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Review |
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| Sculpt: |
| Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, is gravely wounded during an attack on the incomplete Death Star in THE FORCE UNLEASHED. While details on this plot point in the game are still very sketchy, the figure itself is an all-new sculpt that features loads of detail. There are all sorts of little wires and things sticking out of the damaged sections of his armor and control panels. The exposed prosthetics feature metal clamps gripping into flesh, as well as the inner workings of his articial limbs. The removable helmet feature, while a really interesting concept, is poorly engineered. The damaged helmet leaves a portion of the mask over Vader's right eye and cheek. However, the oversized helmet puts the eye lens literally over Vader's forehead, instead of aligned with his eye. And, there's a scale issue with the exposed, robotic left foot: it's obviously far too big when compared to the booted right foot! While the package art shows a scarred face clearly based on actor Hayden Christensen's likeness in REVENGE OF THE SITH, the actual sculpt resembles original Anakin actor Sebastian Shaw from RETURN OF THE JEDI. A very nice concept, but minor flaws give it only an 8 out of 10. |
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| Paint: |
| Vader, as usual, is molded entirely out of black plastic. Which means there's a lot of paint on this figure! Starting with the head, there's a gloss black app to the helmet, as well as the silver accent to his "nose." There's a pale flesh app to his face, with a dark gray wash over it. There are silver accent decos to the interior "jaw" section of the helmet. His eyes are white, with black pupils and lashes. The torso has a gold app to the shoulder armor, as well as to the damaged section of the control box. The exposed skin on his left side is pale flesh, with a dark gray wash. There are silver and red accents to the control box exterior. The right arm has gold paint at the shoulder armor, and pale fesh at the torn sleeve just under the armor. The left arm has gold apps at the shoulder armor, and at the bottom of his elbow. There is pale flesh paint on the exposed skin areas. The lower left arm is silver, with both silver and gold apps to battle-damaged areas of his left hand. His pelvis and belt have glossy black apps to his armor, and silver decos to his belt buckle and belt control boxes. The exposed wiring to the damaged boxes have red decos. His right leg has glossy black apps to his shin armor and boot. The left leg has a pale flesh app to the exposed skin, with a gold deco to the prosthetic "clamp" mechanism. The lower left leg and foot are painted silver, with gold accents at the heel and toes. The removable left leg armor has a glossy black app. His lightsaber is molded in red, with black and silver paint decos. His softgoods cape has holes and tattered edges from battle. The gold-colored apps at the shoulder and chest armor is confusing. Early Hasbro product images showed the figure with the character's usual silver-colored armor. There may have been confusion caused by the concept art, as the flames reflected off the armor give it a golden tone. Overlooking this, it still earns a respectable 8.5/10. |
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| Articulation: |
| Vader has ball-jointed shoulders, elbows, knees, and ankles. His neck, waist, forearms, and hips are planer-cut jointed. The elbow articulation doesn't allow for a full 90-degree bend in the left arm, however: 8/10. |
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| Accessories: |
| Vader comes with his red-bladed lightsaber, removable helmet, removable chest piece, removable left leg armor, removable left arm section, and a character-specific figure stand. I've deducted a half point for that unsightly peg hole in his chest: 8.5/10. |
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| Packaging: |
| The new 30th Anniversary Collection card uses stylized "painted" imagery of the characters on the individual cards, with the new STAR WARS logo in stark white and cut in on an angle. It's a design that initially had collectors divided: you either loved the new look or hated it! The film each figure comes from is at the bottom right edge of the card, while the character's number in the collection is on the blister insert. Vader is 2008 figure number 12, from THE FORCE UNLEASHED. The card front image is a concept art rendering that looks awesome. The cardback has the same concept painting, with text that explains the character's role in the game and a "Character Profile": 8.5/10. |
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| Availability: |
| As of this writing, the figure has been appearing at retail for just over a month, and is also available from various online sources. It's still scarce in areas where 2008 waves 1 and 2 haven't shipped in quantity. Many collectors have still not managed to find this one at retail, yet in other regions, it's readily available: 6.5/10. |
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| Conclusion: |
| Something new needed to be done to warrent a Vader being inserted into this wave, and an "extreme" battle-damaged look was a nod in the right direction. The upcoming game is supposed to show us Force-powers on a magnitude never before exhibited, and the opening segment where Vader battle Rebels on the half-finished Death Star is an intense display. However, some poorly engineered features and a bizarre paint anomoly make this figure less than perfect. 8/10. |
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