There is a sense of Deja Vu with this review for Luke in Storm Trooper armour. We have essentially already reviewed this figure twice before - once as the Storm Trooper himself, and a second time around when it was Han Solo in the Storm Trooper disguise. That all being said, Han & Luke in Storm Trooper armour are always going to be figures that will sell in a Star Wars line. It was such an iconic piece in the first film, and for Hasbro it is a win-win considering the tooling for the Storm Trooper can then be spit out as so many other figures.
So is he a little short for a Storm Trooper? Well thank fully yes, Hasbro have gone screen accurate on this one and tooled the body a touch shorter than that of Han or the regular Storm Trooper figure. When you first look at this tweak it looks a bit odd as the mid-drift of the figure is almost completely covered by the chest piece. However, this is exactly as the solid armour pieces would look if they were worn by a shorter person and therefore it does make Luke look a little clunky and under-sized which is really nice.
The head sculpt is a complete re-use of the wave 1 Luke X-Wing figure, but my how evident the paint application savings can be seen if you compare the two. Pilot Luke is a much cleaner paint with washes on the hair and detail in the facial features. Storm Trooper Luke has a very shiny skin finish, with clumsily painted eyes and mouth. The hair is much darker and the dry brushing very lazy to bring out the detail. Going back to height again, the other interesting comparison is when Luke Storm Trooper stands with Luke X-Wing and is significantly taller?
The Storm Trooper armour is nicely done as it was on the earlier Storm Trooper figures. Luke however feels cheaper and the plastic feels softer and there seems to be more of a yellow hue to the white armour when Luke lines up with Han or with one of the Wave 3 Troopers. There are also some messy patches around the joints and the ongoing issue where where the joint pegs were painted a different colour white to the armour still exists, and in fact gets worst as the knee pegs are simply left unpainted and black.
Articulation on an armoured figure always suffers. The shoulder pads really restrict the arm movements, but the double jointed elbows and bicep swivel do allow a 2 handed weapon pose if you want to go down that route. The legs are a little easier to move around but other than a wider stance or a sliding action you won't move far away from the neutral stance.
Luke comes with a standard Storm Trooper blaster, which fits nicely into a rear holster. He also comes with the communicator that he uses to talk to C-3PO, this fits very neatly into the left hand despite its size. The Helmet is, like Han, a tad stretched looking but fits neatly over Luke's head and with the tailored neck piece makes him look like a Storm Trooper - so much so you could slot him into an Imperial scene as a Storm Trooper - probably a cheaper option vs the current price of a real wave 3 trooper. I would have liked Luke to be able to hold his helmet more naturally. At a push you can force the rim into the right hand and hold it hanging down.
Luke Storm Trooper was always going to happen, but was never going to set the world on fire. It is a nice figure. It is nice that Hasbro wasn't lazy and actually reduced Luke's height within the armour. The quality is quite poor vs the older ST figures, with a yellow feel to parts and lots of scratches and paint smears. The accessories are good and fit well into the hands and holsters. Overall Luke scrapes a 3 out of 5.
