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Review |
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| Sculpt: |
| Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, duels his son, Luke Skywalker, on the second Death Star in RETURN OF THE JEDI. The two battle with lightsaber before the evil Emperor Palpatine, while the Rebel Alliance attacks the Imperial battle station from space. The figure is a retooled version of the Vader from the REVENGE OF THE SITH line's Evolutions: Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader set from 2005. It was previously retooled for the Thirtieth Anniversary Collection's EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE Commorative Tin Set (with Sebastian Shaw's EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI head replaced by a retooled Hayden Christensen head from 2005's ROTS Deluxe "Rebuild Darth Vader!" figure) and then for the Thirtieth Anniversary Collection's Darth Vader 30th #16 basic line figure. This version returns the Shaw head, but now includes a removable helmet in two sections: helmet and separate breath mask. Unfortunately, we didn't get a removable right hand with lightsaber battle-damage, to complete Vader's final appearance in ROTJ: 8.5 out of 10. |
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| Paint: |
| Darth Vader is molded in black. Only his exposed head, underneath his helmet, is molded in pale flesh. There are reddish-brown paint apps to his scars, and a light gray wash to his skin. His eyes are white, with black pupils and eyelashes. His helmet pieces, torso, arms, legs, and pelvis are all molded in black. There are glossy black paint decos to the helmet's dome, and silver decos to the nosepiece, and to either side of the breath screen. There are gold decos to the squares at the sides and above the brow ridge of the breath screen. Each shoulder has silver and glossy black paint app, and the torso has the same colors on the pectoral armor. The control panel at his thorax has silver, red, and green decos. His boots have glossy black paint apps. His belt has silver, green, and red decos. His cape and lower robes are black softgoods. His lightasber is molded in translucent red, with silver and black paint apps: 9/10. |
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| Articulation: |
| Vader's shoulders, elbows, knees, and ankles are all ball-jointed. His neck, forearms, and hips have standard, planer-cut joints. He can hold his lightsaber with both hands, but it looks awkward; he can only truly grip it in the left hand. Otherwise, about as super-articulated a Vader as we ever really need: 9/10. |
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| Accessories: |
| Darth Vader comes with a removable helmet/dome, ignited lightsaber, and the dome and center leg for the R7-ZO build-a-droid figure: 8.5/10. |
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| Packaging: |
| The Legacy Collection card uses a diecut stormtrooper helmet as its base, with the STAR WARS logo in light blue and "The Legacy Collection" printed in black just beneath it. The figure info is printed on the blister insert, and depicts Darth Vader with a publicity image that's actually from REVENGE OF THE SITH. Each figure's name is in the center of the insert, while their number in the collection is just below their image. Darth Vader is figure number 8. The cardback features photos of all 8 figures in the first wave of the collection, and has text that explains the character's role in STAR WARS: 8/10. |
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| Availability: |
| As of this writing, the figure has been appearing at retail for over one month, and is readily available from both retail and various online sources: 9/10. |
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| Conclusion: |
| While Darth Vader is argueably the most iconic of all STAR WARS characters, he really is starting to run the risk of being overused. It's great to finally see a well-articulated Vader with a two-piece removable helmet and Sebastian Shaw's head underneath the helmet, but the battle-damaged right hand would've really made this figure perfect: 8.7/10. |
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