Tying up some of 2009′s loose ends, I think we’ve seen the last of Q&A until Toy Fair 2010. (Save the date — all the sites — will be working hard for you on/around/through St. Valentine’s Day.) I bit my tongue holding back (and hoping) that Imperial Scanning Crewman #2 would miraculously appear, but eventually Hasbro relayed the bad news. Sometimes in passing one of those non-Q&A questions will be answered.

So there you have it. If you’ve wondered… go forth and be creative. Feel free to send in photos (adam@galacticblogger.com) to show your support for the BEST pack-in we’ve had in the entire run of Star Wars toys. [By sending in photography, you permit GalacticBlogger.com to use photographs in the capacity of this Internet blog/column. You retain your ownership and copyright.] Extremely creative Astro-modders may be picked for nifty prize-like things that are cluttering up the GalacticBlogger.com toybox/home-office. [Kids get your parents' permission before doing ANYTHING.]

The new Snowspeeder Luke Skywalker figure is now showing up in stores along with the rest of the Empire Strikes Back wave.  I’ve wanted this particular version for years, but until now Hasbro has always come short of offering an accurate quality version of this figure.

The original POTF2-era “X-Wing Luke Skywalker” released in 1995 was actually his Empire Strikes Back Snowspeeder outfit with the cold-weather jacket with puffy collar sculpted onto the upper body, but it had a terrible POTF2-era buffed-up body sculpt and limited articulation compared to the current Hasbro aesthetic.

The next incarnation of Snowspeeder Luke Skywalker was in 2004 as part of the Collectible Cup with Figure releases, but this version was just a repaint of the POTF2-era “X-Wing Luke Skywalker” with a new puffy jacket collar piece added to his upper torso.  Still not 100% accurate, and it definitely did not live up to 2004 standards.

In 2006, Hasbro produced a new improved Snowspeeder Pilot when they gave us the Target-exclusive Snowspeeder with Zev Senesca figure.  Zev Senesca had an accurate cold-weather pilot’s jacket which looked much better than the POTF2 version, but he still had limited articulation and an inaccurate style of boots, so his body wasn’t quite perfect when Hasbro re-purposed it for a new Snowspeeder Luke Skywalker kit-bash in the 2007 Target exclusive Battle of Hoth Ultimate Battle Pack.  The shade of orange on the legs didn’t match the upper body, and the boots were not the Hoth style, making this a lackluster upgrade.  They also used the Vintage Original Trilogy Collection Luke Skywalker headsculpt, which doesn’t fit the look of the post-Wampa attacked, scarred likeness.

Following that in 2008 we finally got a 100% accurate Snowspeeder Pilot sculpt for Wes Janson and Kesin Ommis in the Snowspeeder Luke Skywalker sets.  Upon seeing those, it was only a matter of time for Hasbro to re-use the new body sculpt and give us a real Snowspeeder Luke Skywalker.

Surprisingly, they chose to sculpt a brand new body from the ground-up rather than re-use the already flawless Evolutions Asst. body.  So now after more than 14 years Hasbro has finally given us the perfect Snowspeeder Luke Skywalker. Or have they??

The new figure has an accurately sculpted Snowspeeder Pilot’s outfit with plenty of articulation, and it works well enough for Skywalker when he’s on Hoth taking on AT-AT Walkers both in and out of his Snowspeeder. However, they overlooked one important detail – a peg hole for his saber hilt. Why include a lightsaber hilt with a peg on it when you can’t attach it to his belt (as seen in the film)? Since this Snowspeeder Luke Skywalker figure is a new sculpt, it’s disappointing that he’s missing this one small detail which would have perfected the figure.

