The Little Differences - Ultimate Sailbarge, Jedi Knight, Final Duel Luke Skywalkers

This weeks "Little Differences" is all about making three perfect Jedi Luke figures that Hasbro seems very reluctant to do. I am making up for missing last weeks Little Differences by showing you three easy mods to satisfy your collection until Hasbro does.

To me, this image of Luke is the most iconic of him as a Jedi Knight. The Sailbarge scene was my favorite sequence of ROTJ. I remember the first time I saw that picture, I was 6 years old. That image made we want to swing a Lightsaber and fight Jabba's goons along side him. I actually did swing a green wiffle ball bat Lightsaber and defeated goons (Pillows, lamps and my older brother, who eagerly kicked the crap out of me afterwards).

While we have had several modern Jedi Lukes before we have never had a dedicated Sailbarge Luke figure. Hasbro released an excellent Sandstorm Luke figure in 2008 and the head actually has the look of this image I referenced. In addition to a great head sculpt his skin tone was a lighter, he had shiny black boots and a final duel belt for a more accurate look than his predecessor, the 2007 TAC Rancor Pitt Battle Luke. That previous 2007 figure was not a bad one but was far from perfect. It suffered from a dark tan skin tone, an awkward cloth robe, dark gray boots and no alternate non blasted hand . Of the two, the Sandstorm was way better and improved many of the flaws. So Hasbro was making progress, right?

Well lets move along to the almost all new 2009 Final Duel Luke. With this release Hasbro actually took a step back as things got worse. He sported a mediocre head sculpt, broad shoulders and narrow legs with a flat inaccurate belt. Good in concept but not in execution (I did like the switch out vest idea). All was not lost in 2009, that year did give us another Jedi Luke figure, the Endor Luke from the Battle Back.  There are a few interesting things going on with that Battle Pack figure, he will be essential to complete this weeks mod customs. Underneath that Luke's poncho is another layer of soft good robes. These robes look so much better that the 2007 inaccurate neck wrap. In my opinion, I thought this one was much better than the single carded Final Duel one. If you take several of the previous Jedi Luke releases and combine them together you can make some great combinations creating near perfect Luke figures for your collection yourself. At least they are more perfect than what Hasbro conjured up to this point. (Technically they conjured up all of these but they did not combine them right.) Take a look to see what I created and the formula breakdowns so you can too:

Sailbarge Battle Luke

2007 TAC Yavin Luke right hand. It matches perfectly!

2008 Sandstorm Luke figure minus the Belt. That was removed so the robes sit better.

2009 Final Duel Luke Lightsaber (They did add some paint details for more accuracy.)

2009 Legacy Endor Luke Soft Good Robe/Belt

Final Duel Luke

2009 Legacy Endor Upper body/head

2008 Legs/Belt from the Sandstorm Luke.

2009 Final Duel Luke Lightsaber

Jabbas Palace Luke

2003 Jabba Palace Luke Cloak

2007 TAC Yavin Luke right hand. (This picture does not reflect that. Oops)

2008 Legs from the Sandstorm Luke.

2009 Legacy Endor Upper body/head + Soft Good Robe/Belt

2009 Final Duel Luke Lightsaber (They did add some paint details for more accuracy.)

These three combos look great and in my opinion better than what we got so far.You can get that essential Endor Battle Pack Luke fairly cheap so you should not have an expensive time making these mods. Please note to disassemble the Luke figures without breakage use the boil and pop method. It's the quickest and safest way to swap parts out.

Worthy of note is there is a now confirmed all new Jedi Luke figure coming in the Vintage line this year that supposedly fixes the issues with the 2009 Final Duel version. Until I see that Hasbro truly perfected Jedi Luke I will be using these three mods as my signature Lukes.

As you can see the "Little Differences" can make a big difference to your figures! Until next time!