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Mace Windu

August 13, 2011 | By Errex More

I am not a big Mace Windu fan. I never gave too much importance to his appearance in Episode I, since it was little more than a cameo, but even though he had a more active role during Episode II, I actually resented somewhat his involvement in Jango Fett’s death.

In Episode III, Mace was acting openly as a jerk, for no discernible reason. I know that there are Expanded Universe books that offer some insight at what was going on inside his head, but having to do research to enjoy a movie is not good film-making, in my opinion, and it certainly did very little to improve my opinion of the character.

Despite that, I bought the 30th Anniversary Collection release, just because it was actually an improvement over the rather gimmicky figures of Mace done in the 2005 Revenge of the Sith line, although I really disliked that the rubber skirt piece they gave him pretty much killed the articulation at the hip joints. Strike One.

Some time after that, during an action figure drought, I still convinced myself to buy the Geonosis Arena set with him in it, mainly because of the droid he came with, (or so I told myself). The figure was basically the same, only this time it came without a cloak, so that’d count as Strike Two on my book.

Then it came the announcement that another Mace Windu was to be included in the 2010 Vintage Collection, and I said that was enough. Mace Windu (VC35) was not to become part of my collection and that was that. Or so I thought.

I actually passed on this figure more than a couple of times, choosing other, more unique characters, but the thing with toy droughts is that given enough time, I will eventually break down and buy the figures I snubbed initially, if they can still be found for the original retail price or less.

The actual reason behind the purchase of Mace was the new head sculpt. Ever since Revenge of the Sith, none of the previous version has an even remote likeness to actor Samuel L. Jackson, and after getting also the more recent Kit Fisto, a new head sculpt became reason enough for me to buy a figure.

Kit Fisto also had an improved hip design, but even though Mace didn’t get the same treatment, Hasbro did improve the articulation range of the hips by redesigning the waist piece to include a soft goods skirt piece, thus giving Mace the following articulation model:

• Ball jointed neck.

• Pegged hinge shoulders.

• Pegged hinge elbows.

• Swivel peg wrists.

• Floating torso.

• Swivel hips.

• Pegged hinge knees.

• Pegged hinge ankles.

Other than the waist piece and the head, the figure uses the same molds of the 30th Anniversary version for the rest of the body, which works fine as those molds are very nicely detailed and work well with the articulation.

The paintjob is also slightly different, with a lighter hue used for the pants and inner tunic, with glossy brown paint applied to boots and belt.

Mace comes armed with his trusty purple lightsaber and an additional deactivated lightsaber hilt to carry on his belt. He also comes with a newly tailored brown fabric cloak that fits better and has some stitched folds that allow for a more natural look, even though, as is customary these days, it is rather long.

In a nutshell, I begrudgingly concede that Hasbro did make a better version of Mace Windu this time, and hopefully one that will need no further tweaking.