Now moving beyond the idea of a perfect Hoth Snowspeeder Luke Skywalker, let’s consider the possibility of Hasbro re-releasing him in the future as the version we see crash-landing on Dagobah in his X-Wing Fighter.  What’s the difference?  Well he’s in the same Snowspeeder outfit, but now he’s added his brown utility belt with blaster holster strapped to his leg (the same belt/holster we see on his Bespin outfit later in the film). A Snowspeeder Luke Skywalker sporting his gun holster with a lightsaber clipped to his belt would be a nice upgrade from what’s already a great looking figure.  In fact, I was so eager to have this version that I spent an hour customizing my own soon after picking up the new Hoth Snowspeeder Luke Skywalker at Walmart this week.Here’s a few pictures to give an idea of how Hasbro could turn a great figure into something even better:

Putting it together was not as simple as it looks.  The easiest part was putting the 2007 Vintage 30^th Anniversary Collection Bespin Luke Skywalker head on the body and repainting the neck to match his face’s skin tone.  Next I drilled a hole in his belt just above where the saber clip should have been so that the lightsaber hilt could easily plug into it (as seen both on Hoth and Dagobah). 

After that, I cut the Vintage 30th Anniversary Collection Bespin Luke Skywalker gun holster and leg strap away from the rest of his belt so that I could glue it onto the current Hoth Snowspeeder Luke Skywalker belt just behind his right-sided belt pouch.  Before gluing, however, I repainted the belt and holster a matching shade of brown to resemble the belt he wore on Dagobah.

The final step of this custom project was to swap the Hoth Snowspeeder Luke Skywalker gloved hands with those from an extra Evolutions Wes Janson figure because for some reason the current Hoth Snowspeeder Luke Skywalker hands are sculpted at a downward angle that makes holding a blaster gun look awkward.  I assume Hasbro sculpted his hands more for holding the grappling hook/harpoon gun than actually wielding a blaster. The Wes JansonHoth Snowspeeder Luke Skywalker gloved hands are more suited to hold a blaster and are easy to swap onto the arms with a quick boil-and-pop.

So with that, we have a nearly perfect “Dagobah Crash Luke Skywalker”.  The only thing that would make it 100% perfect is glove-less arms since we see Luke removing his gloves almost immediately after crashing on Dagobah in the film just before he climbs out of his X-Wing.  I didn’t want to attempt this type of custom, but the solution would be to repaint the 30^th Anniversary Collection Celebration Luke Skywalker yellow jacket arms and put them on the Snowspeeder Luke Skywalker body.  The ribbed design on the yellow jacket sleeves are identical to the orange sleeves on the Snowspeeder Pilot cold-weather jackets, and therefore requires no new sculpting.

Anyway, enjoy this friendly customizing tip and hopefully Hasbro will take notice and consider it for a future upgrade to their wonderful Snowspeeder Luke Skywalker! [Kids get your parents' permission!]

While I’m on the subject of all three of you Galactic Blogger readers… not a single comment? Do I need to unleash my purebred Pekingese Biting Dogs on you?

For your failure — no excuses — myself, (Uncle) Karl Lagerfeld (Is a Murderer), and whomever else I have conjured up in my skull will decide which one of you is up for extermination.

So while you people were out whooping it up at Comic-Con, I did the unthinkable:

I found a use for the "VOTC" C-3PO, which was thought to be a completely lost cause. He can pilot Luke Skywalker’s Landspeeder (as seen in A New Hope).

Prior to this I thought he was just a very awkward space-filler, but, no, somebody at Hasbro was thinking (I hope). If not, forgive the insult!

I admit that not all of my suggestions (Gargan) were blockbusters, but ‘I know beauty, and I know a good thing when I speak it….’

To add to Hasbro‘s exquisite "Bathrobe Collection" (they said it, not me) I present the scarred-up face of a Wampa-mauled (that’s a two-fer) Luke Skywalker. What’s better than having severe facial lacerations? Why, making out with one’s sister (unbeknownst to either)!?! (You opened the deleted-scenes box, not me!)

Oh, but let me backtrack just a bit to present a triptych of the mask in front of the man…

So – you – Hasbro! Here’s a chance to recapitalize on a figure that might not be as popular as Luke Skywalker in Brown Pants, but it is a GREAT concept for a Battle Pack (minus the kissing) with Princess Leia and 2-1B. (There are multiple medical "beds" in your stable, so just look around.)

