Mace Windu - SW [DV/ROTS] - Saga Legends (SL01)

Mace Windu battles the evil Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. The Jedi attempts to arrest Palpatine, who has revealed himself as the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. Mace strikes with his lightsaber as the evil Chancellor uses the power of the dark side to fight the Jedi.

Well, the format for Saga Legends has changed so drastically, it’s reached the point of no longer being recognizable. Gone are the days of receiving super-articulated figures (run-overs that couldn’t really be squeezed into the corresponding main basic figure line) in this sub-line and here are the moments to accept figures that are definitively geared for kids that there is almost no way possible to think these would interest adult collectors. The line has been completely revisited in an effort to save tooling and paint operation dollars. Hasbro has developed simply articulated all-new action figures. In an age where tooling is ever so costly, we find it very perplexing that it makes more sense to develop all-new tooling than to use action figures that have already been designed and simply have them remanufactured and repackaged and then call it a day. Hasbro has indeed explained that super-articulated action figures cost them more out of pocket because of the intense assembly they require. So we suppose it makes more sense to create all-new “five points of articulation” action figures to release in the Saga Legends line going forward.

Mace Windu was on the top of Hasbro’s list to release again. Many collectors think Mace Windu has worn out his welcome through many formats and basic figures lines in recent memory. So now we welcome him again with only five points of swivel articulation, a lightsaber and nothing else. No robe, no lightsaber hilt and no other pack-in premium has been included. We hope they have success with this version of Mace Windu. The good news is that you’ll only have to pay a $5.99 MSRP which seems to satisfy the biggest bones of contention collectors have with Hasbro. The irony here is that this line is geared for kids and Saga Legends may not capture the attention of the adult buying public. So what was the point? Hopefully there will be enough kids in the market who are actually interested in buying action figures because if there are not, the line is headed for real trouble. Mace Windu looks about average. When it’s time to talk about what makes a great Jedi action figure, the first thing you think of is excellent use of soft-goods. Obviously this won’t be attempted in an affordable kids’ line, so you’ll really have to figure out if this line is for you.

Admittedly, at face value, Mace Windu doesn’t look half that bad. Jedi wear robes, and Hasbro has sculpted a believable set of them for Mace Windu and cleverly worked in “cut points'” where the articulation need to be added. The engineering of the figure is both good and bad. While the articulation is subtle in its attribution on the figure, Mace Windu can surprisingly attain a 90 degree sitting pose so posing him in a Jedi starfighter vehicle will be possible. He has a perfect center of gravity and his coloring is spot on and accurate to his multiple appearances in the Prequel Trilogy. If there is a design flaw that could irritate kids, we would have to say that lies within his wrists. His wrists don’t poke out far enough from his sleeves. We had to “force” (no pun intended) the lightsaber hilt into his hands and we had trouble finding a good placement so that the fit felt natural. Mace Windu feels like we’re getting a “vintage” version of him for the first time. The likeness is good and realism is pretty good. It’s just his articulation that is quickly ageing him.