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I understand that all the kids think that Darth
Vader is cool. He's the bad ass of the galaxy, fights with a
lightsaber, and chokes people from across the room. However,
how many of figures of him do we need? The vintage line had
one. And for the most part, that's all we needed. His
costume may have subtly changed throughout the films, but for the
most part, it's the same. When Hasbro
kicks in a new accessory or feature, some of us feel compelled to
buy him just for the new doodad. I wasn't going to get this
one, since I had to buy a Vader to get the coin album. But,
the removable helmet and Ben's robe turned me.
Appearance:
No mistaking it, this is Darth Vader. I'm
not sure from some of the detailing he's the ANH Vader that was
fighting Ben. I leave the subtleties of that to the fanboys
out there.
He's got the soft goods cape and skirt that a
number of the modern Vader's have had. For my
purposes, I'm okay with this. I know some folks out there
would prefer a sculpted one. I have to say though, I'm
really surprised that they haven't tried to take the skirt piece
and do it all the way up over the shoulders and back to get the
real look of Vader. If they did that, I'd have to buy
another DV just to check it out.
Up to this point, my favorite Vader had been the
500th one. The one thing I didn't like on him however was
the separated cod piece. This Vader doesn't have that, and I
think is better for it. (Ed. Note: I never picked up
the Evolutions set. If that's your fav Vader, I understand.)
I like the helmet on this Vader a bit more that
most of the ROTS stuff. The ROTS helmet looks a little too
wide at the bottom to me as well as looking a little short.
That piece of the helmet is there to protect the back of his neck,
so is should cover it. This one looks pretty good.
To me, at least, it appears to be somewhere between ANH and ROTS.
It's really amazing how each Vader has subtle difference in the
helmet that make people love it or hate it.
Reason number one for me buy this figure, the
removable helmet. The head under this helmet isn't quite the
old man from Jedi and he's not the bad tanning booth accident ROTS
deluxe figure. He's definitely somewhere in between.
There is some shading on this one that makes it my favorite
removable helmet Vader, as well as the detailing on the part under
his nose. (The ROTS one is shown in the pic, my old
guy one is stored away at the moment.)
It may be just me, but the paint on the upper
chest piece of mine seems a bit sloppy.
Fun:
He's Darth Freakin' Vader. Of course he's
fun. This one comes with a lightsaber (Funny, we never get
Luke sabers with Vader.), his helmet and the requisite coin.
He also has the Force evaporated Ben Kenobi figure.
You know I was really hoping Qui Gon was going
to show up in ROTS and explain that one. Just *PooF* and
Jedis become one with the force? The robe has his saber on
top of it, and a light was of color. There is a foot peg on
it as well, but the picture at the top is the best I could get him
to look with his foot on the peg. The should have just left
the peg off. I actually had some figures arranged in that
scene at one time on a shelf. I used one of the brown Jedi
soft goods robe and a saber. I think I like that idea
better all the time. BTW, are the rest of his clothes there?
Was Vader poking around looking for Obi-Wan's skivvies?
Articulation wise, he got all of the modern
standards. Now, there reason the 500th Vader was my favorite
up to this point was the fact, he looked good and could kneel.
I used him for my Emperor's arrival display. Two things made
that less than ideal. One, he didn't have ankles and getting
him the right position was a balancing act. Two, the over
helmet doesn't stay on when he falls over.
This one fixes both those issues for me.
I'll probably put the 500th back in his chair for display.
Also, I've heard some people say their helmets were loose.
Mine isn't tight, but stays on if he falls over. The key
thing with the kneeling is that the cod piece isn't separate with
this figure, so he looks much better in that position.
The one thing that does disappoint me, is the
lack of a saber handle. We haven't really had a good Vader
that has a saber handle that "properly" attaches to his belt.
Overall:
I'm taking marks from this figure for just being
another Vader. If this had been the one with the coin book
and we skipped that one. I'd rate him higher. Also,
the Obi-Wan accessory was a cool idea, but I don't think the
execution on this one was the best.
I have to say, the head under the helmet and
kneeling ability really make this figure work for me. In the
end, I'm happy I picked him up. Unless they come out with
something ultra cool, he'll be the last Vader I buy for awhile.
(See Below...)
Engineernerd Score: 85/100
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