Original Review:  Chris - 6/25/10 05:37 PM

You probably already own this figure.  It’s nearly identical to the 2008 Legacy Collection Darth Vader.  The major difference is that it has been retooled so the the head can be pulled off allowing the chin piece to be removed.  If you examine your 2008 figure, you’ll notice that the head can move independent of the chin piece.  Were you able to pull the neck post out, you could convert that figure to a “three piece helmet” Vader as well, but depending how much caveman force you apply, the transformation may not be reversible.  Not so with this figure, as the head is designed to be easily pulled out so that the chin piece can be removed.  Similar to the 2008 figure the top of the helmet has a wont to pop off, but a little pressure ensures it stays put for a while.  I might be crazy, but it seems like the paint apps are bit more crisp and vibrant this time around.  Even though I already own dozens of Vader figures, I would still but this one.

Updated Review: Chris- 4/9/18. 07:05 AM

It’s embarrassing to go back and look at these old reviews for a number of reasons.  I originally scored this figure an eight.  Maybe in 2010 this figure was an eight.  It was a crazy time.  Now this figure is a six and I feel that is being generous.  I have updated the score below to reflect this.  There are two sets of problems with this figure.  The first is simply age.  Hasbro’s action figure technology is constantly moving forward.  This is great for the collector, but also can turn the once definitive into obsolete fairly quickly.  The lack of ball jointed hips, rocker ankles and ball jointed wrists is readily apparent on this 2008 mold.  Any prominent dueling figure lacking these features now seems as dated as a POTJ figure would have seemed at the time of this figure’s release.  That is simply an “it is what it is”.  Time marches on.

But there are also faults with this figure that existed at the time of its release.  The first is debatable.  The removable helmet doesn’t look as good as a static solid helmet, and it never quite closes flush, but there is value in a removable helmet Vader (unlike a removable helmet Fett).  It allows you to recreate the dramatic final scenes of return of the Jedi.  So that could be another “it is what it is”.  The other issues is more black and white.  The right hand of the figure is completely unusable for dueling poses.  It’s an open palm.  Truthfully I’m not sure what Hasbro was going for here.  I can only assume it’s to recreate those few seconds of film where Vader sends his saber helicoptering toward Luke on the catwalk in Return of the Jedi. It’s completely useless to hold the saber in one handed fighting poses (and guess which hand Vader uses almost exclusively in the saber battle in Episode V).  In a THWG, the right hand can only lightly cup the left hand.  It reminds me of what some wacky Little League coach would suggest as an unconventional bat grip. 

This figure does have a place in your collection.  It’s as the helmetless Vader at the end of Return of the Jedi as described above.  Aside from still having an attached right hand, this figure can be considered definitive enough for that one display.  We don’t need an updated removable helmet Vader.  But…

We need the ultimate dueling Episode V/VI Vader and, like the ultimate Boba Fett, it’s overdue.  We have that exact Vader, but it’s has Episode III specific detailing.  It’s the #26 Darth Vader from the Black Series Phase I (minus the decapitation issue). Repaint that figure’s chest box in the correct Episode V/VI configuration, fix the head issue (with perhaps a new sculpt), and call it a day.  Vader sells.  Always does and always will.  It’s presumably why Hasbro has cranked out some frame specific Vader figures recently.  Give us the definitive Episode V/VI dueling Vader that can be used in a myriad of scenes and we’ll buy lots

Updated Review (For PhotoReal release): Bret - 6/13/19. 07:05 AM

Here is the final review of the four re-issued figures that were given the PhotoReal technology treatment in early 2019.  VC03 Han Solo, VC23 Luke Skywalker, and VC02 Leia each had their own issues which made them questionable candidates for re-release with PhotoReal.  For the most part, I would support such updates to figures if they are already definitive versions of those characters.  Leia needed a sculpt update the minute it was announced in 2010.  Luke was definitive in 2010, perhaps even ahead of its time, but is a bit underwhelming today.  Han was very scene specific.  PhotoReal alone is only an incremental improvement for these original releases. 

