| Growing up there was one time that I became a Star Wars fan, but I didn’t see the movies on the big screens. I only saw them through the Betamax rental copy from a family relative who has them. I didn’t even see Star Wars in cinemas until The Phantom Menace came out and around that time it was the biggest thing ever.
The toys of course are what made the franchise partly known for. I never owned the figures, vehicles, or playsets. Well, until I was old enough to buy some of them. But I did own one figure in less than 24 hours. Unfortunately, it was stolen from me in the morning of 1983. It was Luke Skywalker in Bespin outfit from the Empire Strike Back that Mum bought at the Santa Ana Market and that was it. |
Besides the aforementioned action figure, Mum would bring me to Makati commercial district long before it became the Glorietta Mall of today. There, she will take me one day I couldn’t recall if it was a weekday or during the weekend, but my memory was fresh in remembering how she got me a Star Wars: Empire Strike Back oversized comicbook that was purchased at the former Alemar’s bookstore.
Alemar’s played a crucial part in my childhood as Mum would also take me to buy my first three G.I. Joe figures or save school allowances in high school just to complete a run of Ravette Published Garfield books sold at Alemar’s along Avenida Street. But it was that oversized Empire Strikes Back book published by Marvel that takes me back to my earliest memory of Star Wars.
But I never was completely enthralled by the world of Star Wars other than that rental Betamax copy of A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back. But the toys were really that tough wanting to own one when you’re just in the first grade.
I recall sitting at the back of my father’s Volkswagen Beetle parked in front of Santa Ana Market waiting for her until she handed me a brown paper bag that had Luke Skywalker in a brown outfit that he has worn going to Cloud City in Bespin that would describe this figure as “Bespin Luke.” I only owned this figure in less than 24 hours because the young immature 7-year-old in me that had this figure stolen by an informal settler living in the narrow street next to the old hour we once lived.
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Bespin Luke Lost & Found
When I was getting into the Star Wars Prequels it was never lost in my memory that I remember Bespin Luke, but over the years after seeing the 1997 updated versions of the Original Trilogy, I would rather want have Return of the Jedi Luke in Black, because he was now fully formed as the Last Jedi or so what everyone has known him until the Sequel Trilogy.
By the time 1999 rolled into the new century, I was also getting the Power of the Force figures, where I finally have the ROTJ Luke in his black soft rubbery cloak with his green lightsaber that cost a lot of lunch money savings. But it was worth it until personal stuff happened in March 2004 (long story to tell next time).
After I lost all of my personal belongings and collections in that aforementioned event in my adult life I lost interest in Star Wars. But over the years I have made close friends who are bigger fans than me surprised that I wasn’t into it. My closest friend who is based in the US would have a collection of these figures. I always told him the only figure I ever owned as a fan was Bespin Luke and by 2011 he would be gifted me a Vintage Collection version of this character, and will always stay in carded packaging, because of that nostalgic aesthetics. It wasn’t the Kenner version with that inaccurate face that mostly resembles Mark Hamill though, but that original version figure hit all the feels to me.
Well, until I saw the actual vintage Bespin Luke at a local toy fair event at the Megatrade Hall in SM Megamall in 2015 only having his blaster minus his yellow lightsaber (yeah, they were not screen accurate to the actors or the accessories, who cares). It was going for ₱ 500 Pesos ($ 13.36 AUD | $ 9.03 USD**), and at that time I don’t have enough budget to pull the trigger for that ending with a Kre-O GI Joe minifigure that cost less.
Years later, another friend who is one of the bigger Star Wars fans that I know happens to collect Ahsoka Tano as his favourite character. Whenever a conversation would be brought up about the figures I would always recall owning only one figure and that was Bespin Luke, The most vivid image I would remember having him when Mum bought it and I only played with the figure once and then it would end up stolen.
Reunited with the True Jedi
Fast forward to November 2022, that same friend who would give me the biggest gesture I have ever known to this day will be the one that would stick out whenever I looked at this figure and know the story of acquiring this came from a better place. The short story is he originally wanted to get me a Bespin Luke even to the point of paying the entrance fee to the Vintage Toy Fair in Melbourne.
Turns out, he would acquire this figure at a local specialty toy store nearby that one Sunday. I won’t be emotional until I opened the shoe box full of toys and trinkets that were brought by a friend last December for his Christmas and New Year holidays. I’m always thankful to have true friends who would make these big gestures and I’m not taking these things for granted as they are more than just plastic toys.
I did open the box of toys while having a video chat with that good friend who sent them, and I was really trying not to have all those “feels,” but memories of my childhood good and bad brought me to reconnect to this figure that means so much to me that sits proudly beside the Vintage Collection Bespin Luke from 2011 and the 3-inch scale Black Series ROTJ Luke that I acquired in 2019 at Rustan’s for ₱ 200 Pesos ($ 5.34 AUD | $ 3.61 USD**).
Featured Articulation:
- 5-Points of Articulation
- Facial Scar on forehead
- Blond Features with swirling pattern
- Brownish Fatigue
- Straight Arms/No Knee Bends
- No Accessories
- Copyright stamp on the back of left leg
Vivid Image of Luke’s Trials
In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke went out to find the Dagobah system where old sage Jedi Master Yoda resides. He found him in the swamps of that planet accompanied by R2-D2 in his X-Wing, which he mistakenly lands and sinks in that particular place at the same time meets an old hermit who would later reveal to be the same Jedi Master Obi-wan had advised the young Luke to seek for further training.
The part that still sticks with me for the most of the Dagobah scene was Luke facing his fears about Darth Vader which he doesn’t know until his discovery at the climax of the same film. But this encounter with Darth Vader in the dark forests of Dagobah is not real, but facing Luke’s fear and striking it down reveals his face underneath his mask. For a 7-year-old child that’s going over my head. But as an adult, it holds so many meanings reflected in real life, and the image of trying to produce that in Toy Photography was very much not going to be the same as you’ve seen it. But trying to capture that scene in the best way I could possibly interpret it.
It might not be the one I’ve seen in the film, but I put my spin on it given the limited time that it was already dark. IT was already late in the evening to find a suitable place to use this figure. Originally, my plan was to bring this Bespin Luke to Santa Ana Market and use it as a backdrop, but time was not enough for me to take a trip there and shoot so I go to this part of the scene that I vividly remember this character that also reflects the current status of my personal life.
Luke-ing at Star Wars Day
This was what I had in mind regarding Star Wars Day, and celebrating one of my fond childhood memories that brought me back to this realm of science fiction the memories may not be physically there, but whenever I see this Bespin Luke figure it triggers some of the memories I thought that I have forgotten.
Thanking friends Mach, Tony, and Sandy (who brought the box for Tony) over the years that these gestures more than the things they sent for me. Their gestures having them remind me that sometimes in the roughest times, I got their back to make me feel “okay” and they do remember my stories and I really appreciate what they do.
Bespin Luke may come in different variations of hair colour and fatigue versions, but the blond one was what I had as a kid. I may own a lot of figures as an adult and lose all of them. But this one really has hit deep in my memory how I never got into Star Wars until I was old enough to really remember it thanks to this figure that I lost a long time ago in the past far away.
Again, thank you to the friends that made it happen. This is how I celebrated Star Wars Day, and it was worth the wait for “May the Fourth be with you.”
** - Currency Converter via Google.com
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