If the Star Wars action figure line can have a flagship, it’s Darth Vader. He is the singular icon of the Saga, as well as the anchor and soul of the line. Everything flows off of Darth Vader figures, which Hasbro can seemingly ship ad nauseam and they sell. Having us wait 5 waves into the 6” scale for a Darth Vader figure while delving into secondary characters and costumes first was frankly ridiculous.  Sufficed to say it’s critical that Hasbro get this figure right.

I almost want to give this figure an incomplete as a score because I think my sample became warped due to faulty packaging.  If you look at the boxed pic, the figure’s left hand is not set into the allotted recess in the tray.  I think this could have warped the hand into an effeminate open hand wave.  I could be wrong, but I don’t think this is how the hand was sculpted.  I have to imagine that it was sculpted better to interact with the saber hilt and this packaging fault damaged mine.  As it stands, that hand on my sample is essentially useless for posing with the exception of giving a dismissive “oh please” wave.  Additionally if you look at the shot of the back of the legs, the hinge for the right knee is warped into a slight “c” shape.  These two things conspired to give me posing challenges for the photographs.  I don’t think these things are endemic of the production of the figure.  I think it’s a one-off problem because of how the figure was packaged. With that said, I can see plenty of potential in the figure, so while these issues are going to affect my grade of the figure, it’s not going to affect my review of the figure as heavily as a true design flaw or an issue with the production versus packaging. 

If the left hand and right knee were not warped, I can see this figure being able to strike a lot of viable dueling poses.  I can sense myself loving this figure if I could pose it better.  Unfortunately this means my hunt for a 6” scale Vader continues as I need a better sample.  In the package, I had severe reservations about the helmet.  I though the mask sat too shallow in the dome part of the helmet.  Instead of sitting back inside the dome, it looked like the mask was being squeezed out of it.  I think the packaging tray might have altered the relative positions of the two pieces of the removable helmet to give this impression.  I’m not sure about the size of the eye lenses.  At some angles they look fine, but at others they appear too large giving Vader a doe-eyed milquetoast expression.  In the close up shots, the mask looks okay, so I’m going to give it a pass.

The pre-production samples featured a cape that was far too heavy and looked like a 1:12 scale bath robe.  While the production version seems a tad too thick, it’s hardly a damning issue.  I feel the inner robes close too tightly below the hips and cover too much of the upper legs.  The robes are held in this position by the cod piece.  The Sideshow version has the robes running down the outside of the legs which feels appropriate.  I will admit, I did not fully investigate if this positioning can be corrected. The detailing in the sculpt is remarkable.  The quilting of the leather parts of the costume is captured perfectly.  The chest box and chest armor are in the Episode V/VI configuration, but I feel the shoulder bells may be painted too brightly.  Oh, I hate to say it, but the ball jointed head will pop off if you try to tilt the head too far backward. 

All in all, I can sense the good in this figure, but the warping issues described above prevent me from going “all in” with love.  I’m going to hedge the score at an 8 out of 10, but reserve the right to adjust up or down later.  If this pose on the left hand is intentional, I would probably drop the score as low as a six.  If that hand is supposed to be sculpted in a grip, I could easily bump the score up to a 9. 

Update:  I’ve seen enough other samples online to know that the left hand sculpt is intentional.  I’m lowering the score to a 6 out of 10.

6/10 Bantha Skulls