General Anakin Skywalker (Jedi Knight) - 1:6 Scale Figures

A child born of prophecy, possibly conceived by the will of the Force itself, Anakin Skywalker has left an indelible mark on the history of the galaxy, leading it through periods of light and darkness. Discovered as a slave child on Tatooine, he was brought into the Jedi Order and quickly ascended to become one of its brightest stars.

Apprentice and ally to Obi-Wan in the thick of the Clone Wars, the fiercest fighting that the Republic had faced in centuries, Anakin became a man against the backdrop of seemingly ceaseless war. Despite Jedi platitudes about peace and patience, Anakin found the battles of the Clone Wars invigorating, and his incredible Force abilities were further honed. It was Anakin who single-handedly transformed inevitable defeat into victory on numerous occasions. Encounters on worlds such as Cato Neimoidia and elsewhere cemented Anakin and Obi-Wan's legendary reputations. Throughout the Republic, citizens would spread tales of the two Jedi heroes – Anakin's hologenic features and daring exploits earned him the moniker of "The Hero With No Fear." Skywalker became a celebrity of the state, despite Jedi ascetics frowning upon such accolades.

Impressed by Anakin's skill with the Force, the Jedi Council quickly conferred upon him the status of General and Jedi Knight. Anakin led the 501st Legion of clone troopers on many campaigns, with Clone Captain Rex serving under him. True to his pre-Jedi nature, Anakin was bold and aggressive, but he quickly learned that sometimes a well-chosen word proves more effective than a flashing lightsaber. Anakin's brash nature and bold talk often placed him at odds with the other Jedi, many of whom view Anakin as a loose-cannon – albeit an exceptionally talented one.

It’s hard to believe that it took Sideshow Collectibles almost two years to make a 1:6 Scale figures based off of The Clone Wars film and/or television series. While most other licenses went crazy trying to get the appropriate licensed product available for July 26, 2008, Sideshow didn’t even utter a word that anything from the movie or TV series would be coming our way. While we may have think they missed the boat, patience has paid off because they have delivered unto us a completely beautiful and well designed figure at their pace. Anakin Skywalker was probably the single best character (except for maybe Ahsoka Tano) for Sideshow to attack first and the final product is a success in every sense of the word. Not only is the specific Anakin design awesome, Sideshow has clearly improved the materials used to make the figure. Sideshow also decided to go against the flow by creating a figure outside of the animated format. It should be noted right off the bat that this 1:6 Scale Figure is a realistic styled interpretation of the character we see on the small screen. While you may think that this was a risk, we think it was a brilliant decision and the other licenses should have followed suit. Remember Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars? It was so exciting to get those characters based in realism instead of animated form. This too of course is the way that most collectors wished Hasbro would have approached The Clone Wars (Filoni) 3.75” line, but alas they did not. Could this be the figure to bring more collectors to Sideshow’s bottom line since so many people want realistic styled figures? Will this create more 1:6 Scale Figure collectors? We aren’t so sure about that, but we do know that this figure is an incredible high end collectible that will be a piece surely to stand out from amongst the rest. Anakin Skywalker is an exciting start to the many characters Sideshow can bring collectors who love The Clone Wars. We want to point out that Anakin Skywalker’s face is incredible on this figure. It is completely recognizable to his look in the TV show (probably because of how his hair is molded) but yet he look completely like the character we saw in Episode II and Episode III. Sideshow Collectibles did very well here!

Anakin Skywalker has been tailored in a striking costume which is clearly exacting to what is seen in the television series. And to be quite frank with you, it is very impressive to see all the interactive layers in action on this 1:6 Scale Figure. The outer robe coverings have been cut from vinyl and they actually have a believable leather feel to them. Underneath this blue covering is a primarily brown under suit that is fitted in some spots and baggy and gathered in others. The pants and shirt appropriately tuck nicely into their respective boots and gloves. And speaking of boots and gloves, man oh man, we are so impressed with their design it is simply amazing. His armored shoulder covering looks great, but it doesn’t fit as snuggly as we had hoped. Still, it is very real-looking and finishes off his uniform nicely. One other small issue we are not crazy about is his belt. Underneath the leather belt is a cloth cummerbund. You have to spend unnecessary minutes to layer them to look evenly on top of each other and one little move of the figure’s waist will send them into a tizzy. And then you have start lining them up all over again. The details on them are stunning, but we wish they were much tighter around his waist. The colors of the fabrics and other materials are almost perfect. In particular, his cybernetic hand is sculpted beautifully and Sideshow managed to work it into The Clone Wars costume yet remain true to the way it appeared in Episode III. And you may be interested to know that his left arm has brown hands while his right arm (with the robotic hand) is cast in black. While this may initially be hard to see, Sideshow nailed it and it is exact to what is seen in the television show. Anakin’s face and hair color are authentic and together work in harmony to produce a dead ringer of both the animated character and onscreen actor. Anakin Skywalker comes with a nice selection of accessories, not as many as GI Joe, but more that the other Star Wars figures Sideshow has released. Developed from the popular and significantly updated Prometheus body, Anakin Skywalker has all the bells and whistles an ultra-articulated figure should have and then some.

The points of movement have been tightened up stronger than ever before and it seems Sideshow went the extra mile to capture a whole new level of accurate likeness in the portrait. Anakin can attain basically any position that the human body can and thanks to brilliant engineering of the body type, Anakin can bend and lock into any pose you put him into and this has been something that many figures before him weren’t able to do. Take for example Sideshow’s 1:6 Scale Imperial Stormtrooper. While the figure is breathtaking, the joints are quite loose and the figure is nearly incapable of remaining erect without the assistance of an action figure stand. Anakin Skywalker does not have this issue at all. Sideshow has brought back the approach of incorporating awesome exclusive accessories with the Anakin Skywalker release. No more extra hand with an alternate part or an accessory you can barely see with the naked eye, Sideshow decided to include Rotta the Hutt as the exclusive piece. Don’t get us wrong, Rotta is nearly a plastic statue, but he is large and awesomely painted and it is reminiscent of the good old days when Sideshow gave us incredible and large exclusive accessories like Jango’s head, with Mace Windu (Jedi Master), or a Geonosis B1 Battle Droid head, with Kit Fisto (Jedi Master). Unfortunately, exclusive collectors needed to pay an extra premium to get Rotta the Hutt and this is very unfortunate. Also included is a lightsaber, lightsaber hilt, two removable pouches for his belt, and two interchangeable hands. Nothing to rave about, these accessories are bare minimum requirements for a 1:6 Scale Figure of this price. And we are thankful that they are included with General Anakin Skywalker. This release is definitely a trial figure. We hope it is successful enough to prove to Sidehshow that other characters from The Clone Wars will be worthwhile investments for them to create next. With only 750 exclusive pieces made of General Anakin Skywalker and Rotta the Hutt, we hope that they can raise the exclusivity up a bit more for the next figure. More people should be enjoying these figures!