SWTOTW, Week 20, 2020 Luke Skywalker (Hoth Battle Gear)

[Pomse2001]

Luke Skywalker (Hoth Battle Gear):

luke hoth.jpeg (23.98 KiB) Viewed 918 times

[TheJabbaWookie]

Remember playing with this one a lot as a kid. Sticks out because of the unusual pose rather like the Black Bespin Guard

[Snaketibe]

Remember playing with this one a lot as a kid. Sticks out because of the unusual pose rather like the Black Bespin Guard

Another lovely condition figure Jay.

Thanks for sharing

[Snaketibe]

Luke Hoth. It took Kenner a ridiculous amount of time to release this figure back in the 80's. We had the tauntaun to put Luke in loooong before we got Luke himself. And of course when we did finally get him, his pose / stance was completely inconsistent with the more neutral poses of all of the rest of the figures up to that point. The Black Bespin Guard emulated Luke Hoth's striding pose subsequently, and yes both figures have fans of those stances, but personally I've always disliked them, even though I do like the figures themselves. I dislike pre-posed figures because it feels like the toy manufacturer is telling me how I should be playing with / displaying my figures, and that annoys me... but as I say, I'm sure there are plenty of collectors that love these two figures precisely because of their different poses.

Anyway legs aside, this is a good figure IMHO, with an eccentric, but ultimately more sensibly posed scarf than that which came with the Rebel Commander. At least Luke can turn his head in both directions! As for variants, there are some of note. The Kenner version can be found in both a very soft sculpt and a very fine sculpt. Nowhere is this more in evidence than on Luke's jacket, and especially so on the reverse where the diagonal lines crisscrossing his back are noticeably deeper and more sharply defined on the fine sculpt. The paint and plastic dye used on each of these two figures is also subtly different from one another, with the fine sculpt figure having a slightly darker torso and much darker boots. The Meccano and PBP versions of this figure also utlise the fine rather than the soft sculpt, but the biggest difference by far between those two figures and the two Kenners is the wildly different shade of plastic used for the torso. On the PBP and Meccano versions it's a much, much lighter, almost yellow shade of brown. Sadly I don't have a PBP example to show you, but I do have a nice Meccano one on the right-hand side in the photos below, although I must say that even though the photos do show a clear colour difference between the Meccano torso and those on the Kenners, even so it really doesn't do the difference full justice, but that's the limitations of my camera I'm afraid.

So here they are, the two Kenners and a Meccano, plus the baggie Luke Hoth which came in the feeble Rebel Command Center Adventure Set:

Hoth and Cold - 01.jpg (132.82 KiB) Viewed 905 times

Hoth and Cold - 02.jpg (115.48 KiB) Viewed 905 times

Hoth and Cold - 03.jpg (67.55 KiB) Viewed 905 times

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Hoth and Cold - 05.jpg (77.02 KiB) Viewed 905 times

Hoth and Cold - 06.jpg (83.68 KiB) Viewed 905 times

Hoth and Cold - 07.jpg (81.28 KiB) Viewed 905 times

[TheJabbaWookie]

Nice examples. Love the Meccano. Great info as always.

[Ruby2511]

Here's mine

20200518_100917.jpg (126.59 KiB) Viewed 885 times

[Pomse2001]

Remember playing with this one a lot as a kid. Sticks out because of the unusual pose rather like the Black Bespin Guard

Wow nice mint figure, thanks for sharing it. Is it the one you played with from your childhood ? I also had one when I was a kid and I loved to play with it, it was one of the last star wars items I got when I was a kid.

[Pomse2001]

Luke Hoth. It took Kenner a ridiculous amount of time to release this figure back in the 80's. We had the tauntaun to put Luke in loooong before we got Luke himself. And of course when we did finally get him, his pose / stance was completely inconsistent with the more neutral poses of all of the rest of the figures up to that point. The Black Bespin Guard emulated Luke Hoth's striding pose subsequently, and yes both figures have fans of those stances, but personally I've always disliked them, even though I do like the figures themselves. I dislike pre-posed figures because it feels like the toy manufacturer is telling me how I should be playing with / displaying my figures, and that annoys me... but as I say, I'm sure there are plenty of collectors that love these two figures precisely because of their different poses.

Anyway legs aside, this is a good figure IMHO, with an eccentric, but ultimately more sensibly posed scarf than that which came with the Rebel Commander. At least Luke can turn his head in both directions! As for variants, there are some of note. The Kenner version can be found in both a very soft sculpt and a very fine sculpt. Nowhere is this more in evidence than on Luke's jacket, and especially so on the reverse where the diagonal lines crisscrossing his back are noticeably deeper and more sharply defined on the fine sculpt. The paint and plastic dye used on each of these two figures is also subtly different from one another, with the fine sculpt figure having a slightly darker torso and much darker boots. The Meccano and PBP versions of this figure also utlise the fine rather than the soft sculpt, but the biggest difference by far between those two figures and the two Kenners is the wildly different shade of plastic used for the torso. On the PBP and Meccano versions it's a much, much lighter, almost yellow shade of brown. Sadly I don't have a PBP example to show you, but I do have a nice Meccano one on the right-hand side in the photos below, although I must say that even though the photos do show a clear colour difference between the Meccano torso and those on the Kenners, even so it really doesn't do the difference full justice, but that's the limitations of my camera I'm afraid.

So here they are, the two Kenners and a Meccano, plus the baggie Luke Hoth which came in the feeble Rebel Command Center Adventure Set:

Hoth and Cold - 01.jpg

Hoth and Cold - 02.jpg

Hoth and Cold - 03.jpg

Hoth and Cold - 04.jpg

Hoth and Cold - 05.jpg

Hoth and Cold - 06.jpg

Hoth and Cold - 07.jpg

Thanks mate for sharing your collection and all the great info about the figures, I hope you get a PBP in the future and that Meccano I love the colour

[Pomse2001]

Here's mine

20200518_100917.jpg

some nice figures, great to see him on the tauntaun thanks for sharing them

[Snaketibe]

Here's mine

20200518_100917.jpg

Great examples!

Thanks for sharing

[TheJabbaWookie]

Remember playing with this one a lot as a kid. Sticks out because of the unusual pose rather like the Black Bespin Guard

Wow nice mint figure, thanks for sharing it. Is it the one you played with from your childhood ? I also had one when I was a kid and I loved to play with it, it was one of the last star wars items I got when I was a kid.

Ha I wish. Unfortunately no childhood Star Wars toys for me. Some other childhood items that I cherish though.

[Alisdairmac]

Very nice description @Snaketibe
Ive always been a bit torn on this figure as you say because of the pose. Even as a child I thought the figure looked cool but remember the nonchalant pose never seemed quite right when it was time for him to go into battle.

[Pomse2001]

Remember playing with this one a lot as a kid. Sticks out because of the unusual pose rather like the Black Bespin Guard

Wow nice mint figure, thanks for sharing it. Is it the one you played with from your childhood ? I also had one when I was a kid and I loved to play with it, it was one of the last star wars items I got when I was a kid.

Ha I wish. Unfortunately no childhood Star Wars toys for me. Some other childhood items that I cherish though.

The same here, I do not know if I still have mine. I was so stupid that I mixed my childhood items with other vintage items, so I only have a few items left that I know is from my childhood.

[Pomse2001]

ok here is my collection, 22 variants, a baggie and a few cardbacks

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[Pomse2001]

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