Prince Xizor Vs. Darth Vader - SOTE - Comic Packs

Darth Vader
Height: 2.02 Meters
Status: Commander of the Imperial Fleet
Classification: Human
Affiliation: Galactic Empire
Weapon of Choice: Lightsaber

Prince Xizor
Height: 1.9 Meters
Status: Underlord of Black Sun
Classification: Falleen
Affiliation: Black Sun

In the time between Han Solo's capture by the Empire and his delivery to Jabba the Hutt, a secret struggle for power took place within the shadows of the Empire. A clash between power hungry crimelord Prince Xizor and the dreaded Darth Vader meant certain death for Luke Skywalker. As the Rebel Alliance's only hope, a band of heroes led by Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Lando Calrissian, and Dash Rendar set out to rescue Solo while protecting the young Jedi from a horde of bounty hunters and assassins.

Xizor is the head of Black Sun, an intergalactic criminal empire that supports literally millions of outlaw organizations and activities. Since entering the service of the Emperor, the Dark Prince is widely considered one of the powerful individuals in the galaxy. He controls his operations with cold, deadly accuracy assuring that those who dare challenge Xizor meet with swift death, often by his own hand. His hunger for power has put him at direct odds with Lord Vader, But Xizor is afraid of no one; his hunger for power has driven him to dispatch an onslaught of assassins with orders to eliminate Luke Skywalker. Xizor plots to spoil Darth Vader's promise to deliver Skywalker to the Emperor alive – a maneuver that would undermine Vader's reliability and secure Xizor as the Emperor's most favored ally.

Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, has instilled terror throughout the galaxy since the beginning of the Empire. His devotion to the Emperor and mastery of the dark side gives him more power than any single individual in the galaxy except for the Emperor himself. Draped completely in black and wielding the ability to take a life with a mere gesture, Darth Vader stands as the incarnation of evil. His dislike of Prince Xizor is intense and his distrust well-founded. Though Vader would gladly eliminate Xizor, Emperor Palpatine has need of Black Sun's shipping operations to speed construction of the new Death Star. Xizor had best watch his back however, as Vader's control of the dark side of the Force makes him a most formidable foe.

1996 was a fantastic year for Star Wars collectors. We were still on a high because we were only a year out from Kenner making Star Wars action figures again for us, and there was a sense of excitement over collecting the line. Additionally, Kenner/Hasbro was quick to introduce new formats of getting out action figures to us. As if the Shadows Of The Empire basic figure and vehicle lines weren’t enough, Kenner/Hasbro also created the Comic Packs line and featured two of them to help promote the Shadows Of The Empire multimedia event and corresponding toy line. In all honesty, the Comic Packs line might have been the ideal way to get out characters that they might not feel would do well in the basic figure line. Instead, they added mostly rehashes of previously existing figures in most of them, save for one big surprise (IG-88’s first modern release as a basic figure in one of the sets). The Prince Xizor Vs. Darth Vader is nicely done. We get a new version of Prince Xizor. Although based on the original basic figure sculpt, he comes with new arms and other new parts to better utilize the included staff and hold it more believable.

You know that Kenner/Hasbro beautifully sculpted the Prince Xizor action figure, but they painted nicely as well. The figure is tall and has a commanding presence in addition to an angry and slightly maniacal look in his expression. The figure’s gown is easily removed, and he looks good with or without it. With a little patience, you can transofrm him in seconds. Prince Xizor is the new main villain in the Shadows Of The Empire multimedia event, and the jury is still out on whether he’ll have any long term appeal in the Star Wars universe. But there is no way anyone can deny that the action figure interpretation of him has turned out remarkably well. His weapon is fantastic too. It looks like a force pike used by anyone in Jabba The Hutt’s retinue, and Kenner/Hasbro tooled an incredible amount of detail which gives it a stunning lifelike look and feel. It’s used to battle Darth Vader and his lightsaber and does a pretty good job at making that successful. So, Prince Xizor does not break a ton of new ground here. There are new parts here, but the changes are more subtle than everything else, and all for the benefit of the new accessory.

Darth Vader is an interesting inclusion here. One of the best-selling figures in The Power Of The Force “2’ [Red] line, you’d think that Kenner/Hasbro would simply include the same figure in this pack. But they retooled Darth Vader with new legs and a few other revised parts. In our opinion, Darth Vader has a very wonky pose, and we don’t think it’s a better figure necessarily. But we also have to admit that the new pose allows him to look better engaged with Prince Xizor for battle poses. He is leaning forward, almost as if approaching in an attack, and the result looks pretty good, albeit imperfect. Also, with some thoughtful positioning, you can place Darth Vader in a pose by himself that looks like he’s lunging at whatever target he’s destined to take down. If you can achieve this pose (because it’s difficult with the weirdly posed legs), Darth Vader looks incredible. Both figures come with a reprint of a Shadows Of The Empire comic book and the story shares some of the exchange between Prince Xizor and Darth Vader. This is a nice set, and it’s fairly priced. But if asked our opinion, we wished Kenner/Hasbro would have reserved this format for all-new characters yet to be made.