VC08 Darth Vader is also a mixed bag.  Time has not been kind to the original 2010 figure, as you can tell by Chris’s retrospective review last year.  Despite several flaws, it is nevertheless a passable removable helmet Vader.  The figure, as described by Chris, made for a very good unmasked Vader for the shuttle ramp scene with Luke.  The two-part removable helmet worked pretty well.  Actually, there is a third part, in that the chin can be removed if you pop off the head first, although Vader never removed this piece of headgear in the film.  But the helmet and mask were useful to recreate the scene.  Interestingly, this “ROTJ” Vader was released on an ESB card.  So wheird, right?

As for this update, the first thing you’ll notice before you even get a look at the PhotoReal application is that Hasbro replaced the two-part helmet/mask with a single piece.  (The third “chin” piece is still there, although I guess it should now more accurately be referred to as the “second” piece.)  This seems to be the only instance in this 4-figure wave that there is a “new” accessory.  It’s not a new sculpt, as it was previously available with a different Vader, but it is new to this figure.  Hasbro had made clear (and we’ve reiterated multiple times) that new accessory loadouts would alter the status of a figure from a repaint/repack to a new figure.  Perhaps in this case they made an exception, if the costs were lower to include the one piece instead of two separate pieces.  Likely, we’ll never know. 

This new accessory is very important in that it now accurately places the figure into The Empire Strikes Back, as is indicated on the packaging. The appropriate scene is the one in which Vader is using the meditation chamber to gross out Piett.  The helmet and facemask are together, as they are lowered over Vader’s head.  That’s it.  That’s the scene.  That is the purpose of this figure, and it is technically more accurate now.

As for the PhotoReal, it’s done very well.  In my sample, I think the pupils are a bit washed out, leaving the sclera (thanks for that, Arm3nch Tripplehorn! to appear as if Vader might be warging.  Otherwise, the face paint is most definitely an improvement over the original version, and that’s the first time I can say that with confidence versus the other figures in the wave. 

There is one other very tiny detail that makes this Vader more screen accurate, and I have to thank my esteemed colleague Chris for making me aware of the discrepancy in the first place.  Vader’s chest box has different colored buttons and lights throughout the saga, as depicted below. 

In both ESB and ROTJ he has the same chest box, but this figure was painted in an ANH configuration.  That may bother about 27 people on Earth, but thanks to Chris, I am now among them.  In the original release, the light at the top right is green, as it is in ANH.  But that has now been changed to the correct blue color for ESB/ROTJ.  That was a great catch by Hasbro.

One final note on the long, strange trip that this figure has taken.  It started life in the ROTS Evolutions Anakin to Vader set with a one-piece removable helmet.  Then it the same sculpt was re-released as TLC BD8 along with a modified two-piece removable helmet.  Then it was-re-released as VC08 in 2010 along with the three-piece helmet pictured in the original gallery above.  And now it lives as a VC08 re-issue, but back to a two-piece helmet. 

Editor’s Note:  Thanks to feedback from reader The Game Chicken, we are now aware that early retail samples of the 2019 re-release included the 3-piece helmet that was present in the 2010 release.  In a running change, later samples (including the one in the gallery above) were changed to include the 2-piece helmet.  Perhaps Hasbro did this to make the figure a better match for the ESB cardback.

Through all of that, this 2005-based sculpt has flaws with the hands and limitations on poses, so as Chris said above, Hasbro really needs to provide a definitive “no-frills” super-articulated “dueling” ESB/ROTJ Vader.  This is definitely an an improvement over the original, but unfortunately, with so many Vader options out there, it might not be worth another purchase for many collectors.  If you have OCD about Vader’s details, than you should consider picking this one up.  I think it deserves adding a point the recent 6/10 score given to the original figure during the retrospective.  This updated release gets a 7/10.  We’ll call this the definitive Darth Vader (Executor Meditation Chamber).  But we still need a definitive non-scene specific ESB/ROTJ Darth Vader.