TAC#16 Darth Vader

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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