Presenting the Dark Empire II Luke Skywalker: Today the world will witness Episode VII, and JJ Abrams vision for Star Wars will eclipse the Expanded Universe that, ironically, fueled our desire for Episode VII, VIII and IX. One of the stories that will transition into a non-canon status is the controversial Dark Empire trilogy. Released by Dark Horse Comics between 1991 and 1997, The Dark Empire Trilogy (Dark Empire, Dark Empire II & Empire's End) was a series written by Tom Veitch and illustrated by Cam Kennedy. The core of Dark Empire focused on the resurrection of Emperor Palpatine in a chain of clone bodies, the fall of Luke Skywalker to the Dark Side of the Force, the foundation of the New Jedi Order and the birth of Anakin Solo.
Released as a part of a Legacy Edition 2-pack in 2008, this supposedly is Luke Skywalker as he appeared in the Dark Empire II. The blister pack supports this by stating a summary of Dark Empire II: "Luke Skywalker has discovered the existence of another Jedi, helping him further his goal of reestablishing the Jedi Knights. While he makes plans to go to Ossus to locate important Jedi artifacts, Emperor Palpatine is reborn again in the body of another clone, and he makes immediate plans to crush the Alliance and the fledgling Jedi Knights." However, we should point out that Luke Skywalker started touting the "Dracula" cape over the black hood in Dark Empire. But he comes packed with Emperor Palpatine and he didn't go toe-to-toe with Palpatine in Dark Empire II. He fought him in Dark Empire, and faced a deteriorated version of the Emperor in Empire's End. This is also supposed to be a version of Darth Vader's armor. And if you were to look at some of the comic book's cover art, it does look like Vader's armor. This is probably why there are people who don't like the artwork of the trilogy, Luke's appearance inside is markedly different from the cover art.
That and Luke Skywalker shrugging off the fire from an Imperial AT-AT and crushing it with a gesture deserves far grander portrayal in my opinion.
PROS:
Depending upon what you believe, this could be seen as a Sith Lord version of Luke Skywalker - why else would you package him with the resurrected Emperor? There are only two action figures released depicting Luke as a Sith if so, and this looks better the one from the Power of the Force. The detailing is also excellent. You have an older looking Luke Skywalker - this happens 6 years after Return of the Jedi. The padded armor underneath the flowing cloak is a fine nod to the comic-book covers, but not quite there. The cloak helps in stabilizing the figure so you can have more dynamic poses with the figure - or you can remove it. And the Dark Empire II Luke Skywalker can dual wield his lightsaber.
The Dark Empire II Luke Skywalker also comes with the Tedryn Holocron that's emitting the hologram of Bodo Bass.
Articulation:
Head is mounted on a ball joint
Upper torso is mounted on a waist swivel.
Ball jointed shoulders
Ball jointed single direction elbows
360° swivel wrists
Swivel waist
Swivel hip joints
Ball joint mounted, single-direction knees
Boot/ankle swivel
CONS:
Well you can agree, disagree, argue as to when exactly this particular incarnation of Luke Skywalker is from. I guess that's the biggest problem. Next up is that his cloak is made of hard plastic. Yes, it helps hold up the figure, but Luke's cape always billows? You could remove it, but then you'll realize that the figure looks a little weird because his legs are quite far apart from each other. Clearly the Dark Empire II Luke Skywalker was made not to be a static figure.
Luke also cannot hold the Tedryn Holocron without help from blue-tack.
If you're a fan of the Dark Empire trilogy and what it represents, then this is a figure for you. It's also one of the nicest incarnations of Luke Skywalker in my opinion. We should probably also mention that the Emperor Palpatine that accompanies him is almost naked. Really gross. The Star Wars Legacy Dark Empire II 2-pack featuring Luke Skywalker and Emperor Palpatine will set you back around US$ 49.99 plus shipping.
It is available HERE.