Darth Vader - OTC - Basic (OTC #10)

Darth Vader is part of the evil Empire. He is powerful in the ways of the Force but uses his skills to do terrible things. He helps the Emperor control the galaxy. When he meets Luke Skywalker, he tries to convince Luke to join him and together rule the galaxy, but Luke resists and eventually helps Vader see that the galaxy needs to be saved from the Emperor.

It’s hard to believe that Hasbro released three Darth Vader figures in The Original Trilogy Collection basic figure line, you know, the collection with the 38 single-carded figures. This directive should make it clear to you the popularity of Darth Vader and how he is easily the most successful action figure at retail. It probably gives Hasbro confidence that any Darth Vader action figure will sell. And we do a good job as a buying public revealing that to them. That being said, this one is the worst of the three in the OTC basic figure line. Based on his appearance from Return Of The Jedi, Hasbro got a tad lazy with this release and slightly repainted 2003’s SW [S - P3] Darth Vader (Throne Room Duel) (‘03 #18) figure and repackaged in glorious vintage-inspired packaging to celebrate the release of the Original Trilogy on DVD in 2004. Sadly, the figure has aged terribly even after one short year, but then again, the figure was outdated at it's original release too. Riddles with clunky action features and loose articulation to accommodate these features, Darth Vader is not a collector-friendly figure. The kids will likely love it, so perhaps in hindsight it was nice of Hasbro to consider their needs somewhere within The Original Trilogy Collection too.

If you’re patient, this Darth Vader figure can look nice when displayed, but the challenge is making that work for more than a few seconds because it may just be the worst action figure of all time to keep its balance unassisted. We obviously don’t claim that the figure looks nice to mislead collectors. No, there is more negative here than anything else. Trust us when we say that you’re not going to appreciate this figure. You will not like it. Period. There are too many things working against it. With nine total points of articulation (including one of these points being an action feature button), Darth Vader is still limited in the articulation he does possess. For example. His left arm only has on swivel shoulder joint, while his right arm has a ball-jointed shoulder, hinge-jointed elbow and swivel glove. You can probably figure out without us telling you that is gives him a completely unbalanced stature and inhibits how well he can be positioned in your collection. If all you’re looking to do is fling his lightsaber, then this is the premier Darth Vader action figure for you. If not, you’ll probably want to move along as quickly as possible away from this action figure.

One of the nicer features to Darth Vader is his removable helmet. It’s the most basic removable helmet feature possible, but it fits nicely atop his head and there is a decent Anakin Skywalker likeness underneath. His ill-fitted cape is also removable. In fact, it might as well be considered “unattachable” because of its resistance to stay adhered to Darth Vader’s body.To say it’s annoying would be a sad understatement. Besides, if you manage to balance the cape so it doesn’t fall off, it gives Darth Vader an impossible center of gravity and getting his to stand up without the assistance of the included action figure display stand impossible. His right hand is magnetic and he comes with a lightsaber that separates and the hilt and blade. Ad you probably already figured out, the lightsaber hilt is metal to stick relatively strongly in his hand. This is an action figure designed for play and not display. If this is what you’re looking for, then this is the Darth Vader action figure for you. But the other Darth Vader figures in the line are infinitely superior to this one, albeit based on different sources in the Star Wars saga than this one.