Anakin Skywalker - POTF2 [FB/CT] - Basic

A long time ago....
A new Star Wars movie will premier in movie theaters next Summer. It is Episode I of the Star Wars saga and the first movie in a new trilogy that goes back in time a full generation to tell the story of Luke Skywalker's father Anakin. We will see how Anakin became a great Jedi Knight but then turned to the dark side to become Darth Vader.

As a youth, Anakin Skywalker was brought before the Jedi Council as a candidate for Jedi training. With some dissension, the Council voted to allow Anakin to become the apprentice of Obi-Wan Kenobi, and over time Anakin became a powerful Jedi. The Council's concerns, however, proved to be well founded. The dark side soon overwhelmed Anakin and changed him, creating Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith. Darth Vader faithfully served at Emperor Palpatine's side, leading the Imperial efforts to crush the Rebellion. He was even ready, if necessary, to take the life of his own son, Luke Skywalker. But in the final confrontation between father and son, Luke's pleas finally awakened the good buried deep within Darth Vader.

It’s not secret that Star Wars collectors want a 1:1 ratio of vintage Kenner figures to modern counterparts. But sadly the modern updates don’t come quickly enough for the rabid collectors who want them. So when the announcement of Anakin Skywalker became public that he would become part of the FlashBack line, collectors rejoiced. Or did they? Technically, Anakin Skywalker is not the figure most of us expected it would be. Don’t misunderstand us please. It possesses a great likeness and pretty average sculpt, but this version of Anakin Skywalker doesn’t exist; at least not in this outfit. It’s true that we all witness the ghost of Anakin Skywalker wearing a very similar outfit, but the obvious difference is that he was a ghost in those scenes. He wasn’t an aged Obi-Wan Kenobi lookalike in the flesh like this action figure portrays. So this at best must be considered an Expanded Universe “what if” interpretation of Anakin Skywalker. As of the figures release, we don’t know what Anakin Skywalker even does outside of the black iron lung. So this particular action figure release creates a huge conundrum.

Some hardcore vintage collectors have adamantly denied that the 1985 The Power Of The Force Anakin Skywalker was a ghost version of the character. But he was. Even the packaging artwork clearly illustrates the proof. So it’s actually the Anakin Skywalker figure from the 1999 POTF2 [Flashback/Commtech] Jedi Spirits Cinema Scene that is the modern update to the 1985 release. It’s not this figure. Still, it’s pretty cool to get an action figure based on the likeness of Sebastian Shaw full of hair and normal Jedi robes, correct or not, in the basic figure line. Anakin Skywalker will be a popular action figure regardless on where you stand with regards to his accuracy. Collecting one-off figures like this that are either “just off-screen” or from some Star Wars fictional lore, it is nonetheless fun to collect these types of Star Wars figures. What surprises us the most however is that the topic of the inaccuracy of this figure doesn’t come up nearly as much as we had expected. Basically it’s enough of an assertion to say that “yeah, this isn’t really Force ghost Anakin but it’s still OK.” That is a bit perplexing, especially since we do have a true Force ghost Anakin Skywalker which fits the bill nicely.

Anakin Skywalker is as basic of an action figure as you could find. He comes with six points of articulation and a lot of his movement is encumbered by this molded robes. His hands are chubby and he strangely comes with Obi-Wan Kenobi’s lightsaber, thus making him even less screen accurate than he already is. The outer robe shell is removable, but because the arms are colored brown (to make the shell for a seamless look) he looks silly when you take it off of him. The head sculpt is decent. But the paint operations aren’t completely perfect. We have found various samples with a strange paint job on his belt buckle, and many more samples have choppy eyebrows. Does it look like a younger version of Sebastian Shaw? Yes and no. The portrait looks too animated and from certain angles he appears very cherubic. But the streaks in his gray hair help to reinforce that he is a man well into his golden years. Part of a small wave of only three new figures, Anakin Skywalker was a very quick seller. So were the other figures in the assortment. He may not be perfect, but we think the bigger issue is that he is a figure that just doesn’t represent a modern replacement to the 1985 vintage Kenner Anakin Skywalker figure. We’d like to see an updated figure that meets this criteria.