Darth Vader (The Villain) - GOA - Basic

Darth Vader is a Sith Lord who uses the powers of the dark side to battle Rebel forces and help the evil Galactic Empire keep control of the galaxy.

Well, we have a brand new line look launched, and the first two waves features figures that are straight repacks. Sound familiar? Chronic repetition is how Hasbro approaches things these days. Instead of adding all-new sculpts, they’re more content with reissuing the same old stuff to collectors with the hopes they will sell better in a different package. Imagine for a minute if you will that the Galaxy Of Adventures line focused on all-new sculpts. It would have been a great time to incorporate super-articulated versions of the core Original Trilogy Star Wars characters (which Galaxy Of Adventures focuses on) to give us long-awaited updates while supporting the latest multimedia event like this. But no, Hasbro digs into their 5POA/7POA archives to rehash figures that are STILL SITTING ON PEGS for fractions less than their MSRP. And because of the cylindrical packaging and included miniature comic, these simple action figures will set you back $9.99 each. Don’t you love the way the Star Wars action figure line is going? It will be another year of unsellable products. And most will show up at discount chains like ROSS and Ollie’s months after they never arrive at Big Box. You can predict how the Star Wars brand will perform every time new products get released.

This time, Hasbro reused the latest Darth Vader sculpt as he appeared in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope for this line. But interestingly, the miniature comic is based on events from The Empire Strikes Back. So, we have an inaccurate version of Darth Vader. That’s the last of this figure’s issues. Its biggest issue is that is was rereleased. All of the figures in the Galaxy Of Adventures line that came from Force Link or Force Link 2.0 now have that technology removed from the tooling. Also, the Force Link symbol at the bottom of the foot is no longer present either. Darth Vader comes with a decent seven points of articulation. The inclusion of swivel gloves are not only applicable here for lightsaber wielding purposes, but it also allows for more gesturing and unique positions to the character we saw in the film. Once again, although it is evident that Hasbro used some of the similar toolings to create this Darth Vader action figure, it is new from head to toe. The rest of the figure includes swivel articulation, save for the portrait which attaches via a ball-socket joint. His head offers a wide range of movement and gave the illusion that this figure is more articulated than it is. Sure, the shoulders and hips don’t provide adequate movement, but Hasbro has tooled a nice looking version of Darth Vader here, and it’s quickly become one of our favorites.

It won’t ever replace The Vintage Collection Darth Vader figures that Hasbro produced, but it’s a nice addition to complement the line. Hasbro tooled great detail in the chest area, especially where the chest box area is. It’s quite amazing how far Hasbro has brought the 5POA line when the action figures look this good. You can easily remove Darth Vader’s head. You’ll notice that his neck post is extraordinarily long. Once you remove the head, you can also remove the molded cape. If you decide to pose Darth Vader without the cape, the figure won’t look right. The elongated neck post is there for a reason. And that reason is that the cape takes space away and the post makes up for what is lost. Darth Vader also comes with his signature lightsaber. And thanks to additional articulation in the arms the figure looks pretty great holding it. Because of some extra movement worked into this figure, Darth Vader achieves poses that look rather nice. You won’t feel this action figure is a total loss. The included miniature comic is fairly nice. It’s difficult to read the text in them, but the animation looks very nice, and the story fits in with what we saw in the Original Trilogy films. There’s even an opening scroll on the first page of the comic to give it that true Star Wars vibe. For $9.99, these figures are overpriced. But who knows how much longer the market will even bother with the Star Wars brand. It’s sadly become a toxic brand.