Star Wars Vintage Edition Darth Vader - Anakin Skywalker

Presenting Darth Vader - Anakin Skywalker from the Star Wars Vintage Edition Series.

Obviously this was what Darth Vader looked like before his best friend and mentor General Obi-Wan Kenobi left him for dead burning next to a river of molten lava on the planet Mustafar.

So Darth Vader didn't really spend much time looking like this since he had a busy day: First he cut off Mace Windu's sword arm allowing Chancellor Sheev Palpatine to kill him (Yes, just today it was revealed that Emperor Palpatine's first name is Sheev - I'd keep it a secret to - and he'll be referred to as such in the upcoming book: Tarkin by James Lucerno); assembled the 501st and purged the Jedi temple; said goodbye to his girlfriend, and; flew all the way to Mustafar to wipe out the last of the Separatist council.


Then Darth Vader started to have delusions of grandeur which we're sure even he realized when he said  "I do not fear the dark side as you do. I have brought peace, freedom, justice, and security to MY NEW EMPIRE!" Which was why he was so ticked off when Obi-Wan sarcastically retorted "YOU'RE NEW EMPIRE?" (What a bitch).

So we feel it's quite understandable that Anakin Skywalker's eyes started to display signs of Jaundice :)

The StarWars Vintage Edition Darth Vader - Anakin Skywalker's blister card reads..... "Absolutely nothing" but does show the original Darth - Vader / Anakin Skywalker which we do have somewhere in storage.

We vaguely remember that figure. We know that we didn't like it and that it had issues standing up. Something about it leaning forward when it stood.


WHAT'S TO LIKE ABOUT THE STAR WARS VINTAGE EDITION DARTH-VADER?

FIRST: It is a vast and definite improvement over the original one released in 2004.

He comes with everything you see here: the upgraded Jedi cloak which is a darling to fold and more realistic in our opinion; his blue lightsaber - the one Obi-Wan Kenobi collected and gave to Luke Skywalker  (Ironically the lightsaber would come back to Darth Vader when Luke first confronts him on Bespin. Note that it's a blue lightsaber not a red "Sith" saber. We think it's very important that just because someone turns Sith, his lightsaber should not have to change color automatically - you have to go change the crystal); and an unlit lightsaber that pegs to his belt.

We're particularly fond of the detailing that went into his hair, face and eyes. The original 2004 figure had wavy hair that just went down and hid his face in darkness by making him look like he was a Goth band member who went to town with his eyeliner.

The Back Series Darth Vader has detailed scars; pain and anger etched into his face; individual strands of hair, and the aforementioned jaundiced eyes (We don't really understand why choosing to give in to hate would cause Jaundice).

Even with his cloak up, the malevolence in Darth Vader's yellow eyes manage to shine through: (SECOND: Really love the cloak, with the right tack it flows as it should in the real world - unfortunately we did not have enough tack at the time.)

Simply making the Star Wars Vintage Edition Darth Vader - Anakin Skywalker stand on display in his cloak on makes him very cool:

But of course we want him to move, and boy can Darth Vader move! THIRD: The Star Wars Vintage Edition Darth Vader - Anakin Skywalker has the high articulation we've come to love from the Vintage Edition Series:

And yes, the Vintage Edition Darth Vader can kneel - but only to the Emperor:

FOURTH: The Star Wars Vintage Edition Darth Vader - Anakin Skywalker - as you can see here is part of a wonderful timeline:



And if you do have the Anakin Skywalker from Episode II, you can pop his mechanical hand out and pop the hand out from Darth Vader - Anakin Skywalker in order to create an even more malevolent looking figure:

WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE ABOUT THE STAR WARS VINTAGE EDITION DARTH-VADER?

FIRST: Believe it or not we have find it difficult that the Star Wars Vintage Edition Darth Vader - Anakin Skywalker cannot close his legs. It's a minor thing, but we're going to review the new Black Series Darth Vader - the armored one in the trio above - were we hope to show you the joys of being able to close one's legs.

SECOND:  Our particular Darth Vader's hair seems to look like a toupee from his right side. You can see this particular fault in the photo above where we replaced Anakin's right hand with a mechanical one, there's a shadow between his sideburns and his hair.

This particular Star Wars Vintage Edition Darth Vader was purchased on sale from Toys R'Us in Robinson's Galleria here in Manila, Philippines for PhP 400 (US$ 8.88 - note the beat up packaging). We cannot find him on Amazon.

With many thanks to D.S. for pointing out that we made the mistake of categorizing this figure as being a part of the Black Series instead of the Vintage Edition series