Darth Vader - R - Saga Legends (SL09)

Darth Vader searches for the Rebels, sending out Seeker Droids to track down these defiant enemies of the Galactic Empire. Once the Rebels' base on Hoth is discovered, Vader oversees the battle that destroys Echo Base.

Uh-oh. Hasbro is reusing Saga Legends and Mission Series figure way too often already. Aren’t this figures cheap enough so that they should be able to include all-new sculpts with each successive release? Or maybe they could just find other figures or figure two-packs to release instead. Granted, Darth Vader is a character that is needed at all times in the basic figure line. And there is something oddly comfortable about seeing this twice used Mission Series figure finally get its own basic figure carded release, but does anyone really need it at this point? New fans they don’t have yet that they’re trying to win over as new future collectors? (We honestly have no idea what the answer to that question is and are just being sarcastic there.) First making an appearance in the 2013 Star Wars [Darth Vader/Revenge Of The Sith] in the Darth Vader And Seeker Droid (Star Destroyer) (MS01), Darth Vader gets strangely packaged with the Rebels logo on his card back and an Expanded Universe description for his bio. (It’s a slight rewrite of the one used on the Darth Vader And Seeker Droid Mission Series set.) For us, this is still an Episode V interpretation of Darth Vader no matter what the description or pack-ins show, so it makes sense why this figure can be used in multiple ways.

Darth Vader is slightly wonky and looks just OK. We don't think the kids will mind the periodic disproportion. He appears a little too lanky, but if you’re able to pose his soft-goods cape in a certain manner, it widens his posture quite a bit and recreates the full and intimidating and imposing stature that we have all grown to fear from him. He only has five points of articulation (all swivel points) and the soft-goods cape is made from a cheaper material but has a decent drape nonetheless. Darth Vader is proportionately tall and has a wealth of features worked into the sculpting to make it as realistically styled as possible. The shape of his helmet honestly looks like no other Darth Vader likeness we have seen to date. Ironically, although we’re not sure it favors the direct proportions of the real costume, this sculpt is interestingly quite fantastic. As far as accuracy and realism, Hasbro has held our interest. All the pieces are in place for what you would expect for a simple Darth Vader action figure. He only comes with his lightsaber and it can only be held in his right hand. As you can imagine, you don’t have many options to pose him dynamically, but at least he can hold the lightsaber.

This sculpt was also reused in the 2014 SW [DV/ROTS] Luke Skywalker And Darth Vader (Bespin) Mission Series set. We have troubling finding any differences between them that should count towards variation status, but expect to find a few differences here and there with the way these figures have been painted. Don’t worry, the differences are negligible. Although we have decided to be a bit more positive about the Saga Legends and Mission Series figures, we have to say that the lines opened up terribly. New concepts and ideas are shaping up to look pretty good, but the stumbling block for Hasbro now is getting paint operations locked down. They will simply make or break these figures. Thankfully, Darth Vader possesses a simple color scheme so finding a nicely painted sample shouldn’t be all that difficult. But until we see more consistency in the line, we’re not letting out guard down. If Hasbro wants both kids and collectors to purchase these figures, they need to be painted with more interest and quality control. No matter how many times this Darth Vader figure gets released, we believe he will remain a strong seller. After all, what kid doesn’t want Darth Vader first in his collection?