Anakin Skywalker undertakes a daring rescue mission in his Jedi Starfighter. Anakin blasts attacking Separatist Droid fighters as he and Obi-Wan Kenobi battle their way to General Grievous' ship to free the kidnapped Chancellor Palpatine.
If the 2013 Star Wars [Yoda/Attack Of The Clones] Anakin Skywalker 12” figure is a shampoo bottle, then 2013’s Star Wars [Darth Vader/Revenge Of The Sith] Anakin Skywalker (SL03) figure is the eau de toilette. It is nearly an exact replica of the 12” figure scaled down to fit in the 3.75 inch line. It lacks personality and it certainly lacks articulation, but Hasbro did make one or two important strides here that make the figure acceptable. The 2013 revamped Saga Legends line has changed the history of action figures designed and geared for kids. Gone are super-articulation and dynamic sculpts and in place are budget quality action figures, some of which people liken to Happy Meal toys. It’s a bitter pill for adult collectors to swallow. We loved supplemental basic figure lines like Saga Legends because it gave us more candy to purchase in between new figure waves. And it also afforded us the opportunity to army-build at will. It looks like that facet of the hobby is sadly being vanquished. How will Hasbro get those extra dollars form collectors now? We don’t know about you, but we found ourselves wasting money on some Saga Legends filler when there was nothing else to buy. We’re not sure if we can say the same thing with the 2013 line.
While it may interest younger kids (and we hope it does), suffice it to say that Anakin Skywalker is a disappointment for us. This doesn’t mean that we haven’t tried as much as possible to accept the line for what it is. Still, we can’t overlook that the figure lacks in so many ways. And at this point we’re not sure if anything could salvage it from the “failure” we see. Anakin is much too pale, the head sculpt is average at best and the paint details, while very good on the body, are a major disappointment in the head sculpt. The hairline is sloppy and Hasbro really just haphazardly plopped two dots for eyes on the portrait. If you recall, we got some very weakly painted action figures in 2008’s TLC Battle At The Sarlacc Pit Battle Packs set. The same quality of paint operations have been executed in the 2013 Saga Legends line as well. Again, it’s very disappointing to see. Anakin Skywalker does have a decent body sculpt and the simplified approach definitely works better in 3.758” scale than 12” scale. That we can confirm. But only five points of articulation just doesn’t seem like enough even for the kids with this character. But that’s just our opinion.
Anakin Skywalker comes with a lightsaber and that’s it. It is welcomed into both of his hands, but you’ll find that his sleeves interrupt the smoothness it should have had he been installed with swivel wrists. In fact, the pressure created from the sleeve and the wrists made the lightsaber eject away from the figure with some force (no pun intended). It is borderline obnoxious and if this line is geared towards kids they’ll likely become very frustrated over that and pretty quickly we’ll assume. Perhaps it’s time to stiffen the upper lip and acknowledge that this is the direction kid-centric action figures have gone. In a world were Hasbro seems to need every last one of our dollars, they’ve carved out a large population of the buying public with reduced articulation figures. Maybe higher prices would be more tolerable if it meant that the super-articulation would continue. But no matter your thoughts, this is a learning curve that Hasbro will have to ride out and see if it’s going to work. We’re cautiously optimistic. And quite frankly we’re looking forward to the Original Trilogy goodness they’ll bring forth in the line. Anakin Skywalker is not a great example of the change being made, so try not to judge it from this action figure alone.
Collector Notes
Anakin Skywalker
Status: Anakin Skywalker is an all-new figure.
Articulation Count: 5 points
Articulation Details: swivel head, 2 swivel shoulders, 2 swivel hips
Accessory Count: 1
Accessory Details: lightsaber
Date Stamp: 2013
Assortment Number: A3860/A3857
UPC: 653569850823
Retail: $5.99 USD
Market Value: Click here to check the latest prices based on listings.