The years of 12-inch action figures from Hasbro have produced mixed results. One of the main problems was that Hasbro was using its Hall of Fame G.I. Joe bodies; these were almost ridiculously non-articulated and awfully proportioned, and their head-sculpts were sometimes unrecognizable. A few years ago, Hasbro began using its more updated G.I. Joe body with better heads, which was a huge improvement.

During the last several years, Sideshow Toy has been making its name as the best producer of film-licensed 12-inch action figures anywhere. Its figure body, with its 30-plus points of articulation, became the system to beat, and its generally excellent head sculpts were the envy of most toy companies. So what great news it was to hear that Sideshow had secured the 12-inch action figure license from LucasFilm based on the Star Wars films.

Recently, Sideshow released the first of what promises to be many 12-inch Star Wars action figures—Luke Skywalker, Jedi knight. The box this figure comes in is itself impressive. Brightly colored frames from the film Return of the Jedi appear on the back, with a set of teaser images of the next three upcoming figures, Kit Fisto, Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christiansen version) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor version).

The box opens by a flap that is held magnetically to the box's side. Inside are two individual storage sections separated by flaps with descriptive text explaining the character's history and the history of the Order of the Jedi Knights.

The larger section holds the figure of Luke Skywalker in his dark Jedi outfit. The smaller section holds his brown Jedi cloak, two lightsabers (one with blade "lit" and one without blade), three extra hands and a thighbone that Luke uses as a weapon when he is trapped in the Rancor pit in Jabba the Hutt's palace. The Sideshow Exclusive version of this figure includes a skiff-guard blaster pistol.

The figure of Luke is built on a shortened version of the Sideshow standard body. His head is sculpted by experienced Sideshow sculptor Matt Falls and has a slightly disembodied expression. His outfit and boots are black, with a detailed belt, complete with lightsaber hook. Over this he wears a dark blue tunic, belted at the waist. Over this he wears a brown Jedi cloak.

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The haunted expression on Luke's face is very lifelike, though a little creepy. The slightly open lips really do appear to be cracked and dry, his eyes shiny and open just a hair too much—the expression he used in the film in his most introspective moments.

The outfit is very nice, with shiny black striping down the matte black pants, nicely sculpted boots, the wonderful fabric of the tunic. It's hard not to compare this figure to past efforts of Hasbro, which liked to use Velcro as fasteners, which doesn't scale well and can be more of a pain than it's worth. There is no Velcro to be found on this figure. Metal snaps close the black jumpsuit top and the tunic belt at the back, a peg closes the leather belt through a real belt-hole, and a small hook-eye closes the Jedi robe at the throat.

A nice feature of this outfit is the introduction of a thin wire in the jumpsuit top flap, and the Jedi cloak hood. This allows the flaps to be posed at an angle realistic to scaled cloth. With the hood over a figure's head at this scale, it's hard to get it to drape right. This little wire allows you to drape the hood down in a very realistic fashion or to pose it in a nice action pose that will stay in place like the figure.

Luke comes with five hands. He has a left hand that poses as if holding his lightsaber and one posed wielding the hidden power of the Force. His right hand comes ready to hold a blaster or a lightsaber. One hand shows burn damage, revealing the cybernetic hand he had installed at the end of The Empire Strikes Back. The last hand is a right hand gloved in black.

The lightsabers are nicely detailed and have metal clips to clip to Luke's belt. The "lit" one has a green translucent blade.

Lastly, the bone is a nicely modeled human thighbone and is well painted to represent an old bone lying around in a Rancor pit.

The figure also comes with a standard Sideshow figure stand with the Star Wars logo painted on it in silver.

This figure has been much anticipated, and I believe it lives up to expectations, though the $50 price point will likely turn off some collectors who were more used to Hasbro's $20 price. The quality is far superior, but is it worth the extra $30? The increasingly selective market will decide, but as this figure is already sold out at Sideshow's online store, it's likely most collectors won't worry about shelling out the extra cash for this fine figure.