Darth Vader - ROTS - Basic (III 11)

Added: July 23rd 2012
Category: Revenge Of The Sith
Reviewer: Paul Harrison
Score:

Name: Darth Vader
Collection: Revenge Of The Sith
Number: III 11
Source: Revenge Of The Sith
Availability: April 2005
License: Hasbro

Review_DarthVaderROTS001 Review_DarthVaderROTS002 Review_DarthVaderROTS003 Review_DarthVaderROTS004
Review_DarthVaderROTS005 Review_DarthVaderROTS006 Review_DarthVaderROTS007 Review_DarthVaderROTS008
Review_DarthVaderROTS009 Review_DarthVaderROTS010 Review_DarthVaderROTS011 Review_DarthVaderROTS012

Giving up everyone and everything he cares about, Anakin falls to the dark side. Encased in the black armor that will come to strike fear throughout the galaxy, he is no longer Anakin Skywalker – he is now Darth Vader.

You’re all well aware of our chagrin for action features in our action figures. And we’re well aware of yours. So will you forgive us if we give a remotely positive review to a figure that does contain them? We’re talking about the very first Darth Vader figure (the black iron lung version) in the Revenge Of The Sith line. This figure borders excellent for us for a few reasons. It’s definitely a Collection 1 figure which you should always translate as “contains action features” – there are exceptions however. So that should immediately knock it down a few pegs right? Actually, the answer would be no as far as we’re concerned. Darth Vader (III 11) is definitely far from perfect, but it excels it ways that are useful for both kids and collectors. Had Hasbro decided to eliminate the action feature and upgraded just a few points of articulation for Darth Vader, we’d bet he wouldn’t be that far off from being a collector-focused figure. With that statement alone, you’d probably think it would be inconsistent to find such positive favor with this figure, but we do. And we’ll do our part the best we can to go through all of its bullet points.

Darth Vader has one of the best head sculpts we have personally seen for Darth Vader. The symmetry, just like the onscreen prop is flawlessly perfect and it translated well in this very small scale. This Darth Vader figure is indeed based on the look of the Episode III specific Darth Vader costume. We think Hasbro did it justice on so many levels. Darth Vader is ensconced in soft-goods. Both his cape and lower skirt has been designed for him to fit inside a starfighter or his updated TIE fighter. This is ideal when so many versions of Darth Vader inhibit this option or basically prohibit it. His left arm is posed in a way that will make Original Trilogy fans drool. Reminiscent of his battle with Luke Skywalker on Bespin or his choking of Captain Antilles on the blockade runner, we bet that this version of Darth Vader will be hard to pass up by many a collector. So with all of this positive fluffiness, there has to be something negative about this figure, correct? Actually you’re very right about that. Darth Vader is indeed in need of updates and upgrades, but they don’t prevent us from appreciating the figure for what it is.

Darth Vader is made inferior thanks to the inclusion of the action feature. If you squeeze his lower legs together his right arm will swing and show off his “Lightsaber Attack!” action feature. Surprisingly, if you choose not to activate this feature, you can achieve an incredibly wide range of movement just by manually manipulating the included articulation. His left shoulder is ball-jointed, yet his right shoulder has swivel articulation (with a whole bunch of additional swivel articulation throughout the length of the arm). This amazingly gives a great range of motion that we know you won’t expect exists until you have this figure in yours hands. Just look at how many different and unique poses we were able to achieve in our photo gallery with a figure that only comes with only nine points of articulation. It is quite impressive. The Revenge Of The Sith line is definitely giving collectors a whole bunch of new characters and new versions of characters we know all too well. A figure like Darth Vader brings something new to something old, but we have to reiterate that it’s a figure that isn’t half and bad as you’d expect it to be. Yes, better versions of Darth Vader will come. But this one is still good.

Collector Notes

Darth Vader

Status: Darth Vader is an all-new figure.

Articulation Count: 10 points (9 areas of articulation)

Articulation Details: swivel neck (1), ball-jointed left shoulder (2), swivel right shoulder (1), swivel right bicep (1), swivel left forearm (1), swivel right forearm (1), swivel waist (1), swivel left hip (1), swivel right hip (1)

Accessory Count: 1

Accessory Details: lightsaber

Date Stamp: 2004

Collection: 1

Assortment Number: 85284/85173

UPC: 076930852842

Retail: $5.99 USD

Market Value: Click here to check the latest prices based on Click here to check the market value on eBay! listings.

Revenge Of The Sith Wave 1

Obi-Wan Kenobi (III 1)

Anakin Skywalker (III 2)

Yoda (III 3)

Super Battle Droid (III 4)

Chewbacca (III 5)

Clone Trooper (III 6)

R2-D2 (III 7)

Grievous's Bodyguard (III 8)

General Grievous (III 9)

Mace Windu (III 10)

Darth Vader (III 11)

Emperor Palpatine (III 12)



This review comes from Jedi Temple Archives
www.JediTempleArchives.com

The URL for this review is:
http://www.jeditemplearchives.com/content/modules.php?name=JReviews&rop=showcontent&id=1157