Luke Skywalker
DON’T RELY ON JUST THE COO TO IDENTIFY A FIGURE. Mould, paint colour, plastic colour and figure assembly traits are also needed to confirm your figure’s origins.
Above you can see a group shot of nearly all important vintage Luke Skywalker variants and bootlegs. First row is Unitoy plus POCH and PBP, second row is Kader, Kader China, French Trilogo, Poch and bootlegs, third row is Smile and Taiwan figures plus bootleg. I will go into deeper detail each group below:
Above you can see following variants (left to right):
- Kader with DT (lettered) saber, brown eyes (which is assumed to be the earliest Kader figure)
- Kader with reddish eyes
- Kader with black eyes
- Kader with dull light yellow hair, transition face spray-mask to china, and light flesh hands
- POCH with Kader-COO, blonde hair pale creme hands and dark trousers/boots
The first 4 Kader figures can be considered as early produced and are more likely to come with “lettered” lightsaber M1.
Above you can see following variants (left to right):
- Kader China: raised bar China
- French Trilogo (Meccano) double raised bar
- French Trilogo (Meccano) scarred raised bar
- Glasslite double raised bar
- POCH with Unitoy head but Kader COO legs. It is a mixed-up figure made out of parts from the blonde Kader and brown Unitoy POCH figures. Some call it “transition” figure but it’s more likely used parts from old and new production mixed in the assembling line.
The Kader China and the French Trilogo figures came with “round tip” saber M5. The Glasslite version came with the resident M8 saber.
Above you can see following variants (left to right):
- Unitoy with DT (circled) saber, brown eyes and opaque body which is the earliest Unitoy figure. Sadly the opaque material tends to yellow quite easily.
- Unitoy black eyes
- Unitoy large black eyes
- Unitoy orange hair (dull, US version from 41E-back)
- Unitoy orange hair (AU version)
Unitoy changed from lettered to flat tip transition M2 already on 12B-back. So almost every Unitoy figure came with “thick tip, flat transition” M2 and later with “thin tip, flat transition” M3 (21-back)
Above you can see following variants (left to right):
- Unitoy with yellowish dark brown hair
- Unitoy with reddish dark brown hair
- Unitoy with greenish dark brown hair
- Unitoy with very dark brown hair
The brown haired Unitoy Lukes came (nearly) all with “thin tip, flat transition” M3 saber.
Above you can see following variants (left to right):
- POCH with Unitoy Coo, brown hair, dark trousers/boots and pale creme hands and neck
- POCH with Unitoy Coo, brown hair, dark trousers/boots and pinkish hands and neck
- PBP scarred out Unitoy Coo with bright blonde hair and pinkish hands and neck
Above you can see following variants (left to right):
- Taiwan with brown eyes and light brown trousers/boots
- Taiwan with dark brown eyes and brown trousers/boots
- Taiwan with dark brown eyes and reddish brown trousers/boots
- Taiwan with dark brown eyes and dark brown trousers/boots
- Taiwan with black eyes and dark grey trousers/boots
All those figures came with their resident Taiwan M7 saber. Only very few examples on very early 12A-backs were paired with lettered M1 which can be neglected regarding loose figures.
Above you can see following variants (left to right):
- Smile, early figure with pale yellow hair
- Smile with bright yellow hair
- Smile with bright yellow hair and tan boots
- Smile HK with reddish light brown hair (appeared on HK and No Coo)
- Smile No Coo with greenish light brown hair (appeared on HK and No Coo)
Smile used lettered M1 sabers for 12-backs mainly. After that the round transition saber M5 was used and packed with their figures. In the Trilogo era some No Coo Smile Lukes with lightbrown hair were packed with a Bespin handheld saber (M3). Myth has been told that figures with closed hole inside were the only ones packed with those sabers, which is in my opinion wrong. The fact we found that flashing inside the lightsaber hilt molded to the figure on other families (Kader/Unitoy) as well, shows that this is indeed an factory error. The back part of the arm is easy to form in a steal mould because it is open to one side whereas the hole in the front part needed a retractable pin to the steal mould similar to the PEG holes in the feet. Flashing could occure in that passage and it was sometimes removed in production, sometimes left. The material was so soft in the beginning that a telescoping lightsaber could have been inserted anyway. Nowadays the flexibilzers are mostly gone and the material got rigid which made people believe that it is and was impossible to insert a telescoping lightsaber ever.
The second figure from the left is assumed to be the Poch Luke Farmboy variant. There are two carded examples existing. Both have quite different pant colours compared to the loose one shown here. According to the carded ones the pants of this variant should be more close to the “dark greyish” Taiwan versions. The example shown here is not in good shape over all, but compared to recent auction pictures (see picture below) it is in acceptable shape. I have noticed that the boot colour on this is varying all over. I don’t know yet if it’s just discoloration or if it truly was applied that irregular. The pale hands seem again the true hint here. Another characteristic seems to be the quite higher positioned eyebrow on the left. Shown next to the Poch version are its COO counterparts from Kenner with different “eye colours”: from black to brown to red.
As you can see in the picture the limbs seem quite accessible for degradation. All the pictures don’t show that very well, but the boots are kind of “fickle coloured“. The paint is quite darker and more greyish compared to Kenner ones, but on the other hand there is parts that almost look the same. Sounds pretty much like discoloration, but again this discoloration seems to be typical for this Poch variant (like Kenner boots become greenish in time).
Shown below are the melt marks that can be seen on the figure’s back. A comparison shot of the boot colours (all taken from the same COO) can be seen to the right. The Poch variant in the middle is quite darker overall, but you can also see that the back part is darker compared the front part on this one.
