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Review |
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| Sculpt: |
| After destroying his evil master, The Emperor, former Sith Lord Darth Vader is redeemed by his son, Luke Skywalker, in RETURN OF THE JEDI. Later, Luke sees the Force spirits of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, and a youthful Anakin Skywalker on the Endor moon. During production of REVENGE OF THE SITH in 2003, George Lucas shot new footage to be inserted in the DVD releases of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and RETURN OF THE JEDI. Hayden Christensen, as Anakin Skywalker, was filmed and his head digitally composited over that of original Anakin actor Sebastian Shaw, although Shaw remains as Darth Vader/Anakin in the pivotal scene where Luke removes Vader's helmet and breath mask. This figure recreates Christensen's version of Spirit Anakin. It uses a retooled version of the 2005 Evolutions ROTS Anakin figure's head, and an all-new body sculpt. Many fans, though, see the insertion of Christensen as Spirit Anakin into ROTJ as an insult to the performance of the now-deceased Shaw, and had hoped to see a figure that included both actors' likenesses on interchangeable heads. That didn't happen, sadly. As is, it rates an 8 out of 10. |
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| Paint: |
| Spirit Anakin's head and hands are molded in translucent honey-colored plastic, then painted shimmering flesh on the face and hands. White is applied to his eyes, with brown eyebrows and irises. There is a brown wash to the hair. His torso, arms, pelvis, belt, and legs are molded in translucent cream. His neck is painted flesh, with his inner tunic, belt, and boots painted a shimmering brownish-purple. His lower softgoods skirt is a shimmering light tan, and his outer softgoods cloak is a shimmering golden brown. Anakin's lightsaber hilt is molded in silver, with black paint apps, while the blade is molded in translucent blue. It's the first Force spirit figure since the OTC Spirit Obi-Wan that's been given the shimmery paint job, and it looks pretty decent in that respect: 8/10. |
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| Articulation: |
| Ball-jointed neck, shoulders, elbows, knees, and ankles. Planer-cut waist, hips, and wrists. Standard 14-points of articulation on most modern STAR WARS figures. Seems a shame to waste it on a ghost figure, though: 8.5/10. |
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| Accessories: |
| Spirit Anakin with a lightsaber, lightsaber hilt, removable softgoods cloak, and a character-specific collectible coin. Disappointingly, Hasbro has once again given a figure the wrong lightsaber. This saber is clearly the ATTACK OF THE CLONES Anakin saber from the 2005 ROTS Evolutions: Anakin to Darth Vader set. In fact, in that set, Hasbro mistakenly included two AOTC-style Anakin hilts, instead of one AOTC hilt and one ROTS hilt. (The proper hilt was packaged with the ROTS Anakin Skywalker: Lightsaber Attack III-02 figure.) This was later recycled into the lightsaber hilt for the VOTC Darth Vader, the same one Hasbro has mistakenly given to every Luke Skywalker figure in the 30th Anniversary Collection. Frankly, I'm tired of seeing this lack of effort on Hasbro's part: 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. Anakin Skywalker's Spirit is figure number 45, and he's from RETURN OF THE JEDI. The cardback has a screen shot of Hayden Christensen inserted into the 2004 DVD release of ROTJ, and has text that explains the character's role in it and a "Character Profile": 8.5/10 |
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| Availability: |
| As of this writing, the figure has been appearing at retail for three months, and is also available from various online sources. It's still scarce in areas where wave 7 hasn't shipped in quantity. Many collectors have still not managed to find this one at retail, yet in other regions, it's already a pegwarmer: 6.5/10. |
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| Conclusion: |
| A new Jedi Spirit Anakin Skywalker has been needed since 2004's OTC Spirit Obi-Wan (and we still need a decent Spirit Yoda, too) was produced. While the figure itself is fair, the continued confusion over Anakin's lightsabers and the decision not to include heads of both Christensen and Shaw ends up with a lackluster rating of 7.4/10. |
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