Darth Vader - OTC - Basic (OTC #34)

The evil Sith Lord Darth Vader enforces the Emperor's will throughout the galaxy. He captures Princess Leia to discover the location of the heroic Rebels' secret base and recover the Death Star plans, which have been stolen by a Rebel spy. Vader is strong in the ways of the Force but has gone over to the dark side and is using this power to do harm.

Hasbro spoiled us rotten with the VOTC line. We’ve been spoiled so badly that this line has effectively set our expectations for what Hasbro releases into the basic figure line so high that it’s going to be hard for even them to continue to bring us all-new figures with these new and improved standards. This isn’t a bad thing in the least of course. It means that action figure quality is on the rise and that sculpts and articulation will continue to improve with time. Never settling and always innovating, it seems that Hasbro will only continue to bring excellence in action figures forward. There is a downside here of course. This eagerness to accept updated sculpts and articulation affects our appreciation for older action figures that should still rank as excellent in our minds. This is particularly true for Darth Vader (OTC #34) in The Original Trilogy Collection. Keeping in mind that this sculpt originated in the year 2000, Darth Vader still holds up incredibly well as one of the best versions based on Darth Vader’s A New Hope appearance. And from what we can garner from all of its rereleases, it seems that Hasbro feels similarly.

First released in 2000’s POTJ Masters Of The Dark Side two-pack, Darth Vader has also been released as 2003’s SW Darth Vader (Death Star Clash) (’03 #32) and then almost immediately again as 2004’s SW Darth Vader (Death Star Clash) (Hall Of Fame) release. Every release to date has been barely different from the next, but a critical and discriminating eye will be able to see that things like soft-goods and the smallest paint operations have been changed here and there. You’ll also see varying degrees of flat and glossy paint used as well. Are the differences noticeable? They’re barely noticeable. But you’ll find with each release something different enough that you will want to either note or roll your eyes over because depending upon who you are will or will not make a difference. The latest release for The Original Trilogy Collection may be the best version of Darth Vader of all three. In a very clever move, Hasbro included a unique version of Darth Vader from each film in the Original Trilogy. Still, you’ll likely find that this is still the best version of all three. Darth Vader as a whole action figure is much better than analyzing the parts that make him up individually. You’re not going to necessarily like the details, but the figure as a whole is very satisfying.

Darth Vader comes with seven points of articulation. What makes this “worse” is that his plastic molded skirt inhibits 99% of his hip movement. Aesthetically however, Darth Vader looks rather remarkable. He is tall, muscular and has a stature that satisfies his rather statuesque appearance. Hasbro added a swivel elbow to his left arm. This was added to give him a little bit more movement for lightsaber wielding. It’s not ideal, but it’s good enough for this release. We’re perhaps most impressed with the type, quality and drape of his soft-goods cape. It’s realistic, curls around his frame and hangs at the right length. Soft-goods tend to have a pass or fail grade from collectors. You will be hard pressed to criticize these soft-goods however. We’re thoroughly satisfied with how well they were done for this figure. Thankfully Hasbro has been consistent with their delivery of the soft-goods for this figure, but a side by side comparison of each release will show you that slightly different types of fabrics were used on every release. That is quite surprising to us. Darth Vader isn’t the definitive Episode IV version of this character, but he still looks great. To get the most our of a future all-new release, Hasbro is going to have to incorporate more quality soft-goods to make it successful.