - it's a nice touch! The hair and costume are well-sculpted, with lots if wrinkles, buttons, and switches that normally aren't represented on action figures. The slight increase in size has given Hasbro and their design partners at Gentle Giant and Lucasfilm license to really show off what these costumes are made of, giving us a whole new level of nitpickery.

Articulation is strong, with roughly 20 points. At 5 1/2-inches high, Hasbro remembered that Luke is shorter than many of the other characters - this is important, and I hope they will keep this in mind when it comes time to do Wedge or Biggs later on. Unique (hopefully) to Luke is a small hook on his belt on which you can hang a lightsaber hilt. The advantage here is that it looks great, but the disadvantage is that it uses a loop on the hilt to hang like Kenner's 1990s 12-inch action figures. While not an eyesore, it's not terribly authentic and in a line where the whole point is supposedly unmatched authenticity and detail, it's sort of a downer.

The level of movement is better than ever, as the legs can be position to sit, each leg has two knee joints, plus the ankles can rock back and forth so you can get all sorts of action poses. As a bonus, bend-and-swivel wrists are seemingly standard in this line and Luke is no exception. He has no problems holding his lightsaber or blaster, and can even carry around his helmet if you'd like.

Deco
It's a pretty simple outfit, so it's surprising that so much extra work went into shading it correctly. The orange jumpsuit has a layer of shadows painted over it, which helps bring it to life at this scale. The hands and forearms are molded in black with some elements painted orange, and this is one of two spots that are somewhat flawed - seeing the black plastic peek out from behind the orange is rather ugly, which is why it's usually a bad idea to paint black plastic a lighter color. The effect is never going to be ideal. The only other nitpick I have is his belt - there should be paint on the little cylinders on there, and there isn't. The mini bust has this detail, and while I understand this is not a $60 hunk of resin it would have been nice to have here.

Accessory deco is good. The lightsaber is silver with some black and red paint, plus some gold as well. The blaster has silver and brown, while the helmet is largely quite good. The black and yellow on the forehead is a little uneven, but generally speaking it looks better than any other action figure helmet of this size or smaller I've seen to date. I feel like I got what I paid for here.

Accessories
Because Luke has most of what he needs and it all works, there's not much to say - what else could you do here? The helmet fits and looks great. The two-piece lightsaber separates and he has no problems gripping it. The only quibble I have is the loop on the hilt, which isn't present in the movies and as such is a bit of a tiny eyesore. The blaster fits snuggly in his hand, with his finger sliding in the trigger guard with no problems. What more could you ask for?

Context
This is Hasbro's first 6-inch Luke Skywalker in this format. As such, it's the best. It's also arguably better than their entire run of 3 3/4-inch X-Wing Luke figures dating back to 1979 in terms of options, articulation, and deco. A Bespin Luke is due in wave 3, and at the rate things are going that should be early in 2014.

Play Value
Better than expected - this scale is usually not very "play" friendly, and the Black Series Luke is better than the last 10 years of his 3 3/4-inch counterparts. The straps on his legs in no way hinder movement, so this figure is actually totally perfect to fit inside a 6-inch scale X-wing Fighter! This of course is impossible, as such a thing does not currently exist and would likely set you back north of $80 if/when it happens.

Packaging
Small - it's smaller than a vintage cardback! It's still 9-inches tall, but as it's slightly narrower you can fit more in less space - kudos, Hasbro. Easy to pop open and remove/replace figure, but not exactly exciting to look at. A nicer template may encourage more collectors to keep a set in the box.

--Adam Pawlus