My esteemed colleague, Mr. Nomadscout, had to review figures based on the VC172 ARC Trooper sculpt:

By the time he got to his ninth and final review of that ARC Trooper buck, he was becoming delirious.  He started making outrageous claims like he invented the question mark.  He accused chestnuts of being lazy.  We had to shut him down for a while.  He spent nine months in nervous hospital.  I’m heading down a similar path.  This marks the third time that I’m reviewing what is essentially the same figure, minus a few tweaks here and there to make it source accurate.  Except in my case, it’s having the opposite effect.  I’m not burning out on reviewing the same base sculpt over and over.  In fact, I like it.  I love it.  I want some more of it.

This figure started life as VC241 - Darth Vader (Dark Times) from the Obi-Wan Kenobi series.  That was a landmark figure two years ago, and is still regarded as one of the best releases in the history of the line.  If was then slightly retooled for Episode VI accuracy and released as VC280 - Darth Vader (Death Star II).  That figure landed at #3 on my Top 10 of 2023 list.  Next a battle damaged version was offered as VC291 - Darth Vader (Duel’s End) also from the Obi-Wan Kenobi series.  Mr. Nomadscout happened to review that one, which is probably what staved off my nervous exhaustion.  He gave it a perfect 10 out of 10 score.

This VC334 - Darth Vader is just another minor tweak on that base sculpt to make it accurate to A New Hope. This means you already know that it’s starting off in the neighborhood of “outstanding”, but is it a home run?  It’s rounding third looking for an inside the park homer.  Is slides home safely, but the official scoring is a triple with an error on the throw.  You know, a Paul O’Neill homer (but at least Kramer got Steinbrenner’s birthday card back).  What that overwrought metaphor signifies is that this VC334 - Darth Vader is nearly perfect, as anyone owning the three aforementioned Darth Vaders already knows.  It poses like a dream, especially in the lower body.  Every manner of dynamic dueling pose is unlocked via knees and elbows that bend beyond ninety degrees.  I really like the upwards flex of the ankle joints.  It allows the knees to be engaged in deep fighting crouches while keeping the foot flat on the floor.  It makes posing this figure fun.

So where does it miss?  The differences between the Obi-Wan Kenobi Vader and this Episode IV Vader are minor.  The most noticeable one is that Vader’s tabard goes over the shoulder armor in Episode IV and under the armor in OWK.  This detail is accurately depicted in the retooled torso.  The cloth tabard is sculpted over the armor.  As everyone knows, cloth is not shiny unless you’re the mob or Jimmy Wah in Good Morning Vietnam:

Below the armor, the tabard is a perfect flat back.  One the back of the figure, the tabard is a perfect flat black (something that wasn’t even captured accurately on the VC93 - Episode IV Vader).  However, where the tabard covers the armor, it’s gloss black.  This makes the sculpting detail completely blend into the rest of the shoulder armor.  It’s frustrating to say the least.  It’s exactly like that line in Poltergeist:

You moved the cemetery, but you left the bodies, didn’t you?

Exactly.  Except replace “moved the cemetery” with “sculpted the tabard over the armor” and replace “left the bodies” with “forgot to spary the tabard with the flat clear coat”. Other than that, the quote is exact.

This annoyance compels me to deduct a point from the score to give it a 9 out of 10.  I also find myself getting more and more irritated by the oversized cape.  It become unmanageable at times, but it’s not to the point of further reducing the score.  Despite these gripes, it’s still an outstanding figure.  I am absolutely thrilled to have a definitive Darth Vader from A New Hope (I just wish we had a new Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced x1 to go with it).  This VC334 - Darth Vader so thoroughly supplants VC93 that it’s not even funny.  I hope to see a Reel from Tyler shortly where VC93 goes directly into the circular file.