Editor’s Note:  This review has been updated with our second look at TVC…

Original Review:  Chris - 2/19/2011 05:03 PM

The is a slight retool of the TAC Mace Windu figure.  The head sculpt is drastically improved although I’m still not sure that it’s a dead ringer for Sam Jackson.  It looks more like a guy I know from the New York City Department of Finance (shout out for Lance).  The figure from the ROTS collection still sets the likeness standard in my opinion.  The lack of ball jointed hips and the possibility limitations the molded inner tunic sleeves present are the biggest minuses on this figure. The biggest problem with the sleeves it that they extend past the base of the hands.  This makes some iconic Mace Windu lightsaber poses impossible.  The updated paint apps and the soft goods added to the lower tunic to provide better range of motions are plusses.  7 out of 10.

Updated Review:  Bret - 7/04/2018 07:05 AM

I love the likeness on this figure.  I think it looks pretty darn close to Sam Jackson, and personally, couldn’t expect more.  That’s the best part of the figure, and it is pretty good overall, but as Chris pointed out, the negatives really do hurt.  The overall sculpt is very good.  It’s strange that Hasbro opted for the soft goods skirt, which should be present for the purpose of allowing freedom of movement of ball jointed hips.  Unfortunately - there are no ball jointed hips.  I guess it works in the sense that it blends in with other TVC Jedi figures that have the soft goods skirts. 

The other point Chris made was that the sleeves are too long, and hinder the usefulness of the hands.  The THWG is possible, but not that easy to achieve.  Besides shortening the sleeve, it would be great if the figure had ball jointed wrists so it could more naturally achieve the pose where Mace threatens to behead Jango Fett on the arena balcony.  Instead, you have to awkwardly twist Mace’s arm to get it anywhere close, as in the image above in the gallery.

Other issues:  the elbow joints are sculpted somewhat poorly, resulting in sharp and pointy aspects when flexed.  Hasbro can do better at hiding the joints.  The boots are also a little too chunky for my tastes.  Finally, the robe…well, we know soft goods robes are tough at this scale, but this one is particularly oversized, and the sleeves even have large cuffs.  That’s overdoing it a bit.

It’s a good figure, but for TVC, it falls a bit short, especially for an important Jedi character like Mace Windu.  More articulation, better sculpted joints, and a less obtrusive robe would go a long way to making this definitive.  Hasbro, just shouldn’t mess with the face sculpt too much. 

This is not a definitive Mace Windu.  Granted, it comes pretty close, but the negatives are too much to let slide.  Hasbro should re-do this figure (from the neck down).  The good thing is that this is pretty much the only costume Mace wears in the prequels.  Yes, he has his clone armor outfit from TCW, but this covers the PT, so once perfected, it could be re-eleased until the end of days.  Fixing the issues discussed above, maybe add an alternate screaming face and some wrap-around Force lightning, and you have your definitive Mace Windu.  Demand on eBay is moderate.  It’s hard to tell if values are not higher because collectors aren’t in love with the PT character, or if they feel that there is too much room for improvement.  Whatever the case, Mace deserves better.

Updated Review:  Bret - 5/16/2022 07:05 AM

LET’S GO RANGERS!

As mentioned in the earlier iterations of our reviews for VC35, the lineage of this figure goes back to 2007 with its release in the Thirtieth Anniversary Collection as TAC 30-06.  In 2010 it received 2 significant upgrades (the face sculpt and the soft goods skirt) as VC35.  Now, Hasbro has taken this same figure and added Photo Real technology to the face, improved Mace’s skin color, and refined the cut of the robe to be less billowy.

While these cosmetic upgrades are nice, the fact remains that Mace - and by association - all human Jedi figures, need an upgrade.  In this day and age of JLA (Jedi Level Articulation), how can we have newly released Jedi figures that have almost 15 year old articulation sculpted into them?  The original complaints still hold - the figure’s movements and posability are greatly hindered by the archaic joints (particularly the wonky elbows and the swivel hips), the sculpting choices (the long sleeves hamper the hands from holding the lightsaber well), and the skirt - even replacing the original plastic with soft goods - grossly limit the range of motion of the hips.  But these complaints are now amplified by what Hasbro is capable of in 2022.  It’s sad that the chances of us getting modern upgrades to any of the PT Jedi are slim to none at this point.  But if Hasbro spent the coin on a modern human Jedi buck, they could probably ride that into the sunset with minor re-tools and repaints.

As it is, this is the best Mace Windu figure available, and while I’d much rather see Hasbro do a new sculpt, I am happy to pick up a couple more of these for my displays, as I only had one of the original VC35’s.  At least Mace looks great, and he can achieve some simple, if less than dynamic, action poses to fit into your Geonosis battle scenes.  When all is said and done, the upgrades do not make up for the poorly aging articulation, so I’m going to knock a point off of our earlier score, and give this a 6/10.