Darth Tyranus (Geonosian Escape) - SW [S - P2] - Basic (’03 #03)

Ten years after the fight to save Naboo from invasion, the galaxy is on the brink of civil war. Under the leadership of a renegade Jedi, thousands of solar systems threaten to secede from the Galactic Republic. A courageous Jedi Knight, his impulsive and headstrong apprentice, and a queen-turned-senator are drawn into the heart of the conflict... and the beginning of war.

Fighting with the skill of a consummate warrior and master of the Force, the Dark Lord battles his foes with both hands, wielding his scimitar-handled lightsaber with grace and precision while simultaneously leveling powerful bursts of Force lightning at those who challenge him.

Did you ever want to call Darth Tyranus, Darth Tyranusauras Rex? No? Well, never mind then. If you collect Hasbro Star Wars figures, then you know you’re going to see the same characters over and over again in a lightly different light. But we maybe didn’t expect to see Darth Tyranus (or perhaps more accurately, Count Dooku) as many times as we did in the Star Wars “Saga” line. Sure, he’s the new “villain” in Episode II. Darth Maul has been killed off so there has to be a more interesting and engaging bad guy, right? Well, for many, the character of Count Dooku pales in comparison to a great villain like the evil Darth Maul, but for others he remains an important part of the Star Wars story. And like Obi-Wan Kenobi, Hasbro seems to have relative ease in making the action figures of this characters look pretty darn good. Count Dooku can be seen in multiple frames of Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones, and with each scene there is something unique about how he is presented. For the second phase of the Star Wars “Saga” line, Hasbro strongly focuses on one particular scene at the end of the film to release Darth Tyranus (Geonosian Escape) and updates a few details that should make collectors reasonably happy.

Hasbro is heading Darth Tyranus (Geonosian Escape) a little closer to super-articulation. Knowing that, he is still plenty far away from being perfect. But let’s talk about some of the marked improvements made to get this character up to snuff in the basic figure line. Firstly, many of the already established play features are sadly still intact. There is a magnet imbedded in his left hand for added play value and to a worse extent, the action feature of squeezing his legs together to lift up his right arm are also left intact. But the additional of a ball-jointed head sculpt and a ball-jointed left shoulder have added a decent amount of needed updates to make this figure not half as bad as you might think. Darth Tyranus (Geonosian Escape) has a very nice sculpt, aside from the right arm and he has an even better likeness. You ca bend his head to make him look downwards and well as upwards and this allows you to recreate some accurate scene-specific moment from the film. This figure comes with a metal hilt, removable red lightsaber blade, a removable cape (which looks fantastic by the way) and the call-out feature: Force lightning.

The Force lightning accessory works better than expected. It has been cast from sturdy plastic (meaning it won’t wilt in three seconds you affix it to his hand) and looks reasonably believable when displayed on the action figure. With a steady hand and some patience, Darth Tyranus (Geonosian Escape) can be displayed awesomely in a diorama or in the rear of your Geonosis Arena playset. He clearly isn’t action figure heaven, but we like to magnify the positives to acknowledge that even imperfect action figures have some great attributes. Is Darth Tyranus (Geonosian Escape) the perfect action figure? That would be a resounding no. But we have hopes that Hasbro is getting closer and closer to developing action figures that will have excellent features and great sculpt. After all, isn’t that what collecting these Star Wars action figures all about? We still are curious to know however why Hasbro has referred to this version of Count Dooku as Darth Tyranus. Code names or aliases are a huge part of the Star Wars saga, but it seems that it doesn’t really fit here. He was called Count Dooku by other characters in the film at this point, so it seems odd at best for Hasbro to call him Tyranus instead. But whatever you call him, know that this is one of the better versions of Count Dooku in the Star Wars “Saga” line. Take that as you'd like.