While we’re on the subject of "deleted-scenes", some have asked, "What does Princess Leia wear during the "lost" Sandstorm Sequence?" I’m not a big believer in cinematic magic, so I’m assuming (see photo) that she just wears a schmatte over her faaabulous golden bikini.

Finally, bringing this to a close, I offer my friends at Hasbro the following as a chance at action figure gold — Princess Leia In Command.

Images Culled From (and Thanks To Deleted Magic Revisited, which can be downloaded, oh heck, you don’t need me to tell you about Pirate Bay — Google it.)

 

This post is, as always, a day late, thanks to my friend gastroenteritis, but a little Lomotil, PowerAde Zero (Grape) and rest…

Before I start, a Galactic reader, Tommy Trouble from Memphis, TN was in my neighborhood performing with his band The Perfect Fits at 529 in the East Atlanta Village. (Yeah, I’d link them, but they charged me for two drinks I didn’t have.) If you like powerful indie pop, there’s your band. Also, sorry for the musical advertorial, but my friend Coulter (following in the footsteps of Radiohead, etc.) has released his new album, Sent To Coventry, which you can download for free. There are my plugs, and now on with…

Yes, the return of the household tips…

One cheap tap-light (I recommend real $1stores) and a pair of Droideka shields can make cool lighting.

Or turn it over (and, I swear they made these things like Weeble-Wobbles because they won’t tip over) toss in some Hot Tamales Candy or your choice (because an LED doesn’t get that hot). Voila! You have the coolest candy dish in, well, my house.

Unusual uses for toys? It’s a good thing! (No, really, it is.)

Hasbro Toys nor Just Born Inc. nor the $1 taplight endorse any alternative use of any product, but it looks cool, right?

So… allegedly Hasbro conducted a focus group at Comic Con (all under NDA, which, well, I’m not) of 100 people who wanted to buy the BMF Millennium Falcon, and the big company from Rhode Island wanted to know about the toy’s potential drawbacks. (I own three at the moment — I’m not biased. I love it more than the bulk of my family.)

Key complaints (from the alleged focus group) are (as follows):

Missiles — Apparently collectors would prefer more lasers and fewer projectiles (which get lost quite easily) and a nicer lower cannon.

The Escape Pod/Shuttle: Which our chosen 100 representatives felt could be put to better use (and I really have no idea what they’d use it for, but these are focus group people — they’ve ruined many a toy). What would you do with that space? (Oh, and I admit, I want those freakin’ doors to open!)

Doorway: The door between the cockpit and the corridor. I agree, it might be a tight fit, but, yeah, it really does need to be there so the whole ship doesn’t seem incongruous.

No Lando-vator! People really do seem to want our great Cloud City Superfreak to save Luke Skywalker‘s bony backside from certain death. Don’t ask me (as I agree) but it makes sense that people want to see Lando Calrissian do something to redeem himself after all of his kniving to (potentially) save Cloud City. He owes us (the fans) that rescue and his vainglorious attempt to save face.

OK, so, the big question is this — will we see an updated and retooled Empire Strikes Back version of the BMF, or is Hasbro just covering bases and gauging demand? Either way, there are some of us (ME!) who would buy both. There are some who will nag and nag because the toy is missing some panel that they saw for 1/32nd of a frame. I just report what I hear, folks, but a Lando-vator is wanted, appreciated, and needed.

(I honestly cannot thing of a single thing the big H could add for a Return of the Jedi remix, but if you’ve got ideas, post ‘em, and we’ll hash ‘em out right here.)

We here at Galactic Blogger (that means me) are into recycling, and we know that Hasbro likes to recycle, too. (Wal*Mart wave anyone?) So Derryl, Dave(s), and Team Star Wars, get this figure into a nice little Battle Pack, or a a really big one.

While we’re kvetching for droids, could we have a torture-in-progress Power Droid from Jabba’s Dungeon? (A screaming sound chip would be over-the-top cool!)

Click to Enlarge!