Christmas Day Haul: Hot Toys Star Wars 1:6 First Order Stormtrooper and 12" Luke Skywalker

December 26 is also called Boxing Day, a holiday traditionally celebrated the day following Christmas Day, when servants and tradesmen would receive gifts, known as a "Christmas box", from their bosses or employers, in the United Kingdom, Barbados, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, Bermuda, New Zealand, Kenya, South Africa, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and other former British colonies. In recent years, retailers have expanded deals to "Boxing Week". While Boxing Day is 26 December, many retailers will run the sales for several days before or after 26 December, often up to New Year's Eve.

My Boxing Day turned out just fine as I finally managed to get my hands on these Hot Toys MMS297 Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope 1/6th scale Luke Skywalker 12-inch Collectible Figure and Hot Toys MMS317 Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens 1/6th scale First Order Stormtrooper 12-inch Collectible Figure. These two Star Wars figures plus the others I got earlier (see my toy blog post of my December 2015 haul HERE) only makes this a Star Wars month as far as new figures are concerned.

In the Star Wars universe, more than 30 years has passed since a Tatooine farmboy named Luke Skywalker decided to embark on a space adventure which would bring him face-to-face with the Sith Lord Darth Vader who he discovers to be his father. They would destroy Darth Sidious together and cause the fall of the Galactic Empire. In our world, more than 30 years has passed since I witnessed the very first Star Wars film on the big screen and now I get to see it all over again with the new Episode VII, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. So here's the old and the new side-by-side in glorious 1:6 scale, all thanks to the folks at Hot Toys who has made all these possible.

Scroll down to see all the pictures.
Click on them for bigger and better views.

The box packaging has become pretty standard for all Star Wars merchandise whether it is released by Hot Toys, Sideshow Collectibles or Medicom Toy. This is most likely dictated by the folks at Disney for brand identity and consistency. Star Wars boxed figures always come in a black box with a picture of the figure in front. Rather boring if you ask me. Box art has become a collectible by itself (you can view a random display of box art posted HERE) but Star Wars boxes are just dull and uninteresting.

I think Hot Toys knows that too which is why there's an inner card with more exciting pictures of Luke Skywalker when the cover is lifted :) This is more like it!

Here's Hot Toys MMS297 Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope 1/6th scale Luke Skywalker 12-inch Collectible Figure in his tray with all his accessories. He's got quite a bit of stuff, so much so there's another tray at the bottom containing more stuff that belongs to Luke. I love it when there's so many accessories included as it offers more posing options for the figure. You can check out the preview pictures posted earlier on my toy blog HERE.

Close-up of the Hot Toys 1:6 scale Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker head sculpt

The box packaging for the Hot Toys MMS317 Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens 1/6th scale First Order Stormtrooper 12-inch Collectible Figure is the same dull and boring approach.

The inner card does make things look more interesting.

Hot Toys MMS317 Star Wars: The Force Awakens 1:6th scale First Order Stormtrooper Collectible Figure in his tray with his accessories. Certainly a lot less stuff than Luke Skywalker. You can view the preview pictures posted earlier HERE.

Review of both figures will follow shortly :)
Merry Christmas!

UPDATES:
December 28, 2015 – Hot Toys Star Wars: The Force Awakens 1/6th First Order Stormtrooper Figure Review HERE
January 4, 2016 – Review of Hot Toys MMS297 Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope 1/6th scale Luke Skywalker posted HERE